Best Rocksbackpages Podcasts (2025)

1
E201: Bob Merlis on Warner Bros. + Little Feat + Neil Young audio 1:19:52

14d ago1:19:52

1:19:52

For this episode we're joined – all the way from L.A. – by special guest Bob Merlis. The former head of publicity at Warner-Reprise Records in Burbank talks us through his musical odyssey from his Brooklyn childhood to his continuing PR work for the likes of ZZ Top and Carlene Carter. We hear about Bob's start at Record World in late '60s New York …

1
E200: Celebrating 200 episodes of the Rock's Backpages podcast 1:21:27

27d ago1:21:27

1:21:27

In this special episode we celebrate the last four years with clips from twelve of the best 100 shows we've recorded in that time. Following an intro from Spandau Ballet mainmain Gary Kemp speaking in January 2023, we reflect on what we have (or haven't) learned over those four years, then play and discuss clips from these episodes: Record Mirror l…

1
E199: Phil Sutcliffe on Sounds + Gang of Four + Eric Clapton 1:16:11

1M ago1:16:11

1:16:11

For this episode we're joined by veteran music scribe Phil Sutcliffe to discuss his years on Sounds, Q and MOJO. We start by hearing about our guest's Beatles-obsessed adolescence in the North London suburb of Barnet, then follow him up to Manchester University and his subsequent apprenticeship on the Newcastle Evening Chronicle. Phil explains how …

1
E198: Havelock Nelson on Hip Hop + Missy Elliott + Atlantic Records 1:09:39

2M ago1:09:39

1:09:39

For this episode we're joined all the way from Harlem in New York City by venerable hip hop writer Havelock Nelson. The first rap editor at industry bible Billboard talks about his early years in his birthplace Guyana and his love of marching bands in the country's capital Georgetown. From there we hear about his family's move to Brooklyn in 1973 a…

1
E197: Siân Pattenden on Select + the Bangles + David Johansen 1:17:11

2M ago1:17:11

1:17:11

For this episode we're joined in person by the delightful Siân Pattenden, author of the Agatha Bilke and Magical Peppers children's book series. We start by asking our guest about her early years as a child actor and teenage playwright before she describes the fanzines she published with her pal Nicky Fijalkowska. We hear how these helped to get he…

1
E196: Daniel Wolff & Danny Alexander on Dave Marsh + Curtis Mayfield 1:15:44

3M ago1:15:44

1:15:44

In this episode we welcome not one but two guests and ask them to talk about their long-time friend and mentor Dave Marsh. Daniel Wolff and Danny Alexander co-edited 2023's Marsh anthology Kick Out the Jams: on the eve of his 75th birthday they reflect on his powerful writing, his impassioned politics and his career from Creem and Rolling Stone to …

1
E195: Danny Goldberg on Led Zeppelin + Nirvana + Gil Scott-Heron 1:18:59

3M ago1:18:59

1:18:59

In this episode we're joined by music-biz legend Danny Goldberg to discuss his dealings with Led Zeppelin and Kurt Cobain — and the school days he spent with the great Gil Scott-Heron. Danny takes us back to his short-lived stint at Berkeley and his first port of call on returning to his native New York: clerking at trade bible Billboard, a job tha…

1
E194: Gene Sculatti on San Francisco + the Band's Garth Hudson R.I.P. 57:47

4M ago57:47

57:47

In this episode, we invite the excellent Gene Sculatti to talk us through his career from Crawdaddy! magazine to the Atomic Cocktail radio show he still hosts at Luxuria Music. Commencing in San Francisco in the summer of 1960 — when Gene first heard Dion's 'Lonely Teenager' — we ask our guest about his lifelong love of surf music and the Beach Boy…

1
E193: Michael Goldberg on photography + Taj Mahal + Addicted to Noise 1:12:07

4M ago1:12:07

1:12:07

For the first episode of 2025, former Rolling Stone staffer and Bay Area photographer Michael Goldberg joins us to reminisce about his music journalism and discuss his new book Jukebox. We start by asking our guest about the influences of San Franciscan "shooters" from Herb Greene to Annie Liebowitz, with special emphasis on Jim Marshall and Baron …

1
E192: Pat Kane on Hue & Cry + Sinatra + Chic + '80s Brit soul 1:14:30

5M ago1:14:30

1:14:30

For the final episode of 2024 we're joined by the formidable Pat Kane, who answers our questions about his dual career as a musician and writer with what co-host Martin Colyer describes as "an almost frightening eloquence". Commencing with the formative memories of his late father singing Frank Sinatra songs to him at bedtime — and his lifelong fix…

