Rock's Backpages</a> is the world's leading collection of vintage music journalism. Each week on <a href=https://www.theguardian.com/music/series/"http://www.guardian.co.uk/music">guardian.co.uk/music, we reprint a hand-picked article from their archive" /> Skip to main contentSkip to navigation
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From Rock's Backpages

Rock's Backpages is the world's leading collection of vintage music journalism. Each week on guardian.co.uk/music, we reprint a hand-picked article from their archive

10 February 2016

  • Jarvis Cocker of Pulp - 1996<br>Mandatory Credit: Photo by K FUCHS/REX_Shutterstock (258830a) Jarvis Cocker Jarvis Cocker of Pulp - 1996

    Jarvis Cocker: 'I have a terrible temper on me'

    It’s 20 years since the Pulp singer’s backside upstaged Michael Jackson at the Brit awards. Shortly afterwards, Dave Simpson interviewed him for Melody Maker – Rock’s Backpages digs out a classic interview

3 February 2016

  • Photo of Buddy Holly<br>UNSPECIFIED - CIRCA 1970: Photo of Buddy Holly Photo by Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images

    Buddy Holly: the rocker next door – a classic profile by Mick Farren

    On the 57th anniversary of the his tragic death we revisit this profile of the clean-cut icon, first published in NME in September 1975 and taken from Rock’s Backpages

27 January 2016

  • Photo of PUBLIC IMAGE LTD and John LYDON<br>UNITED STATES - APRIL 01: Photo of PUBLIC IMAGE LTD and John LYDON (Photo by Peter Noble/Redferns)

    John Lydon: 'Have I mellowed? Absolutely f***ing not' – a classic interview

    We celebrate the former Sex Pistol turning 60 with this piece showing him on drunkenly eviscerating form, first published in Q in July 1989 and taken from Rock’s Backpages, the online home of music writing

20 January 2016

  • Transvision Vamp in 1988.

    Transvision Vamp's Wendy James: 'We did to Warhol what he did to bananas'

    This week is Wendy James’ 50th birthday. Rock’s Backpages brings you an interview with Transvision Vamp from Melody Maker dated 2 April 1988 which reports on their latest manoeuvres to double-cross the the charts with slivers of pop art

6 January 2016

  • Syd Barrett, the man Roger Waters contended to be ‘one of the three best songwriters in the world’.

    Syd Barrett: the genius who almost was – a classic profile by Nick Kent

    The late Pink Floyd leader’s 70th birthday is celebrated with Nick Kent’s piece, first published in Creem in October 1973, and taken from Rock’s Backpages, the online home of music writing

29 December 2015

  • VARIOUS<br>Mandatory Credit: Photo by Karen Petersen / Everett Collection / Rex Features ( 779625a ) Motorhead - Lemmy VARIOUS

    Lemmy: a life in quotes

    From acoustically enhanced pizza to his adoration of hotels and disdain for celibacy, here’s the late metal star’s life in quotes, courtesy of Rock’s Backpages

16 December 2015

  • ZZ Top in Concert at the Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium - June 5, 1976<br>Dusty Hill and Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top during ZZ Top in Concert at the Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium - June 5, 1976 at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. (Photo by Tom Hill/WireImage)

    ZZ Top's Billy Gibbons: 'I don’t want to get too eclectic'

    Billy F Gibbons turns 65 this week. Here’s a classic ZZ Top interview taken from Blast in August 1976 and resurrected by Rock’s Backpages

9 December 2015

  • J Mascis Performs At Scala In London<br>LONDON, ENGLAND - JANUARY 08: J Mascis performs on stage at Scala on January 8, 2015 in London, United Kingdom (Photo by Maria Jefferis/Redferns via Getty Images)

    Dinosaur Jr: 'J Mascis was really into UK Oi! punk – he had a skinhead'

    As J Mascis, guitarist, singer and grunge icon turns 50, Rock’s Backpages brings you an interview with Dinosaur Jr from Vox magazine in 1991

2 December 2015

  • (from left) Leeroy Thornhill, Liam Howlett, Keith Flint and Maxim of Prodigy in 1994

    The Prodigy's Liam Howlett: 'We do everything we can to stay off the telly'

