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Rock's Backpages

Rock's Backpages

By: Barney Hoskyns Mark Pringle Jasper Murison-Bowie
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About this listen

 Tales from the world's largest archive of music journalism: entertaining interviews with luminaries such as Neil Tennant, Billy Bragg, Pamela Des Barres, Gary Kemp, Vashti Bunyan, Midge Ure, Nick Hornby and Robyn Hitchcock. Thoughtful and informative conversations about all aspects of popular music history, interspersed with clips from exclusive audio interviews that date back to the mid-'60s. The RBP podcast is hosted by Barney Hoskyns and Mark Pringle and co-hosted & produced by Jasper Murison-Bowie. We're a proud part of Pantheon — the podcast network for music lovers.© 2025 Backpages Limited Art Music
Episodes
  • E219: Thurston Moore on free jazz + Sonic Youth + Derek Bailey

    E219: Thurston Moore on free jazz + Sonic Youth + Derek Bailey
    Jan 2 2026
    For this episode we're joined by Sonic Youth legend Thurston Moore to discuss his new book Now Jazz Now: 100 Essential Free Jazz and Improvisation Recordings, 1960-80. We start by recapping on the story our guest told in his acclaimed 2023 memoir Sonic Life. In the course of the conversation about his early musical life in Florida and Connecticut we hear a clip from Steve Roeser's 1994 audio interview with him. Discussion of early influences such as the Stooges takes us back to Thurston's stint in the late J.D. King's New York band the Coachmen – and then on to Sonic Youth itself. Our guest's friendship with neo-gonzoid scribe Byron Coley – a brilliant guest on our podcast last summer – takes us up to the present and the publication of Now Jazz Now. A general conversation on the subjects of "free jazz" and "improv" ensues, taking in clips from Thurston's pal David Toop's 1995 audio interview with the late Derek Bailey. After Mark has quoted from newly-added library pieces about Bill Evans (1972) and OMD (1984), Jasper talks us out with his thoughts on James Brown's 1994 loaded encounter with the Beastie Boys. Many thanks to special guest Thurston Moore. Now Jazz Now is published by Ecstatic Peace Library and available from ecstaticpeace.net/now-jazz-now. Pieces discussed: Sonic Youth, Sonic Youth And the Blast First Axis, Derek Bailey audio, Cecil Taylor: Ladies and gentlemen, please adjust your re-entry goggles, David Toop: Gorilla Noises & Mains Hum, Bill Evans: Living Time With Evans, Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark: OMD and The Beastie Boys: Still Ill.
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    1 hr and 27 mins
  • E218: James Brown on Sounds + NME + Loaded + the KLF

    E218: James Brown on Sounds + NME + Loaded + the KLF
    Dec 15 2025
    For this episode we're joined in our Hammersmith HQ by James ("The Hardest Working Man In Show Business") Brown. The former NME star and founder of "lads' mag" progenitor loaded takes us back to his Yorkshire boyhood in Headingley. He recalls his parents' record collection, the first gigs he attended as the class "smart-arse" at Lawnswood School... and his acclaimed '80s fanzine Attack On Bzag! Our guest's account of how he came to contribute to Sounds leads to clips from the late Andy Gill's 1991 audio interview with the KLF, the maverick duo of Bill Drummond and Jimmy Cauty whom James championed in the paper's pages in 1987. After waxing nostalgic about his days at the NME, James gives us the origin story of the hugely successful loaded ("for men who should know better") and talks us through the publishing phenomenon it triggered. A discussion follows of '90s sexism and its connection to the misogyny of today's "Manosphere". Many thanks to special guest James Brown. Animal House: Music, Magazines, Mayhem is published by Quercus and available now from all good bookshops. Zine Age Kicks is available through James' Instagram, @jamesjamesbrown. Pieces discussed: The Beastie Boys: Keep Taking The Tabloids, Mark E Smith, Nick Cave & Shane MacGowan: The Three Horsemen Of The Apocalypse, The KLF audio⁠ and The decline of lads' mags: Unloaded, and now the party is over.
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    1 hr and 39 mins
  • E217: Susan Compo & Derek Ridgers on punks, goths and new romantics

    E217: Susan Compo & Derek Ridgers on punks, goths and new romantics
    Dec 2 2025
    In this episode we welcome not one but two wonderful guests to RBP Towers. Susan Compo and Derek Ridgers have been trans-Atlantic pals for decades and first met on a FourFourTwo assignment to interview and photograph the L.A.-expats "soccer" team Hollywood United. Starting with Susan's punk years in Southern California, we hear about her memories of seeing the Sex Pistols live in Dallas and Tulsa in January 1978. She also talks about her trip to London the year before, prompting Derek's recall of the punk scene he began photographing at clubs such as Vortex and the Roxy. Derek then rewinds his story to his late '60s days at Ealing School of Art when fellow student Freddie Mercury nicked his girlfriend in a local pub. The conversation oscillates between Susan's reflections on her career move – from music journalism to short stories about star-crossed Goths – and Derek's memories of the New Romantic "movement" he documented so brilliantly in early '80s London. In between clips from John Tobler's 1984 audio interview with Spandau Ballet singer Tony Hadley, Derek talks about his approach to his chosen medium. After touching on Derek's years at Loaded magazine and Susan's terrific books about Warren Oates and David Bowie, we discuss our shared passion for football/"soccer" before paying tribute to Derek's former NME colleague Jack Barron. Jasper then talks us out with quotes from newly-added library pieces about Grandmaster Flash (2000) and Boy George (2024). Many thanks to special guests Susan Compo and Derek Ridgers. Susan's books, include Malingering and David Bowie and The Man Who Fell To Earth are available from all good bookshops. You can visit Derek's website at derekridgers.com and his latest book, Hello, I Love You, is published by IDEA. Pieces discussed: The Sex Pistols Shoot To The Top, The Cure: Happily Ever After, White Noise/White Sands: The Bowie Who Fell to Earth, Gary Kemp on the RBP podcast, New Romantics, Electro-Disco: Night Moves, Spandau Ballet's Tony Hadley audio, Jack Barron, Nick Cave: The Needle And The Damage Done, The Stone Roses: Bliss This House, Gregory Isaacs: Gregorian Rants, Gong: The Gong Remains The Same, The Adventures of Grandmaster Flash in the Game of Life⁠ and ⁠Boy George⁠.
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    1 hr and 19 mins
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