1
E191: Chris Charlesworth on Melody Maker in the '70s 1:07:23

5M ago1:07:23

1:07:23

For this episode we're joined by Chris Charlesworth, mainstay of Melody Maker in its '70s pomp and subsequently editorial director of music imprint Omnibus Books. Starting out at Skipton's Craven Herald & Pioneer in his native Yorkshire, Chris talks us through key moments in the Maker years he documents in recent memoir Just Backdated. Paying parti…

1
E190: Simon Garfield on Cher + Beyoncé + Luther Vandross 1:26:28

6M ago1:26:28

1:26:28

In this episode we ask the former Time Out editor and acclaimed author of fascinating studies of fonts, maps and encyclopaedias about his long writing career; we also discuss semi-colons and listen to clips from audio interviews with Cher and Luther Vandross. Our guest reflects on Expensive Habits — his 1986 investigation of the music industry's "d…

1
E189: Beverley Glick a.k.a. Betty Page on New Romantics + Quincy Jones 1:15:52

6M ago1:15:52

1:15:52

In this episode — recorded on the somewhat sombre Wednesday after the U.S. elections — we welcome the wonderful Beverley Glick to our Hammersmith lair and ask her about her New Romantic nom de plume Betty Page. Beverley tells us about her early days on Sounds, where she started out as editor Alan Lewis' secretary, and talks us through her seminal 1…

1
E188: Chris Salewicz on the NME + Supertramp + Amy Winehouse 1:12:17

7M ago1:12:17

1:12:17

In this episode we're joined by NME legend Chris Salewicz, author of acclaimed books about Bob Marley, Joe Strummer and others. We hear about our guest's boyhood in Yorkshire — and about the first gig he ever saw: the Beatles in Leeds in 1963 (followed in rapid succession by the Rolling Stones — plus a young David Bowie — in Huddersfield). Chris th…

1
E187: Simon Raymonde on Cocteau Twins + Dusty Springfield + Bella Union 1:22:17

7M ago1:22:17

1:22:17

For this episode we're joined by the admirable Simon Raymonde, sometime Cocteau Twin, head honcho at Bella Union Records and author of the autobiographical In One Ear. We commence by asking our guest about growing up as the son of the legendary Ivor Raymonde, string arranger on umpteen hits by pop idols from Billy Fury to the Walker Brothers. We he…

1
E186: Robert Hilburn on L.A. + his Randy Newman biography 1:12:34

8M ago1:12:34

1:12:34

For this episode we're joined – all the way from sunny Southern California – by L.A. Times legend Robert Hilburn. Bob beams in to discuss his new biography of the peerless Randy Newman, but we start by asking him about the early childhood memories (of his native Louisiana) that he shares with Randy himself. From there he takes us from the Eureka mo…

1
E185: Andrew Smith on A.I. + Björk + The Notorious B.I.G. 1:18:13

8M ago1:18:13

1:18:13

For this episode we're joined by the Brooklyn-based Andrew Smith, author of the bestselling Moondust, the "dotcom swindle" saga Totally Wired and the brand-new Devil in the Stack. We start by asking Andrew about the peripatetic childhood that took him from Greenwich Village to Hastings via San Francisco's summer of love. A riveting account of audit…

1
E184: Joe Boyd on Global Music + Kate & Anna McGarrigle 1:17:09

9M ago1:17:09

1:17:09

For this episode we're joined by a living musical legend whose career as an A&R man, manager, producer, label-owner and writer spans over 60 extraordinary years. On the day his monumental "journey through Global Music" And the Roots of Rhythm Remain is published, the peerless Joe Boyd visits RBP's Hammersmith HQ to talk about the book — and the 17+…

1
E183: Darrell M. McNeill on the Isley Brothers + Isaac Hayes 1:03:54

9M ago1:03:54

1:03:54

Joining us all the way from Santa Barbara for this episode is Darrell M. McNeill, director of operations at the Black Rock Coalition and author of a new 33 1/3 study of the Isley Brothers' mighty 1973 album 3 + 3. We start by asking our guest about his '90s contributions to the Village Voice and his involvement with the B.R.C.. Crediting his dad fo…

1
E182: Joe "Mr. C" McEwen on soul music + alt.country + Joe Tex audio 1:18:43

10M ago1:18:43

1:18:43

In this episode we're joined by the esteemed Joe "Mr. C" McEwen, who Zooms in from L.A. to reminisce about his storied career as a writer, DJ and A&R man. We begin in our guest's native Philadelphia, where his teenage mind was blown by a James Brown show in 1966, and follow him up to his adopted Boston. He recalls his early reviews for The Boston P…

