IHM LYRIC WATCH 6: SEND OFF THE CLOWNS
Smokey Robinson may have been “America’s greatest living poet” (called so by none other than Bob Dylan, a compliment quite on a level with being called America’s greatest landscape artist[…]

THIN LIZZY – Jailbreak
You can just imagine the police not taking Phil Lynott altogether seriously as a snitch. With a hairdo / tache combination only seen on seventies footballers and a penchant for leather trousers – it would be like a […]

MADONNA REALLY THOUGHT SHE COULD SLIP THIS BY ME?
She’s just like the Queen Mum these days – is Madonna. Everybody loves her for dropping sprogs, going out with rubbish British gangster film directors and finally given up the idea that be[…]

EVERY ONE A CAPTAIN KIRK
Attentive readers will recall our discussion of Sting’s efforts in preventing the world from perishing by nuclear fire, viz. “Russians”. But he wasn’t the only 80s pop star concerned about our planet&#[…]

OUI OUI, JE SUIS UN RAP STAR (IHM Lyric Watch 5)
Philosophy, food, silly attempts at hip-hop: long have these been the three cornerstones of French culture. MC Solaar is the world’s longest-serving French rapper, which makes him after Weird Al […]

BE THANKFUL I DON’T TAKE IT ALL
Notebooks out plagiarists, as Mark E.Smith has been known to deludedly say. I, as usual, have an ambivalent view on plagiarism. Yes it is lazy, artistically corrupt and just plain dishonest. That said it stops a […]

THE STONE ROSES – “Fool’s Gold”
Now here’s a classic, eh readers? “Fool’s Gold” is a seamless genre-smashing marriage of funk, rock and dance, a classic which will live forever as a reminder of when the[…]

James Brown – Moby-esque cross-media overexposure
Ahhhhhh! (Or should that be “oooowww!”) The joys of summer, the smack of leather on willow, the strawberries, the cream, Wimbledon. But what?s that I hear? It seems the boys in th[…]

JB – The Funky Drummer
Let?s not forget James Brown?s unique contribution to the proliferation of crummy dance music. How many bands, eighties and nineties, pilfered one of The “Please Please Please” Man?s frugging riffs to beef up[…]

JB – You’ve overstayed your welcome
Nowadays, it is impossible to think of “young” James Brown (a poised, suave young buck, supposedly) without being reminded of “old” James Brown (a wizened, fogeyish old criminal,[…]