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John Earls
Writing for Classic Pop since our first issue, John has been to Adam Ant’s house, sworn at by Bob Geldof, touched Johnny Marr’s favourite guitar, interviewed Richard Coles on his vicarage bed and serenaded with Last Christmas by Shirlie Kemp. John first specialised in writing about music as editor of Teletext’s Planet Sound music column from 2000-09 and now writes about pop for a range of magazines and national newspapers. A Luton Town fan, John also writes about football. His bucket list interviews for the magazine are Grace Jones, Kylie, Siouxsie Sioux and Andrew Ridgeley.
All of the Prefab Sprout albums are worth a place in every pop fan’s record collection. Here we take a trip through the band’s peerless back catalogue… Swoon Released 1984…
Top 40 80s pop artists
It’s the ultimate face-off as we count down our favourite 80s pop artists… It is, of course, the impossible task: distil music’s most creative and varied decade down to a…
Duran Duran: Future Past interview
As their recent single Anniversary hinted, it’s 40 years since Duran Duran first beamed on to planet Earth. Rather than celebrate with a hits tour, they’ve released a stunning new album, where…
Making Madness – The Rise & Fall
Buoyed by having their first No.1 hit, the fourth studio album by Madness, The Rise & Fall, marked the transition between knockabout Nutty Boys and reflective men who’d become hard-bitten…
Toyah – Posh Pop review
After years of copyright wrangling, the belated reissues of her early albums has finally allowed Toyah to be reassessed. So far, Sheep Farming In Barnet and The Blue Meaning have…
Jason Donovan interview: The Boy Next Door
In this Jason Donovan interview from 2019, the former Neighbours star looks back on his life and career. “Those old songs aren’t so easy to sing now,” he tells us. …
Boy George interview
In this Boy George interview, the Culture Club singer reflects on his recent 60th birthday when he released 60 new songs to mark the occasion as his “creative Diwali festival”.…
Dead Or Alive: Pete Burns – his final interview
As the lead singer of Dead Or Alive, Pete Burns was one of pop’s most arresting figures. In 2016, on the eve of the release of a Dead Or Alive…
Whatever Happened To The Reynolds Girls?
The Reynolds Girls, it seems, would rather slack than attempt a comeback. As soon as I’d Rather Jack had made them stars, Linda and Aisling Reynolds decided they didn’t fancy…
Gary Kemp interview (exclusive)
Following the drama of Spandau Ballet reuniting and falling apart again, Gary Kemp has released his first album in 25 years. In this exclusive Gary Kemp interview the legendary pop…