Simon Frith
My first published pieces of journalism were reviews of Gene Vincent and Small Faces packages for the newly launched Rolling Stone, and for most of the 1970s and 1980s I had a column commenting on British music for US readers – it began in Creem (with Lester Bangs as my somewhat eccentric editor), moved to New York Rocker (for the wonderful Andy Schwartz), and ended up in the Village Voice (for the demanding and inspiring Robert Christgau). In Britain I began writing for Cream and then became part of the editorial collective team that put out Let it Rock. When Richard Williams was its editor I wrote the "Consuming Passions" column for Melody Maker.
I was rock commentator for New Society and the New Statesman before moving to the Sunday Times as its first dedicated rock critic. When the ST went to Wapping I went to the Observer. At the end of the 1980s I moved to Scotland and freelanced for Scotland on Sunday and the Sunday Herald before getting a column in the Scotsman. At the end of the 1990s I was sacked for being too old. Over my writing career I’ve freelanced for more magazines that went bust before paying me than I care to remember and spent untold days extracting promised fees from everyone else, but I most enjoyed writing for fanzines (Nick Kimberley’s Pressure Drop; Steve Beresford, David Toop and Sue Steward’s Collusion) that didn’t pay anyway.
But then I’ve always been able to avoid the worst forms of hackery because I had a parallel life as an academic and alternative outlets for anything I had to say–I was a founding member of the International Association for the Study of Popular Music and a member of the founding editorial board of the Cambridge University Press journal, Popular Music. I published The Sociology of Rock way back in 1978 and Performing Rites: On the Value of Popular Music in 1996. These days when I meet musicians they’re more likely to know my name from a media studies course than from a magazine. I don’t doubt that my academic position undermined my credibility as a rock critic and that my journalism undermined my status as an academic but I’ve mostly been able to do what I want so I’ve got no complaints.
Recent publications:
The Cambridge Companion to Rock and Pop, edited with Will Straw and John Street, Cambridge University Press, 2001 (includes my essays on ‘The Music Industry’ and ‘Pop Music’)
‘An Essay on Criticism’ in Tom Carson et al eds., Don’t Stop ‘til You Get Enough, Nortex Press, Austin TX, 2002 (a festschrift for Robert Christgau)
‘Music and Illegality’ in Michael Talbot ed.: The Business of Music, Liverpool: Liverpool University Press, 2002.
‘Fragments of a Sociology of Rock Criticism’ in Steve Jones ed.: Pop Music and the Press, Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2002.
‘Look! Hear! The Uneasy Relationship of Music and Television’, Popular Music 21(3) 2002.
‘Music and Everyday Life’ in Martin Clayton, Richard Middleton and Trevor Herbert eds: The Cultural Study of Music: A Critical Introduction, New York and London: Routledge, 2003.
Mapping the Music Industry in Scotland (with Martin Cloonan and John Williamson), Glasgow: Scottish Enterprise, 2003.
rockcritics.com interview with Simon Frith
92 articles
List of articles in the library
Gene Vincent: Gene Vincent’s Greatest (Capitol); I’m Back And I’m Proud (Dandelion) and more
Review by Simon Frith, Rolling Stone, 7 March 1970
GENE VINCENT was the most tortured of the Fifties rock stars. I only saw him in concert once and that was weird. He was in ...
The Small Faces: Small Faces: The Autumn Stone
Review by Simon Frith, Rolling Stone, 7 March 1970
BEHIND THE KINGS of rock and roll stand the workers who make up the boredom and blarney, the fervour and humbug of pop. They are ...
Grateful Dead: Vintage Dead; Historic Dead
Review by Simon Frith, Cream, June 1972
I THINK I liked it better when rock didn’t have a history. These days record companies seem to be the victims of some Tutankhamen-like curse, ...
T. Rex: Letter from Britain: Life's a Gas, I Hope It's Gonna Last — Notes On T. Rex
Column by Simon Frith, Creem, July 1972
ZONK. THIS column is going to be about how things look in and from England. More to the point it's going to be about how ...
Review by Simon Frith, Let It Rock, November 1972
RULE 47 OF THE record reviewers' charter reads: it's not nice to go bonkers for Budgie. My conversations with editors are always the same. They ...
