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John Earls
Writing for Classic Pop since our first issue, John has been to Adam Ant’s house, sworn at by Bob Geldof, touched Johnny Marr’s favourite guitar, interviewed Richard Coles on his vicarage bed and serenaded with Last Christmas by Shirlie Kemp. John first specialised in writing about music as editor of Teletext’s Planet Sound music column from 2000-09 and now writes about pop for a range of magazines and national newspapers. A Luton Town fan, John also writes about football. His bucket list interviews for the magazine are Grace Jones, Kylie, Siouxsie Sioux and Andrew Ridgeley.
In 2019 we spoke to The Specials as they released their stunning comeback album, Encore. “We could have been as mega as U2,” they tell Classic Pop. “What a crazy…
Squeeze – the stories behind the songs
In 2019, we spoke to Squeeze songwriters Chris Difford and Glenn Tilbrook as they revealed the stories behind some of the band’s mightiest songs… “Glenn and I have a complicated…
Teenage Kicks: Dave Stewart interview
One of the music world’s great adventurers, even by Dave Stewart’s standards his new project Ebony McQueen is ambitious: a movie with an accompanying triple-album boxset. It also allows him…
xPropaganda interview: “Music should be a playground”
Alongside Frankie Goes To Hollywood’s Welcome To The Pleasuredome, Propaganda’s A Secret Wish defined the grandeur of ZTT. Their debut album stood alone as a beacon of extravagant synth-pop… until…
Adamski interview: “I nicked Boy George’s moped as we went scrambling in the rain”
Adamski was the child punk prodigy who became one of rave’s first superstars, with his mega-hit Killer. In 2020 he told Classic Pop of tabloid infamy, offending Seal, LSD-fuelled biking…
The Associates – Sulk + Billy Mackenzie – Life: Recordings (1995-96) review
Revisiting the golden moment when Billy Mackenzie somehow became commercial, and the troubled music of his final years The correct example for the most unlikely band ever to go mainstream,…
De La Soul: “Three black men staying together for so long is beautiful and important”
We spoke to De La Soul in 2019 about their life in hip-hop… It’s rightly been celebrated recently that De La Soul’s groundbreaking debut album 3 Feet High And Rising…
Soft Cell: *Happiness Not Included review
One of Marc Almond and Dave Ball’s joint regrets, which they’ve both told Classic Pop, is that Soft Cell didn’t follow their pop instincts enough. Ever since deciding not to…
Tears For Fears – The Tipping Point interview
Tears For Fears’ long-awaited comeback, The Tipping Point, is “our most ‘us’ album”, according to Curt Smith. He’s not wrong. Curt and Roland Orzabal have finally regained their friendship, as…
Johnny Marr interview: Fever Dreams Pts 1-4
Fever Dreams Pts 1-4 is the first double album in the prolific five-decade career of Johnny Marr. The iconic guitarist reveals all about his visionary new epic, the influence of…