The Born in the USA fallacy
Forty years ago Bruce Springsteen’s bleak portrait of America’s discarded working class was miscast as a patriotic anthem.
ByPop music
How Take That helped me embrace middle age
Seeing Gary, Howard and Mark perform in Manchester revealed how friendships, freedom and fun evolve through life.
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Pet Shop Boys: “Labour could do with an infusion of idealism”
The pop duo on Keir Starmer, the royals, Marvel and the word “queer”.
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Jah Wobble Q&A: “Evil spirits shattered my parking sensors”
The legendary post-punk bassist and singer on teleportation, Tube trains, and living with the paranormal.
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How the Liverbirds disrupted the rock ’n’ roll boys’ club
The all-female band shone briefly in Sixties Hamburg, but were prevented from flourishing in a male-dominated scene.
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Never meet your heroes – unless your hero is Jah Wobble
A close encounter with the legendary bassist leaves me giddy and unsteady on my feet.
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Robbie Robertson’s sounds of America
In the Sixties, the Canadian musician defined Americana. On his score for Killers of the Flower Moon, he blew it…
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Laufey at EartH: woozy and nostalgic love songs
The Chinese-Icelandic singer mixes classical and jazz influences in her old-fashioned take on pop.
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It’s time to scrap the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
This self-congratulatory country club of popular music is outdated and irrelevant – resigned to playing catch-up with our culture.
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Bernie Taupin: good lyricist, bad writer
The songs he wrote with Elton John may be works of art. His bloated memoir is not.
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John Niven’s chronicles of chaos
The author on the hedonism of Britpop and the long shadow of his brother’s suicide.
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Muna’s anti-capitalist pop
The queer pop band has two focuses: making music, and making sure success doesn’t turn them into “evil landlords”.
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Drake’s poetry collection isn’t literature
The Canadian rapper’s boastful new book is merely a marketing tool for his music.
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Why is Taylor Swift re-recording her old albums?
The singer’s decision to release new recordings of her old albums reflects a bitter struggle over music rights.
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Lana Del Rey: a great American poet
She began her career as a conventional, if self-aware, pop star. Her recent records are the work of a singer-songwriter…
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The Ballad of Darren is one of Blur’s best records
The band’s new album, like all their greatest work, is suffused with melancholy.
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Blur and the strange death of Britpop England
Their gig at Wembley Stadium was their biggest yet. But do the nostalgic guitar sounds of the 1990s have wider…
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Bruce Springsteen and the spectre of stardom
In 1981, the singer sensed his future fame – and retreated. Nebraska, his darkest and most personal album, was the…
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The abuse of the Bay City Rollers
Even if I hadn’t read the tabloid stories about the band’s struggles, they’d be top of my list in the…
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In the house of Harry Styles
The pop star’s fans have their tricks and traditions to make a stadium gig feel as intimate as possible.
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