Rock's Backpages

Barney Hoskyns, Jasper Murison-Bowie, William Pike
  • 4.6 (48)
  • Music History
  • Updated Biweekly

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 William Pike and co-hosted & produced by Jasper Murison-Bowie. We're a proud part of Pantheon — the podcast network for music lovers.

  1. Sep 28

    Nik Cohn and Ben Ratliff on Corner Boy + Awopbopaloobop

    For this episode we invite the legendary Nik Cohn to join us from upstate New York to discuss his extraordinary career and his brilliant new book Corner Boy. Also joining us — from New York City — is the book's editor Ben Ratliff, himself the author of an acclaimed 2007 biography of John Coltrane. We start by asking Nik about the epiphanic teenage moment he discovered rock'n'roll in Derry, Northern Ireland, before jumping forward to his early pop writing for Queen in the mid-'60s. Along the way, Ben explains Corner Boy's conception and the book's collaborative process. Inevitably we revisit the writing and publication of 1969's explosive Awopbopaloobop Alopbamboom, plus its enduring reputation as rock's first great book. We also ask Nik about his close relationship with the Who and their manager Kit Lambert, and about Guy Peellaert and Rock Dreams; the 1976 article that gave birth to Saturday Night Fever; and our guest's abiding love of New Orleans. Mention of Nik's 2005 book Triksta: Life and Death and New Orleans Rap leads us into clips from David Toop's 1984 audio interview with hip hop forefather Grandmaster Flash, and to a general discussion of rap's impact on our guests. After Nik reflects on the 1983 drug bust that inspired the Corner Boy piece 'Apprehension', Jasper and William talk us out with their highlights from recent additions to the Rock's Backpages library. Pieces discussed: ⁠James Brown: Walthamstow Granada, London⁠,  The Shangri-Las, Tyrannosaurus Rex, Close-Up: Nik Cohn, Nik Cohn: My Book is Rubbish but it's the Best, Awopbopaloobop Alopbamboom: The book that declared pop music dead, Grandmaster Flash audio (1984), Lawrence Welk & Johnny Hodges, Love You, New Orleans, Is Elvis Belittling His Early Hits?, and Kim Gordon: from Sonic Youth to self-proclaimed "sociologist".

    Nik Cohn and Ben Ratliff on Corner Boy + Awopbopaloobop

  2. Sep 14

    Tony Fletcher on Jamming! + The Jam + U2 audio interview

    For this episode we're joined in Hammersmith by the much-travelled Tony Fletcher as he returns to his homeland to promote his new book POW! When UK Punk Went Pop, 1980–84. We begin by asking our guest about Jamming!, the fondly-remembered fanzine he launched in South London at the tender age of 13. He recalls the huge impact of the Jam on his adolescent life and the friendship with Paul Weller that grew out of his passion for the band. After discussing how Jamming! evolved into a proper monthly magazine — scooping early '80s interviews with Paul McCartney, Morrissey and U2 along the way — we ask Tony about the hyper-tribalism of the period POW! covers. He ponders the way punks like Adam Ant "went pop" while other bands forged a rearguard return to rock. A conversation about '80s "rockism" and its foes leads to clips from the late Richard Cook's February 1982 audio interview with U2, conducted in America just as the Irish quartet was commencing its full-scale ascent into the stadium-rock stratosphere. After we hear about our guest's post-Jamming! life as an author and biographer based in Brooklyn — and then upstate New York — Jasper talks us out with quotes from (and thoughts on) Chris Bohn's 1981 NME piece about Budapest's "semi-legal" musical underground... and a great Dua Lipa interview from 2022.

    Tony Fletcher on Jamming! + The Jam + U2 audio interview

  3. Sep 1

    Mitchell Cohen on Dolly Parton + The Lovin' Spoonful + The Blues Project

    For this episode we're joined by veteran music scribe and A&R man Mitchell Cohen to discuss his long career and his brand-new book. We start in the Bronx of Mitchell's youth and hear about the impact on him of local hero Dion DiMucci. From there we take the D train down to mid-'60s Greenwich Village and relive our guest's discovery of the scene he chronicles in Wake Me, Shake: New York City, the '60s & the Pop-Rock Youthquake. After celebrating the beloved Lovin' Spoonful we turn our attention to their fellow Village denizens the Blues Project, listening to clips from Sam Williams' 2022 phone interview with Project/Blood, Sweat & Tears alumnus Steve Katz. En passant we also touch on Laura Nyro, Shadow Morton and other New Yorkers who opted not to join the '60s exodus to California. Mitchell then talks about the years he spent at Arista Records – the subject of his first book and the label to which, in 1989, he signed Dion. The heartbreaking death of Dolly Parton demanded we pay tribute to the life and art of that extraordinary woman. Having written a beautiful piece about "America's sweetheart" back in 2019, our guest is perfectly placed to explain her unique appeal. Finally, Jasper and William talk us out with their thoughts on newly-added library pieces about Betty Davis, Kelis, Trent Reznor and Sleep Token. Many thanks to special guest Mitchell Cohen. Wake Me, Shake Me: New York City, the '60S and the Pop-Rock Youthquake is published by Trouser Press and available now. Pieces discussed: Shall We Dance? Shadow and the Shangs: a teenage melodrama, David Johansen: Position Of A Vagabond Missionary, Steve Katz audio (2022), How Dolly Parton Became America's Sweetheart, Dolly Parton and Porter Wagoner, Dolly Parton: Confessions of a Power Crazed Wig-Model, Dolly Parton: American Idol, New York Report: Betty Davis, Kelis: AfroPunk, Trent Reznor: The Great Dictator and Sleep Token.

