E215: Simon Price on Melody Maker + Manics + Radiohead audio
For this episode — the first to feature RBP's editorial co-ordinator William Pike — we're joined by Melody Maker legend Simon Price for a discussion of his career, his championing of Manic Street Preachers, and Radiohead's first tour since 2018.
Beginning in the South Wales town of Barry, we hear about Simon's boyhood, his formative pop passions and the first of his distinctive sartorial metamorphoses. He recalls his late '80s move to London and the years at Melody Maker that took in his first interviews with fellow Welshmen the Manics and his integral involvement in the Neo-glam sub-genre known as Romo.
Our guest's review of the first Radiohead album provides the cue for clips from Amy Linden's 1997 audio interview with Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood. We hear Thom talking about the just-released OK Computer and about his beef with Melody Maker itself: this prompts a general discussion of the band's standing as they prepare for the first date of their European tour.
After reflecting on the 13 years he spent reviewing gigs for the Independent on Sunday, Simon discusses the gestation of 2021's Curepedia, the "Cure A-Z" he assembled for White Rabbit books. We conclude the episode with tributes to jazz drummer Jack DeJohnette and keyboardist David Ball, phlegmatic foil to Soft Cell frontman Marc Almond.
Many thanks to special guest Simon Price. Curepedia: An A–Z of the Cure is published by White Rabbit and available from all good bookshops.
Pieces discussed: Articles, interviews and reviews from Simon Price, Manic Street Preachers: Drags to Riches, Radiohead: Pablo Honey, Radiohead audio (1997), Jack DeJohnette: More Than One Way, Soft Cell: Cell Division and The Tainted Life of Soft Cell
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E214: Lisa Verrico on Vox + Oasis + Billie Eilish + My Bloody Valentine
In this episode we invite the highly entertaining Lisa Verrico to join us from her native Glasgow and talk us through her career from IPC's Vox magazine to The Times.
Commencing with her memory of first hearing Prince's 'Little Red Corvette' as a kid on holiday in Spain, our guest recalls her days of raving (and working in radio) before describing how she got her foot in the door at Vox. Hair-raising Mancunian encounters with Happy Mondays and Mark E. Smith serve as preludes to Lisa's hilarious 1994 interview with Oasis. We hear her "bootleg recording" of the Gallagher brothers' competing impersonations of Mick Jagger on the band's impromptu rendition of 'You Can't Always Get What You Want'.
A broad discussion of what the '90s meant for pop culture takes in Lisa's memories of Oasis hanger-on Evan Dando and of the altogether different My Bloody Valentine. Clips from a 1989 audio interview with the latter's Kevin Shields and bandmates prompt reflections on MBV's extraordinary sound and their somewhat dysfunctional relationship with Creation's Alan McGee.
We return to Lisa's own story by asking her what happened after Vox folded in 1998 — and how she wound up reviewing (and interviewing) for The Times for 25 years. We also discuss how much the live music experience has changed in that time. Finally, we hear about our guest's 2019 trip to L.A. to interview 17-year-old superstar-in-the-making Billie Eilish.
After paying heartfelt tribute to cult neo-soul star D'Angelo — note that news of the death of former KISS guitarist Ace Frehley only reached us after this episode was recorded — Mark quotes from a 1984 interview with jazz giant Wynton Marsalis and Jasper takes us out with his thoughts on Joe Muggs' 2011 interview with the great James Blake.
Many thanks to special guest Lisa Verrico. You can find her writing in The Times.
Pieces discussed: Oasis: Shake'n'vac, Evan Dando: Baby I'm Bored, Evan Dando: "I get the feeling I'm being bullshitted", Evan Dando: The Smoker You Drink, The Player You Get, Evan Dando: Different Drum, My Bloody Valentine audio, Billie Eilish, D'Angelo: Soul Asylum, On D'Angelo and the Birth of Neo-Soul, D'Angelo: Black Messiah, Wynton Marsalis: The Hottest Lips in America and James Blake: Point Blake.
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E213: Michael A. Gonzales on TLC + The Source + DJ Kool Herc
In this episode, the great R&B/hip hop writer Michael A. Gonzales joins us online from Baltimore to look back on his long career.
We start with our guest's formative musical memories, from hearing Isaac Hayes' 'Theme from Shaft' and meeting Little Anthony & the Imperials to seeing the Jackson Five live at Radio City Music Hall in February 1975. His earliest inklings of New York's rap scene take us back to his 2008 piece about the trailblazing DJ Kool Herc playing block parties in the Bronx of the early '70s.
