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182 episodes - English - Latest episode: 20 days ago - ★★★★★ - 36 ratingsTales from the world's largest archive of music journalism: entertaining interviews with luminaries such as Neil Tennant, Billy Bragg, Pamela Des Barres, Gary Kemp, Vashti Bunyan, Midge Ure, Nick Hornby and Robyn Hitchcock. Thoughtful and informative conversations about all aspects of popular music history, interspersed with clips from exclusive audio interviews that date back to the mid-'60s.
The RBP podcast is hosted by Barney Hoskyns and Mark Pringle and co-hosted & produced by Jasper Murison-Bowie. We're a proud part of Pantheon — the podcast network for music lovers.
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Episodes
E129: Deborah Frost on heavy metal + Blue Öyster Cult + Grace Jones + Foals
June 13, 2022 17:30 - 1 hourIn this episode we welcome heavy metal expert Deborah Frost, Zooming in from her native New York City, and invite her to talk about her career as a writer and musician. Deborah reminisces about the all-girl "female Dolls" Flaming Youth, in which she drummed in the early '70s, and then explains how she came to write her first pieces for Circus in 1977. She talks about her love of hard rock and heavy metal, and about contributing to Rolling Stone and the Village Voice — including her acclaimed ...
E128: Robert Greenfield on the Rolling Stones + Jerry Jeff Walker
May 30, 2022 17:00 - 1 hourIn this episode we welcome the great Robert Greenfield, beamed in from his home in Carmel, California, and ask him about his early '70s adventures with the Rolling Stones that inspired the seminal book S.T.P.. Robert recounts his journey from Fusion and Boston After Dark, via Rolling Stone's London bureau, to his stellar career as an author and biographer — including his celebrated books about Bill Graham, Jerry Garcia and Augustus "Owsley" Stanley III. He describes how he showed up at Keith ...
E127: Chris Roberts on Radiohead + Missy "Misdemeanor" Elliott
May 16, 2022 17:00 - 1 hourIn this episode we are joined by the droll and charming Chris Roberts, who looks back on his career as a journalist, author and musician. Chris recalls the seminal early experience of first hearing T. Rex's 'Metal Guru' and explains how this led eventually to his writing for Sounds and then Melody Maker in the '80s. After detours via the ill-fated Ikon magazine and the fascinating Idle Worship anthology, we get to Chris' Uncut years and hear an audio clip of him being very cheeky to Debbie Ha...
E126: Robert Duncan & Jaan Uhelszki on Lester Bangs + Creem + Suicide
May 02, 2022 16:30 - 1 hourIn this episode we mark the 40th anniversary of the death of arguably the greatest — and certainly the most "almost famous" — writer in the history of music journalism. Two of Lester Bangs's closest Creem colleagues (both wonderful writers in their own right) join us from California to reminisce about the man and his work. Jaan Uhelszki, who started in the Creem office the same day as Lester, gets the ball rolling by putting Detroit's "anti-Rolling Stone" in context. Robert Duncan, who arrive...
E125: Vashti Bunyan on Wayward + Nick Drake + Joe Boyd audio
April 19, 2022 16:00 - 1 hourIn this episode we welcome the wonderful Vashti Bunyan — all the way from her home in Edinburgh — and ask her about her magical music and the remarkable memoir she's just published. The "freak folk" legend — though she strongly disavows the "folk" tag — begins by talking of her early musical memories, among them meeting an unhappy Cliff Richard backstage in Blackpool in 1961. She describes her dream of becoming a pop singer in mid-'60s London, and how that led her to the Mayfair office of Sto...
E124: Devon Powers on The Village Voice + Red Hot Chili Peppers + White Stripes audio
April 05, 2022 11:00 - 1 hourIn this episode we welcome the excellent Devon Powers — beamed in from Philadelphia — and ask her to talk about The Village Voice, Red Hot Chili Peppers, the White Stripes… and music journalism since the turn of the century. Devon begins by talking about the music she loved when growing up in her native Michigan — and her first awareness of "rock critics". We hear about her move to New York City in 1999, her early pieces for the PopMatters site, and the Anglophilia that led to umpteen pieces ...
