Latest articles by Neil Crossley
“The sound was going from all to nothing in milliseconds”: The classic hit that defined the sound of the ’80s
How Phil Collins created In The Air Tonight
"There had to be some sort of telepathy going on”: The genius of Eric Clapton's controversial masterpiece, Layla
“I said, ‘Are we sure we can write a song about death?’”: The story of Mike + The Mechanics' The Living Years
"If we’d got it wrong, it would’ve been very schmaltzy"
“It was originally called Everybody Wants To Go To War”: How Tears For Fears made an ’80s mega-hit
It all started with two simple, chimey chords...
“If anyone wants to try and copy this video, good luck to them!”: The innovation behind Peter Gabriel’s biggest hit
Gabriel had to lie under glass for a total of 16 hours
"The greatest pop record ever made”: How The Beatles created Strawberry Fields Forever - John Lennon's masterpiece
Lennon called it “psychoanalysis set to music”
“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!?'"
