Steve Pafford

The murder of Stephen Lawrence 33 years on

Lest we forget… It’s Steven Lawrence Day in the ‘United‘ Kingdom. Which, in 2026, means that 33 years ago in its capital city an innocent young boy was savagely slain in a callous racially…

News

April 20, 2026

bySteve Pafford

Black celebration: dissecting Depeche Mode’s Violator

April 19, 2026

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

Well, allons-y and all that, because it just happens to be a certain Scotsman’s 55th birthday today. David John Tennant, or should I say né McDonald, was born on 18 April 1971 in…

April 18, 2026

bySteve Pafford

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

April 17, 2026

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

April 16, 2026

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

April 15, 2026

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

April 14, 2026

Highlights

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

April 13, 2026

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

April 7, 2026

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

Music

April 6, 2026

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

March 23, 2026

Licence to flop: The trouble with Timothy Dalton

March 21, 2026

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

March 17, 2026

Formidable femmes: The 115 women who changed the world

News

March 7, 2026

Russell Crowe: Another one who’s ballooned

Screen

March 4, 2026

Random Jukebox

Random Jukebox: The Hotrats’ Turn Ons

October 3, 2025

Random Jukebox: Garbage say The World Is Not Enough

August 25, 2025

Random Jukebox: Neneh Cherry’s Manchild

August 19, 2025

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

July 8, 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

45 at 45(ish): Adam Ant is The Human League’s Mirror Man

In a different post, I did a bit of a switchback Sunday rewind and revisited some of the first slabs of vinyl I bought that expressly weren’t by Adam and his army of Ants. Number…

Music

February 28, 2026

bySteve Pafford

Six degrees of separation: How often do you think of Fanny?

February 26, 2026

bySteve Pafford

100 words for Kenneth Williams

February 22, 2026

Twenty Years Ago Steve Pafford did Robbie Williams in the Rudebox review

Music

February 13, 2026

bySteve Pafford

Die young, stay pretty: the intimacy and iconography of James Dean

February 8, 2026

bySteve Pafford

John Lydon at 70: “Have I mellowed? Absolutely fucking not!” – a classic interview revisited

Music

January 31, 2026

Starman in Streatham: David McAlmont climbs the Wall To Wall Bowie

January 25, 2026

Remembering Robert Palmer: Bryan Ferry on Johnny & Mary

Music

January 22, 2026

The Caped Crusader of camp: Holy Happy 60th, Batman!

January 15, 2026

The Moolah Of Suburbia: cashing in on Bowie’s Bromley house

Bowie

January 10, 2026

Music

The Grand Illusion of David Bowie: David Currie book foreword by Steve Pafford

Dear me, I have to admit this is something of a tough read. A foreword for a book by David Currie that was eventually published by Legends Publishing in 2024 as a beautifully illustrated…

Bowie

January 8, 2026

bySteve Pafford

Trending Now

That time Neil Tennant reviewed a Duran Duran gig in Smash Hits. Talk Talk bring up the rear

Date: 17 December 1981 Reviewed: Duran Duran & Talk Talk, Hammersmith Odeon, London, Planet Earth Reviewer: Neil Tennant, Smash Hits, 7-20 January 1982 (very possibly…

December 17, 2025

bySteve Pafford

The Frank that drank: when Pet Shop Boys did dinner with Sinatra

December 12, 2025

bySteve Pafford

These are the crimes: The time David Bowie sung John Lennon’s Imagine

December 8, 2025

bySteve Pafford

The Youth of Today: That time Neil Tennant interviewed Musical Youth in Smash Hits

December 6, 2025

bySteve Pafford

Perfect 10: Grace Jones’ Alternative Island Life

As the arrival of her much anticipated 11th album inches ever closer, celebrating 50 years of fierce and fearsome recordings, author Callum Pearce has selected a Perfect 10 of Grace Jones…

Music

December 2, 2025

byCallum Pearce

David Bowie’s DNA: Spaceboy Keeps Swinging

December 1, 2025

bySteve Pafford

June Whitfield at 100: Mum and Gran’s most Absolutely Fabulous one-liners, dear

November 11, 2025

bySteve Pafford

Love is a stranger in an open car: locating Eurythmics in Little Venice

Music

November 8, 2025

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

A Case of Blue: Joni Mitchell’s fabulous fourth album

“The Blue album, there’s hardly a dishonest note in the vocals. At that period of my life, I had no personal defences. I felt like a cellophane wrapper on a pack of cigarettes. I felt like I…

November 7, 2025

bySteve Pafford

FFF: The time Neil Tennant interviewed Marc Bolan for Marvel Comics

November 5, 2025

bySteve Pafford

There ain’t nothing like a Dane: Appreciating Agnes Obel

October 28, 2025

bySteve Pafford

Suzanne Vega talks Lou Reed

October 27, 2025

bySteve Pafford

Perfect 10: Simple Minds albums

Spawned in a Glasgow ghetto in 1977, Simple Minds nabbed their name from a line in Bowie’s The Jean Genie while shapeshifting from punk outrage (original unsubtle moniker: Johnny And The…

October 18, 2025

bySteve Pafford

100 words for Thatcher

News

October 13, 2025

bySteve Pafford

Pet Shop Boys’ Chris Lowe at 66: six of the best PSB tracks by ‘the other one’

Music

October 4, 2025

bySteve Pafford

80 Words For Bryan Ferry

Music

September 26, 2025

bySteve Pafford

Events

Gatecrashing David Bowie in New York

September 26, 1995 This was Dame David of Bowie 30 long years ago, making a personal appearance at the grand opening of a new HMV record shop at New York’s Herald Square, just off Times…

September 25, 2025

bySteve Pafford

Celebrate Bisexuality Day with Harry Styles and Boyfriends

Music

September 23, 2025

bySteve Pafford

Thirty-Three Times A Lady: Kate Bush’s Never For Ever

Music

September 8, 2025

byCallum Pearce

It Was 40 Years Ago Today: Freddie Mercury’s Infamous 39th Birthday Party

Music

September 5, 2025

bySteve Pafford

Duch of the terrace: Katharine Worsley, 22 February 1933 – 4 September 2025

“Duch of the terrace knows all her heritage Says she’s Henry’s kid Knows all her history in the family Needs a man, god forbid God forbid Says she’s an heiress, sits in her terrace Says she’s…