    Mitchell Cohen on Dolly Parton + The Lovin' Spoonful + The Blues Project

  4. Aug 17

    Brian Cullman on Sandy Denny + John Martyn + Big Joe Turner

    In this episode, we invite the marvellous Brian Cullman to join us onscreen from a French farmhouse in the Dordogne. The author of How to Prepare for the Past talks us through his fascinating "travels in music and time" from New York City to North Africa via his writing for Crawdaddy, Musician and The Paris Review. Beginning with his boyhood in midtown Manhattan, Brian recalls his ecstatic discovery of pop radio and WBAI's Bob Fass; his befriending of the late Lillian Roxon; and his teenage immersion in the Max's Kansas City scene. The core of our conversation concerns the period our guest spent in early '70s London, where he fell in with rising folk-rock luminaries Sandy Denny and John & Beverley Martyn and hung out with an all-but-unknown Nick Drake. We hear clips from a 1982 audio interview with Martyn by Brian's Musician colleague John Hutchinson. We jump to the end of the decade as our guest recalls his friendship with R&B legend Big Joe Turner and discusses his dual experience of being a music writer and a performing singer-songwriter. After William quotes from newly-added library pieces by Derek Taylor (1968) and about Amy Winehouse (2004), Barney harks back to a Village Voice report on "Papa John" Phillips on Broadway (1975) and a Madonna profile by recent RBP recruit Barry Walters (2017).How to Prepare For The Past: Travels In Music and Time is published by ZE Books and available now. Pieces discussed: Derek & the Dominos: Marquee Club, London, The Amazing James Booker, Emerald Sapphire and Gold, John Martyn audio, Top Tunes: Martha and the Vandellas, Martha Reeves Goes Solo, Martha Reeves: Martha's Happier Than Ever Before, L.A.: Where It's At, Amy Winehouse: Hip Hop's Jane Austen?, John Phillips on the Great White Way and Madonna's Erotica, Sex: Why Musical Masterpiece, Defiant Book Still Matter.

    Brian Cullman on Sandy Denny + John Martyn + Big Joe Turner

  5. Aug 3

    Tim Page on his Pulitzer Prize + Judee Sill + Stephin Merritt

    In this episode we're joined by special guest Tim Page to trace the arc of his career from reviewing James Chance & the Contortions to winning the Pulitzer Prize. In a conversation that's as entertaining as it is erudite, Tim recalls his teenage discovery of Rolling Stone and the subsequent influence of rock criticism on his singular brand of classical music reviewing. After touching on the 1967 documentary A Day with Timmy Page, we hear about his journey as a critic from New York Rocker to the Washington Post via the New York Times. With reference to the 2002 collection Tim Page on Music, our guest reflects on his affection for Sean O'Hagan's High Llamas and Stephin Merritt's Magnetic Fields. Merritt and his electro-pop offshoot Future Bible Heroes are then heard in clips from an audio interview by the late Andy Gill. From there we turn to another of Tim's great passions – the tragic and long-neglected Judee Sill – and pay collective tribute to what he calls her "extraordinary gifts". After William quotes from newly-added library interviews with Janis Joplin (1970) and Ozzy Osbourne (2001), Jasper talks us out with his thoughts on pieces about country singer Tom T. Hall (1973) and Dallas Austin's Highland Place Mobsters (2014). Many thanks to special guest Tim Page. Pieces discussed: The Contortions + James White & the Blacks, Minimalism: Hey, DJ, The Everlasting Forever Of Arthur Lee, Future Bible Heroes audio (2002), Judee Sill: Lunch And Judee, Judee Sill: Heart Food, Judee Sill: A Brief Life, an Enduring Musical Impression, Miss Janis — Texas White Queen Of Rock, Ozzy Osbourne, Tom T. Hall and Make It Funky: The Rise & Fall of the Highland Place Mobsters.

