BIZARRE: Melody maker | Mind Blowing Facts

Vicki Wickham obituary

Journalist, producer, talent manager and driving force behind the 1960s pop music TV show Ready Steady Go!

The Guardian - UK · Aug 3

‘I knew it was over for us’: the bands who got left behind when punk exploded

Fifty years ago this week, the Sex Pistols played their first Manchester gig and caused a sonic revolution. What happened to the other bands that were tipped for big things that year – and why did the rock’n’roll dinosaurs survive?

The Guardian - UK · Jun 5

"We'd blown all the momentum that we had and all the credibility." The Police's journey to superstardom wasn't the smooth ride you might imagine

How The Police's debut album Outlandos d’Amour helped pushed 'new wave' into the mainstream

Louder · May 25

The story of Born Slippy, Underworld’s emotion-stirring dance classic

At the dawn of the 1990s, Underworld were a spent force - little did they realise they were about to create one of the decade’s most enduring tracks

MusicRadar · Mar 9

“This song, on breakfast radio?! It was such a shock, ‘What?! When did the world change that this belongs here?’ Mad. It didn’t make sense”: The story of Born Slippy, Underworld’s emotion-triggering masterwork

At the dawn of the 1990s, Underworld were a spent force - little did they realise they were about to create one of the decade’s most enduring tracks

MusicRadar · Mar 6

“In ’73 it was listed in Melody Maker for £400. Glad you enjoyed it”: Phil Manzanera finally finds out the real story behind his iconic Firebird – 50 years after he bought it

The guitar’s previous owner has explained his side of the story

Guitar World · Feb 25

‘I’m in my sod-it era’: Sophie Ellis-Bextor on speaking up, suing the tabloids and finding power in perimenopause

The singer’s kitchen discos and that Saltburn scene have given her the mother of all career resurgences. So how is she capitalising on this midlife moment? With an album about the perimenopause

The Guardian - UK · Sep 14, 2025

There will never be another Oasis – British culture, for better and worse, has moved on

We still have cocksure rock stars, but the gobby Gallaghers’ swaggering brand of witty mockery has gone out of style. Did we grow up – or get boring?

The Guardian - UK · Jul 4, 2025

‘We invented karaoke!’ – how Buzzcocks’ Pete Shelley swapped his punk-pop crown for synths, Spectrums and sexual censorship

PLAYBACK: Hits like ‘Ever Fallen in Love’ made the Mancunian punk’s sensitive bard – until he recast himself as a queer-pop electro pioneer and found himself banned by the BBC. Stevie Chick revisits a musical trailblazer

The Independent UK · Jun 11, 2025

"I really hate America. If Adolf Hitler came back and said 'I won't raise taxes', he'd win in a landslide." In 1988 R.E.M. were so disgusted with the state of the US that guitarist Peter Buck said he felt like shooting people, starting with President Bush

"I live in a country where I wanna shoot politicians"

Louder · May 9, 2025