Category Archives: Pop and rock

Melanie C: ‘I’ve had an incredible career. It’s time I accepted myself’

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It’s 20 years since Spice Girl Melanie Chisholm went solo, but, she says, it has taken until 2019 – ironically, the year of the band’s reunion tour – for her to really find herself

It’s often said that meeting a Spice Girl feels a lot like encountering a cartoon character. You can see it with unfiltered Mel B, poised Victoria and Emma, still resolutely family-friendly at 43. Geri’s modern lady-of-the-manor act is the antithesis of her old outrageousness, yet she is still swimming in camp. But with Mel C – or Melanie C as she styles herself these days – that’s not the case.

Even if she was your favourite Spice Girl, and you have never met one before, and she turns up to your interview in a closed Kings Cross bar wearing a hoodie and trackies – just as she would have done when Melanie Chisholm became Sporty Spice 25 years ago – it’s still only the little things that nod to the fact she was in one of the biggest girl groups of all time. She speaks quietly, often in an awed whisper, and is not beholden to the propaganda-like version of the Spice Girls’ story that some of her bandmates uphold.

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Adam Cohen on Leonard: ‘It was daunting finishing my dad’s last music’

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Leonard Cohen’s final songs can now be heard on the album Thanks for the Dance. Here his son Adam talks about their emotionally complex relationship

“There are some songs I’m half way through that are not bad,” Leonard Cohen said in his final interview, published in the New Yorker on 17 October 2016. “I don’t think I’ll be able to finish those songs.” Three weeks later, on 7 November, having released his 14th album, You Want It Darker, Cohen died in his sleep after a fall in his home in Los Angeles. The task of finishing those songs was passed, at Cohen’s request, to his son, Adam. The results can be heard on Thanks for the Dance, released last Friday.

“Essentially, I wanted to take the listener on an unconscious journey through the sonic signatures of my father’s career, without it sounding like a regurgitation,” says Adam Cohen, who, in his soft Canadian cadences and carefully constructed sentences, can sound uncannily like his father. “My dad always rejected invitations from producers like Rick Rubin and Don Was to make a retro record that sounded like his older stuff. He said he didn’t want to do the nostalgia act.”

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Taylor Swift says she’s being banned from singing her old hits at AMAs

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Singer appeals to fans for help in escalation of feud with Scooter Braun and Scott Borchetta

Taylor Swift’s performance at the American music awards is in doubt, as is the future of a new Netflix documentary about her, the singer has claimed, thanks to an ongoing feud with “tyrannical” music managers Scooter Braun and Scott Borchetta.

Related: Taylor Swift returns to US court after appeal over copyright lawsuit

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Kesha: ‘The world’s going to burn up – I might as well have a good time’

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Traumatised by her legal struggles with producer Dr Luke, the once hedonistic pop star felt she didn’t deserve to be happy. But now she is back with a new album – and ready to party again

I’ve never forgotten the first time I saw Kesha. It was at T in the Park 2011, an otherwise unmemorable weekend festival in Scotland. During her main-stage performance, the woman then known as Ke$ha told the crowd that she had one pressing question. “Is there,” she said, prolonging the anticipation, “enough glitter on my titties?” The noisy consensus was no, there was not, so her accomplices doused her in a can of lager and an explosion of gold that left her looking like the daughter of C-3PO and Dolly Parton.

These gleeful exploits defined Kesha Rose Sebert as a pop star for a while. She followed her defiantly trashy 2010 debut, Animal, with the equally riotous Warrior in 2012, becoming a trailblazer for hedonistic pop. Then she disappeared. In 2016, a new image emerged: Kesha wearing a white suit, sobbing in court as she tried to escape her contract with the producer Dr Luke (AKA Lukasz Gottwald), whom she accused of sexual and emotional abuse including date rape and bullying that led to her developing an eating disorder. He denied the allegations. Her case was dismissed. While she could pick new collaborators, she still had to record for his label, an imprint of Sony, and he countersued for defamation.

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A duel with Van Morrison: ‘Is this a psychiatric examination? It sounds like one’

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The singer-songwriter is releasing his sixth album in three years – his best since 1997. Would he like to expand on how he made it, or why he chose his collaborators? He would not

There is a song on Van Morrison’s 1991 album Hymns to the Silence called Why Must I Always Explain? in which the Northern Irish singer-songwriter appears to rail against the endlessly tiresome process of giving interviews. “And I never turned out to be the person that you wanted me to be,” he sings. “And I tell you who I am, time and time and time again / Tell me why must I always explain?”

The song is in my mind when I meet Morrison on a midweek morning in Cardiff. The singer sits by the window in a fourth-floor hotel room; a pale white knuckle of a man in a blue patterned shirt, his hair a sweep of bracken red. Beyond him, the view over the bay has been obscured by heavy autumn mist.

