David Bowie – Cracked Actor
Mick Ronson's guitar sits hard and dry before the vocal even settles. Then David Bowie doubles on harmonica, Trevor Bolder and Woody Woodmansey lock a straight rock groove, and Cra…
Bérurier Noir – Masks, slogans, drum machine
On 19 February 1983, at the Pali-Kao factory in Paris's 20th arrondissement, François Guillemot and Loran played what was meant as a goodbye to an earlier band, Les Béruriers.
A-ha – Take On Me
A-ha’s Take On Me (Hunting High and Low, 1985): Alan Tarney cut, Barron rotoscope video, Billboard No. 1.
Madonna – Pop that treated reinvention as work
Madonna treated reinvention as studio and stage work, from NYC clubs to worldwide tours.
Prince – Calhoun Square
On 15 June 1993 Prince tracked Calhoun Square at Paisley Park with the New Power Generation, and named it for an Uptown mall.
Interview of Madonna (1984)
On American Bandstand in January 1984, Madonna talks with Dick Clark after dancing Holiday, still early in the burn of her debut album.
C’MON YOU KNOW – Knebworth week, Dave Grohl on the lead single
On 27 May 2022, Liam Gallagher released C'MON YOU KNOW on Warner, a third solo album produced mainly by Andrew Wyatt that went straight to No. 1 in the UK.
Stevie Wonder – Superstition
In the summer of 1972 Stevie Wonder was at Electric Lady Studios in New York, making the album that became Talking Book, with Robert Margouleff and Malcolm Cecil running the gear around him. Wonder was playing almost everything himself by then. He still wanted a
Coldplay – Soft voices, huge rooms
Chris Martin, Jonny Buckland, Guy Berryman, and Will Champion formed Coldplay at University College London at the end of the 1990s.
Tears For Fears – Everybody Wants to Rule the World
Tears For Fears’ Everybody Wants to Rule the World (Songs from the Big Chair, 1985): Orzabal/Smith, Hughes, US No. 1.