The things that have been preoccupying me this week

It’s a measure of Geese’s rise – their flight? – that, on Thursday night, the social media accounts of End of the Road were receiving requests for refunds from ticket-holders stuck in traffic somewher...

Recorded just days before Otis Redding died in a plane crash, the funky tune has since been adored by soul, rock and hip-hop artists

Playing a sound rooted in 80s bands such as Witchfinder General and Pagan Altar, metal bands are once again gravitating towards dark folklore – but in a ‘Glastonbury crystal shop’ kind of way

Unplayed seven inches from my boxes are back, back, back – with two that it turns out I probably had heard before

Layla, Smoke on the Water and the like are now long past being the undisputed classics that all generations knew. So what would a radio station playing a new format of “Classic Rock” sound like?

George Madgwick has multiple tribunal rulings against him for unpaid wages

Four nights on the borders of Wiltshire and Dorset, and lots of music

Today’s vintage transcript comes from Black Francis, conducted to promote Pixies’ 2019 album Beneath the Eyrie

Things that I didn’t get round to writing on Sunday because I had better things to do

From Waxahatchee and Florry in the US to Brown Horse and Little Grandad in the UK, a wave of young songwriters are reinvigorating the subgenre’s earnest emotion and twang

Some things that have been on my mind over the last 10 days or so

Christmas with the Quo, and how Dev Hynes’ dog’s death nearly ruined by Christmas, plus a great single from Basia Bulat

There comes a point in most bands’ lives at which their appeal has become too selective for them to sell out the venues they feel befit their status. The stadium band slips down to the arenas, the are...

Some things that have been on my mind this past week

That's exactly what happened. But the article says it in more words

From 2017, Annie Clark on performance, celebrity and why you will never catch her dancing at a party

A little late, but things that have been on my mind in the state of Georgia this past week

A vintage transcript from Phil Collins this week, to celebrate his return to view after serious illness

From the racks of unplayed 45s come early singles from Shellac and Adam Schlesinger, plus a burning question: is this a band of hedge fund managers?

Here's Van Morrison in 2017, being more open about his old records and feelings than he sometimes is in interviews

No notes this week. I was going to do a short one about two new albums, then some other stuff, but it became 2.400 words and a day late

More unplayed 45s from my boxes, with 60s sophistipop, electrogoth, wispy singer-songwriters and more!

Everyone uses the word ‘indie’ to describe a style of music. And Pulp and Wet Leg are two bands that fit squarely into that rubric. But remember what the word originally meant. An abbreviation of inde...

You might think she's nothing. But then remember how many bangers she really had. And I bet you've forgotten at least one

Look, I used to be the editor of a football magazine. People used to pay me good money to have tendentious opinions about football!

An unexpected psych gem from the northwest – a hit I had not noticed – plus Goldfrapp remixes, Scottish weirdness and vintage electropop

After a mysterious absence, we're back with the very cream of American punk rock (it's what it says on the label), indietronica, cod-Beach Boys and more

For the first time at a gig, I spent much of Harry Styles’s show thinking about the maths. He’s cunningly doing his 68 shows in seven cities, with 12 of them at Wembley Stadium, which means he has tra...

Some things that distracted me from pondering the exact dimensions of Pete Hegseth's hair

Completing Def Leppard week, ahead of tonight's O2 show, here are extracts from the transcript of my 2021 interview with bassist Rick Savage, looking at their early 80s rise

It's Def Leppard week! Following yesterday's Phil Collen transcript, here's Joe Elliott talking to me in 2021 about the early years with Mutt Lange, and breaking America

With the mighty Lepp jn town, here's their guitarist explaining how they became one of the 80s' biggest acts. Warning: lots about making records; nothing about cocaine and sex

The country star is deeply moved by the reception at this sold-out event, as a growing UK fanbase shows its love for his songs