Latest articles by Neil Crossley
“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
“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
“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
“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
“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 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
“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"
