Inspiration can come from anywhere, but it’s much more likely to hit when things are looking up, such that the world feels like it might turn forever, and it’s something George Harrison knew better than anyone else. Another truism about inspiration is that it can, eventually, dry up. Not always, of course, for there are […]
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Artistic inspiration often comes from the most unlikely surroundings, and although it is easy to envision every one of Led Zeppelin’s hard rock riffs and expansive long-playing masterpieces being dragged from the endearingly dirty gutters of rock and roll, where all guitar-based abrasion surely resides, Jimmy Page and the gang often took their core inspiration […]
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In the days following the November 17th, 1980, release of his long-awaited comeback album, Double Fantasy, most of the interviews John Lennon conducted focused on the same themes as the songs on the record, particularly the notion of “starting over“. In a Los Angeles Times piece that autumn, in which Lennon was eerily described as […]
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Whenever you’re doubting just how attainable a glittering career in rock and roll really is, it’s worth bearing in mind that everybody has to start somewhere. Even The Beatles, whose place at the top of music history is borderline unbeatable and the reputation of the stardom almost contradicts the idea of DIY musicianship, they too […]
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Both John Lennon and George Harrison belonged to a musical generation that shared a near-universal teen soundtrack, centred on rock ‘n’ roll’s seismic lightning bolt from across the Atlantic. There was wiggle room, sure. Eric Clapton was more tethered to the old blues tradition, while Graham Bond was fundamentally shaped by jazz’s fluid rhythms, but […]
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Everyone knows by now that awards shows don’t match up with true success or true cultural impact. Some of the best artists in history, the best albums ever put to tape, or even the best films ever made, have gone without trophies as award bodies, like the Grammys, shun icons or only realise their worth […]
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By the end of his time with The Beatles, George Harrison had started to grow restless. The official story pins the songwriter as one of the hit-making machine’s most frustrated cogs. While Paul McCartney and John Lennon continued to dominate the Liverpudlian group’s recording sessions, Harrison grew increasingly disillusioned with his place in the band. […]
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Robert Plant joined Led Zeppelin just as they sprang from the ashes of The Yardbirds. The 20-year-old singer had been the frontman of his West Bromwich-based group Band of Joy when he was approached by guitarist Jimmy Page, who was in search of a new vocalist for his new incarnation of The Yardbirds. As Plant […]
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When approaching the conversation of the ‘Fifth Beatle’, there isn’t a soul on Earth who did more for the Fab Four than George Martin. He might have been one of the single most unassuming geniuses of his time, but his subtle touches on all their material are what brought them from being a fairly decent […]
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A decade into Led Zeppelin’s existence, they could still make a rational argument for being the biggest rock ‘n’ roll band on earth, but the days of appearing cutting edge or ‘dangerous’ were long gone, as the louder voices in the emerging punk scene had reframed them as unhip dad rock, or yesterday’s news. Jimmy […]
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