    Tim Page on his Pulitzer Prize + Judee Sill + Stephin Merritt

  6. Jul 20

    Geoffrey Cannon on the '60s + the Guardian + Jack Bruce audio

    In this episode we invite the pioneering Geoffrey Cannon to reminisce about his stint as The Guardian's rock critic between 1968 and 1972. Commencing with the pop baptism of his first hearing Frankie Lymon & the Teenagers in a Horsham record booth in 1956, our guest talks us through his early work for New Society and The Listener — including his prescient reviews of albums by the Velvet Underground and the Mothers of Invention. He also explains how the 1969 Granada film Johnny Cash at San Quentin came about. Geoffrey then recounts how he pitched a weekly rock column to Guardian editor Peter Preston, and how he sustained it from late 1968 until 1972 while simultaneously editing the Radio Times. Clips from the late Pete Makowski's 2008 audio interview with Jack Bruce give us a chance to discuss the origins of Cream, and how the relative innocence of the '60s collapsed into the druggy decadence of the '70s. The conversation with Geoffrey concludes with our guest's post-rock adventures in writing about health and nutrition, plus his 2000 uprooting to Brazil and subsequent love of singers such as Belchior and Caetano Veloso. Finally, William and Jasper talk us out with their thoughts on articles about Ornette Coleman (1969), Plastic Bertrand (1978), Jools Holland (2004) and James Blake (2025). Many thanks to special guest Geoffrey Cannon. Pieces discussed: Pop Music Democratised, Mother's Rites: Freak Out/Absolutely Free, Aesthetics of Outrage, Johnny Cash at San Quentin was my idea, Jack Bruce audio, Plastic Bertrand, Jools Holland, Second opinion: Ornette Coleman and James Blake is taking on TikTok, Live Nation and 'Free Music'.

    Geoffrey Cannon on the '60s + the Guardian + Jack Bruce audio

  7. Jun 22

    Simon Reynolds on shoegaze + dream pop + Jay-Z audio

    Acclaimed author Simon Reynolds joins us in Hammersmith to discuss his latest book. A journey through the many bands and scenes he wrote about between 1984 and 1994, Still in a Dream gives us a chance to ask our guest about shoegaze, C86 and the book's autobiographical threads. Clips from an early 2000 Jay-Z audio interview by Dorian Lynskey prompt a general discussion of the hip hop superstar whose debut album Reasonable Doubt turns 30 this week. Jasper and William then wrap up the episode with their highlights among new additions to the RBP library, including pieces about LL Cool J (1986), Rick Rubin (2009) and Randy Newman's priceless song about Vladimir Putin (2017). Many thanks to special guest Simon Reynolds. Still In a Dream: Shoegaze, Slackers and the Reinvention of Rock, 1984–1994 is published by Hachette and available now. Pieces discussed: Younger Than Yesterday, The Butthole Surfers: Deeper & Down, "Dream-Pop" Bands Define the Times in Britain, Jay-Z audio, Jay-Z: The Blueprint (Roc-A-Fella), Oscar Peterson Trio: Assembly Hall, Worthing, LL Cool J: He Has Seen Rap 'n' Roll Future, Rick Rubin and Randy Newman: And You Thought 'Short People' Was Controversial?.

    Simon Reynolds on shoegaze + dream pop + Jay-Z audio

  8. Jun 8

    Funk special with Lloyd Bradley + Betty Davis audio

    In this episode we welcome Lloyd Bradley back to Hammersmith to discuss his monumental new tome Funk Is Its Own Reward. We ask our guest about what he describes as "Black America's second great cultural revolution" before learning of his own first awareness of funk as a new musical form. After we consider the parts played in the movement's evolution by James Brown, Earth Wind & Fire and Kool & the Gang, we get to George Clinton's Parliament-Funkadelic, whose mind-blowing  "P-Funk Earth Tour" of America celebrates its 50th anniversary this year. Clips from a rare audio interview with Betty Davis prompt our combined thoughts on the cult funk-rock queen who married Miles Davis and helped him fly his freak flag by turning him on to Sly Stone and Jimi Hendrix. After William discusses newly-added library pieces about the Beatles (1962) and a Marc Almond convention at London's Heaven (1986), Jasper revisits a live review of Bruno ('Uptown Funk') Mars from 2017. Many thanks to special guest Lloyd Bradley. Funk Is Its Own Reward is published by Constable and available now from all good bookshops. Visit his website at lloydbradley.net for more details. Pieces discussed: James Brown: Twilight Of The Godfather, Countdown on Parliament, from launchpad to mothership connection... We have lift-off!, A Journey to the Center of Parliament/Funkadelic, The Bizarre World of George Clinton (Parliament/Funkadelic Drop The Funk-Bomb On America), Betty Davis audio, Marc Almond Convention: Heaven Sent, Local Group: The Beatles and Bruno Mars live.

    Funk special with Lloyd Bradley + Betty Davis audio
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4.6
out of 5
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About

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 William Pike and co-hosted & produced by Jasper Murison-Bowie. We're a proud part of Pantheon — the podcast network for music lovers.

Information

  • Creator
    Barney Hoskyns, Jasper Murison-Bowie, William Pike
  • Years Active
    2018 - 2026
  • Episodes
    236
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © 2026 Backpages Limited
  • Show Website
    Rock's Backpages

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