Review by Simon Frith, Cream, November 1972
WHY BOTHER? Chicago are rightly contemptuous of critics. They've never had a good review and their records sell by the million. Chicago V has been ...
Review by Simon Frith, Cream, November 1972
Jefferson Airplane: Long John Silver (Grunt)Pamela Polland: Pamela Polland (CBS) ...
Domenic Troiano, Tim Buckley: Tim Buckley: Greetings from LA/ Domenic Troiano: Dom
Review by Simon Frith, Cream, November 1972
DOMENIC TROIANO has just been signed up as lead guitarist for the James Gang (transfer fees?) but I don't know where he came from nor ...
Stealers Wheel: Stealers Wheel
Review by Simon Frith, Let It Rock, February 1973
Gerry Rafferty is a lunk. He put together a fine group, cut a lovely album and then split. It's the most lunatic thing since Dave ...
The Moody Blues: Moody Blues: Seventh Sojourn
Review by Simon Frith, Let It Rock, March 1973
IT'S THE BIG, BALD MOODY who scares me. There's a picture of his disembodied head floating across the inside of the sleeve, a look of ...
Traffic: Shoot Out At The Fantasy (Island)
Review by Simon Frith, Let It Rock, March 1973
FOR A BRIEF but heady period Traffic were my favourite rock band. I still get a spark from the thought of a new Traffic album ...
The Rolling Stones: Letter From Britain: Let's Drink To The Hard Working People
Essay by Simon Frith, Creem, April 1973
LIMPING ALONG, two months late as usual, but I've only just read the CREEM special issue, and I've got my own Stones' stories to tell. ...
Alice Cooper: Billion Dollar Babies
Review by Simon Frith, Let It Rock, May 1973
Alice Cooper is uglyAlice Cooper's a starWhen he shows his tummy on tellyAll the girls go aaaaaahghh. ...
Jon Landau: It’s Too Late To Stop Now
Review by Simon Frith, Let It Rock, May 1973
I FEEL UNEASY, confronting Landau. If a rock critic is a parasite, what is the critic of a rock critic? Landau is a rock critic ...
David Cassidy: Limpalong Cassidy
Live Review by Simon Frith, Let It Rock, May 1973
HE CAME OUT sheathed in white, like a tape worm. For someone whose primary appeal is physical, he’s surprisingly clumsy, graceless. Constipated bumps and grinds. ...
Wishbone Ash: Top of the Polls with Twin Guitars
Interview by Simon Frith, Let It Rock, May 1973
ROCK WRITERS have a thing about genealogy. I don’t know who’s fault it is but I’m always reading about second generation bands and third generation ...
Essay by Simon Frith, Let It Rock, June 1973
ARGUING ABOUT pop stars is mostly a loony thing to do. So many of the judgements involved are subjective that the inarticulacy of a Juke ...
David Bowie, Roxy Music, T. Rex: T. Rex/David Bowie/Roxy Music Albums
Review by Simon Frith, Let It Rock, July 1973
T. Rex: TanxDavid Bowie: Aladdin SaneRoxy Music: For Your Pleasure ...
Review by Simon Frith, Let It Rock, August 1973
IN ART THE avant-garde is the outrageous. It’s what breaks traditional rules, both artistic and social; John Cage, Marcel Duchamp, or whoever, outraged their audiences. ...
Mike Oldfield, The Stooges: Mike Oldfield: Tubular Bells; Iggy And The Stooges: Raw Power
Review by Simon Frith, Let It Rock, August 1973
SOME RECORDS GET so much critical attention that I can’t listen to them blind, can’t ignore other opinions. So, according to John Peel Tubular Bells ...
Profile and Interview by Simon Frith, Let It Rock, September 1973
WHEN I WAS a teenager I even had problems in my sexual fantasies. I veered from Brigitte Bardot (too dirty) to Hayley Mills (too clean) ...
Blue Ridge Rangers, Grin: Blue Ridge Rangers: Blue Ridge Rangers; Grin: Gone Crazy
Review by Simon Frith, Let It Rock, September 1973
JOHN FOGERTY became a hero by living in the Bay Area for 20 years and never becoming a hippie. He didn’t desert his rock ‘n’ ...
