Tom Doyle
Tom Doyle is an acclaimed music journalist, author, and long-standing contributor to Mojo and Q. His work has also appeared in Billboard, The Guardian, The Times, and Sound on Sound. Over the years, he has been responsible for key magazine profiles of Paul McCartney, Elton John, Yoko Ono, Keith Richards, U2, Madonna, Kate Bush, and R.E.M., among many other artists. He is the author of The Glamour Chase: The Maverick Life of Billy MacKenzie, which has attained the status of a classic rock biography since its original publication, and Man on the Run: Paul McCartney in the 1970s, which has been optioned by StudioCanal for a feature film. He lives in London, England.
83 articles
List of articles in the library
Adamski: Doctor Adamski's Musical Pharmacy (MCA)
Review by Tom Doyle, Smash Hits, 17 October 1990
THIS IS Adamski's proper studio LP and it marks the end of his transformation from underground rave king to madly grinning pop star. Of course, ...
Interview by Tom Doyle, Q, October 1996
Creator of gripping filmic music enlists notable guest vocalists and breaks through to commercial seam. ...
Arctic Monkeys: James Ford: Producing Arctic Monkeys
Interview by Tom Doyle, Sound on Sound, July 2011
Arctic Monkeys' fourth album, Suck It And See, is a dazzling return to form — and to producer, long‑time collaborator and 'fifth Monkey' James Ford. ...
Burt Bacharach, Elvis Costello: Two's Company — Elvis Costello & Burt Bacharach: Painted From Memory
Review by Tom Doyle, Q, November 1998
Mr Long Chin meet Mr Crap Hat. ...
The Beastie Boys: Beastie Boys: Cash for Questions
Interview by Tom Doyle, Q, November 2009
YOU CAME TO BLAME THEM FOR EMINEM AND (WRONGLY) HAIL THEIR INVENTION OF THE MULLET. THEIR AGENDA ENCOMPASSED DEBBIE HARRY'S "DOME-SKI" AND THE PROSPECT OF ...
The Beastie Boys: Style Counselors — The Beastie Boys: Hello Nasty (Grand Royal/Capitol 49S4232)
Review by Tom Doyle, Q, August 1998
Now fighting for Tibet rather than the right to party, America's Most Influential have grown up. ...
Beats International: "Ngh-nngh-ngghh-ngh-nnunnugh!"
Interview by Tom Doyle, Smash Hits, 21 February 1990
Hark! It's the sound of "Dub Be Good To Me — as invented by a bloke who used to be in the Housemartins and a ...
Interview by Tom Doyle, Q, July 1999
Lace up some gaiters and uncork a flask of weak lemon drink, as uncompromising art bods the Beta Band take us to a rugged dell ...
Big Fun, Sonia: Out To Lunch With Big Fun and Sonia
Interview by Tom Doyle, Smash Hits, 10 June 1990
★ First Bob Dylan and George Harrison and their crumbly chums formed The Travelling Wibblies! ★ Then the Pet Shop Boys and Barney Sumner from ...
Black Box, Loleatta Holloway: Did that girl in BLACK BOX used to be a bloke?
Interview by Tom Doyle, Smash Hits, 21 March 1990
No! She's always been a lassie. But she did used to be a rugby player. Tom Doyle pokes his nose into the peculiar world of ...
Interview by Tom Doyle, Melody Maker, 14 May 1994
BLUR's Parklife is selling by the truck load, has loads of fabulous tunes on it and is really very good. TOM DOYLE talks to producer ...
Blur, The Lightning Seeds: What Makes A Great Single?
Interview by Tom Doyle, Q, February 1999
Slade were good at it; Quintessence weren't. Ten rules of 7" engagement as decreed by Blur label boss Andy Ross and New National Anthem™ writer ...
Review by Tom Doyle, Q, October 1995
David Bowie's gone and done a concept album. Gulp. ...
David Bowie: Tape Heads: Ed Buller meets Tony Visconti, part 2
Interview by Tom Doyle, Melody Maker, 19 March 1994
In the second and final part of our head to head interview featuring legendary T Rex/Bowie producer TONY VISCONTI and Suede and Pulp producer ED ...