E123: Joe Carducci on SST Records + Henry Rollins + Paul Nelson
March 21, 2022 18:00 - 1 hourIn this episode we invite SST legend Joe Carducci to join us — all the way from Las Vegas — and talk about his life and career in music from the mid-'70s to the present day. We hear about Joe's childhood in Illinois, his move to L.A. in 1976 and his first pieces for Eurock and anarchist rag The Match! From there we learn about his forming record distributor Systematic in Portland; his working with Rough Trade US in Berkeley; and his helming of Black Flag's SST label from 1981 to 1986. Follow...
E122: David Dalton on The Beach Boys + The Beatles + Charles Manson
March 07, 2022 19:00 - 1 hourIn this episode we welcome the legendary — and highly amusing — David Dalton to join us all the way from his rural retreat in upstate New York. We start by comparing our shocked reactions to Vladimir Putin's horrific invasion of Ukraine before asking David how he moved to America from England in 1961. He tells us about his mid-'60s adventures as a photographer of British Invasion acts like the Animals — with assistance from a pre-Beatle Linda McCartney — and then about his mid-stream switch t...
E121: Peter Guralnick on Blues + Southern Soul + Jerry Wexler
February 21, 2022 19:00 - 1 hourIn this episode we invite the great Peter Guralnick — Zooming in from his native Massachusetts — to discuss his "adventures in music and writing"… to quote the subtitle of his wonderful 2020 collection Looking to Get Lost. Peter takes his hosts back to his discovery of Delta blues giants Skip James and Robert Johnson in the early '60s — and to the first pieces he wrote for Paul Williams' Crawdaddy! in 1966. He explains his approach to the masterful profiles he collected in Feel Like Going Hom...
E120: Kate Mossman on Joni Mitchell + Lou Reed + Morrissey & Marr
February 07, 2022 19:00 - 1 hourIn this episode we welcome the excellent Kate Mossman to our state-of-the-art recording suite and ask her about her writing career and musical passions. She talks about working with Mark Ellen at The Word and about her current employer the New Statesman, and Jasper quotes from a recent Statesman piece she wrote about her secret passion for jazz fusion. Kate's interview with "mean old daddy" Cary Raditz affords her the chance to talk about her beloved Joni Mitchell and the classic Blue song Ra...
E119: Michael Simmons on country punk + '60s counterculture + Van Dyke Parks
January 24, 2022 19:00 - 1 hourIn this episode, Barney, Mark & Jasper invite counterculture chronicler and "father of country punk" Michael Simmons to join them in RBP's virtual cupboard… all the way from his Culver City lair in small-hours Southern California. Michael talks very entertainingly about his dad Matty's '60s "hippie mag" Cheetah and about National Lampoon, the satirical '70s institution that succeeded it. Yarns about John Belushi and chums lead into Simmons Jr.'s unlikely but lifelong love of country music; hi...
E118: Pete Wingfield on Soul + Lee Dorsey + Dexys + Mel Brooks
January 10, 2022 19:30 - 1 hourIn this episode we welcome the legendary Pete Wingfield to Hammersmith to discuss his career as a keyboard player, record producer and music journalist. We start by asking Pete about Soulbeat, the fanzine he started at Wellington College, and about the network of R&B fans in mid-'60s Britain. From there we learn about Mike Vernon's Blue Horizon label (and Chipping Norton studio); about Pete's 1967 trip to America, where he met Otis Redding at Stax studios; and about the Breakfast Special albu...
E117: Holly George Warren on Janis Joplin + The Monkees + Michael Nesmith
December 20, 2021 18:30 - 1 hourIn this episode we invite Holly George-Warren — beamed in from upstate New York — to tell us about her long and distinguished career as a journalist, author and editor. Holly revisits her North Carolina childhood and early infatuation with pop radio, then talks about her move to New York City in the early '80s, her East Village bands Clambake and Das Furlines, and her long tenure at Rolling Stone Press. Barney, Mark and Jasper ask her about the latest of her many books — her acclaimed 2019 bi...
E116: Norman Jopling on Record Mirror + Rhythm & Blues + Rolling Stones
December 13, 2021 20:00 - 1 hourIn this episode we welcome the wonderful Norman Jopling to join us in RBP's sleek Hammersmith recording suite (yeah, right) and reminisce about his days as a budding "pop reporter" on Record Mirror. As a rhythm 'n' blues obsessive in early '60s London, Norman was the first music journalist to write about the "Rollin' Stones" — in May 1963 — and he tells Mark, Barney & Jasper about the Sunday night in Richmond when he first saw and heard Mick, Keith, Brian, Bill & "Charles Watts" blow the roof...