Review by Simon Frith, Let It Rock, October 1973
REMEMBER ALL THE excitement when people discovered that the Beatles wrote their own songs? There have been a lot of bridges over a lot of ...
Review by Simon Frith, Let It Rock, October 1973
MOTT IS THE ALBUM All The Young Dudes should have been; arrogant, defensive. The Hoople are the first people to go on the Bowie ego-trip ...
Neil Sedaka: The Tra-La Days Are Over
Review by Simon Frith, Let It Rock, October 1973
NEIL SEDAKA'S album is a more explicit farewell to his past – the tra-la days are over. Except on this album, where Sedaka's sharp voice ...
Profile and Interview by Simon Frith, Creem, November 1973
Stuck in the middle with the Chartbusting Champions of Un-hip ...
Faust, Frank Zappa, The Mothers Of Invention: Ugly, vulgar, insulting — Zappa scores!
Review by Simon Frith, Let It Rock, November 1973
The Mothers: Overnite Sensation (Discreet)Faust: Faust IV (Virgin) ...
Kevin Ayers, Soft Machine: Kevin Ayers: Keeping the ’67 faith
Profile by Simon Frith, Let It Rock, February 1974
It begins with a blessing (but ends with a curse)Making life easy (but making it worse)... ...
Review by Simon Frith, Let It Rock, March 1974
WHEN IT COMES to the critical crunch it ain't necessarily the Dylanologists who as the right questions. Sure they knew about Dylan when they were ...
Review by Simon Frith, Let It Rock, May 1974
LET IT ROCK recently got hold of a bundle of old publicity photos that Decca was throwing out and the fascinating thing (apart from the ...
Profile and Interview by Simon Frith, Let It Rock, May 1974
ROXY MUSIC ARE Paul Thompson, Phil Manzanera, Andy Mackay, Bryan Ferry and Eddie Jobson, but the first thing you’ve got to understand is that Roxy ...
Profile by Simon Frith, Phonograph Record, August 1974
"Just ’cause I’ve got a couple of buns in front don’t mean I can’t play rock’n’roll." ...
Review by Simon Frith, Let It Rock, January 1975
Randy Newman’s album starts:‘Last night I saw Lester Maddox on a TV showwith some smartass New York Jewand the Jew laughed at Lester MaddoxAnd the ...
Sutherland Brothers and Quiver: The Sutherland Brothers: The Beat Of The Street
Review by Simon Frith, Let It Rock, January 1975
I HAVE ALWAYS thought that the Sutherland Bros and Quiver were a worthy group. Making the right noises, going to gigs regularly, kindly, but no ...
Slade: Slade In Flame (Polydor)
Review by Simon Frith, Let It Rock, February 1975
Some things I'm sure of: Noddy Holder is a great rock singer, up there with the best of British, with John Lennon, even. And Slade ...
Review by Simon Frith, Let It Rock, April 1975
JANIS JOPLIN was an awkward Texan girl with a rough voice who became one of the major idols of the sixties 'counter culture'. Why? ...
Review by Simon Frith, Let It Rock, April 1975
I'D BETTER DECLARE myself: I like Philly Sound, the Stylistics, Barry White even (or, rather, sometimes); I don't think Norman Whitfield mangled Motown: I do ...
Manhattan Transfer, Paul Anka: Paul Anka: Feelings/Manhattan Transfer: Manhattan Transfer
Review by Simon Frith, Let It Rock, September 1975
FIRST OF ALL there was that punky Canadian kid with the big voice and the tremor that even got to me ("Put your head on ...
Review by Simon Frith, Let It Rock, December 1975
THE SUNDAY TIMES' recent 'Rock Report' has been useful just for gathering together in one place all the clichés of the supercilious school of rock ...
Review by Simon Frith, Rolling Stone, 1 January 1976
THERE USED TO be this ad (in the Fifties, I suppose) for a cigarette: YOU'RE NEVER ALONE WITH A STRAND! A guy alone in the ...
