Latest articles by Neil Crossley
“He said, ‘Nice record. Now, who should we get to sing it?’ How Paul McCartney created the Bond classic Live And Let Die
“Writing a Bond song is a bit of an accolade. I always had a sneaking ambition to do it”
“I went to the label and said, ‘This song sucks. This is not the song I wrote.’”: The war over a ’90s anthem
An idiosyncratic and insanely catchy rock-pop classic
“I asked if there was another way of expressing whether God was ‘just a slob like one of us’”: Inside a ’90s classic
"I knew that we were going to be hearing this for the rest of our lives”
“I found John watching the sunrise and still listening to the song”: Yoko Ono and John Lennon's final collaboration
“It's a sad song because it's all about the unattainable”: The ballad that sparked the breakup of The Beatles
Featuring "atrocious" bass-playing by John Lennon
“Prince was always borrowing my car. But it's not a red Corvette – it's a pink Mercury!”: Inside Prince's first big hit
One of the most sexually explicit songs ever to appear in the mainstream pop charts
“A song about a woman involved with birds and magic”: The Fleetwood Mac hit that Stevie Nicks wrote in 10 minutes!
Nicks’ performance of the song on stage every night “was like an exorcism”
“They all thought it was a bonkers idea but it worked”: The Eagles classic that defined the sound of country rock
"Those open chords felt like an announcement: ‘And now... the Eagles!’”
“They certainly booed”: How Bob Dylan created one of his greatest songs as controversy erupted around him
When Dylan went electric, not everyone approved
“The title was a joke, but it fitted the song so perfectly”: How Massive Attack created a groundbreaking ’90s hit
“We were trying to create dance music for the head rather than the feet"
“I gave it to Michael and he wrote that lyric in one stream of consciousness”: How INXS created a funky No.1 hit
Need You Tonight marked a distinct sonic shift for the band
“They joined the two bits together to make one song”: The story of the greatest thing The Beatles ever recorded
How Sgt. Pepper's epic finale was created
“I was screaming at the top of my lungs that it had to be a whistle!”: How Tori Amos created the classic Cornflake Girl
Its memorable infectious hooks belie a dark lyrical core
“We’d never heard of ‘disco music’ at the time”: How the Bee Gees created the greatest dancefloor-filler of all time
Ah, ah, ah, ah...
“Mick came in with a song, but it was very Dylan-esque”: How The Rolling Stones created Sympathy For The Devil
The Stones were hitting a whole new creative peak
“He said, ‘It’s just rock ’n’ roll with lipstick on!’”: How Bowie and Lennon bonded to create a funky No.1 hit
“We spent hours and hours discussing fame," Bowie said
“George Harrison didn’t get it at all”: When Led Zeppelin's first LP confused a Beatle — and was ignored by Mick Jagger
The album was made for a bargain price of £1,782
“One of the few songs that reduces me to tears every time I hear it”
How Brian Wilson hooked up with an LA advertising executive to pen one of the most majestic and moving pop songs ever created
“I immediately heard the melody in my head”: How Madonna created a dancefloor classic — with the sample from heaven
An intoxicating mash-up of ’70s disco, ’80s electropop and 2000s club music
“He’s given me the riff of the century!”: The classic song Stevie Wonder wrote for Jeff Beck — but saved for himself
The clavinet was a fresh and distinctive sound — and its most iconic recorded moment was on Superstition
“I didn’t even want it on the album”: How Alanis Morissette created her biggest hit
“I see words as paint, so I play with them," she said
“I sit at my piano and watch skies moving and trees blowing”: The strange story of the Kate Bush classic Cloudbusting
“The stimulus of the countryside is fantastic,” she said
“They joined the two bits together to make one song”: The story of the greatest thing The Beatles ever recorded
How Sgt. Pepper's epic finale was created
