It took weeks to record, with an odd choice of producer and no record label involved. But it kick-started an iconic career. The album was 1972’s self-titled debut by Roxy Music, and it contained all the elements that would make them legendary. And for guitarist Phil Manzanera it was a hectic time. “I was only officially confirmed in the band on February 14, 1972, and a month later we were in the studio.”
Manzanera had auditioned the previous October, but lost out to former Nice man David O’List. But when the band played in front of EG Management in early February ’72, there was a fight between O’List and drummer Paul Thompson. As a result, EG took on the band but insisted on O’List going.
So in came Manzanera, joining Thompson, frontman Bryan Ferry, bassist Graham Simpson, synth player Brian Eno and saxophonist Andy Mackay. And, funded by EG, Roxy went to Command Studios in central London on March 14, working with producer Pete Sinfield, best known as the lyricist for King Crimson. “EG managed him, so they kept it in the family. I don’t why he was chosen, but the good thing is that Pete let us get on with it.”
Roxy recorded live in the studio, with few overdubs. But the band had rehearsed so much that they were ready to do it this way. “We were a band of inspired amateurs back then, who worked very hard and had lots of enthusiasm. And the album has a charm all of its own as a result.”
Roxy Music in 1972: (from left) Paul Thompson, Brian Ferry, Andy Mackay, Phil Manzanera, Brian Eno (Image credit: Gijsbert Hanekroot/Redferns)
The songs were written by Ferry, bearing a number of cinematic references, something that delighted Manzanera. “That’s one of the things the two of us bonded over – we loved films. And to hear something like 2HB, with its tribute to Humphrey Bogart, or Chance Meeting [inspired by the classic movie Brief Encounter] was just incredible. Bryan had so many ideas, and I always thought the rest of us provided the music for his words.”
The opening song, Re-Make/Re-Model, actually sums up the band’s eclecticism, with nods to The Beatles, Duane Eddy and… Wagner. “We all got the chance at the end to do our own thing. It’s a mad journey with lots of energy and it’s so exciting. It immediately says who we were – a band who would try anything.”
While Roxy had a big hit with Virginia Plain later in 1972, reaching No.4 in the chart, this was recorded four months after the album and not included in the track listing. “In those days, we liked to keep singles separate and not feature them on albums.”
Apart from the music, what immediately stands out is the cover, featuring model Kari-Ann Muller. It set Roxy apart from almost everyone. “This cover was so striking that we’re going to be using it to promote our January UK tour – it still looks so good even now.”
The album was eventually released through Island, thanks to a licensing deal done by EG. “We got £5,000 from the label for a five-year lease. In those days, that was very innovative. I know EG had to fight to persuade some people at Island to put this out. But it did well for them.”
Roxy Music reached No.10 in the UK charts, selling over 100,000 copies. As Manzanera concludes: “This was just the beginning. The rest is history.”
Originally published in Classic Rock issue 150 (March 2010)
Strong of sinew, grizzled and gritty, the music of Richard Thompson is the work of a man who has been through life’s wars and lived to tell the tale. And what tales he can tell, chronicling a fascinating cross-section of humanity. The clue is in the album’s name: these songs contain a veritable identity parade […]
The father of a fan thrown out of a Sex Pistols gig by frontman Frank Carter has backed up the singer, calling his son “idiotic”.
The incident happened during the legendary punk band’s set at the Ogden Theater in Denver, Colorado on October 9. Carter had reportedly encouraged a women-only moshpit for one song and called out a male audience member who entered it.
Footage shows Carter berating the fan, saying [via Consquence]: “Every time, there’s always a fucking man that tells me, ‘[Women] can do this all the fucking time.’ Like, they can’t. They fucking can’t. Do you know why? Because they walk in the mosh pit and they get a fucking elbow to the head by a fucking idiot!”
