Steve Pafford

Düsseldorf, London, Paris, Tunbridge Wells: station to station with the Bowie-Kraftwerk connection

“The Music Machine show is billed as Boxing Day Relapse 1977 and Adam & The Ants are supporting Siouxsie & The Banshees. It’s here where I get a glimpse of the future of music. And…

August 20, 2026

bySteve Pafford

Kiss in the mix: Prince in ’86

August 14, 2026

Perfect 10: Bauhaus

“We were just four young kids who wanted to make something unique, without really having much idea what we were doing.” – Kevin Haskins “We were arrogant fuckers. You had to be, in order to…

August 7, 2026

bySteve Pafford

Put on the blue light: having a cryo facial at Purexpert

August 1, 2026

Record Collector Presents… Rolling Stones in the 70s: Some Girls and soul sisters, out now

July 22, 2026

Record Collector Presents… Rolling Stones in the 70s: Exile On Main St. at Nellcote, out now

Music

July 14, 2026

Random Jukebox: Jack White & Alicia Keys find Another Way To Die

July 12, 2026

Highlights

Turn around, Tyler: Bonnie’s Total Eclipse Of The Heart and one outrageously homoerotic video

July 11, 2026

Every night is Friday night: Obscure Pet Shop Boys fifth night review

July 10, 2026

It’s Thursday night: Obscure Pet Shop Boys fourth night review

July 9, 2026

It was a Wednesday night: Obscure Pet Shop Boys third night review

July 8, 2026

Late on Tuesday evening: Obscure Pet Shop Boys second night review

July 7, 2026

Someone told me Monday: Obscure Pet Shop Boys first night review

July 6, 2026

From London to Berlin: the Obscure Pet Shop Boys (p)review

July 5, 2026

Spawn In The USA: 250 reasons why I’m afraid of Americans

News

July 4, 2026

Random Jukebox

Random Jukebox: U2’s Miss Sarajevo, One New Year’s Day

May 10, 2026

Random Jukebox: Neneh Cherry’s Manchild

March 10, 2026

Random Jukebox: The Hotrats’ Turn Ons

October 3, 2025

Random Jukebox: Garbage say The World Is Not Enough

August 25, 2025

Random Jukebox: Cyndi Lauper’s Into The Nightlife

June 22, 2025

Random Jukebox: Duran Duran’s A View To A Kill + how they took over Bond from Bowie

May 12, 2025

Random Jukebox: The Belle Stars’ Sign Of The Times

April 30, 2025

Random Jukebox: Robert Wyatt’s Shipbuilding

January 27, 2025

Record Collector Presents… Stevie Wonder: out now

Child prodigy, studio pioneer, cultural force and one-man band – few artists have reshaped popular music quite like Stevie Wonder. In May 2026, a comprehensive 116-page special edition…

Music

July 3, 2026

bySteve Pafford

Say No Go: The surprise rehabilitation of Daryl Hall & John Oates (No Can Do)

July 2, 2026

bySteve Pafford

Record Collector Presents… Blondie: out now

July 1, 2026

You can stop the music: The trouble with the Village People

Music

June 30, 2026

bySteve Pafford

Assessing the Girl Power of the Spice Girls — 90s nostalgia or a lasting legacy?

June 27, 2026

bySteve Pafford

Perfect 10: Spice Girls

June 26, 2026

More PMs than realities: why Britain is always going up the hill backwards

News

June 22, 2026

What did you expect to see out of a Torquay hotel bedroom window? Devon, perhaps?