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E181: Mark Williams on Knebworth '74 + the underground press + Joan Jett 1:10:26

10M ago1:10:26

1:10:26

In this episode the marvellous Mark Williams Zooms in from mid-Wales to regale us with tales from the heyday of the UK's underground press and his later involvement with the L.A. punk scene. We start in mid-'60s Newcastle – where our guest drummed with beat combo the Jailbirds – and move on to his days at the Birmingham Arts Lab via a flat above Lo…

1
E180: David Toop on Dr. John + Collusion + Scott Walker audio 1:23:29

10M ago1:23:29

1:23:29

In this episode we welcome the esteemed David Toop to Hammersmith – on the UK's General Election day – to discuss his extraordinary new book about (and around) Dr. John's 1968 album Gris-Gris. First we revisit the short-lived but splendidly eclectic Collusion magazine our guest co-founded in 1981: we hear about its inception and mission, as manifes…

1
E179: Luke Turner & John Doran on The Quietus + Yoko Ono + James Chance 1:16:43

11M ago1:16:43

1:16:43

In this episode we welcome John Doran and Luke Turner to downtown Hammersmith and invite them to talk about their much-loved and newly-revamped Quietus "webzine". (That's Noughties-speak, for all you kids out there.) The intrepid duo look back on the 2008 birth of their baby and reflect on its survival and evolution over the subsequent 16 years. Qu…

1
E178: Ann Powers on Joni Mitchell + Tori Amos + Women in Pop 1:16:15

11M ago1:16:15

1:16:15

In this episode we're joined from Nashville by acclaimed critic, author and broadcaster Ann Powers for a discussion of her new Joni Mitchell book. Starting in Ann's native Seattle, we hear about her early '80s pieces for The Rocket before moving on to her stints at the San Francisco Weekly and the New York Times. Mention of Piece by Piece, the 2005…

1
E177: Val Wilmer on free jazz + photography + Lesley Gore audio 1:27:29

12M ago1:27:29

1:27:29

In this episode — our first-ever "field recording" — we travel up to North London to interview the legendary writer-photographer Val Wilmer. Val takes us back to her earliest musical memories in Streatham, South London, and her immersion in the capital's '60s jazz and blues scenes. We hear about her first pieces for Jazz Journal and her experiences…

1
E176: Simon Day on the Fast Show + Brian Pern + Steely Dan audio 1:08:25

1y ago1:08:25

1:08:25

In this episode we welcome Fast Show legend Simon Day to downtown Hammersmith and ask him about his musical passions and the immortal Life Of Rock With Brian Pern. We start with our guest's misspent youth in south-east London, where he frequently saw bands such as Dr. Feelgood and local lads Squeeze and even fronted his own punk combo Simon & the V…

1
E175: Steffan Chirazi on Metallica + Jack Casady audio + John Sinclair 1:21:59

1y ago1:21:59

1:21:59

In this episode we welcome the splendid Steffan Chirazi to RBP Towers and ask him about his career as a metal/hard rock specialist and his long association with the mighty Metallica. We hear about our guest's lucky break as a 15-year-old Motörhead maniac when the band's frontman Lemmy gave up three hours to Steffan during the sessions for 1983's An…

1
E174: Sean O'Hagan on Microdisney + The High Llamas + The Beach Boys 1:33:49

1y ago1:33:49

1:33:49

In this episode we welcome revered High Llamas leader (and arranger to the hip and the mighty) Sean O'Hagan to Hammersmith and ask him about his life and times from Microdisney to new album Hey Panda. We hear about Sean's Luton childhood, his family's move back to Ireland, and his 1980 encounter with the late Cathal Coughlan — the Corkonian with wh…

1
E173: Ira Robbins on Trouser Press + Anglophilia + Nick Lowe audio 57:28

1y ago57:28

57:28

In this episode we welcome long-time RBP contributor Ira Robbins as he celebrates the 50th anniversary of the launch of his beloved Trouser Press. Ira tells us about the musical Anglophilia that began for him with the Beatles but surged with the 1968 release of The Who Sell Out. He then recounts the beginning of his friendship with schoolmate Dave …

1
E172: Alan Light on Vibe + Prince + Taylor Swift + Townes Van Zandt 1:31:07

1y ago1:31:07

1:31:07

In this episode we welcome esteemed writer and editor Alan Light and ask him about the years he spent at Rolling Stone, Vibe and Spin — plus his close encounters with Prince, Taylor Swift and Townes Van Zandt. Vibe is the particular focus of interest for Alan's hosts, hence we hear about the magazine's inception, its co-founder Quincy Jones, our gu…