Review by Simon Frith, Street Life, 24 January 1976
DESIRE begins with ‘Hurricane’, Dylan’s account of how black boxer Reuben Carter was falsely charged and jailed for murder. I don’t know how many cut ...
Bruce Springsteen: Casing The Promised Land: Bruce Springsteen at Hammersmith Odeon
Live Review by Simon Frith, Creem, March 1976
So you’re scared and you’re thinkingThat maybe we aren’t that young anymore.Show a little faith, there’s magic in the night.You ain’t a beauty, but hey ...
Gladys Knight & the Pips: Gladys Knight and the Pips (DJM)
Review by Simon Frith, Street Life, 6 March 1976
SHE'S JUST GONNA have to get used to it. When you're the greatest pop singer in the world (and she is) and have been together ...
Isaac Hayes: Golden Hour Presents Isaac Hayes and Groove-a-thon
Review by Simon Frith, Street Life, 20 March 1976
FOR A FEW YEARS Isaac Hayes' reputation veered alarmingly: genius? fraud? joke? God? The settled consensus was that he had founded a new sort of ...
Review by Simon Frith, Rolling Stone, 25 March 1976
The quintessential 10cc moment comes at the end of How Dare You?: an ethereal voice pleads, "Don't hang up!" The riff is pretty and relaxing. ...
Review by Simon Frith, Street Life, 1 May 1976
IN WHICH the Godfather of Soul issues a firm but gentle reminder of who's boss and why... ...
Review by Simon Frith, Street Life, 1 May 1976
'LOVE MACHINE' was the Miracles' biggest hit for years (if not ever) and a fine single too. Why? What are the Miracles doing right again? ...
Bob Marley & the Wailers: Bob Marley and the Wailers: Rastaman Vibration
Review by Simon Frith, Street Life, 15 May 1976
I DON'T KNOW how this music will be rated but my word would be mellow. This is a very uncluttered album – the rhythms are ...
Marvin Gaye, The Temptations: Soul Albums Reviewed
Review by Simon Frith, Street Life, 15 May 1976
Temptations: Wings of LoveMarvin Gaye: I Want YouLee Garrett: Heat For The Feets EVEN SOUL musicians grow old and, though black music has never ...
The Rolling Stones: Live at Leicester
Live Review by Simon Frith, Creem, September 1976
ACCORDING TO PATTI SMITH, Mick Jagger is the best dancer since Nijinsky. Well I ain't ever seen Nijinsky dance (though I did see him win ...
Graham Parker and the Rumour: Heat Treatment (Mercury)
Review by Simon Frith, Rolling Stone, 30 December 1976
HEAT TREATMENT, Graham Parker’s second Mercury album, confirms the promise of his debut, Howlin’ Wind, which appeared earlier this year. The rapidity of the followup ...
ABBA: Money Money Money: How Abba Won Their Waterloo
Profile by Simon Frith, Creem, March 1977
IN ALL THE WORLD except America (which was too busy celebrating centennials and electing presidents) 1976 was the Year of Abba. ...
Report by Simon Frith, The Village Voice, 28 March 1977
It's difficult to feel sorry for an exile whose alternative to an impoverished Britain is unfettered hedonism in the south of France. ...
Eddie & The Hot Rods: Eddie and the Hot Rods: Teenage Depression (Island ILPS 9457)
Review by Simon Frith, Rolling Stone, 5 May 1977
THE REASON HISTORY can't repeat itself is because we know too much, and the reason that most of the punk bands currently plaguing Britain aren't ...
The Animals: Before We Were So Rudely Interrupted (United Artists)
Review by Simon Frith, Rolling Stone, 20 October 1977
LONG-DEAD GROUPS usually come back for commercial reasons – individual careers are slipping, the musicians are no longer recognized in the streets – and the ...
Sex Pistols: Letter From Britain: Winter Wasteland
Comment by Simon Frith, Creem, March 1978
I HATE WINTER, even in cosy old Britain, so I certainly don't know what I'm doing here, sitting in a motel room in Birmingham, Michigan, ...