We hear about Michael's first pieces for The Source, arguably the most important hip hop magazine of the late '80s and '90s, and about his collaboration with Havelock Nelson on the 1991 book Bring the Noise. We also discuss a Barry White interview he did for Danyel Smith at Vibe and learn about his friendships with fellow writers from Barry Michael Cooper to Amy Linden.
The latter's audio interview with TLC ties in with Michael's own writing on the hugely successful Atlanta trio, and we listen to clips of Chilli, T-Boz and Left Eye talking to Amy in late 1998 about their upcoming third album FanMail.
After Mark quotes from pieces about the Velvet Underground (1967) and Earth, Wind & Fire (1974), Jasper talks us out with his thoughts on reviews of Radiohead's Kid A (2000) and – by RBP's William Pike – the Bug Club live in London last month.
Many thanks to special guest Michael A. Gonzales. Find him on Substack at substack.com/@michaelagonzales1 and on Instagram @bigmikeg151.
Pieces discussed: Michael A. Gonzales, D.J. Kool Herc: The Holy House of Hip-hop, Barry White: Blackberry Jam, TLC Marks 20 Years of CrazySexyCool, TLC (1998), The Velvet Underground and Nico (Verve), Earth, Wind and Fire: The Sound of the Streets, Orrin Keepnews' Milestones, Radiohead: Kid A and The Bug Club at the MOTH Club.
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1:15:36
E212: Greil Marcus on Mystery Train + Sex Pistols + Jamie Reid
In this episode, we ask one of the greatest music writers of the rock and roll era to talk about Mystery Train as he celebrates its 50th anniversary with a brand-new edition of his classic book.
Talking to us from Oakland, 6,000 miles away in his native Northern California, Greil Marcus looks back on the pivotal moments that led to his starting work on Mystery Train in the fall of 1972: his experiences as a student at Berkeley, his discovery of film critic Pauline Kael and his early writing for Rolling Stone.
From there we focus on the book's extraordinary chapters about Sly Stone and Elvis Presley before relating its overarching theme – America as an "invented nation" – to the Trump administration's assault on the diversity that produced so much great art from Walt Whitman and Herman Melville to Robert Johnson and Randy Newman.
A somewhat abrupt switch takes us over to our side of the pond and our guest's second book: the vast "secret history of the 20th Century" that was 1989's Lipstick Traces, along with the 1993 collection of his punk writings entitled In the Fascist Bathroom.
Clips from Paul Moody's 2018 audio interview with Jamie Reid – the subversive graphic designer who became Malcolm McLaren's principal partner in iconographic crime – prompt Greil's reflections on what made (the) Sex Pistols such a vital sea-change in the subculture of rock and roll.
Many thanks to special guest Greil Marcus. The 50th anniversary edition of Mystery Train is published by Faber and available now.
Pieces discussed: Greil Marcus, Greil Marcus: A Life In Writing, The Band: We Can Talk About It Now, Jamie Reid audio, The Beatles: Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (Parlophone), Ray Davies: A Study In Frustration, The Pet Shop Boys: Hip, Clever and Pop and The Black Keys Acknowledge Their Muses on Delta Kream.
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1:09:59
This Episode Goes 2 11: A Spinal Tap special with Alexis Petridis
For this special "bonus" episode of the Rock's Backpages podcast — fittingly number 211 (geddit?) — we're joined once again by The Guardian's Alexis Petridis for a discussion of timeless rock mockumentary This is Spinal Tap and its breathlessly-awaited sequel Spinal Tap II: The End Continues...
With reference to A Fine Line Between Stupid and Clever, the newly-published "story of Spinal Tap" told by Rob "Marty DiBergi" Reiner — with help from our good friend David Kamp (an excellent podcast guest back in 2021) – we reflect on what made the original 1984 film so special and what challenges its 2025 sequel faced.
Along the way we celebrate the satirical genius of Michael "David St. Hubbins" McKean, Harry "Derek Smalls" Shearer and Christopher "Nigel Tufnel" Guest (as well as the latter's subsequent masterpieces from Waiting for Guffman to A Mighty Wind) and ponder the wisdom or otherwise of including cameos by Sirs Elton John and Paul McCartney in the new film. Meanwhile our highly-respected guest — who of course ghosted Sir Elton's autobiography Me — recalls his own close encounter with Tap in 2009.
This end does not continue.
Pieces discussed: Spinal Tap's Metal Memories, Spinal Tap: It's an Ill Wind..., Spinal Tap: Wembley Arena, London and Spinal Tap: Still smelling the glove.
Tales 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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