E115: Davitt Sigerson on disco + Bootsy Collins + Mick Rock R.I.P.
November 29, 2021 18:00 - 1 hourIn this episode, we welcome Davitt Sigerson, all the way from his native New York City, to talk about his stellar career from Black Music magazine in 1975 to being made chairman of Island Records in America in 1998. Along the way we hear about his passionate love of disco, his two albums for ZE Records, and plenty more besides. Davitt also weighs in with thoughts on Chic, Prince, David Bowie's Young Americans, the late Mick Rock and a newly-added audio interview with Bootsy Collins, conducted...
E114: Lenny Kaye on Patti Smith + Nuggets + Led Zep IV
November 15, 2021 16:30 - 1 hourIn this episode, we welcome the great Lenny Kaye — all the way from NYC — and ask him to reminisce about his New Jersey youth; the revelation that was rock 'n' roll; his exposure in 1966 to Crawdaddy! and other pioneering music zines, and of course his first encounters with the inimitable Patti Smith. Along the way we hear about his landmark 1972 anthology Nuggets, and about his thrilling new book Lightning Striking. Clips from John Tobler's 1978 audio interview with Patti prompt Lenny to rel...
E113: Michael Zilkha on ZE Records + John Cale + The Velvet Underground
November 01, 2021 20:00 - 1 hourIn this episode, Michael Zilkha joins us all the way from Houston, Texas, to reminisce about his iconic ZE label — and the extraordinary artists he signed to it, from James Chance & Lydia Lunch to his late ex-wife Cristina and August "Kid Creole" Darnell... not forgetting John Cale, whom we hear in two audio clips talking about Lou Reed, Andy Warhol and the Velvet Underground. Discussion of Todd Haynes' new documentary on the band — Michael's all-time favourite group — follows. Mark & Jasper ...
E112: Paul Morley on Manchester + Tony Wilson + New Order + Faust
October 18, 2021 17:00 - 1 hourIn this episode, the legendary Paul Morley joins us to talk about his native Manchester, Joy Division and his epic new biography of Factory Records boss Tony Wilson. Paul recounts his early pop epiphanies and discovery of the UK's music press, culminating in the one & only issue of his 1976 fanzine Out There — not to mention his first reviews for the NME in 1976. The conversation then turns to "Anthony H." Wilson and the formation of Factory, taking in Paul's championing of Joy Division befor...
E111: Miles Marshall Lewis on Kendrick Lamar + Wynton Marsalis + Bob Marley
October 04, 2021 18:15 - 1 hourIn this episode, we welcome the excellent Miles Marshall Lewis to Zoom in from his native New York City. Co-hosts Barney, Mark & Jasper ask Miles about his formative musical experiences in the South Bronx, including the impact of his parents' superhip record collection. The conversation turns to hip hop, and then to the "mashing" of jazz and rap on the first three Tribe Called Quest albums — which leads circuitously to Kendrick Lamar's jazz-infused 2015 masterpiece To Pimp a Butterfly, and th...
E110: Jaan Uhelszki onstage with KISS + Buena Vista Social Club + Lindsey Buckingham
September 20, 2021 16:30 - 56 minutesIn this episode of the Rock's Backpages podcast, Mark Pringle, Martin Colyer and Jasper Murison-Bowie discuss the writing of Creem legend Jaan Uhelszki, who is the featured writer on the week's homepage. Her open letter to Smokey Robinson, interview with Suzi Quatro, appraisal of proto-punk band Death and onstage escapades with KIϟϟ provide the trio with an opportunity to enthuse about her marvellous, stylish prose. On the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the Buena Vista Social Club, they...
E109: Simon Reynolds on Melody Maker + Saint Etienne + Heaven 17 + Lee 'Scratch' Perry
September 06, 2021 18:00 - 1 hourIn this episode we're thrilled to host Simon Reynolds, beamed in from his adopted Southern California. One of the most outstanding music writers of the past three and a half decades, Simon talks to us about his formative pop years; his own early fanzines Margin and Monitor; and the sea-change he (and others) brought to Melody Maker in the late '80s. Simon's fascinating and passionate Pitchfork piece 'Worth the Wait' (2014) is the springboard for a general discussion of the peak years of the M...