Carter continued to address the fan from the stage: “You’re shaking your head like you’re a fucking woman? Are you fucking stupid? It’s not your lived experience, so just shut the fuck up! … Do you know what, instead of crouching, just fucking leave, bro!”
The singer reportedly had the fan thrown out of the show by security. He subsequently took to Instagram stories to expand on his reasons for calling him out.
“If you are a man who gets offended by a band making room for a female only moshpit then you are PART OF THE PROBLEM,” said Carter. “Stay home, read a book by Bell Hooks, come back when kindness, compassion and empathy have landed with you. Incels, homophobes, misogynists, racists, fascists not welcome.
“Also this isn’t up for debate. I don’t care for your pedantry. If it isn’t your lived experience, don’t fucking speak on it. If you are offended by being told something isn’t for you then imagine how it feels to be a woman in the current climate. And finally…
“When I say a Ladies only moshpit, I of course mean a trans inclusionary space. The space is for people who don’t usually feel safe… To dance and have fun without the worry of physical, sexual or psychological violence being used against them while they are vulnerable. DO NOT LET THEM DIVIDE US.”
After the show, Carter revealed that he had received a message from the fan’s father, who offered his support to the singer.
“Frank – let me apologize that was my idiotic son who decided to make a stand last night in Denver about the womens mosh pit,” read the message. “Wasnt how he was raised, wasnt what he was taught. His sisters learning of his stand are very upset w him as am I. Unfortunately this is what has happened in our country and the misinformation and poison that has been spewed into young and old people has infected and affected our country.”
Sex Pistols are currently touring the US to mark the 50th anniversary of their landmark debut album Never Mind The Bollocks.
Rick Wakeman has been to Mars. Well, kinda. The veteran keyboard player recently visited the Airbus Space Facility in Stevenage to film promo videos for his latest album, Return To The Red Planet, a sequel to 2020’s critically praised The Red Planet.
“Airbus has its own [recreation of] Mars; it’s where all of the craft that go into space are tested out,” Wakeman tells Classic Rock. “I did check my British Airways air miles and there were not enough for a trip to Mars, so they kindly allowed us to go in and do some filming. I do have a very genuine interest in the subject, so it was great to spend time talking to all of the technicians and scientists there.”
He continues: “Ever since [Russian cosmonaut] Yuri Gagarin went up and back [in 1961] I’ve been fascinated with space, and I’ve got some good friends at NASA. Photographs of the Russians’ first mission were grainy, understandably, but since then technology has improved things phenomenally. And with so much new information I thought: ‘Crikey, there’s another album here’. For instance, Mars almost certainly used to be a blue planet like Earth, and where there’s water it’s pretty certain there will also be life. My pal David [Bowie] was right.”
Speaking of the Bowie, Wakeman’s nine-track Return To The Red Planet features a rather wonderful selection titled Bowie’s Vision. With its false ending and uplifting choral climax, it’s a lovely tribute to Wakeman’s old friend, some of whose albums he played on and whose 1971 hit single Life On Mars? was enhanced by a distinctive piano solo from Wakeman.
“I’m glad you like that one,” he says of Bowie’s Vision, smiling. “It’s a tongue-in-cheek story of what David did, and I love the [choral] part at the end.”
(Image credit: Michael Inns)
Described as a “progressive work that fuses science, imagination and musical virtuosity”, Return To The Red Planet is released on October 16 via Madfish. It was created along with Wakeman’s regular backing collective The English Rock Ensemble, featuring Mollie Marriott (daughter of late Small Faces and Humble Pie frontman Steve) on lead vocals, plus bassist Lee Pomeroy, guitarist Dave Colquhoun and drummer Adam Falkner.
Should the opportunity arise in the future, Wakeman hopes to perform both of his Mars-themed albums together in a single show, although, as he points out, it depends very much on the reaction of the public to the new record. “If it’s only bought by eight people and a dog, that won’t be anywhere enough to sell tickets for a concert,” he notes.
