Tears & fears

WE WERE THE first band of our generation that started to grow up,” Billy Corgan says, reflecting on the making of the Smashing Pumpkins’ 1995 grand opus, Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness. “The b

At the start of the 1990s, Nick Heyward was at his lowest ebb. His third solo album, I Love You Avenue, had failed to chart in 1988. Warner unsurprisingly let him go. So had Heyward’s manager and his

He began leading London punks Tubeway Army but was diverted into brooding synth-rock by a stray Minimoog. Cue 1979’s mysterious monster hit Are ‘Friends’ Electric? and the adoration of superfans the Numanoids. Follow-up solo 45 Cars also hit Number 1, but soon GARY NUMAN dramatically retired from live performance at the height of his success. “A whole world descended on me,” he says. “I wanted to get out of the burning building…”

Forty years ago this September, Kate Bush released Hounds Of Love . Her fifth studio record reinstated her position as one of the most innovative and creative artists of all time and yielded the (future) chart-topper Running Up That Hill . But its creation wasn’t always smooth. Here’s the story behind one of Bush’s best-loved albums.

Nik Kershaw is never going to write an autobiography. “There are a lot of people I might have to say things about, and I’m not very good at confrontation,” admits the singer, songwriter and multi-inst

YOU’LL never guess what I found. From our childhood,” Carly said. “You’ll have to give me a clue,” Juliet said. “Well, it’s something we used to wear all the time.” “Legwarmers? Shell suit? Day-Glo so