Boyz II Men: Can You Handle It?
Interview by Tom Doyle, Smash Hits, 17 February 1993
How many awkward questions have you got to ask Boyz II Men before they stop being so damn polite? ...
Interview by Tom Doyle, Melody Maker, 5 February 1994
Producers Paul Kolderie and Sean Slade have made a career out off getting excellent guitar sounds to tape, lending their skills to the likes of ...
Interview by Tom Doyle, MOJO, January 2013
Notts' young songwriter-voice bottles lightning, goes to Number 1. ...
Kate Bush: 'Under the Ivy' on The Tube, 1986
Book Excerpt by Tom Doyle, Nine Eight Books, October 2022
RAMSHACKLE AND FUNNY, chaotic and controversial, Channel 4's live-to-air music show The Tube flew in the face of the glossy pop cultural trends of the ...
Neneh Cherry: What Is She Like?
Interview by Tom Doyle, Smash Hits, 11 January 1989
She's the new pop sensation that's sweeping the nation! Yeah, even as we speak her corking tune 'Buffalo Stance' is hurtling its way up the ...
Interview by Tom Doyle, Melody Maker, 9 October 1993
In the second of an occasional series, TOM DOYLE takes a sneak look at the day-to-day making off an LP. This time, DEAN GARCIA talks ...
Interview by Tom Doyle, Melody Maker, 18 April 1992
As the man behind Curve, Ride, the Valentines, JAMC and more, producer ALAN MOULDER doesn't seem to be able to put a button-pushing finger wrong. ...
DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince: Boom shake shake the room for the Fresh Prince!
Interview by Tom Doyle, Smash Hits, 15 September 1993
WHEN WILL Smith walks into the room with his posse of baseball-capped, heavy duty "mates" (ie minders), you know someone really famous has arrived. And ...
Interview by Tom Doyle, Smash Hits, 10 November 1993
AND THE FIRST QUESTION FROM THE TIN IS... ...
Jason Donovan: Somebody HEEEEELP ME!
Interview by Tom Doyle, Smash Hits, 8 February 1989
Jason Donovan, eh? He is, as we all know, a clever 'n' rich 'n' good-looking pop type who thinks he's a bit sporty what with ...
Jason Donovan: Would Jason sell his granny for a packet of Twiglets?
Interview by Tom Doyle, Smash Hits, 10 January 1990
Who knows what lurks beneath that chummy, cheery exterior? IS JASON REALLY A MORALLY UPRIGHT CITIZEN OR IS HE A SCOUNDREL? Tom Doyle confronts him ...
The Doors: Paul Rothchild: Open Doors
Retrospective and Interview by Tom Doyle, Melody Maker, 4 May 1991
As producer of nearly all of The Doors' albums, PAUL ROTHCHILD knew Morrison and the band better than anyone else. TOM DOYLE relives the invention ...
Retrospective and Interview by Tom Doyle, Q, June 2009
The grand scheme of a gambler with a taste for chicken blood, Jamaican label Island Records introduced Bob Marley and U2 to the world. On ...
Durand Jones: Wait Til I Get Over
Review by Tom Doyle, MOJO, June 2023
Louisiana singer cuts loose from the Indications for solo debut. ...
Interview by Tom Doyle, Melody Maker, 8 April 1995
It was a long journey from simple demos in '92 to Number One album in '95, but producer MARC WATERMAN was there piecing together ELASTICA's ...
Interview by Tom Doyle, Melody Maker, 3 June 1995
Fifteen years of experience has carried producer JOHN LECKIE from a-song-a-day sessions with John Lennon, to hours spent pouring over the endless noodlings of The ...
Five Star: The Legend Continues!!
Interview by Tom Doyle, Smash Hits, 10 August 1988
The Star — worran institution! For five years now they have been in the public eye but does anyone know what they're really like? "Er, ...
Flaming Lips: Dave Fridmann: Producing Embryonic
Report and Interview by Tom Doyle, Sound on Sound, March 2010
Following their unlikely breakthrough into the mainstream, Flaming Lips made a conscious return to the outer limits with their recent album Embryonic. Dave Fridmann manned the controls. ...