The Bee Gees: Confessions of A Bee Gees Fan
Essay by Simon Frith, Creem, June 1978
THE OTHER day I read this shocking story in the Sun: it seems that when Andy Gibb set off from Australia to find fame, fortune ...
Jethro Tull: Ian Anderson: A Portrait Of The Artist As A Young Squire
Profile and Interview by Simon Frith, Creem, June 1978
IAN ANDERSON rules OK. For an hour I've been waiting in the foyer, talking to his manager, his wife, watching his employees bustle about. It's ...
Comment by Simon Frith, Creem, July 1978
ANYBODY WHO knows anything knows that the Clash is the best band in Britain; what is difficult to decide is if, in 1978, this means ...
Kate Bush: The Shape of Things To Come: Kate Bush
Column by Simon Frith, Creem, July 1978
NOTE: This formed part of Simon's monthly Creem column "Letter from Britain". ...
The Who: Keith Moon Dies Before He Gets Old
Essay by Simon Frith, The Village Voice, 18 September 1978
I WAS TYPING the last paragraph of my Who review when a news flash on the radio announced that Keith Moon was dead: "We'll bring ...
Buzzcocks: The Buzzcocks: Love Bites
Review by Simon Frith, Melody Maker, 30 September 1978
UMMMMM, ON THE cover of their new album the Buzzcocks look yummy enough to wrap up and take home. Love Bites, it's called, but no ...
Bob Marley & the Wailers: A Lost Leader? Bob Marley & the Wailers’ Babylon By Bus
Review by Simon Frith, Melody Maker, 18 November 1978
THE BEST RECORD Bob Marley ever made was the live single version of ‘No Woman, No Cry’. The reasons for its success were complex, but ...
Public Image Ltd: Public Image
Review by Simon Frith, Melody Maker, 9 December 1978
"I don't agree with bands who make records to please audiences." (Johnny Rotten.) ...
Report by Simon Frith, Melody Maker, 16 December 1978
THERE WERE two disco dancing championships in London on Sunday. The big one was the World Disco Dancing Championship 1978, sponsored by EMI Dancing and ...
The Bee Gees: Spirits Having Flown
Review by Simon Frith, Melody Maker, 3 February 1979
MOST OF the tracks on Spirits Having Flown would fit snugly enough onto Saturday Night Fever. The Bee Gees have stuck to their disco formula: ...
Graham Parker and the Rumour: Squeezing Out Sparks
Review by Simon Frith, Melody Maker, 17 March 1979
AS FAR AS I'M concerned, Graham Parker is one of the great rock singers. I'd pay happily for a tape of him singing in the ...
Ian Hunter: You're Never Alone With A Schizophrenic (Chrysalis)
Review by Simon Frith, Melody Maker, 7 April 1979
I GROANED when I saw what this record was called. Modish madness and the wrong joke anyway – shouldn't it be "You're Never Alone If ...
Tavares: Madame Butterfly (Capitol)
Review by Simon Frith, Melody Maker, 7 April 1979
MADAME Butterfly opens with the familiar dance floor sounds – brass riff, flowing strings punched out guitars, tightly strung percussion – but this isn't really ...
Joe Ely: Down On The Drag (MCA)
Review by Simon Frith, Melody Maker, 28 April 1979
THIS TIME last year Joe Ely played the Wembley Country Festival and toured Britain as Merle Haggard's bemused support. I saw him in the Brighton ...
Review by Simon Frith, Melody Maker, 5 May 1979
WAVE IS a much better record than I expected, but to explain why I'll have to go back a bit. ...
Review by Simon Frith, Melody Maker, 19 May 1979
WHEN YOU'RE as old and grizzled as these two, making records is more a chore than anything. The routine trip to producer Owen Bradley's barn; ...
Stiff Little Fingers, The Undertones: Consuming Passion: The Undertones, Stiff Little Fingers
Profile by Simon Frith, Melody Maker, 23 June 1979
IT seemed like they were the last gigs of the year. Summer’s coming. Exam requests for DLT, college partings for Anne Nightingale, End of the ...
Review by Simon Frith, Melody Maker, 23 June 1979
I ALMOST didn't make it through the title-track. Two female trios do the I Threes jobs for Tosh, and here their effect is extra-irritating. They ...