E108: Richard Williams on Laura Nyro + Beach Boys audio interviews
August 23, 2021 16:30 - 1 hourIn this episode — the first we've recorded in our London office for over 18 pandemic months — we persuaded long-time RBP contributor Richard Williams (far left) to make his second appearance on "the show", principally so we could pick his brains on two of his favourite musical subjects. We start with a conversation about Laura Nyro, of whom both he and co-host Barney are besotted devotees (fellow co-hosts Mark & Martin can't get past the voice), then move on to the Beach Boys of 1970's Sunflo...
E107: David Bates on making hits + Julian Cope audio + Dusty Hill R.I.P.
August 09, 2021 16:00 - 1 hourIn this episode, Barney, Mark & Jasper invite legendary A&R man David Bates to tell them about his long & distinguished career in music — particularly the years he spent working at Phonogram with the likes of Tears For Fears, Def Leppard & Robert Plant. David reminisces about hearing the Beatles on the radio in 1962, and how that took him eventually to DJ'ing & to working at Richard Branson's first Virgin megastore in the '70s. A clip from our 1990 Was (Not Was) audio interview prompts recall...
E106: Jennifer Otter Bickerdike on Nico + Jackson Browne + Britney Spears
July 26, 2021 16:35 - 1 hourIn this week's podcast, Mark and Jasper are joined by the excellent Dr. Jennifer Otter Bickerdike to talk about her new Nico book, You Are Beautiful and You Are Alone: The Biography of Nico. Jennifer shares the story of where the idea for the book came from and contemplates comparisons of Nico with Marianne Faithfull. The three of them also consider her remarkable music from Chelsea Girl to Camera Obscura and her time in the Velvet Underground that led to long-lasting collaboration with John ...
E105: Nelson George on the Death of R&B + Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis audio
July 12, 2021 18:00 - 1 hourIn the new episode of the RBP podcast, hosts Barney, Mark & Jasper welcome the great Nelson George into "the cupboard", all the way from his native Brooklyn. Nelson talks about his long and distinguished career, from interning at Billboard via his Village Voice column to his recently-published collection The Nelson George Mixtape, Vol. 1. His hosts ask him specifically about his essential 1988 book The Death of Rhythm & Blues, as well as about hip hop & the Average White Band. The conversatio...
E104: Vivien Goldman's Punky Reggae Party + 'Launderette' + Joe Strummer audio
June 28, 2021 19:00 - 1 hourIn this episode, hosts Barney Hoskyns, Mark Pringle & Jasper Murison-Bowie welcome the one & only Vivien Goldman to join them live & direct from her beloved Jamaica — and to talk about her life as a writer about postpunk, reggae, dub & her other "outernationalist" passions. The "Punk Professor" reminisces about her days on Sounds & the UK's other "inkies", and her fight to make women's voices heard in the '70s music press: her 1977 challenging of George Benson's ingrained male chauvinism; her...
E103: David Kamp on Rock Snobbery + 1971 + Sly Stone + Doors audio
June 15, 2021 18:00 - 1 hourIn the new episode of the RBP podcast, hosts Mark Pringle, Martin Colyer & Barney Hoskyns invite David Kamp to reminisce about The Rock Snob's Dictionary, already 15 years old but still wonderfully droll and still very on-the-money about people like, well, Mark, Martin & Barney. We ask David to explain the origins of Rock Snobbery and to revisit his epic Vanity Fair pieces about Sly Stone and the unlikely friendship 'twixt country icon Johnny Cash & producer Rick Rubin. The week's overaching ...
E102: Carol Cooper on New York Sounds + Stax Records + Eddy Grant audio
May 31, 2021 18:00 - 1 hourIn this episode we welcome the distinguished New York writer Carol Cooper and ask her to talk us through her career, from her first pieces for the SoHo Weekly News, via the Village Voice and The Face to her present incarnation as an Adjunct Instructor at NYU's Tisch School of the Arts. Dr. Cooper also talks about her early experiences of live music in NYC & New Jersey, plus the dawn of East Coast hip hop (and the vital importance of Bronx club Disco Fever); the problematic concept of "global ...