The Flaming Lips: The MOJO Interview: Wayne Coyne
Interview by Tom Doyle, MOJO, April 2013
He sang of giraffes and jelly while wreaking freaky panto mayhem. But at 52 has reality bitten the Flaming Lips' ringmaster? "This is the first ...
Florence and The Machine: How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful
Review by Tom Doyle, MOJO, July 2015
Burned out, then healed, then defiant, Florence is back stronger on third album. ...
Review and Interview by Tom Doyle, MOJO, September 2015
FOALS' SUCCESS has seen them circle the globe, restlessly switching producers to find the perfect sound. All it took was time, says Tom Doyle. ...
Foo Fighters — Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!
Profile and Interview by Tom Doyle, Q, June 1996
HOLD TIGHT! Hang on to your 'cookies'! Belt up! For the Foo Fighters are taking off, turning their backs on the mucky, resonant demise of ...
Future Sound of London: The Future Sound of Technology
Interview by Tom Doyle, Melody Maker, 25 June 1994
For Brian Dougan and Gary Cobain, THE FUTURE SOUND OF LONDON is the medium for pushing the frontiers of studio recording, live performance and video ...
Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds: Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds
Review by Tom Doyle, Q, November 2011
AS THE WAR of the Gallaghers thunders on, there's little doubt that this has been a messier separation than might even have been predicted. ...
Goldie: The Fun Lovin' Criminal
Interview by Tom Doyle, Q, March 1998
A youth spent shovelled from despair into care, a stint as a "shit" safecracker, a globe-trotting interlude ending in spectacular musical creativity: Goldie is the ...
GZA: Liquid Swords (Geffen GEN24813)
Review by Tom Doyle, Q, February 1996
WHILE STATEN Island's nine-strong rap outfit Wu-Tang Clan have proved themselves one of the genre's most influential and commercially triumphant prospects, the open relationship within ...
Jimi Hendrix, Silver Apples: Silver Apples: Early Electronica
Retrospective and Interview by Tom Doyle, Sound on Sound, October 2010
Silver Apples jammed with Jimi Hendrix, counted John Lennon as a fan, and produced extraordinary electronic music — with nothing but a drum kit and a pile of ...
Michael Jackson: Parc Des Princes, Paris
Live Review by Tom Doyle, Smash Hits, 13 July 1988
HE'S THE BIGGEST POP STAR IN THE WORLD AND HE'S ON HIS WAY HERE!! The Michael Jackson Live Experience is really quite astonishing. He bends, he ...
Holly Johnson: What does Holly Johnson get up to on his days off?
Report and Interview by Tom Doyle, Smash Hits, 26 July 1989
★ Well he potters around posh art galleries with his pals, he browses round the odd with-it clothes shop, and he has a spot of ...
John Lennon, Harry Nilsson, Phil Spector: Going Under: John Lennon's Lost Weekend
Retrospective and Interview by Tom Doyle, Q, February 2010
Separated from Yoko, at war with McCartney, his phone tapped by the US government... by 1974 JOHN LENNON was a mess. The solution: hook up ...
Kurtis Mantronik, Mantronix: Personal File: Mantronix
Interview by Tom Doyle, Smash Hits, 30 May 1990
★ FULL NAME: Kurtis Mantronik. I changed it to that because I was having problems with my real name. I had a Syrian surname and ...
Interview by Tom Doyle, Sound on Sound, July 2004
Arif Mardin has engineered and produced an incredible array of classic records from artists such as Aretha Franklin, Dusty Springfield, Diana Ross, the Bee Gees ...
Milli Vanilli: "We've sold the most singles on cassette any band has sold in the world!!!!"
Interview by Tom Doyle, Smash Hits, 26 July 1989
That's as may be, but Rob and Fabrice are vastly more famous for their energetic dance wiggles and their forgotten trouser wear. Tom Doyle explores ...
Milli Vanilli: The Milli Vanilli Story: What A Swizz!!