1
E171: Kimberly Mack on Living Colour + Greg Tate + The Black Rock Coalition 1:08:09

1y ago1:08:09

1:08:09

In this episode the writer and academic Kimberly Mack joins us from Cleveland's Rock and Roll Hall of Fame to discuss the subject of "Black rock" in the context of her 33 1/3 study of Living Colour's Time's Up. We start by asking our guest about her childhood as the daughter of a rock-obsessed Black mother – and her experience of seeing Cheap Trick…

1
E170: A Tom Hibbert special!! with Mark Ellen and Sylvia Patterson 1:18:59

1+ y ago1:18:59

1:18:59

In this extra-special episode we welcome into the RBP lair not one but two legends of music journalism. Former Smash Hits/Q/MOJO supremo Mark Ellen and Sylvia (I'm Not With The Band) Patterson join us to pay tribute to their late friend and colleague upon the publication of our book Phew, Eh Readers? The Life and Writing of Tom Hibbert – the single…

1
E169: Penelope Spheeris on filming punk and heavy metal + Wayne's World 1:15:06

1+ y ago1:15:06

1:15:06

In this episode we welcome the legendary Penelope Spheeris and invite her to talk us through her extraordinary life and brilliant career. Barney wastes little time in asking the Louisiana-born filmmaker about the shocking traumas of her childhood and teenage years. We hear about her alcoholic mother's multiple marriages and the family's move to Sou…

1
E168: Andy Schwartz on CBGB + New York Rocker + Mink DeVille 1:04:34

1+ y ago1:04:34

1:04:34

In the new episode of the Rock's Backpages podcast we welcome the admirable Andy Schwartz, who Zooms in from upstate New York to reminisce about New York Rocker, the much-missed monthly magazine he edited from 1977 to 1982. We hear about Andy's early years in suburban Westchester County and his first experiences of live music in Manhattan, which in…

1
E167: Barbara Ellen on the NME + Madonna + Spinal Tap 1:11:32

1+ y ago1:11:32

1:11:32

Content warning: This episode contains discussion of sexual violence (22:45–24:55). In this episode we welcome the excellent Barbara Ellen, who joins us on Zoom all the way from... well, the other side of London, actually. (It's a long story.) Barbara talks us through her illustrious writing career from zines such as her own Wax Lyrical and Ooh Gar…

1
E166: Daryl Easlea on Slade + Peter Gabriel + Shane MacGowan R.I.P. 1:19:26

1+ y ago1:19:26

1:19:26

In this episode we welcome the delightful Daryl Easlea to Hammersmith for a pre-Xmas special on Slade and the sadly-departed Shane MacGowan. Daryl talks about his Essex childhood: the psychogeography of Canvey Island; his memories of seeing Dr. Feelgood at Southend's legendary Kursaal Ballroom; and how working at Our Price Records led to an eclecti…

1
E165: Michel Faber on music & sound + Nick Cave + Captain Beefheart 1:15:02

1+ y ago1:15:02

1:15:02

In this episode we welcome acclaimed novelist Michel Faber to RBP's Hammersmith HQ and ask him about his new book ... as well as about a 1979 interview he did with the young Nick Cave. Barney gets the ball rolling by asking the author of Under the Skin and The Crimson Petal and the White what he set out to do with Listen: On Music, Sound and Us. Vi…

1
E164: Kate Simon on Bob Marley + Sounds + Joni Mitchell 1:12:28

1+ y ago1:12:28

1:12:28

In this episode we welcome the great Kate Simon, who Zooms in from New York City to answer our questions about her stellar career and the new edition of Rebel Music, her book of classic reggae portraits. Kate talks about the formative moments that made her a music photographer, plus the 1972 move to London that brought her into the pages of Disc & …

1
E163: Evelyn McDonnell on Joan Didion + The Motels + Carla Bley R.I.P. 1:02:02

1+ y ago1:02:02

1:02:02

In this episode we welcome acclaimed critic, author and professor Evelyn McDonnell and invite her to discuss her new Joan Didion book, along with the Motels, Britney Spears and California's pop history in general. Evelyn talks about her early L.A. memories and childhood move to Wisconsin before we hear how she progressed from her college paper in P…

1
E162: Billy Bragg on forty roaring years + Skiffle + Woody Guthrie 1:18:35

1+ y ago1:18:35

1:18:35

In this episode we welcome the left's very own "national treasure" Billy Bragg – beamed in from his adopted Dorset – and ask him about the long and remarkable career that's enshrined in forthcoming box set The Roaring Forty. Billy revisits his Barking boyhood and early pop and folk influences, culminating in the 1977 formation of Clash-inspired pun…