    To mark the Prodigy’s 2015 UK tour, Rock’s Backpages brings you this 1994 Melody Maker interview with the band’s frontman

25 November 2015

  • Al Jackson, Jr. (1935 D 1975)

    Memphis sunset: The Mysterious death of Stax heartbeat Al Jackson, Jr

    ‘The Human Timekeeper’ and Stax staple would have turned 80 this week. Rock’s Backpages spotlights an investigation into his death – and the subsequent dissolution of Stax – that was originally published in Grand Royal in 1997

18 November 2015

  • Jason Pierce of Spiritualized in 1991.

    Spiritualized's Jason Pierce: 'We want to induce strong reactions'

    Jason Pierce turns 50 this week. To celebrate, Rocks Backpages digs up an interview with ‘the man who makes Marcel Marceau seem positively gobby’, from Melody Maker, 17 August 1991

11 November 2015

  • Coldplay in 2001.

    Chris Martin: 'I thought my hair was falling out'

    They may be smooth operators now, but Coldplay weren’t always so comfortable with global fame, as demonstrated by this 2001 interview from Select magazine – courtesy of Rock’s Backpages

4 November 2015

  • Phil Collins at Wembley Stadium

    Phil Collins: 'Bruce and Michael Jackson are the stars. I just earn a lot of money'

    Rock’s Backpages marks the return of the sensible, self-loathing star. Here’s an 1990 interview from NME by Steven Wells

29 October 2015

  • Siouxsie and The Banshees on The Tube

    Music of the macabre: revisiting goth's evolution – from the vaults

    Rock’s Backpages revisits Cathi Unsworth’s 1989 piece in Sounds magazine about the genesis of goth

21 October 2015

  • A black and white photo of Otis Redding on stage, the image cropped to his head and shoulders, his head turned slightly so that the stage lighting highlights one side of his face.

    Otis Redding: Mr Cool and the clique from Memphis

    At the end of this month, Rhino will issue Soul Manifesto 1964-1970, a new box set featuring studio, live and posthumous albums from the period. Rock’s Backpages revisits this interview with the soul giant from Melody Maker on 17 September 1966

14 October 2015

  • Pantera’s Dimebag Darrell performs onstage during Monsters of Rock at Castle Donington in 1994.

    Philip Anselmo: 'I ain’t trying to educate a single soul. I’m just writing rock ‘n’ roll'

    As Pantera prepare to release History of Hostility, a nine-track LP of their greatest tracks, we look back in the Rock’s Backpages archive to 1994, when frontman Philip Anselmo spoke to Kerrang!’s Steffan Chirazi

7 October 2015

  • Elvis Costello

    Elvis Costello: 'I bear a grudge, I'm vindictive'

    Ahead of the release of his memoir – Unfaithful Music & Disappearing Ink – Rock’s Backpages brings you a short, sharp interview with pop’s ‘antihero’ by the Evening News, originally published on 3 September 1977

30 September 2015

  • John Peel and Sandy Denny at the 1970 Melody Maker poll winners' party

    John Peel: 'If something has me confused, I want to play it on the radio'

    With David Cavanagh’s social history of John Peel’s radio shows winning rave reviews, we hear from the great man himself, in this 1971 Melody Maker interview, taken from Rock’s Backpages

24 September 2015

  • Blowdried and moustachioed … Eagles in their late 70s pomp.

    Eagles: 'We were too busy trying to find a good restaurant' – a classic interview from the vaults

    As tributes pour in following the death of Eagles founding member Glenn Frey, we look back in the Rock’s Backpages archives to 1974, as Eagles prepared to release their third LP, and spoke to David Rensin of Crawdaddy! magazine

16 September 2015

  • Kiss with Larry Harris of Casablanca Records on New Year’s Eve 1975.

    Kiss: 'I'm one-fifth of a sadistic cheerleading squad' – a classic encounter from the vaults

    It’s 40 years this month since Kiss released Alive!, the album that made them stars. A few weeks earlier, Creem’s Jaan Uhelszki had joined them – to be a member of Kiss for one night only. Read her account, in this piece from Rock’s Backpages
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