Report by Tom Doyle, Smash Hits, 23 January 1991
They had many hits! They bought lots of houses! They earned loads of money! But unfortunately ROB and "FAB" forgot to sing on their records!! ...
Kylie Minogue: "Sexbomb!!? Never call me that!"
Interview by Tom Doyle, Smash Hits, 3 August 1991
Crumbs! Kylie Minogue's got a bone to pick with Britain's Bounciest Pop Gazette (i.e. Smash Hits) because last time we interviewed her she told us ...
Kylie Minogue: Kylie Speaks Out... On Love, Money, Marriage And Three Foot Grandmothers!!!
Interview by Tom Doyle, Smash Hits, 9 August 1989
And that's not all. For she has a thing or two to say about brown paper bags, plumbing and lime-green sequinned bras too!! And why ...
Alanis Morissette: Cash for Questions: Alanis Morissette
Interview by Tom Doyle, Q, March 1999
She's the oddest female star of recent years, a titan of high seriousness, musical ambition and lyrical angst. So what do you do: you ask ...
Interview by Tom Doyle, MOJO, February 2013
Laura Mvula is gospel-raised, classically trained and obsessed with The Beach Boys. "I'm quite a melancholic soul," she tells Tom Doyle. ...
Ocean Colour Scene: Marchin' Already (MCA MCD 60048)
Review by Tom Doyle, Q, October 1997
Ocean Colour Scene: looking to the future with one foot in the past. ...
Sinead O'Connor: Diary of an Album
Interview by Tom Doyle, Melody Maker, 15 October 1994
With all the demos recorded in a single night's session, it was inevitable that SINEAD O'CONNOR'S Universal Mother would be recorded and mixed simply and ...
The Police, Sting: Sting: The Secret Life Of Gordon Sumner by Wensley Clarkson (Blake £15.99)
Book Review by Tom Doyle, Q, May 1996
TELLINGLY TITLED, this 300-plus-page biography of Sting follows in the tradition of Clarkson's previous unauthorised works on film stars Mel Gibson and Tom Cruise by ...
Prefab Sprout's Jordan: An Interview with Paddy McAloon
Interview by Tom Doyle, International Musician & Recording World, October 1990
The new Prefab Sprout album, Jordan: The Comeback, is a veritable potpourri of styles. Tom Doyle talks to mainman Paddy McAloon about singing, songwriting and ...
Primal Scream: Bobby Gillespie
Interview by Tom Doyle, Q, March 2000
Mr Primal Scream was "remedial" in Geography, but that doesn't matter now he's a reckless rock'n'roll revolutionary on the way to the chemist with an ...
Primal Scream: Vanishing Point (Creation CRECD178)
Review by Tom Doyle, Q, August 1997
Dark — Primal Scream: the morning after the all-nighter before ...
Report and Interview by Tom Doyle, Q, June 1997
BRIGHTLY EARLY most weekday mornings before 9am, when other rock stars still have at least a good six hours of kip ahead of them — ...
The Red Hot Chili Peppers: Red Hot Chili Peppers: Californication (WEA 9362 473862)
Review by Tom Doyle, Q, July 1999
Troubled Funk: The band who're always going to split up... ...
The Red Hot Chili Peppers: Red Hot Chili Peppers: Stadium Arcadium
Review by Tom Doyle, MOJO, June 2006
A trilogy in two parts. The Chilis' ninth sees their star still in the ascendance. ...
Review by Tom Doyle, MOJO, September 2015
Third album sees full realisation of Del Rey’s haunted Hollywood persona. ...
The Seahorses: Playful — The Seahorses: Do It Yourself (Geffen GED 25134)
Review by Tom Doyle, Q, June 1997
The Seahorses: they mate for life, you know. ...
Interview by Tom Doyle, The Face, June 1999
HEROIN. ARSON. DEATH. DESTROYED STUDIOS. BLOWN OPPORTUNITIES. THE BALLAD OF SHACK IS HARDLY EASY LISTENING. BUT NOW, WITH A GLORIOUS NEW ALBUM, BRITAIN'S GREAT LOST ...
