HD by design
Bill Knight
Bill Knight
Tales of a Troubadur.
By Alice Inggs.
Come, gather ’round people, wherever you roam … Well, the times may not be a-changing, or maybe changing too quickly for anyone to make any meaningful assessment of them via music, but there’s a thing or three to be learnt from the old sages. A band of them: reclusive, half-forgotten balladeers are scattered around South Africa. Weathered, weary, dressed all in black with gravedigger’s hats, they’ll pass around tales like the eye of the three fates and prophesy with uncanny accuracy and historicise with earthy rhythms the stories of the South African folk. Not the volk, mind, but all the people in this, the strangest of places.
Arctic Monkeys
This Year's Monkeys
Eight years after they were the world’s most-hyped band, Arctic Monkeys have reinvented their sound and are invading America – this time, for real.
By Brian Hiatt
Photograph by Danny Clinch
Arctic monkeys frontman Alex Turner may have some real rivals for the best-rock-songwriter-of-his-generation title, but when it comes to fantastic rock’n’roll hair, he is the world’s current undisputed all-ages champion. His rockabilly-inspired quiff is nearly a fifth member of the band, rising from his head all proud and shiny and high, requiring two different kinds of greasy stuff to maintain.
Nirvana
Nirvana's Last Act
The triumph and tragedy of Kurt Cobain’s
final year.
By David Fricke
"I can still picture, vividly, sitting at my drums with krist on my right and Kurt on my left,” Dave Grohl says, his eyes and voice bright. “The control room was there” – he points straight ahead – “and Albini had all these crazy microphones taped to the floor, on my drums. And I’m counting in a song.” Grohl is sitting in the upstairs lounge of 606, his recording and rehearsal facility in Los Angeles’ San Fernando Valley, where he is currently working on new music with his band of the past two decades, Foo Fighters.
Rolling Stone Issue 24
Joni Mitchell
July 26, 1979
The legendary singer-songwriter turns 70 on November 7th. In this classic ‘ROLLING STONE’ Interview she defends her stubborn originality.
By Cameron Crowe
Several days before beginning these interviews, I overheard two teenagers looking for a good party album ina record store. “How about this,” said one, holding up Joni Mitchell’s‘ Miles of Aisles’. “Naaaaaah,” said the other. “It’s got good songs on it, but it’s kind of like jazz.” They bought a Cheap Trick album. When I told this story to JoniMitchell later, I could see the disappointment flicker across her face for an instant. Then she laughed and took a long drag from her cigarette. “Here’s the thing,” she said forcefully. “You have two options. You can stay the same and protect the formula that gave you your initial success.