“Merry Xmas, Everybody” No.1, 1973 Slade’s chart-topper was recorded in New York while the band toured the world. Flamboyant guitarist, Dave Hill – remembered for his trademark high-heel boots and dis

“It was a dull, boring Sunday in 1984 and we were just passing the time,” Andrew Ridgeley recalls of the day Wham! bandmate George Michael wrote Last Christmas. While Andrew watched football on the TV

→ For 40 years, George Michael’s Last Christmas was the bridesmaid. The nearly-but-never-quite. The most successful single never to reach number one, it was pop’s great injustice. And then the spell b

Black And Blue UMC/POLYDOR

From The Bottom Of An Old Grandfather Clock (reissue, 2004) DEAD OCEANS

Fifty years on from their first successes, Roger McGuinn, the 12-string architect of THE BYRDS , tells Uncut about their exceptional first 18 months – and his relationship with Gene Clark. As the young group make their jet-powered escape from the folk think tank, we hear about making the scene on the Strip, outraging Iowa and a muted response in the United Kingdom. But ultimately how “Eight Miles High” became the spectacular conclusion of the band’s first era. “I almost left The Byrds entirely to go and be in this space band With Dino Valente,” McGuinn tells John Robinson