Latest articles by Neil Crossley
“Are we sure we can write a song about death?”: How Mike + The Mechanics channelled grief to create a classic ’80s No.1
"If we’d got it wrong, it would’ve been very schmaltzy"
“We should use the tools of today’s society to create music”: How Kraftwerk’s The Model shaped modern pop
The No.1 hit from the band that liked to say: “Our drummers don’t sweat!”
“Even a baby can sing, ‘Jolene, Jolene, Jolene, Jolene’”: How Dolly Parton created a country classic
“I was playing guitar pretty seriously back then,” Dolly said
“We were human samplers”: How Talking Heads created the classic Once In A Lifetime
“We very nearly abandoned the song," said David Byrne
“It was a mind-bender. Your brain tells you this isn’t supposed to work”: The genius of David Bowie’s Ashes To Ashes
"It’s childlike and melancholic in that children’s story way,” Bowie said
“We were always going to try to break boundaries”: It was the first No.1 pop single to feature rapping - and it came from Blondie
“Some people loved it, and some people hated it,” recalled drummer Clem Burke
“Every time I looked up for ideas, I looked at the moon”: How Kate Bush created the classic Wuthering Heights
“Those shrieks and warbles are beauty beyond belief,” said John Lydon
“It’s about the voice carrying much more information than words do”: The story of Jeff Buckley’s greatest song
A haunting and deeply personal ballad
“It had so much weight. So much power”: How Led Zeppelin’s Communication Breakdown inspired heavy metal - and punk!
It’s unlike any other song on Zep’s first album
“It was too dark, too personal, too risky, not commercial”: The story of Lana Del Rey’s breakthrough hit
And as soon the adulation began, a backlash kicked in…
“I used it to show people that the way they were portraying me wasn’t breaking me”: How Taylor Swift created a self-empowering pop classic
"I had more fun writing it than any song I’d written before”
“Ironic, self-aware, intimate, DIY”: The making of Bad Guy, Billie Eilish’s biggest hit
The first single by an artist born in the 21st century to top the US Billboard Hot 100
“Suddenly the sun shone and it was, ‘Wow!’”: How ELO’s Jeff Lynne created his masterpiece Mr. Blue Sky - and how a little joke at the end of the song was misheard by millions
Inside the making of a miniature pop symphony
“New Year’s Day set the template for a more direct sonic vision for U2 - and marked the point at which they shifted their gaze towards political issues around the globe”: The making of an ’80s rock classic
It was a defining moment for Bono and the boys
The story behind Summer Of ‘69, a soaring, carefree pop-rock anthem with killer hooks
With Summer Of '69, Adams created an evergreen hit that defined the era and became a rite of passage for generations of guitarists
The creation of The Cars’ song Drive and how it soundtracked a humanitarian catastrophe
Best of 2024: “The lyrics don't have to mean anything in an intellectual sense. They're endlessly interpretive. They just have to make an emotional sense”
“One of the few songs that reduces me to tears every time I hear it”
Best of 2024: How Brian Wilson hooked up with an LA advertising executive to pen one of the most majestic and moving pop songs ever created
When Buddy Guy rewrote the blues rulebook with a Strat and blew the collective minds of Clapton, Beck and Page
Best of 2024: The inspirational playing of the last living American blues legend: "I was bringing it up to Eric and Jimmy – ‘Have you heard this stuff!?'"
"Kurt kissed me and said, 'now I don't have to be the only songwriter!'”: Dave Grohl's evolution as a songwriter
Best of 2024: “I was in a band with one of the greatest songwriters of our generation, so I didn’t really want to rock the boat”
The story of Wichita Lineman. the song Bob Dylan called the greatest ever written
Best of 2024: “When I heard it I cried”
"David wasn’t going to do the show, and his mum said, ‘No, you HAVE to work with Bing Crosby!’ She was a fan": The story of David Bowie and Bing Crosby's Little Drummer Boy
A schmaltzy TV special did not seem the most likely vehicle for a hit Christmas single, but this 1977 collaboration between David Bowie and Bing Crosby yielded an enduring classic that cuts across the generational divide
“Because the guy’s got a knife, he’s fairly persuasive!”: How Paul McCartney survived a mugging - and a mutiny - to create his solo masterpiece
The full, amazing story of Band On The Run
“It's Christmaaaas!”: How Slade created a festive classic - with a little help from John Lennon
Still making half a million quid a year, it’s the Christmas gift that keeps on giving!
“I’m not a great lyricist or songwriter or producer. It's when you put all these things together — that makes me”: The 5 George Harrison post-Beatles songs you need to hear
Freed from the creative confines of The Beatles, George Harrison set out to realise his true creative potential. Here are five of his finest works…