Wakeman has repeatedly spoken of working towards retirement, but his calendar seems to contradict that. In December he and son Oliver undertake A Hint Of Christmas, six festive dates around Britain, followed by 18 UK shows billed as Wizard Of Prog in February and March 2027.
“In October I’m doing STARMUS VIII – The Search For Truth, a big piece for piano and chamber orchestra that’s based on the lectures of [late astrophysicist and cosmologist] Stephen Hawking, which I’m really looking forward to, and also next year I’m headed off to South America,” he explains. “But I am slowing down.”
It’s all set to come to a head on Wakeman’s birthday, May 18, in 2029. “That’s when I turn… oh Crikey,” he calculates theatrically. “Is it eighty-nine? Ninety? A hundred? I dunno. No, it’ll be my ninetieth birthday. That will be the last big bang for me. I hope to go out in style at somewhere like the Royal Albert Hall with lots and lots of friends and special guests on stage. I will keep on making music, there’s still tonnes of stuff left to do, but in terms of touring that will be it. I may still do the occasional concert here and there, but I have to be sensible.”
Before he heads off to rehearse for STARMUS VIII, we have a rumour to run past him: that in September he goes to Vietnam to play piano in an open-air concert for an audience of… bears.
“It’s true,” he affirms. “I’m an ambassador for Animals Asia, which saves moon bears from the dreadful bear bile trade. They go into sanctuaries and get their lives back. The Vietnamese have now banned bear bile farming, but as part of that deal we must look after them. I came up with this silly idea to raise awareness: why don’t I go there and do a concert for the bears? Not for people, but for the actual bears. Obviously I can’t go into the cages,” he says, grinning, “but they’re building a stage and we bring along a grand piano.
“The funny thing is, for the last few months they’ve been playing them some of my piano albums, so that the bears have an idea of what to expect. When I get there they’ll probably turn around and say: ‘Oh shit, it’s him again.’”
Return To The Red Planet is released via Madfish on October 16.
Few performers in American music have assembled a body of recorded work as expansive as Willie Nelson’s. Born in Abbott, Texas, in 1933, Nelson began writing songs as a child and developed a sound that drew on country, western swing, blues, jazz, gospel, and the American popular songbook. His distinctive phrasing, nylon-string guitar playing, and independent musical instincts made him one of the most recognizable artists of his generation. Nelson first attracted national attention as a songwriter during the early 1960s. Patsy Cline turned his composition “Crazy” into a classic, while Faron Young recorded “Hello Walls” and Ray Price made
In 1986, televangelist Jimmy Swaggart was on his own personal crusade. He described rock bands and rock magazines as “pornography and degenerative filth which denigrates all the values we hold sacred and is destructive to youth.”
According to a Los Angeles Times news story published that summer, his words and reputation held such weight during the height of the Satanic Panic, that 800 Walmart stores across North America stopped stocking rock and teen magazines. Albums by Ozzy Osbourne, Black Sabbath, Mötley Crüe, and Judas Priest were also pulled from the shelves.
“Let’s just say there are scores of magazines like Hit Parader, which are sold to teens, that are full of four-letter words and graphic descriptions and language which gives teens the impression that premarital sex and perversion are just fine,” said Swaggart. “I bought a whole stack of magazines last week and they contain lurid pornographic detail about these groups. The whole rock scene – the records, the magazines and the concerts – couldn’t get any worse. They’re taking a deadly toll.”
Ozzy Osbourne holding a cup of tea in the garden of his home in May 1988 (Image credit: Mirrorpix/Getty Images)
When Ozzy Osbourne and his band were working on the follow-up to The Ultimate Sin in early 1988, news broke that Swaggart, a first cousin of the problematic rock ‘n’ roller Jerry Lee Lewis, had visited a sex worker in a New Orleans motel. The sound of Ozzy’s unmistakable cackle must have been heard across the whole of Los Angeles.