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Calypso calamity! Hunt for the lost tapes of 100-year-old Walter Ferguson

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The songwriting storyteller recorded thousands of cassettes for visitors to Cahuita, his paradise town in Costa Rica. Now the race is on to rediscover them

‘Welcome to Cahuita town, welcome one and all,” Walter Ferguson sings on the song Cahuita Is a Beautiful Place, offering an invitation to drink some rum and listen to calypso in this corner of Limón, Costa Rica. Its charming lyrical bounce and layered guitar sounds like the work of more than one man, although it is his work alone – and a song that might never have been heard if not for a project aimed at locating the thousands of one-of-a-kind cassettes that Ferguson recorded at home for friends and visitors wanting to take home a piece of this “beautiful place”.

In the run up to Ferguson’s 100th birthday in May, his son Peck (the 10th of Ferguson’s 11 children) and Swiss calypso fan Niels Werdenberg have spent two years on a labour of love: the Walter Gavitt Ferguson Tape Hunt. Their goal is to track down these lost gems, digitising songs that, in 2018, the Costa Rican government designated part of the country’s cultural heritage.

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Björk – her 20 greatest songs ranked!

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Ahead of her ambitious Cornucopia tour reaching the UK in November, we select the greatest work by the Icelandic pop-polymath

An overlooked gem, tacked on to the end of her fan-selected Greatest Hits collection, It’s in Our Hands is a sublime slice of future R&B conjured up in collaboration with the avant-techno duo Matmos. There is a particularly spicy and formidable version included on the Vespertine Live album.

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K-pop under scrutiny over ‘toxic fandom’ after death of Sulli

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Anger grows at culture of exploitation and failure of agencies to protect performers

The death this week of the South Korean singer and actor Sulli has turned the spotlight on the darkest corners of the highly pressurised K-pop industry and sparked anger over the failure of management agencies to protect their stars from the menace of “toxic fandom”.

Sulli, a former member of the group f(x), had spoken publicly about her mental health problems and shock at her death has led to calls for greater support for performers. Authorities said she was suffering from severe depression and are investigating suicide as a possible cause of death.

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Sulli, K-pop star and actor, found dead aged 25

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The singer and former f(x) member, who was the victim of online bullying, had severe depression, according to police

The K-pop star and actor Sulli has been found dead at the age of 25. Police said that the celebrity, born Choi Jin-ri, was discovered unconscious at her Seongnam residence on 14 October.

“Her manager visited her home after failing to reach her since their last call the night before,” Seongnam police said, adding that Sulli had been experiencing severe depression. “It seems that she took her own life but we are also looking into other possibilities.”

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Robbie Robertson: ‘I didn’t know anybody who didn’t do drugs’

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Guitarist Robbie Robertson helped to change music history with Bob Dylan’s backing group the Band. He remembers how the ‘brotherhood’ ended in heroin addiction and self-destruction

In 1965 Robbie Robertson was living in the room next to Bob Dylan’s at New York’s Chelsea hotel. This was when Dylan was writing Blonde on Blonde. “The television was on. There was music playing. The phone was ringing. There were people coming and going – and he was writing away on his typewriter. I thought, ‘I don’t even understand how somebody can close off the outside world like that and concentrate. This guy is from another planet,’” Robertson says. But for a while he shared that planet, or came as close to sharing it as any musician did at the time.

Robertson was the lead guitarist of the Band (then known as The Hawks), the five-piece group that backed Dylan when he first went electric: essentially, they supplied the noise that the acoustic-loving crowds booed on tour. But while the collaboration changed the course of music history, it had another, quieter and more personal effect on the Band, shifting the dynamics of what Robertson calls their “brotherhood”, the way the five of them related.

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Ginger Baker, wild and brilliant Cream drummer, dies aged 80

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Drummer who straddled jazz, blues and rock ‘passed away peacefully’

Ginger Baker, one of the most brilliant, versatile and turbulent drummers in the history of British music, has died aged 80.

His family had previously made it public that he was critically ill and asked fans to “please keep him in your prayers”. His Facebook page said he “passed away peacefully” on Sunday morning.

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Morrissey ejects anti-far-right protester from Portland concert

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The protester held two signs, one condemning anti-Islam party For Britain, and another that said ‘Bigmouth indeed’

Morrissey has ejected an anti-far-right protester from a show in Portland. During his performance at the city’s Moda Center on Monday night (30 September), a woman held up two signs. One depicted the logo of the anti-Islam party For Britain struck through by a red line. The other read: “Bigmouth indeed.”

In fan footage from the concert, Morrissey can be seen addressing the woman after the second song of the night. “Let’s be quite frank,” he says. “When you with the sign are removed, I will continue.” His fans then join in as he repeatedly shouts “go”, “we don’t need you” and “goodbye”, calling upon his lighting technician to bring up the house lights.

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Cream drummer Ginger Baker critically ill in hospital

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Family of Baker, who has also performed with Fela Kuti and Public Image Ltd, ask fans to ‘keep him in your prayers’

Ginger Baker, the jazz and blues drummer who co-founded the rock band Cream, has been reported critically ill.

