Blog Posts by Barney Hoskyns

By way of a birthday greeting to Sir Paul, a charming portrait of the cutest Beatle by NME's Alan Smith, dateline August 9, 1963——Barney Hoskyns, Editorial Director, Rock's Backpages

I went roof-climbing with the Beatles — up a rickety wooden ladder, over drainpipes, and past the huge chimney-pots of London's plush Washington Hotel. The traffic bustled dizzily below. "After YOU!" laughed Paul McCartney, pointing to the gaping emptiness that stretched down to the street.

He was joking (I hope). There was an 80ft. drop! But Paul's usually like that, anyway — courteous, and cheerful with it! Fame hasn't changed him. "If anything," he told me, "it's other people who are different.

"I can't quite explain it, but when I meet some of my old mates, they don't seem the same. They have a different attitude towards me. Perhaps they think we've all gone big-time since getting into the charts, I don't know. But they're so wrong."

We reached the top of the ladder and the Beatles posed

Gene Sculatti's wife scorned the notion of 70-year-old men singing teen surf songs. So he drove down to Orange County to see for himself——Barney Hoskyns, Editorial Director, Rock's Backpages

"There's something ridiculous about a 70-year-old man going out there and singing 'Fun, Fun, Fun.'" So said my wife last week when I told her that a ticket to see the Beach Boys perform at an Orange County (California) amphitheater had dropped into my lap.

Is there?

My chance to find out came as I watched a visibly slower Mike Love, a slightly more-engaged-than-usual Brian Wilson, an energized Al Jardine, plus David Marks, Bruce Johnston and cohorts plow through two hours of hits, misses, rarities, and songs from a new, 50th anniversary album. By the time Love kicked off 'Fun, Fun, Fun' (in the encore), the group, augmented by Dean Torrence of Jan & fame (he lives in Huntington Beach , a short hop away from the venue), Marsha's question—indeed, all questions regarding the Hawthorne crew and their

It is four decades since David Bowie unveiled his Ziggy Stardust glam-alien persona. Charles Shaar Murray interviewed him about Ziggy — and all related matters — at London's swish Dorchester Hotel, with Lou Reed and Iggy Pop passing through to pay their respects. Murray's classic interview ran in New Musical Express on July 22, 1972——Barney Hoskyns, Editorial Director, Rock's Backpages

Three changes of dress and a kiss from Lou Reed. The waiters were horrified.

Jill and Lyn are 17 and they're into Bowie. They've both seen David working three times in as many weeks. They've both got Ziggy Stardust and neither of them like Marc Bolan. Jill says she likes the way David looks. She doesn't necessarily think he's good-looking, she just likes the way he looks. They and me and a sweaty hall-full of other people saw David Bowie and the Spiders From Mars work Friars in Aylesbury at the weekend. The phantom waver of the Ziggy banner put in an appearance as well, and it was alright, the band were

Hard-rockin' Pete Makowski ventures up to the English Midlands to see the reunited (though Bill-Ward-less) Black Sabbath in their native Birmingham——Barney Hoskyns, Editorial Director, Rock's Backpages

Almost a week later and my ears are still ringing — and I don't know if it's due to the rousing response of the audience or the brain-pummelling volume of the band. Either way, there is no doubt that Sabbath's intimate hometown show was an undisputed success, and the controversy surrounding the no-show of drummer Bill Ward was eclipsed by the crowds undisguised joy at seeing a beaming Tony Iommi up onstage looking unbelievably healthy for someone who undergone an intense session of chemotherapy.

Even the usual chants of "Ozzeeee!!!" were tonight replaced with a chorus of "Toneeeeee!"(and carried on throughout the show) as the band walked on to the now familiar mashup intro which was accompanied by the occasional karaoke screech and holler from an enthusiastic John Osbourne.

Gawd save 'er

To mark the occasion of our noble monarch's Diamond Jubilee, time-travel along the River Thames with the Pistols and Sounds' Jon Savage, whose account of the notorious punk boat party was first published on June 18, 1977——Barney Hoskyns, Editorial Director, Rock's Backpages

Before the police came, it was a great party. Make that a capital G.

Let's take all this sequentially: after an hour of waiting, the Queen Elizabeth left Charing Cross Pier at 6.30, and, after a moment's hesitation, decided to head downstream. If you aren't on the List, you aren't on. Nobody jumps... not even Palmolive. Bye bye.

Begins very restrained — too too vous êtes, but come Rotherhithe, some booze and more food, and everyone gets mellow, if such a thing is possible. I mean it's a nice evening (albeit a bit chilly) and there's space all around instead of tower-blocks, so why be surprised?

The disparate crowd mixes surprisingly well — the only jarring note in fact is the refusal of the bar to serve doubles...

Google doodle, 23.5.12

To celebrate today's Moog-inspired Google home page, enjoy this great Don Snowden interview with the synthesizer pioneer, as originally published in the Los Angeles Times on June 7, 1981——Barney Hoskyns, Editorial Director, Rock's Backpages

It's not unusual for a musician to become controversial, but it is rare for a musical instrument to be debated. Robert Moog may have envisioned a limited market for synthesizers when he developed the instrument in the mid-'60s, but it hasn't turned out that way.

"I knew it was applicable to pop music but our first market was the experimental composers, and that's not what you'd call the basis for a big business," Moog says now. "Nobody believed there was any future in that sort of thing."

Moog credits Wendy Carlos' 1968 album Switched On Bach with shattering the concept that synthesizers were only suitable for creating sound effects and avant-garde music. Tow years later the flamboyant Keith Emerson used a synthesizer on the first Emerson, Lake &

Robin Gibb will be remembered as the falsetto voice on countless Bee Gees hits from 'Massachusetts' to 'Stayin' Alive'. Back in 1969, however, Gibb briefly split from brothers Barry and Maurice and commenced an intermittent solo career with the UK smash hit 'Saved by the Bell'. Keith Altham interviewed him for Top Pops magazine in August of that year——Barney Hoskyns, Editorial Director, Rock's Backpages

With Robin Gibb hurtling up the charts with his first solo single, 'Saved by the Bell', it would appear that the answer to the question, "Who was the key figure in the Bee Gees' success?" has been firmly given. If Robin had a motto it would be covered by that line from the Max Bygraves hit of yesteryear — "You've Gotta Have Heart."

"I don't sing with my voice, I sing with my heart," Robin informed me during a recent interview. "I sing how I feel. I know I haven't got a great voice but I manage to touch something inside other people that they understand. It is an accident but the best

In memory of disco queen Donna — one of the sanest and smartest singers I ever interviewed — we present Richard Cromelin's Rolling Stone interview with the girl who'd just set the world's dancefloors alight with the 17-minute spectacular 'Love to Love You, Baby'——Barney Hoskyns, Editorial Director, Rock's Backpages

BEVERLY HILLS — The question was: how do you take a recording-studio orgasm on the road?

"I'm sort of eager to find out myself," Donna Summer answered. On the verge of taking her hit single, 'Love to Love You Baby', on a two-and-a-half-month American tour, Summer gave 'Love to Love You' a live trial run at a string of press parties.

"The audience," she said, "was groaning worse than I was."

'Love to Love You Baby', Summer's 17-minute vinyl aphrodisiac filled with rapturous moans, groans, murmurs and yelps, is more than just a Number One record. After Time magazine dubbed it "a marathon of 22 orgasms" and the BBC banned the single, it became a bona fide cause celebre.