Swaggart made a tearful, televised apology from the Family Worship Center, in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, that February and, in turn, inspired the opening song on No Rest for The Wicked.
Ozzy’s fifth studio album marked the studio debut of his new protégé Jeffrey Phillip Wielandt, a 21-year-old with a mane of blond hair and skills reminiscent of the late Randy Rhoads.
Renamed by Ozzy’s wife and manager Sharon as Zakk Wylde, his recruitment brought a dazzling flair and much-needed crunch to the new material following the dismissal of Jake E. Lee.
“You know, I have a knack for finding great guitarists,” Ozzy told Guitar World. “Jake E. Lee, was, and still is a great guitar player. But it was just one of those things that happened. And Zakk would ask me questions about the previous guys, about Randy, about Jake, about Tony [Iommi]. He wanted to learn. And he only got better.
“People used to say to me, ‘Why don’t you go for the best soccer player?’ And I’d say, ‘No. I have more fun watching a guy who wants to be the best soccer player develop into him.’ Zakk was that guy.”
The artwork for Ozzy Osbourne’s 1988 single, Miracle Man (Image credit: Epic/CBS)
Zakk’s guitar parts on Miracle Man were inspired by The Jimi Hendrix Experience’s 1967 single Foxy Lady (or Foxey Lady).
“That’s why I always tell kids, it’s just like cooking,” Zakk told Suicide Silence guitarist Chris Garza on his podcast. “You learn how other songs are written, and you’re inspired or influenced by them. Or you remember it, and then you tweak it and bend it [to write a song].
“I remember Dime [Dimebag Darrell, late Pantera guitarist] did this one riff on a certain song,” he added. “I go, ‘If you didn’t tell me that, I would have never got it, because you changed it ’round a bit.’ But the spark of inspiration that led you to where you ended up was a specific song.”
The song, written by Ozzy, Zakk and returning bassist Bob Daisley, tore into the televangelist – named ‘Jimmy Sinner’ – in a sub-four-minute beating.
The second verse, “Today I saw a miracle man on TV crying, such a hypocritical man, born again, dying,” refers to the televised meltdown they saw earlier in 1988.
“They were always putting my records down and saying I was the anti-Christ,” Ozzy later told Uncut, “and it turned out they weren’t so holy after all.”
The barbs didn’t stop there. In the promotional video for the single, which was released a month after the album on October 24, 1988, pokes further fun at the disgraced preacher.
When the music went on, the pigs all took a massive shit at the same time.
Ozzy Osbourne
Filmed in England and directed by Wayne Isham (Metallica), the video begins with Ozzy wearing a latex mask which looks like it was moulded from Swaggart’s remorseful face.
The performance features Black Sabbath bassist Geezer Butler, who joined the band shortly after the album was recorded, and approximately sixty pigs running amok in a church. The vocalist revealed that the demands of the shoot on his four-legged co-stars led to a ruined pair of suede boots.
“When the music went on, the pigs all took a massive shit at the same time,” Osbourne told Guitar World. “Because it was so fucking loud in there. My wife went, ‘Oh, fuck!’ The playback started and they all went pfffffftttt! Sixty pigs shitting! I had a pair of brand-new suede boots on, and I never wore them again. I couldn’t get the fucking smell of pig shit out of them.”
Miracle Man failed to trouble the charts, reaching number 87 on the UK Official Singles Chart. Despite this commercial wobble, the single was a standout track on No Rest for the Wicked, which was later certified double platinum.
Swaggart, who died three weeks before Ozzy in 2025, was caught in California, with another sex worker in 1991.
Caitlin Starr is a fantastic artist from the USA who has just released a new EP titled “Speed Saves”. We had the chance to chat with her about music, touring and superpowers!
Benedetta
I’m here with the fantastic Caitlin Starr. How are you doing today?
Caitlin Starr
I’m doing good today. It’s like finally fall here, which is my favorite season, so I’m happy about that.