1
E161: Mick Gold on Let It Rock + Pub Rock + Bruce Springsteen + Jann Wenner 1:11:58

1+ y ago1:11:58

1:11:58

In this episode we welcome music writer/photographer turned award-winning TV director Mick Gold and ask him to return to the mid-'70s to discuss pub rock, Bruce Springsteen and the wonderful Let It Rock magazine. Mick explains how he fell in with Let It Rock's "hard-up left-wing intellectuals" after penning a 5,000-word Beatles thesis at Sussex Uni…

1
E160: Richard Grabel on Hip Hop + Kool Lady Blue + Beastie Boys 1:06:03

1+ y ago1:06:03

1:06:03

In this episode we invite Richard Grabel to reminisce about his long career as a journalist and music-biz lawyer. We hear how Richard had his mind blown by an early CBGB double-bill of Television and the three-piece Talking Heads — and about his first reviewing efforts as a student at the University of Pennsylvania. He describes how he got his foot…

1
E159: Vernon Gibbs on Marvin Gaye + Talking Heads + A&R at Arista 1:15:42

1+ y ago1:15:42

1:15:42

In this episode we're delighted to invite Vernon Gibbs to look back on his career as a pioneering soul scribe and A&R man. Vernon begins by describing his early years as a scholarship student who took the G train from Brooklyn to school on Manhattan's Upper East Side — and his formative years at NYC's Columbia University. He describes how he fell i…

1
E158: Charles Shaar Murray on the NME + John Lee Hooker + Robbie Robertson 1:06:42

2y ago1:06:42

1:06:42

In this episode we welcome NME legend Charles Shaar Murray, beamed in from his adopted Ipswich to reminisce about his career from Oz magazine to his John Lee Hooker biography Boogie Man. We start by discussing Charles' 1970 interview with the mighty Muddy Waters, his "favourite singer since I was 12 years old". Our guest talks about the Oz "School …

1
E157: Jim Farber on Glam Rock + Marc Bolan + Sinéad O'Connor 1:21:52

2y ago1:21:52

1:21:52

In this episode, we invite acclaimed New York writer Jim Farber to tell us about his 50-year career and his experiences of "growing up gay to a Glam Rock soundtrack", to cite the title of a superb 2016 piece he wrote for The New York Times. We start by asking the former Chief Music Critic of the New York Daily News about his Scarsdale childhood and…

1
E156: Richard Boon on Buzzcocks + Manchester + Morrissey audio 55:16

2y ago55:16

55:16

In this episode, Richard Boon joins us to talk about his life in music, taking in the birth of Buzzcocks, the Smiths on Rough Trade and his time as "the world's coolest librarian" in Stoke Newington. The punk instigator takes us back to 1976, when he went to see the Sex Pistols live in High Wycombe together with a certain Howard Trafford and Peter …

1
E155: Robyn Hitchcock on the Soft Boys + David Blue + Mick Farren 1:28:26

2y ago1:28:26

1:28:26

In this episode we invite the inimitable Robyn Hitchcock to reminisce about his heroically nonconformist career from the Soft Boys to 2022's Shufflemania! After Robyn explains his recent return to London from his adopted Nashville, Barney, Mark and Martin hear about his hippiefied but not entirely psychedelic '60s youth – plus his early immersion i…

1
E154: Richard Morton Jack on Nick Drake + Steve Marriott + Flashback magazine 1:20:38

2y ago1:20:38

1:20:38

In this episode we welcome the very personable Richard Morton Jack to "RBP Towers" and ask him to talk about his monumental new biography of Nick Drake – along with his marvellous Flashback magazine and an audio interview with Small Faces/Humble Pie frontman Steve Marriott. We commence by hearing how Richard was initiated into pop music (and its fr…

1
E153: Lloyd Bradley on Black London + Tina Turner + Steve Barrow audio 1:27:31

2y ago1:27:31

1:27:31

In this episode we welcome Lloyd Bradley into our Hammersmith lair and ask him about his career as a journalist and as the acclaimed author of Bass Culture and Sounds Like London — the latter book celebrating its 10th birthday at the time of recording. We learn what London sounded like to Lloyd as a boy growing up in '60s Hornsey, and how his love …

1
E152: Cliff Jones on Gay Dad + Brian Jones + Paul Simon audio 1:24:05

2y ago1:24:05

1:24:05

In this episode we welcome pop poacher-turned-gamekeeper (turned rockademic) Cliff Jones to RBP's Hammersmith HQ and invite him to talk about his shape-shifting career in music — as well as about Paul Simon and doomed Rolling Stone Brian Jones (no relation). Barney starts things off with his memories of Cliff coming into the MOJO office circa 1994-…

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