A collection of tributes to the late former
editor of The Wire, who died August 2007
Mark Sinker uncovers ideas in black music -
about present identity and future possibility - that run counter to
all the comfortable old stories. This article was originally
published in The Wire 96 (February 1992).
What's the connection between Neil Young, Lou
Reed, Miles Davis, Marvin Gaye, David Bowie, Frank Zappa and John
& Yoko? They are all contract breakers, stars who got sick of
playing the music industry fame game. Mark Sinker listens to the
musicians who pissed off their record companies and fans alike.
This article originally appeared in The Wire 148 (June
1996).
Everyone's heard of them, no one knows what
they do. Mark Sinker investigates Auntie's best-kept secret. This
article was originally published in The Wire 96 (February
1992).
ON THE COVER: Björk - Flitting between London,
Reykjavik and Manhattan, Iceland's queen of the night has been
singing round the digital campfire with Matmos, Matthew Herbert and
others on her new Vespertine album. By David Toop
FEATURES: Q-Bert, Pandit Pran Nath, Stereolab, Mike
Patton, Lester Bangs, Stephan Mathieu, Gregg Bendian, Radu
Malfatti, Lightning Bolt, Patti Smith, Crass
Buy - £6.00
On The Cover: Sonic Youth - Boom times in NYC
Inside: Savage Pencil Postcards - Sun Ra, Stockhausen, Grateful
Dead, Beefheart
Features: Robert Moog - the doctor is in; Blood
Ulmer - the return of Capt Black; LTJ Bukem's Jukebox, The Fall in
New York; Nonplace Urban Field in Auckland; Royal Trux, Slapp
Happy, B12
On The Cover: Andrew Weatherall
Stuck To The Cover: free Big Cat CD
Features: Lou Reed, Pil, Neil Young, Marvin Gaye,
Mad Professor, Meat Beat Manifesto, Jungle goes AWOL, 808 State,
Ravi Shankar
On The Cover: Björk
Features: Lydia Lunch, En Vogue, Mica Paris, Riot
Grrrl, Moonshake, Steve Reich, Franz Koglmann, Velvet Underground,
Little Annie, Women in Pre-60s Pop, Odaline De La Martinez.
ON THE COVER: Music And The American Dream
Revealed, Searching For The United States Of Sound, Frontiers,
Freedom And Finding Ourselves
FEATURES: Prince, Grateful Dead, Wynton Marsalis,
Lester Bowie, Michael Nyman, Ambient A-Z
ON THE COVER: Music and the days of rage, how the
world turned upside down and how the beat changed with it
FEATURES: The Fall, Daniel Lanois, Stan Tracey,
Suede, Sugar, Shepp, Braxton, Brotzmann
ON THE COVER: Music and Censorship everywhere,
what sounds will they let us hear? taking stock of the
clampdown
FEATURES: Ice T, Ice Cube, Paris, NWA, John Zorn,
Don Byron, Ennio Morricone, Coldcut, Metal and Islam, Jazz at the
BBC, Philip Glass's "Low"
ON THE COVER: Music - The Endless Quest For Truth,
Lone Visionaries And Rogue Elements, Marching To The Beat Of A
Different Drum
FEATURES: Bill Frisell, Sonic Youth, Peter
Brotzmann, Gil Scott-Heron, Hermeto Pascoal, Faust, John Cale