Sylvester: No Business Like Show Business
Essay by Simon Frith, Melody Maker, 7 July 1979
ON HIS RECORD sleeves, Sylvester is definitely svelte. A pink shirt and a red rose. Spectacles and a cool look, like Arthur Ashe. My favourite ...
Tom Robinson Band: Tom Robinson: The Song Not The Singer
Profile by Simon Frith, Creem, August 1979
THANKS TO SOME promotional moves, the Buzzcocks and the Tom Robinson Band played Coventry on the same night one week in late March. ...
The Specials: Specials: Rude Boys Spread Manure In Yank Bed Of Roses
Profile by Simon Frith, Creem, April 1980
THE SPECIALS are the first group I've followed from first gig to international stardom. Nobody else realizes this, but their first ever press mention was, ...
The Jam Is Packed Off To America
Profile and Interview by Simon Frith, Creem, April 1980
THEY STARTED talking about clothes even before I left. They were discussing shirt makers. "Jermyn Street," was the consensus. "They will make silk up for ...
1967: The Year It All Came Together
Retrospective by Simon Frith, The History of Rock, 1981
Rock is Jimi Hendrix’s guitar introduction to ‘Hey Joe’; it is Mick Jagger strutting onstage; it is Bob Dylan singing ‘John Wesley Harding’; it is ...
John Lennon: My Brilliant Career
Obituary by Simon Frith, New York Rocker, March 1981
'Death Of A Hero' it said in big black letters across the front of the Daily Mirror, and if I hadn't known already I'd have ...
Bobby Womack: Hammersmith Odeon, London
Live Review by Simon Frith, The Observer, 1984
FOR THE last couple of weeks, London theatres have been filled (or should have been) with British pop musicians taking tips from their American masters. ...
Billy Bragg, Prefab Sprout: The ICA Season: Rock Bands Find The Human Touch
Live Review by Simon Frith, The Observer, 1984
Billy Bragg/Prefab Sprout: The Institute of Contemporary Arts, London ...
Bruce Springsteen: Springsteen: Scruff As Superstar
Profile by Simon Frith, The Observer, 1985
IF BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN didn’t exist rock critics would have had to invent him – which, in a sense, they did. His manager, ex-journalist Jon Landau, ...
Husker Dü: Powerhouse, Birmingham
Live Review by Simon Frith, The Observer, 30 March 1986
The critics' choice: SIMON FRITH watches Husker Dü in Birmingham ...
Tom Robinson Band: Tom Robinson: Staying True
Profile and Interview by Simon Frith, The Observer, June 1986
THEY MET AGAIN, after all these years, in a hotel corridor in Manchester, John Lydon and Tom Robinson, the yin and yang of punk politics. ...
Review by Simon Frith, The Observer, 15 June 1986
I KNOW there are hundreds of thousands of people out there (most of them Observer readers) who took forward to a new Genesis LP, but ...
Report by Simon Frith, Jon Savage, The Observer, 11 October 1987
SIMON FRITH and JON SAVAGE on the home-taping controversy ...
Report by Simon Frith, Jon Savage, The Observer, 18 October 1987
SIMON FRITH and JON SAVAGE on more copyright complexities ...
Report by Simon Frith, The Observer, 30 December 1990
THE BRITISH Phonographic Industry, the record trade organisation, never did manage to endear itself to Margaret Thatcher. Its connection with sex and drugs and rock ...
Elvis Presley: Wise Men Say: Elvis Presley
Book Excerpt by Simon Frith, Aspects of Elvis, 1994
"I DON'T THINK EL WILL EVER RATE WITH the more serious students of popular song – his syrupy crooning with vibrato went out with Rudy ...
The Mercury Prize: Pulp Friction
Comment by Simon Frith, The Guardian, 13 September 1996
Tokenistic? Predictable? Ridiculous? Critics claim all three. Here, chairman of the judges Simon Frith defends the Mercury Music Prize. ...
Book Review by Simon Frith, The Village Voice, 16 September 1998
Simon Reynolds: Generation Ecstasy: Into the World of Techno and Rave Culture (Little, Brown) ...
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