Report by Tom Doyle, Smash Hits, 26 May 1993
It's a cowshed in Ireland. It's packed with foreigners sporting Pat Sharp haircuts. It's Our Sonia's big stab at Eurovision Song Contest fame. And its ...
The Specials: Rude Standards Agency
Report and Interview by Tom Doyle, MOJO, March 2013
The Specials storm the BBC studios, tantalise with talk of new bhangra, Arabic and jazz material. ...
Review by Tom Doyle, MOJO, June 2021
Annie Clark's masterwork evokes the sights and sounds of 1970s New York City. ...
Review by Tom Doyle, MOJO, November 2017
Heartache and nihilism meet sonic trickery in Annie Clark's troubled fifth. ...
The Stone Roses: Diary of an LP: the Stone Roses' Second Coming, Part One
Interview by Tom Doyle, Melody Maker, 14 January 1995
After years of rumour and speculation, THE STONE ROSES Second Coming album has finally made it into the shops. TOM DOYLE travelled to Rockfield studios ...
The Stone Roses: Diary of an LP: the Stone Roses' Second Coming, Part Two
Interview by Tom Doyle, Melody Maker, 21 January 1995
Following last week's look at life with THE STONE ROSES during the making of Second Coming, producer SIMON DAWSON takes TOM DOYLE track by track ...
The Stone Roses: Pig's Ear for the Roses — It's All Gone Baggy
Report and Interview by Tom Doyle, Q, January 1997
Farewell, then, the Stone Roses. ...
Interview by Tom Doyle, Smash Hits, 13 December 1989
★ They're four loveable urchins from Manchester who have just shaken the world of pop to its foundations with their "spacey" funk workout 'Fool's Gold'. ★ ...
Suede: Head Music (Nude NUDE14CD)
Review by Tom Doyle, Q, June 1999
No Ch-ch-changes — Standing still isn't always as easy as it looks. ...
Suede: Introducing the band techs
Interview by Tom Doyle, Melody Maker, 4 March 1995
Behind every guitar hero, there's a guitar tech sorting out his inputs from his outputs. TOM DOYLE meets the men who help put Suede on ...
Suede, T. Rex: Tape Heads: Ed Buller meets Tony Visconti
Interview by Tom Doyle, Melody Maker, 12 March 1994
While even the most basic recordings get increasingly hi-tech, many modern producers are still searching for the vibey sounds of yesteryear. In the first of ...
Interview by Tom Doyle, Melody Maker, 17 June 1995
From four-track bedroom demos to finished masters. SUPERGRASS' debut LP, I Should Coco, has been guided by the hand of producer SAM WILLIAMS. TOM DOYLE ...
Teenage Fanclub: Diary of an LP
Interview by Tom Doyle, Melody Maker, 23 October 1993
It's that occasional series again: this time, a peep at the diary of TEENAGE FANCLUB's Raymond McGiniey during the making of Thirteen. TOM DOYLE is ...
Ten City: Mean Housin' Muthas From Chicago!!
Interview by Tom Doyle, Smash Hits, April 1989
As opposed to "mean rockin' muthas from hell" (haw haw). Tom Doyle gasps at their tale of dubious street gangs and teetering high heels and ...
Interview by Tom Doyle, Q, June 1998
Demonised by the media, deified by the art set, the real Tricky still struggles to be heard above the hubbub. Q parts a curtain of ...
Report and Interview by Tom Doyle, Q, November 1997
Richard Ashcroft: he goes back, you know. Once, on a groovy tide of stormy "head" rock, his band The Verve rose. Then, victims of depression, ...
Review and Interview by Tom Doyle, MOJO, February 2017
Wandsworth trio's third retains the darkness while letting in more light. ...
Yazz: How to Make £25,000 a Night and End Up Skint
Report by Tom Doyle, Smash Hits, 3 May 1989
You call yourself Yazz, charge 3,000 people £8.50 each to come and see your concert and then give it all away to fat sweaty blokes ...
List of genre pieces
Heroin: The Secret Drug Of The'90s
Report by Tom Doyle, Q, December 1999
It offed grunge. It killed Britpop. It claimed actual human lives. Heroin began the '90s as a retro drug with insalubrious associations. It ended the ...
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