E101: Marshall Crenshaw on Buddy Holly + Tom Wilson + Lloyd Price
May 17, 2021 18:00 - 1 hourIn this episode we invite beloved pop-rock singer-songwriter Marshall Crenshaw to reminisce about his long career, from the 40-year-old Shake single 'Something's Gonna Happen' to the documentary film he's producing about Dylan/Zappa/Velvets producer Tom Wilson. Along the way, Barney, Mark & Jasper ask Marshall about his Michigan upbringing, playing John Lennon in Beatlemania, signing to Warner Bros. Records, and his great influence Buddy Holly. Holly pops up in a clip from the week's new audi...
E100: Celebrating 100 episodes + The Black Keys + Donald Fagen audio
May 10, 2021 18:30 - 1 hourIn this episode we depart from our normal format in order to celebrate the milestone that is our 100th episode. Barney, Mark & Jasper look back over highlights of the previous 99 "shows", listening to amusing clips from interviews with Jennifer Otter Bickerdike, Neil Tennant, Amy Linden, Bernard Fowler, James Fox, Stewart Lee, Caroline Boucher, Loyd Grossman and John Harris. Along the way they relive the podcast's inception and evolution — and the crucial importance of Mark Pringle's inimitab...
E99: David Quantick on Pop Eating Itself + Teenage Fanclub + Marianne Faithfull
May 03, 2021 17:00 - 1 hourIn this episode we invite Emmy award-winning screenwriter David Quantick to relive his days as a budding pop scribe on the NME – and to share his memories of Paul Weller, Lloyd Cole & the ignominious Morrissey. As someone who's written with Chris Morris, Armando Iannucci and Harrys Hill & Enfield, David is predictably hilarious about '80s pop – as well as about Simon Cowell & many other things. He also offers his tuppenceworth on the week's featured act Teenage Fanclub, and on our 1998 Marian...
E98: Chris Welch on Melody Maker + Fairport Convention + DMX R.I.P.
April 19, 2021 18:00 - 1 hourIn this episode of the RBP podcast, we welcome Melody Maker veteran Chris Welch into the virtual cupboard to talk about his long career — all the way from The Scotsman on Fleet Street in 1958 to editing Metal Hammer in 1989. Chris reminisces about the swinging, thrilling '60s and his essential early pieces on acts such as the Rolling Stones and Jimi Hendrix. He also recalls coining the term "progressive rock", after which he discusses jazz-fusion virtuosi the Mahavishnu Orchestra with Mark, B...
E97: Joel Selvin on Early '60s L.A. + Jack Nitzsche + Malcolm Cecil R.I.P.
April 05, 2021 16:15 - 1 hourIn this episode of the RBP podcast, we welcome San Francisco Chronicle legend Joel Selvin into the virtual cupboard to talk about Hollywood Eden, his terrific new book about L.A.'s pop scene in the early '60s. After explaining how he first came to write for "the Chron" at the end of that decade, Joel recalls his early fascination with L.A. as the burgeoning "surf city" celebrated by Jan & Dean and the Beach Boys. Barney & Mark press him for stories about the scurrilous but brilliant "bottom f...
E96: Adele Bertei on Labelle + Peter Laughner + August Darnell
March 22, 2021 19:00 - 1 hourContent warning: This episode contains discussion of domestic abuse and violence against women (33:50–37:42). In this episode, we talk to the amazing Adele Bertei about her career as a singer, songwriter and the author of two terrific books, Peter & the Wolves & the new Why Labelle Matters. Starting with her wild life as a gay teenager in Cleveland, Ohio, we hear about her friend & mentor Peter Laughner, founder member of Pere Ubu and a tragically self-destructive troubadour who died back in...
E95: Tony Russell on old-time country music + Phil Everly audio + Bunny Wailer R.I.P.
March 08, 2021 18:30 - 1 hourIn this episode we welcome the great blues & country writer Tony Russell, who talks about his new Rural Rhythm: The Story of Old-Time Country Music in 78 Records — and the joys of the original Americana sound from the '20s to the '40s. Tony also talks us through his writing career from the late '60s to the present, with a particular nod to a 1972 Cream piece about B.B. King. The focus on the "Old-Time" country of Fiddlin' John Carson & Uncle Dave Macon carries through to discussion of those c...
E94: Caroline Boucher on Zappa + Beefheart + Alice Cooper + Yes
February 22, 2021 17:30 - 1 hourIn this episode we invite former Disc (and Music Echo) reporter Caroline Boucher to reflect on her journey from the Gravesend & Dartford Reporter to The Observer's Food Monthly supplement — via a stint at Elton John's Rocket label. Barney, Mark & Jasper ask Caroline about being a female pop reporter in that very unwoke era, and press her for stories about her favourite L.A. freaks Frank Zappa and Captain Beefheart. The Zappa theme leads into clips from not one but two audio interviews with Vi...
