Latest articles by Ian Fortnam
How The Beatles’ White Album sowed the seeds for rock’s entire future
By 1968, The Beatles were falling apart – but that didn’t stop them recording their greatest artistic statement, The White Album
Roger Waters rails against capitalism, America, war, religion and television on Amused To Death
Amused To Death is Roger Waters’ proudest solo moment and a damning reflection on social disintegration.
Patti Smith's commercial breakthrough is a flawed artistic statement
Containing her biggest hit and her most controversial song, the Patti Smith Group's third album Easter is a fascinating whole
Question Everything isn't great lost Boys Wonder album, but it’s as close as we’re going to get
The greatest band you never heard. Again
How the MC5's Kick Out The Jams became a rallying call for a generation
The title track of the MC5's debut live album was the incendiary call to arms that ignited punk’s vital spark in 60s Detroit
"We knew we had something": The complicated birth of Led Zeppelin
How the most creatively fertile era in the history of British Music produced the most important hard rock band of all time, Led Zeppelin
“Seat-of-the-pants stuff served by a revelatory sound mix”: King Crimson’s Sheltering Skies
1982 live set, previously part-released as The Noise, finds the post-Discipline line-up repurposing prog
The Stooges' songs that provided a perfect blueprint for rock’s future
In 1969 the Stooges shaped the future of rock'n'roll and brilliantly captured a young, fiery generation in turmoil. Punk? Grunge? Glam? So much of it started here
Clem Burke's stories of Debbie Harry, Bob Dylan, Iggy Pop and more
He was a Ramone, been treated like royalty when touring with Nancy Sinatra, got hot dogs from Jerry Nolan and played with Pete Townshend: He's Blondie drummer and more Clem Burke
Glam icon Suzi Quatro is not resting on her laurels
Suzi Quatro on paving the way for other women in rock, social media, age and working hard
The low-key, hit-free career-in-reverse of Cock Sparrer
Too punk for punk in the late 70s, Oi! elder statesmen in the early 80s, living-legend role models in the early 90s, Cock Sparrer never got credit for what they started
How a retail assistant at Dorothy Perkins got to sing with David Bowie
Originally written at a clandestine recording session, Absolute Beginners was the start of a 10-year musical relationship
“Extensive improvisations just don’t work”: Frank Zappa’s Live At The Whisky A Go Go, 1968
Seems like there’s a reason this live recording remained unreleased in his lifetime
Joan Jett on the first girl rock band, her love of leather and nearly joining the army
Punk-loving former Runaways hellraiser Joan Jett talks about being a threat and inspiring the riot grrrl movement
Dion may be 84, but that hasn't stopped him recording a duet that reminds him of *that* scene in When Harry Met Sally
More than 60 years after his first hit single, Dion has returned with an album of collaborations with female artists
William Shatner, progressive rock icon
Everyone's favourite nonagenarian starship captain continues to boldly go where no man has gone before
"I woke up singing this song about being in jail waiting for the electric chair": Medicine Head's John Fiddler on inspiration, love, and the perils of getting older
A duo back in the 60s, Medicine Head is now effectively just John Fiddler, whose new album Heartworks is filled with love
"It pays all the bills, it's paid for everything we've ever done since": Modern English didn't set out to write commercial songs, but they're not complaining
Modern English on getting older, the trouble with politics, and the financial heft of Burger King
“He didn’t think the concerts would work… the fluidity, precision and phrasing is simply dazzling”: Rick Wakeman’s Live At The London Palladium 2023
Performed over two nights, box set featuring The Six Wives Of Henry VIII, The Myths And Legends Of King Arthur, Yes Classics and Journey To The Centre Of The Earth is an essential package
"Transcending both hype and generic pigeon-holing, it is arguably one of the finest recordings of all time": the miracle of Television's Marquee Moon
With poetic concision and angular symphonics, guitarists Richard Lloyd and Tom Verlaine always took the most unorthodox route from one guitar chord to another
Your essential guide to every studio album by The Velvet Underground
The Velvet Underground reshaped the sound of rock'n'roll with four albums that continue to have an incalculable influence on the musical zeitgeist. The less said about their fifth, the better
“Their run of mid-70s hits were bona fide, pop-literate, soft-prog gold… but warming to their deeper cuts is a far tougher task”: 10cc’s 20 Years Box Set
Exhaustive 145-track collection highlights the infuriating, imperfect magic of the preposterously ambitious original four-piece
"Abbey Road was really unfinished songs all stuck together. None of the songs had anything to do with each other, no thread at all": A track-by-track guide to the final album recorded by The Beatles
After the fractious Let It Be sessions, Paul McCartney urged his bandmates back into the studio to make an album “like the old days, like we used to"
