Politics And British Pop, 1979-1990: A CD
Even After Closing Time…

This is the first of two CDs following the threads of British political pop from 1979, the date of Thatcher?s first election victory, to 2005. It is flawed and incomplete, due […]

I wonder how newspaper editors (or publishers) prepare for the solemn duty of telling their readers which way to vote. Do they have a special election pen? These things are always written as if they’d been composed at a stout oak desk using the[…]

Amusing article about lookalikes which I initially clicked on because “Charles Kennedy” looks nothing like Charles Kennedy. Imagine my surprise when I read the piece to discover that “Charles” and the lookalike agency FREELY A[…]

Stylus Singles Jukebox, this week with even more me. This time I feature as a lone voice crying out in a wilderness of horror, or a lone horror crying out in a wilderness of good sense, depending very much on your opinion of “Mr. Lonely” […]

MP3 and text submitted by Martin Skidmore
Joe Tex and Mable John – “The Same Things It Took To Get Me”
I like duets in general, but this is my favourite ever. You expect good strong singing from the stand-up preacher of soul and fro[…]

I just used the phrase “blue-sky thinking” in an email. And I meant it. (To the extent that one can mean the meaningless.)
Suggested penances in the comments box welcome.[…]

The Rolling Stones – “Wake Up In The Morning (Rice Krispies)”
One of the most enjoyable presentations at EMP was Douglas Wolk’s piece on the secret history of bespoke jingles recorded by seriously credible rock bands and soul […]

Just as we long ago nicked the idea for the Focus Group from ‘legendary’ US zine Radio On, so the Focus Group itself has now been borrowed by Stylus magazine for a weekly feature in which a panel of the great and good – now includin[…]

Akwid – “No Hay Manera”
The EMP pop conference mixes journalists and academics to good effect. They form a continuum whose parameters are argued and sketchily defined over three super-stimulating days. At one end of the continuum ar[…]

You will notice:
– a new logo.
– the staff Top 10 is back.
– we are going to be an MP3 blog from now on, except for those entries when we’re not. We’re going to try and think of interesting ways to present and discuss MP[…]