Benedetta
Great, absolutely, yeah. “Speed Saves” is like a brilliant release. I was like, “Wow, there is someone who can like rescue us from and save us from this boring AI music and this is a 100% genuine artist.” So thank you for this brilliant release.
Caitlin Starr
Damn, thank you so much. That really, I read your review, yeah, it made me so happy.
Benedetta
Okay, oh wonderful, amazing. Are there any songs in it that started in like one way and then completely changed into something else that we’re listening now?
Caitlin Starr
Yeah, I think like “Piece of Clay” I guess I brought it into the studio and it started as a piano ballad, but then I would play it with my band, with guitars and heavy stuff. Then I kind of combined both, so that definitely sounded different. All of them, honestly, like they usually start like with me alone in my room on an acoustic or electric guitar, so then they definitely take a different form, yeah.
Benedetta
Awesome, and that’s my favorite track, actually, from there, so yeah, that’s amazing.
Caitlin Starr
Hell yeah, I’m really excited for that to come out this week and the video that we made.
Benedetta
Oh wow, amazing, can’t wait to see that.
Caitlin Starr
Hell yeah, it’s got some crazy lore, I’m not gonna lie. We went upstate to Letchworth Village, which is like an hour and a half away. It’s like an abandoned children asylum, like all these buildings in the middle of nature, and then we got shut down by the cops. We had to sneak back in the middle of the night, and it was like so terrifying, but it was awesome, you’ll see, it’s cool.
Benedetta
Wow, yeah, sometimes these things make for the best stories.
Caitlin Starr
Period.
Benedetta
So you said that your songs start with yourself, obviously, and do you start working first on the lyrics or on the music, or is it something that happens simultaneously?
Caitlin Starr
Almost always I’m feeling a strong feeling, then I grab like whatever instrument (guitar, piano), and then I just press record on my phone and start like letting everything out. Usually like a melody with some lyrics comes in, and then I just keep pouring everything out, and then I like fill in kind of the lyrics later as I go. It depends on the song, like some really just all come out pretty much at once, but for those songs, for like an hour or whatever, I just was playing stuff over and over, and you kind of are expressing those emotions, and feeling what is like right, and I don’t know, yeah, that’s how I do it.
Benedetta
If you had to choose like an artist to do like a dream collaboration, which one would you choose from any genre?
Caitlin Starr
I snuck into the Slayyyter concert at Terminal 5 a few nights ago, with my friend, that was so fire, like I love what she’s doing, I would definitely love to collaborate with her. Honestly, like a lot of my friend’s bands are so tea. I live with black metal musicians, their band Wellness is so awesome, but it’s definitely real different. Kittie, or Die Spitz, or Mannequin Pussy, I would love to do something with them. There’s just so many, but mostly female-fronted or all women, and just like doing stuff that’s so exciting and powerful.
Benedetta
Do you think that life of an artist is a lonely life?
Caitlin Starr
Damn, that’s such a good question, I think it depends what your artistic process is like. I was just thinking about that, because I think to be a great artist you have to have a period, or several in your life, where you are very lonely, to connect with who you are. Usually when you are a great artist, it’s because you’re different in some way, and/or you feel unseen by the people you grew up with.
Then you go through that period, I definitely did, and you find like solace or connection in what you’re creating, or you connect to something inside you, or greater than you. You can go in and out of periods of community, because community can also be so inspiring and amazing for art… This is my home, the basement is a house venue for a bunch of us musicians, and it’s been the best thing ever. I feel like I love them so much but I do wonder sometimes, “Am I better at art when I’m in pain?”
Benedetta
I don’t know if that’s in your plans at all, but I would love if you could, like, do a tour in the US, or in Europe, maybe, is there a plan? Please come to Europe.
