ESSAY

‘Outside is America’: Was U2’s biggest failure one of music’s great Icarus moments, or a band blazing their own trail?

U2’s Rattle and Hum was one of the most savagely mauled albums of the 1980s. But for David Rea, aged fifteen in the year of its release, it was an exhilarating widescreen road movie through America.

7 March 2026

THE WEEKLY MIX

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RECORD COLLECTORS

7 Records I’d save in a fire

Todd Norem on how he was almost stopped from buying the album which kicked off his obsession, the ultimate Valentine's Day album-buying coincidence and why the Replacements’ Let It Be has new meaning in the era of Trump.

7 March 2026

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THE MONTHLY MIXTAPE

Replica: The February collection

Your portal to the best music from the independent scene and evergreen grassroots.

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RANKING

Best albums of 2025

Including the genres Americana, Britpop, singer-songwriter and R&B, and circling the globe from Australia to the Isle of Wight, here is State of Sound’s top 10 albums of 2025.

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FEATURE

How The Jam wrote Town Called Malice

EXTRACT: Perhaps it began here: The Jam hitting that famous Motown groove during an improvisation session, twirls of cigarette smoke rising from ashtrays, smiles appearing on lips.

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ALBUM REVIEW

The Demise Of Planet X, Sleaford Mods

Following a change to their creative relationship, this is not only Sleaford Mods’ most ambitious album to date, it is their best.

FEATURES

Interviews, opinions, rankings

THE STATE OF SOUND INTERVIEW

Rupert Bear with a huge penis: how the Oz magazine obscenity trial inspired the Bookshop Band’s new EP

The Oz magazine obscenity trial of 1971 sent shockwaves across Britain. 60 years later, The Bookshop Band’s Ben Please tells us how it inspired their new EP.

28 February 2026

‘Pete Townshend had us running around spinning the speakers’

INTERVIEW

On the release of the Bookshop Bands’ new EP Oz Sucks, Ben Please talks about the creative chaos of working with Pete Townshend.

When Liam told Noel, ‘Mate, you're as good as the Beatles now!’

INTERVIEW

Legendary music writer Paolo Hewitt on the madness of touring with Oasis in 1997, Liam's reaction to one of Noel Gallagher's best songs and why the working classes have always had the best taste.

‘Please Please Me’: How the Beatles sang about sex and got away with it

by David Rea

Photograph: Photo 12 / Alamy

28 February, 2026

ESSAY

REVIEWS

Independent opinion, informed criticism

ALBUM REVIEW

Wasted On Youth

The Molotovs

The sibling duo might not wear their influences lightly, but their debut album is an adrenaline shot of youthful optimism.

by David Rea

28 January 2026

Emerge, Return

The Bookshop Band

The Resurrection Game

Emma Swift

All is Love and Pain in the Mouse Parade

Robyn Hitchcock at the EartH theatre in London.

BOB DYLAN’S GREATEST LOVE SONGS, RANKED!

10. ‘Most of the Time’

One night at Dylan's house sometime in the late 1980s, Bono asked if Bob had any new songs. Fetching pages from a drawer, Dylan showed him some recently penned lyrics. Bono read them over and suggested he record them; Dylan said they should be doused in lighter fluid.

CONTINUE READING >>

SACRED 7

The 7 albums, songs and riffs which changed artists’ lives

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7 RIFFS THAT CHANGED MY LIFE

‘That human connection of fingers on strings’: 7 riffs that changed my life with The Red Tack

The Red Tack on how a Kiss riff made him take up the guitar, how the Runaways showed up his blind spot and why Keith Richards’ guitar style is impossible to copy.

7 February 2026

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RECORD COLLECTORS

Chris Coleman: 7 records I’d save in a fire

Chris Campbell on the record his mother left on his bed when he was a child, the record which always reminds him of his late brother and how his dog got on the cover of one of his favourites.

O

RECORD COLLECTORS

Norman Maslov: 7 records I’d save in a fire

One of YouTube’s most popular record collectors, Norman ‘Mazzy’ Maslov explains the thrill of collecting in the 1960s, how it felt to grow up with the Beatles and why the Kinks always remind him of cheerleaders.

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7 SONGS THAT CHANGED MY LIFE

Sleaford Mods: 7 songs that changed my life

Sleaford Mods’ Jason Williamson on the importance of vulnerability, his love of Ian Brown's voice and why Kneecap will never outshine the Sex Pistols.

6 December 2025

ESSAYS

Cultural connections, historical perspectives

NICK DRAKE

THE REMAKING OF NICK DRAKE: Is the complex artist finally stepping out from behind the ‘doomed genius’?

The new box set The Making of Five Leaves Left illuminates a focused and forthright artist at his genesis, and further undermines the idea he was an isolated, haunted romantic.

by David Rea

25 October 2025

Black and white photo of a young man with curly hair leaning against a brick wall, wearing a dark blazer and a light shirt, with hands in his pockets, looking to the side.

1980s MUSIC

Live Aid at 40: The story of a punk, a prime minister and a Britain now vanished

The extraordinary story of the Greatest Show on Earth recalls a very different Britain, one which came together to help a faraway African nation. It is difficult to imagine the same thing happening today.

ESSAY

How the Jam invented Britpop’s ethos

Critics couldn't take the Jam seriously at first, claiming they were just a bunch of gimmicks. But their ‘hail your heroes’ ethos was entirely authentic, setting the blueprint for Britpop two decades later.

‘Outside is America’: Was U2’s biggest failure one of music’s great Icarus moments, or a band blazing their own trail?

THE WEEKLY MIX

7 Records I’d save in a fire

Replica: The February collection

Best albums of 2025

How The Jam wrote Town Called Malice

The Demise Of Planet X, Sleaford Mods

FEATURES

Rupert Bear with a huge penis: how the Oz magazine obscenity trial inspired the Bookshop Band’s new EP

‘Please Please Me’: How the Beatles sang about sex and got away with it

REVIEWS

Wasted On Youth

BOB DYLAN’S GREATEST LOVE SONGS, RANKED!

SACRED 7

‘That human connection of fingers on strings’: 7 riffs that changed my life with The Red Tack

Sleaford Mods: 7 songs that changed my life

ESSAYS

THE REMAKING OF NICK DRAKE: Is the complex artist finally stepping out from behind the ‘doomed genius’?

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