(Vocals, b. 1968) This star of Australian TV soap Neighbours scored her first UK hit with ‘I Should Be So Lucky’ in 1988. Since then she has built a career that rivals Madonna in image changes and fusing pop songs with ever-changing contemporary dance beats. ‘Can’t Get You Out Of My Head’ (2002) was a massive UK and US hit. ...
(Vocal/instrumental group, 1977–2012) Michael Hutchence (vocals), Tim Farriss (guitar), Andrew Farriss (keyboards, guitar), Garry Gary Beers (bass), Kirk Pengilly (guitar, saxophone, vocals) and John Farriss (drums) paid their dues on the Australian pub circuit. Taking elements of The Stones, Doors and funk rock, the band broke into the American market with Shabooh Shoobah (1982). 1985’s ...
(Vocals, 1943–2003) One of pop’s fairy tales. Eva Boyd was baby-sitting for Gerry Goffin and Carole King when they asked her to demo a new dance-craze song, ‘The Loco-Motion’. It was a 1962 worldwide No. 1, later covered by Kylie Minogue. Follow-up ‘Keep Your Hands Off My Baby’ also charted. The Crystals’ Goffin-King single ‘He Hit Me (And ...
(Singer-songwriter b. 1957) Nick Cave (vocals) began his fascinating career in Boys Next Door, who became The Birthday Party: Mick Harvey (guitar), Tracy Pew (bass), Phil Calvert (drums). A gothic, blues punk band of fearsome intensity, showcasing Cave’s brutal, Captain Beefheart-style lyrics, they released three albums, 1981’s Prayers On Fire being the pick. 1982’s Junkyard ...
(Musicians, producers, writers, 1984–91) Mike Stock, Pete Waterman and Matt Aitken joined forces in 1984 to manufacture pop gold. Waterman had already produced hits for Nik Kershaw and Tracey Ullman. The team’s first chart-topper was Dead or Alive’s ‘You Spin Me Round (Like A Record)’. They then updated classic girl-group pop with Bananarama, Mel and Kim ...
(Vocal/instrumental group, 1985–2003) This Boston band was instrumental in mixing together ska and punk with metal stylings for a wider American audience. Tim Bridewell (vocals), Dicky Barrett (vocals), Nate Albert (guitar), Joe Gittleman (bass), Josh Dalsimer (drums), Tom ‘Johnny Vegas’ Burton (saxophone) was a classic line-up that enjoyed cult success with albums like Don’t Know How To Party (1993) and ...
The term ‘manufactured pop’ is, in many ways, a red herring. Despite the changes in our perception of pop talent brought about by The Beatles, much mainstream pop has been based on the ‘Tin Pan Alley’ tradition, in which teams of producers, composers and music-business moguls find young, attractive performers (mainly singers) to front potential ...
If you ask a young music consumer what kind of acts represent pop music, they will undoubtedly reel off a list of teen-orientated, manufactured bands. Pop has come to represent a narrowly focused genre, as far away from the initial, revolutionary rock-meets-pop appeal of Elvis Presley and The Beatles as can be. Since the 1950s, pop ...
Although boy bands and girl bands held sway over anglo-American pop for much of the 1990s, the end of the decade witnessed the return of the individual artist. While the likes of *NSYNC, Blue and Sugababes continued to fly the flag for groups, artists such as Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera and Pink emerged as arena-filling soloists. The ...
West-coast city Seattle was the unanticipated epicentre of 1990s music as grunge, the biggest ‘back to basics’ movement since punk, shook traditional American rock – Nirvana was to enjoy iconic status for a spell until Kurt Cobain’s death. In the UK, the dance-rock of The Stone Roses, a holdover from the late 1980s, put Manchester briefly ...
Adele has attracted a diverse, cross-generational, international legion of fans. While it was teenage girls who first clicked onto the singer via channels such as Myspace, their mothers soon grew to love her too. The star has often paid tribute to her loyal fanbase, particularly for accepting her as she is. ‘To all the fans,’ she ...
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David Bowie
Fantastic new, unofficial biography covers
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