Caitlin Starr
Damn, oh my god, the way I would love to come to Europe. Yes, I would love to, so bad. We’re doing this really big release show on the 16th at the skate park which I’m so stoked for, and then hopefully we’ll get picked up on a national tour. I’ve toured a bunch with other bands, playing for bass and guitar for metal bands, like, Suzie Clu and stuff like that, and that was an awesome experience. Playing for other bands often really shows you things about yourself and what you want, and it’s cool to do.
Benedetta
Amazing. I hope that some booking agency in Europe will hear your EP and see how awesome you are, and just bring you here for, for lots of shows.
Caitlin Starr
Period. I, I really do, and I do believe this will happen, and then we can hang out at the show.
Benedetta
For sure! Do you think that we will ever reach some equality in the music scene?
Caitlin Starr
It’s a good question. I came back to New York in 2022, and that’s when I got back into the scene here, and definitely there’s a lot of men, but when women do it right, they just are the best. It’s just so tea, there’s some amazing female bands, instrumentalists and musicians, and they’re the ones that I’ve found and played with that come from a similar place. I’m just amazed and stunned by them, and I think, I don’t know… Equality is confusing, because it’s literally capitalism, 2026, and all that bullshit. I think there will continue to be tons of amazing female artists and acts, bands like Die Spitz and Olivia Rodrigo‘s whole festival and shit, that’s fire. There’s so many inspiring women right now, like, you know, even the big pop ones, like, Doechii, Doechii‘s not necessarily pop, but Doechii and Slayyyter and all these… I love a pop girl, I really do, not all of them, but the ones that are just cunt as fuck and slaying so hard, I’m, like, “Period”. But also, you know, ones that do more hardcore stuff. Anyway, I do think there’s definitely hope for amazing female stuff, but I don’t know what equality even means, really, we so far gone in ways.
I think a hot take that just came to my mind is that the female artists that are dominating pop they’re so powerful, but they’re also still very much leading and leaning into sexualizing themselves, and dancing in, like, a way that’s very hyper-feminine, and very, still for the male gaze, in ways. Female metal artists, they’re feminine but with raw power, and it’s not serving men, it’s serving actual inner freedom, and power. That’s still, obviously, very scary to this establishment, and shit, but I think it’s just so real that it’s so undeniable, you know. Even, like, Mannequin Pussy, when you go to the shows, she’s just so free, and then you get to mosh with people… she just speaks such truth with such power.
Benedetta
I wanted to ask you a fun question to change the, the topic a little bit, if you could have a superpower for your whole life, starting now, like, invisibility, or teleportation, or something, which one would you pick?
Caitlin Starr
Damn, super power, let me think… I feel, like, I’ve been watching lots of 90s tech fantasy movies… Maybe being, like, Frozen, that’s kind of tea. Also being an amazing hacker, that’s really fire, that’d be cool. Reading people’s minds would actually be terrible, definitely not that one. Maybe super speed, but some of that’s kind of precarious, because you’re isolating to run that fast. That’s my answer, what about you?
Benedetta
I’m not a person who likes to cook, so, I mean, if I could have the power to just have food ready without cooking it, that would be pretty sweet.
Caitlin Starr
I guess, that’s pretty fire, honestly, yeah, another good one would be to have consistent levels of confidence. Or some consistent dopamine levels, that would be amazing.
Benedetta
Thank you so much for taking the time to do this interview with me, and for being such a good sport, is there anything else you want to add to our viewers and readers?
Caitlin Starr
Well, thank you so much for having me, that’s my pleasure, and for listening, damn, I’m so stoked that you’re liking my stuff. A lot of this process was kind of about feeling very much not like myself in moments, and having a period of my life that was like that as well. Being lonely, or depressed, or ashamed, or all these things. I guess the thing I will say is that, even when it feels like in your brain nothing can change, and you’re stuck there forever, it actually can change. I really didn’t think it could, and it actually can, and I think if you honor who you really are, and find people that see you for who you really are, which is hard sometimes… Even if y’all are both freaks, we’re all freaky freaks out here, then things can get better, even if they’re not perfect.
