Latest articles by Neil Crossley
How Christine McVie and Lindsey Buckingham combined to create an '80s Fleetwood Mac classic
“That song is like that feeling when you’re walking on the clouds because you’re in love”
“In 20 minutes this song almost wrote itself”: Phil Collins and Philip Bailey’s classic ’80s hit
“We ended up using the demo because it had an energy and a sound”
“Joni called Jaco Pastorius the bassist of her dreams and his playing helped liberate her music”
The song emerged from the hedonism and chaos of Bob Dylan’s Rolling Thunder Revue tour
“When I played that song in England it would go down like a lead zeppelin”: Elton John’s sleeper hit
“I knew Bernie would like me to do this one because it’s about his girlfriend”
Bonnie Tyler on the classic song for which she will always be remembered
The popular Welsh singer has died aged 75
The story behind The Beach Boys’ timeless masterpiece, a Brian Wilson co-creation that had a profound impact on Paul McCartney
How Brian Wilson hooked up with an LA advertising executive to pen one of the most majestic and moving pop songs ever created
Did George Harrison contribute to more Beatles songs than he is given credit for?
"I think in the balance I would have had more things to be niggled with him about than he would have with me"
How Simon and Garfunkel created their transcendent masterpiece
“That song had two writers – Paul Simon and God”
How a light-hearted comment from a former Beatle inspired one of Led Zeppelin’s greatest songs
“Seven minutes of exquisite heartache” – quite unlike anything else the band created
“He had to have his privacy, to be completely alone”: How Prince created a masterpiece in isolation
The song was a sparse, stripped-back amalgam of electro-funk, soul, psych-pop, blues and rock
How Paul McCartney created his greatest post-Beatles song
“He did the whole thing, start to finish, every instrument, everything, in a day”
How Neil Young created his biggest hit – with love in his heart and an ache in his back
“Two passes, and it was finished. It took less than two hours to record that song”
“I began writing a song in my head about the drudgery of being an astronaut”: The classic song that transformed Elton John into a superstar
“Unfortunately, people identify it with David Bowie’s Space Oddity”
"Kurt kissed me and said, 'now I don't have to be the only songwriter!'”: Dave Grohl's evolution as a songwriter
“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
“When I heard it I cried”
“It’s not dark yet, but it’s gettin’ there…”: The story of Bob Dylan’s ‘90s classic
Dylan wanted a more cinematic texture and a modern sound – but one that was rooted in old American music.
“In terms of thinking it was a hit, I had no idea”: The creation of ’90s classic Walking In Memphis
“Me and the piano – that’s all I cared about”
“The whole thing was so exciting for me – to actually have control for the first time”: How Kate Bush created a classic single
“Singing it in an Irish accent, it comes across in a different way”
“I wasn't prepared for what I saw that night”: How a classic song recorded live in London set Bob Marley on the path to global superstardom
And he gave away the songwriting credit to a local hero back home in Jamaica
“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
“A man walked into the party and I thought, ‘Wow, he’s really vain’”: The No 1 song that propelled Carly Simon to stardom
It also left legions of fans speculating on who it was actually about
“They needed something slow for the romantic scenes with Tom Cruise and Kelly McGillis”: An ’80s classic from Top Gun
“Giorgio could have farted and I would have sung it!”
The song John Lennon called “the best I've ever written” – and Yoko Ono’s uncredited contribution
“A lot of it – the lyric and the concept – came from Yoko”
