Post-punk pioneers the Associates transformed themselves into bona fide pop stars on 1982’s Sulk. Alan Rankine, Mike Hedges, Michael Dempsey and Martyn Ware take us inside their skewed masterwork… It’s…
The legends of Mark Hollis
Between 1998’s solo album and his death in 2019, Talk Talk singer Mark Hollis retreated into a reclusive, enigmatic silence. Aided by a new book and a documentary, we…
Q+A – Held By Trees
David Joseph’s instrumental project Held By Trees sees Talk Talk alumni joining forces for a remarkable album that immerses itself in the aura of the band’s Spirit Of Eden and…
Janet Jackson albums – the complete guide
After first finding fame as part of the Jackson family dynasty, Janet Jackson asserted her independence to become one of the most successful and influential solo artists in pop… Janet…
EMF interview: “The days of going out clubbing on a Friday are well behind us”
EMF frontman James Atkin talks raving in the Yorkshire Dales, his other life as a schoolteacher and meeting Alan Bennett down the shops… EMF – they of the knee-length shorts…
Daryl Hall interview: “I feel creatively like I’ve come back to life again”
As he releases his first solo retrospective, Daryl Hall talks to Classic Pop about record label woes, superstar hook-ups and life without Oates… From Hall & Oates’ perennial radio staples…
xPropaganda interview: “Music should be a playground”
Alongside Frankie Goes To Hollywood’s Welcome To The Pleasuredome, Propaganda’s A Secret Wish defined the grandeur of ZTT. Their debut album stood alone as a beacon of extravagant synth-pop… until…
Popscene – Dreampop
We lose ourselves in the hazy sonic textures of dreampop, that most painterly of musical genres… What is it? With dreampop the clue is in the word ‘dream’. This is…
Spotlight: We Are The World – the album
We Are the World hit No.1 across the globe, sold 10 million copies and picked up four Grammy Awards. Yet the album of the same name appears to have been…
Adamski interview: “I licked Boy George’s moped as we went scrambling in the rain”
Adamski was the child punk prodigy who became one of rave’s first superstars, with his mega-hit Killer. In 2020 he told Classic Pop of tabloid infamy, offending Seal, LSD-fuelled biking…