A tweet posted from his official account reads: “The Baker family are sad to announce that Ginger is critically ill in hospital. Please keep him in your prayers tonight.”

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The Veronicas hit back after being kicked off Qantas plane over bag dispute

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Sisters Jessica and Lisa Origliasso say reporting of incident ‘in conflict with video’ evidence, and they will take legal action over ‘intimidating and confusing’ removal from flight

Pop duo the Veronicas have disputed the account of their removal from a Sydney plane over an “incredibly intimidating and confusing” cabin baggage dispute, and are taking legal action.

Sisters Jessica and Lisa Origliasso were asked to leave Qantas QF516, which was bound for Brisbane on Sunday morning, amid an argument with cabin crew.

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Tegan and Sara: ‘People never talk about women and drug use positively’

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The biggest twins in pop are returning to where it all began with High School, a book chronicling the acid, raves, girlfriends and guitars that shaped their teenage years

There are plenty of early 90s touchstones that pepper Tegan and Sara’s elegant and evocative memoir High School, which tells the story of their teenage years in Calgary, Canada. There are Kurt Cobain shrines, mosh pits at Green Day shows, teenagers playing Street Fighter in arcades. The most 90s of all, however, is how much time the twins spend on the telephone. Friendships, love affairs and messy personal sagas all take place over a shared landline.

Today, Tegan and Sara Quin are calling separately from their homes close to each other in Vancouver to explain why they have decided to revisit their adolescence in great, probing detail. To listen to them chatting away down the line is apt. It brings the book so vividly to life that I almost find myself twirling an imaginary cord around my finger.

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Ric Ocasek, lead singer of the Cars, dies aged 75

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New wave singer behind hits including Good Times Roll and Shake It Up found dead in his New York apartment

Ric Ocasek, the lead singer of the 1980s band the Cars, has died at the age of 75.

New York police confirmed to the Washington Post that officers responded to a 911 call on Sunday afternoon. Ocasek was pronounced dead at the scene, with no sign of foul play.

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‘This tape rewrites everything we knew about the Beatles’

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Mark Lewisohn knows the Fab Four better than they knew themselves. The expert’s tapes of their tense final meetings shed new light on Abbey Road – and inspired a new stage show

The Beatles weren’t a group much given to squabbling, says Mark Lewisohn, who probably knows more about them than they knew about themselves. But then he plays me the tape of a meeting held 50 years ago this month – on 8 September 1969 – containing a disagreement that sheds new light on their breakup.

They’ve wrapped up the recording of Abbey Road, which would turn out to be their last studio album, and are awaiting its release in two weeks’ time. Ringo Starr is in hospital, undergoing tests for an intestinal complaint. In his absence, John Lennon, Paul McCartney and George Harrison convene at Apple’s HQ in Savile Row. John has brought a portable tape recorder. He puts it on the table, switches it on and says: “Ringo – you can’t be here, but this is so you can hear what we’re discussing.”

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Sampa the Great: ‘I went back to Zambia and people said, you’re different’

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Raised in Zambia, the rapper moved to the US and made her name in Australia. Returning to her roots – and carrying the weight of representation – terrified her

Sampa the Great was terrified before she stepped on stage to play her first ever show in Africa earlier this year. The show was in the Zambian capital of Lusaka – and the artist, MC and poet’s cousins were in the front row.

“I’m based in Australia and all the monumental moments in my career have happened there,” says Sampa (born Sampa Tembo). “But I’m from Zambia. My fear was that they wouldn’t get it – and their opinion matters most.” She sums up her concerns: “A person coming out of Africa and playing globally while still being themselves and pushing for their own culture – to go home and not be understood.”

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Billie Eilish condemns German magazine over shirtless cover image

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  • Nylon Germany withdraws altered image after backlash
  • Eilish, 17, says she ‘did not consent in any way’ to picture

A German magazine apologised and withdrew a cover which used an altered picture to show Billie Eilish bald and shirtless, after stinging criticism from the singer herself.

Related: Billie Eilish: the pop icon who defines 21st-century teenage angst

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Taylor Swift’s great re-recording plot: icy revenge or a pointless setback?

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As a swipe at Scooter Braun, the singer will recreate her first six albums from scratch. But her plan ignores one of music’s vital truths

Let’s assume it can be done, even though we don’t know. Let’s take Taylor Swift’s word for it when she says she is going to rerecord the six albums she recorded for the Big Machine label before signing to Republic/Universal last autumn. Let’s presume her contract with Big Machine did not contain clauses preventing soundalike re-recordings, or prevent her from taking new runs at old tracks until a certain time period had elapsed.

The news came in a preview for her interview on Good Morning America, scheduled to air this Sunday, in which Tracy Smith asked if she was planning to make new versions of all her masters. “Oh yeah,” Swift replied. “That’s a plan?” Smith asked. “Yeah, absolutely.” She has said that recording will commence in November 2020. “I’m going to be busy,” she told Smith.

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