Latest articles by Neil Crossley
“It’s a perfect song. Bonnie really conveys the drama”: How a classic power ballad was created
“It makes you feel like you're a Norseman in a blizzard”
“The first three times I performed it in public, I burst into tears”: Joni Mitchell's era-defining classic Woodstock
An anthem inspired by the legendary music festival – by an artist who wasn’t actually there
“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
“I just was not expecting the look on people’s faces”: The controversial Tori Amos song that her record company hated – before a remix hit No.1
And was this song really an attack on Courtney Love?
“It’s a song that I love, because I didn’t compromise when I wrote it at all”: The making of Lana Del Rey’s sleeper hit
“I felt happy and started writing about how sad and gorgeous the summertime felt to me”
“It was a terrible record to make. The arrangement’s so weird”: How John ‘Cougar’ Mellencamp created a classic '80s No.1
His motto: “Write about something that matters to people, man!”
“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 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
“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
“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”
"The greatest pop record ever made”: How The Beatles created Strawberry Fields Forever – John Lennon's masterpiece
Lennon called it “psychoanalysis set to music”
“There’s something to that song that touches people”: The Fleetwood Mac classic that Stevie Nicks wrote in 10 minutes!
Nicks’ performance of the song on stage every night “was like an exorcism”
“In operas, if you have a double aria, it's what the woman does that really matters. The man lies, the woman tells the truth": The story of Fairytale Of New York
MusicRadar looks back on one of Shane MacGowan's most enduring and beloved achievements
“I have only flashes of making it”: How David Bowie reinvented his music with a song he could barely remember recording
A dazzling epic that ushered in Bowie’s new persona, the Thin White Duke
“When the music stopped I found myself still playing that riff”: How Tori Amos created the hit song Cornflake Girl
Its memorable infectious hooks belie a dark lyrical core
“Writing a Bond song is a bit of an accolade”: How Paul McCartney reunited with George Martin to create Live And Let Die
It was the first rock song to open a Bond film
How a song rejected three times by The Beatles became the centrepiece of George Harrison’s All Things Must Pass
At one point Harrison considered offering the song to Frank Sinatra
“It was like getting hit in the head with a baseball bat. I fell in love with her instantly. And it sparked something”
“I still make a very good living off of that one song - easily over $100,000 a year"
Lennon was clutching the tape of the final mix as he and Yoko left for the Dakota: John Lennon’s final creative act
The lyrics to this left-field song would prove tragically prophetic
“I played it with the band and it sounded like a bag of…”: How Neil Finn created Crowded House's classic hit
"Hey now, hey now..."
“The most expensive bit of drumming in history”: When stars of Duran Duran and Chic formed a decadent ’80s supergroup
“I had to be, like, strapped to the desk if I was gonna get a bass line finished," John Taylor said
“I ended up changing the whole song because Tony broke up with me”: How Gwen Stefani's heartbreak inspired a No.1 hit
"I gotta write about what’s in my head – and that’s the only thing on my mind”
“I don’t exist if I don’t have a record in the charts”: How John Lennon created one of his last and most poignant songs
After the turbulence and emotional trauma of his past, the song had a sense of reflection and calm
