On my sixth birthday (January 1964) the charts were topped by The Beatles with I Want To Hold Your Hand. But the song that catches my eye today is the song at No.10 that week. (more…)

The Beatles made their first entry into the pop chart in January 1963, reaching the lofty heights of No.16 with Love Me Do. (more…)

This song is for my old mate Gavin Martin who died yesterday. My not-so-old mate. He was 60. (more…)

If you’d ever wondered what Lou Reed might have sounded like if he’d chosen a career in country music* Garrett T. Capps provides the answer. (more…)

Dutch singer Bonnie St. Claire represented the European wing of 1970s Glam but failed even to cross over the Channel – because she sounded like a shit Suzi Quatro.

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Dance duo Sofi Tukker’s banger Good Time Girl is the soundtrack to Paolo Sorrentino’s brilliant TV drama The New Pope. (more…)

Dr. Dre’s old-skool hip-hop classic The Next Episode, featuring Snoop Dogg, Nate Dogg and Kurupt, has fallen victim to cancel cultutre on the radio. (more…)

No one played the slide guitar like Elmore James. Well, they did – but he did it first. This was his first recording, and became his signature song. (more…)

A member of the audience died when I went to see Endgame at the Old Vic. And the show really did go on… more’s the pity. (more…)

Céline Sciamma’s Portrait Of A Lady On Fire is not just a film about love and desire, but a film about art – and the symbiosis between subject and painter. (more…)