News

June 4, 2026

Perfect 10: Talking ’bout Marilyn Monroe in song

June 1, 2026

Random Jukebox: Pondering Patti LaBelle’s big-haired Bond theme If You Asked Me To

May 24, 2026

Music

We shall overcome? Why Marvin Gaye’s What’s Going On is more relevant than ever

Racism, police brutality, riots, war, unemployment, disasters, environmental crisis: you could be forgiven for thinking What’s Going On is a record of our times in the 2020s. But no, it’s a…

May 21, 2026

bySteve Pafford

Trending Now

Age to the rhythm: Ladies and gentlemen, Miss Grace Jones (and why she’s younger than you think)

“The performer, out there, takes a risk. It’s a lonely place. But it’s a fascinating, lonely place.” That’s a signature moment from Grace Jones: Bloodlight and Bami, the illuminating 2018…

Music

May 19, 2026

bySteve Pafford

Perfect 10: Produced by Brian Eno

Music

May 15, 2026

bySteve Pafford

The day Frank Sinatra met Manic Street Preachers in Golders Green

Music

May 14, 2026

bySteve Pafford

Angel or Legend? Assessing Bob Marley

May 11, 2026

bySteve Pafford

Happiness is a place called Richmond: my erstwhile neighbour David Attenborough at 100

Felicitations and very happy centenary celebrations to the educator par excellence and one of the most inspirational humans on Planet Earth, Mr David Attenborough (sorry, not sorry, but the…

May 8, 2026

bySteve Pafford

May The Fourth Be With You: How Margaret Thatcher launched the Star Wars ‘holiday’

May 4, 2026

bySteve Pafford

Alive at 45: The fabulous Father John Misty

May 3, 2026

bySteve Pafford

Mick Ronson on the wall: Heaven and Hell in Hull

April 29, 2026

bySteve Pafford

Trending Now

Random Jukebox: Dinah Washington’s Mad About The Boy

One hundred years ago, jazz and blues singer Dinah Washington was born in Alabama. The Grammy-winning “Queen of the Jukeboxes” would leave this bitter earth behind at the tender age of 39,…

August 28, 2024

bySteve Pafford

Random Jukebox: Goldfrapp’s Human

July 31, 2024

bySteve Pafford

Random Jukebox: Chris Cornell’s You Know My Name, from Casino Royale

July 19, 2024

bySteve Pafford

Random Jukebox: Blancmange’s Living On The Ceiling

June 13, 2024

bySteve Pafford

Random Jukebox

Exclusive audio: Neil Tennant talks David Bowie, Michael Jackson and Take That

Three decades ago, on 25 April 1996 to be precise, I conducted my first official on the record interview with a pop star: Neil Tennant of the Pet Shop Boys. That weekday afternoon the PSB…

April 25, 2026

bySteve Pafford

The murder of Stephen Lawrence 33 years on

News

April 22, 2026

bySteve Pafford

Prince’s regal gramophone: It was ten years ago today

April 21, 2026

bySteve Pafford

100 words for Windsor

News

April 21, 2026

bySteve Pafford

Elizabeth Sladen: forever our Sarah Jane Smith

“Journos with egos? Ooooh, I don’t like ‘em!” — Magda in Absolutely Fabulous, 1994 She was fierce, formidable and occasionally fearless. For three years in the mid 1970s — during the…

April 19, 2026

bySteve Pafford

You’re an actor too? That time I worked with David Tennant

April 18, 2026

bySteve Pafford

It Was 11 Years Ago Today: Dusty Springfield’s Faithful found in the nick of time

April 7, 2026

bySteve Pafford

The winners took it all: ABBA’s Waterloo at 52

Music

April 6, 2026

bySteve Pafford

Events

One could almost call it an altar: ten things you didn’t know about Elizabeth Taylor

It’s like the song goes, “Red lips, dark hair,” and those violet eyes. Those incredible violet eyes. Elizabeth Taylor was one of film’s most celebrated figures whose name was synonymous with…

March 23, 2026

bySteve Pafford

Licence to flop: The trouble with Timothy Dalton

March 21, 2026

bySteve Pafford

Black celebration: dissecting Depeche Mode’s Violator

March 19, 2026

bySteve Pafford

Even better than the real thing: 11 Irish Icons that aren’t U2

March 17, 2026

bySteve Pafford

Formidable femmes: The 115 women who changed the world

It’s been a wee while since we marked International Women’s Daywith a new feature. As it’s the 115th anniversary of the earliest iteration of IWD—a sui generisFebruary 1909 event organised by…