E93: Nick Kent on the NME + Iggy Pop audio + SOPHIE R.I.P.
February 08, 2021 18:30 - 1 hourIn this episode we welcome the legendary Nick Kent as our very special guest. Unarguably the most famous British rock writer from the golden era of '70s rock journalism, Nick tells Barney, Mark & Jasper how he began writing for the underground Frendz and then for Nick Logan's super-hip New Musical Express. Recollections of Syd Barrett, Brian Wilson and the Rolling Stones lead inevitably to tales of self-indulgence and self-destruction — and eventually to Nick's sometime drug buddy Iggy Pop, w...
E93: Nick Kent on the NME + Iggy Pop audio + Sophie R.I.P.
February 08, 2021 18:30 - 1 hourIn this episode we welcome the legendary Nick Kent as our very special guest. Unarguably the most famous British rock writer from the golden era of '70s rock journalism, Nick tells Barney, Mark & Jasper how he began writing for the underground Frendz and then for Nick Logan's super-hip New Musical Express. Recollections of Syd Barrett, Brian Wilson and the Rolling Stones lead inevitably to tales of self-indulgence and self-destruction — and eventually to Nick's sometime drug buddy Iggy Pop, w...
E92: Nick Coleman on Voices + Phil Spector + Miles Copeland
January 25, 2021 19:00 - 1 hourIn this episode, we welcome the excellent Nick Coleman into RBP's snug virtual cupboard. Barney, Mark & Jasper quiz Nick about his distinctively personal music writing for the NME, Time Out and the Indie on Sunday, with especial reference to his 1986 interview with jazz-soul siren Anita Baker. This leads seamlessly to discussion of his terrific 2017 tome Voices: How a Great Singer Can Change Your Life, as well as to the harrowing experience of hearing loss that inspired 2012's The Train in th...
E91: John Simon on Janis Joplin + The Band + Van Morrison + Lillian Roxon
January 11, 2021 18:00 - 1 hourIn the new episode of the Rock's Backpages Podcast, we welcome legendary producer, piano player and songwriter John Simon, beamed in from his winter retreat in the Florida Keys. Mere hours before the shocking assault on D.C.'s Capitol building, John reminisces wittily and insightfully about working with The Band, Janis Joplin, Taj Mahal & Bobby Charles — and about his trenchant musical memoir Truth, Lies & Hearsay. He also joins us as we listen to his sometime fellow Woodstocker Van Morrison ...
E90: John Harris on Britpop + McCartney audio + Charley Pride
December 21, 2020 18:00 - 1 hourIn this episode we welcome The Guardian's John Harris into RBP's virtual cupboard to reminisce about his career as a music journalist and author. Mark, Barney & Jasper look back with John at Britpop and at The Last Party, his definitive 2003 book about it; we also consider the crucial role in the Britpop story of Select magazine, which John edited between 1995 and 1997. Discussion of Britpop's more jingoistic aspects is accompanied by references to contemporary pieces on Blur, Oasis & co. by ...
E89: Kandia Crazy Horse on Southern Rock + Little Richard
December 07, 2020 19:00 - 1 hourIn this week's episode, we talk to the splendid Kandia Crazy Horse — Zooming in from her apartment in "high Harlem" — about her career as a writer and singer-songwriter; about her abiding love for Southern rock; and about Rip It Up, her 2004 anthology of essays on Black rock from Little Richard to Lenny Kravitz. Along the way we discuss Donny Hathaway, Muscle Shoals, Mad Dogs & Englishmen, Love's Arthur Lee... and Kandia's terrific 2013 country-soul album Stampede. We then go back to 1969 and...
E88: Mark Cooper on Neil Young + Jools Holland + Steve Van Zandt
November 23, 2020 19:00 - 1 hourIn the new episode of the Rock's Backpages podcast, we welcome into RBP's cosy virtual cupboard the BBC's former Head of Music Entertainment — and the co-creator of the enduring Later… with Jools Holland show. Yes folks, Mark Cooper revisits his career as a music writer — from seeing the last Sex Pistols show in San Francisco in 1978 to interviewing N.W.A. in South-Cental L.A. 1989 — and talks about his long TV career and the hatching of Later in 1992. Mark's 2008 interview with Neil Young sp...
E87: Jez Butterworth on the Band + Dolly Parton + Perry Farrell
November 09, 2020 18:45 - 1 hourIn this episode we welcome acclaimed playwright Jez (Jerusalem) Butterworth into RBP's virtual cupboard to talk mainly about The Band – but also about Dolly Parton and other musical tastes shared with hosts Mark, Barney & Jasper. Barney gets the ball rolling by asking Jez how an early '90s conversation with Malcolm McLaren led to his first play Mojo – and how music has long played a part in his work. A Butterworth screenplay based on John Niven's peerless novella Music from Big Pink prompts ...
E86: Loraine Alterman on Detroit + Stevie Wonder + Elvis Costello
October 26, 2020 19:30 - 1 hourIn this episode, Barney, Mark & Jasper welcome the great Loraine Alterman — live from New York City! — to reminisce about her journey from '60s "Teen Beat" reporter on the Detroit Free Press to co-producer of a new Broadway show about Motown stars the Temptations. Along the way we also hear about New York's Fillmore and Apollo theatres — and how John Lennon came to be Best Man at her wedding to actor Peter Boyle. Then we head back to the Motor City to discuss the genius of Stevie Wonder as he...
E85: Midge Ure on New Romantics + Van Halen + Mariah Carey audio
October 12, 2020 18:00 - 1 hourIn this episode we invite James "Midge" Ure to talk us through his wonderfully convoluted career in a conversation that stretches from Slik to Visage — via the Rich Kids, the Blitz club and Live Aid — to his present-day Backstage Lockdown Club. With a special focus on the New Romantics, RBP's hosts ask Midge about Ultravox, whose classic Vienna album is 40 years old this week, and touch on the "manifesto" that Sounds' Betty Page put together with Spandau Ballet in that same year. Midge also p...
E84: Jude Rogers on Adele + Prince + Sonic Youth audio
September 28, 2020 19:00 - 1 hourIn this week's episode, we welcome the wonderful Jude Rogers into RBP's very own Gridworld. Live from her native Wales, the far-from-obscure Jude reviews her career as a music scribe from The Llanelli Star to The Word, revisiting interviews with megastar-in-the-making Adele Atkins and wholly reformed cocaine fiend Tony Bennett. Jude also reflects on a 2008 thinkpiece about the Beach Boys' influence on Fleet Foxes, the latter having just "dropped" a rather fine new album, Shore, with minimum f...
E83: Stewart Lee on Robert Lloyd + Robert Wyatt + Ronald "Khalis" Bell
September 14, 2020 18:00 - 1 hourIn this week's episode, we invite cult meta-comedian and out-there-music connoisseur Stewart Lee to discuss the new documentary he's made about Prefects/Nightingales legend Robert Lloyd. Stewart also pitches in on RBP's new audio interview, a 1991 conversation 'twixt the late Andy Gill and everyone's favourite choirboy-voiced Commie Robert Wyatt. In addition we consider the week's featured RBP writer Caitlin Moran, with especial attention to her hair-raising 1994 encounter with Courtney Love....
E82: Vicki Wickham on Ready Steady Go + Dusty Springfield + Labelle + Morrissey
August 31, 2020 18:00 - 54 minutesIn this week's episode, Mark and Jasper are joined by the fabulous Vicki Wickham to chat all things pop and beyond, starting with her experiences as producer of TV show Ready, Steady, Go! in swinging sixties London, when Vicki became good friends with Dusty Springfield, through writing for Fabulous and Melody Maker to managing Labelle in the 70s and much else besides. Vicki talks about how she got her foot in the door of television and reminisces about writing lyrics for Dusty, then tells the...
E81: Alan McGee on Creation Records + Primal Scream + Oasis vs. Blur
August 17, 2020 17:00 - 1 hourIn this episode, Barney & Jasper welcome the legendary Alan McGee into RBP's virtual cupboard. The Creation Records founder talks us through his storied career, from his school days in Glasgow to the Creation 23 label of the 21st century. Reminiscing about the early '80s Living Room gigs he put on in London, Alan describes the signings of Oasis, the Jesus and Mary Chain another great Creation acts. He also explains how Primal Scream got from Sonic Flower Groove to Screamadelica; how he almos...