Features

Essays, opinions & rankings

HOW THEY WROTE THE SONG

‘I’m going to kill you tonight’: how they wrote Candi Staton’s ‘Young Hearts Run Free’

It began when Candi Staton’s partner threatened to shoot her and ended with a rallying cry for women everywhere.

3 April 2026

RANKING

Paul Simon's 10 greatest solo albums, reviewed and ranked!

In the 14 studio albums Paul Simon has released since the end of Simon & Garfunkel, the singer-songwriter has been on an extraordinary creative journey.

by David Rea

3 April 2026

7 ALBUMS THAT CHANGED MY LIFE

7 albums that changed my life with The Bookshop Band

The Bookshop Band’s Ben Please on listening to Bob Marley at his father's farm, searching for baroque metal albums as a teenager and being stopped in his tracks by Sufjan Stevens.

Photo courtesy of Elly Lucas

28 March 2026

WATCH STATE OF SOUND TV

The Smiths, The Stone Roses and The La’s: 7 guitar riffs that changed my life with Shapes Like People

Watch Shapes Like People’s Carl Mann play the riffs that changed his life. Inspired by everybody from John Squire to Johnny Marr, Carl explains the secret behind a classic riff and why simplicity is always best.

14 March 2026

ESSAY

‘Outside is America’: Was U2’s biggest failure one of music’s great Icarus moments, or the sound of 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

ESSAY

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

The Beatles could only break America by conforming to its prudish sexual attitudes. But did Lennon and McCartney have the last laugh?

By David Rea

28 February 2026

RANKING

Bob Dylan's greatest love songs, ranked!

Bob Dylan's name is rarely mentioned in the pantheon of the greatest writers of love songs. But our list of his best makes the case he should be.

By David Rea

28 February 2026

HOW THEY WROTE THE SONG

‘Places were being decimated’: 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. CONTINUE READING >>

by David Rea

31 January 2026

A STATE OF SOUND EXCLUSIVE

‘An outpouring of love’: The micro record labels fighting back against AI

As streaming and major labels threaten to push out human creativity, a small band of micro record labels are fighting back, channelling the DIY ethos of punk

by David Rea

24 January 2026

HOW THEY WROTE THE SONG

‘The hairs were standing up all over my body’: How Shapes Like People wrote Find Me There

When Carl Mann heard his wife sing Shapes Like People’s new single, he couldn't keep the tears back. Read the moving story behind ‘Find Me There’.

by David Rea

24 January 2026

1980s

Live Aid at 40: The story of a punk, a prime minister and a Britain now vanished (Part 2)

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

by David Rea

27 December 2025

A young man with long hair, wearing a denim shirt and black pants, holding his head and looking down, standing near a white grand piano in a black-and-white photo. Several people are seen sitting and standing in the background, some smiling and engaging with the young man.

FEATURE

Live Aid at 40: The story of a punk, a prime minister and a Britain now vanished (Part 1)

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

by David Rea

20 December 2025

View from behind a drummer during a concert, with a large crowd in the background.

FEATURES

‘I’m going to kill you tonight’: how they wrote Candi Staton’s ‘Young Hearts Run Free’

Paul Simon's 10 greatest solo albums, reviewed and ranked!

7 albums that changed my life with The Bookshop Band

The Smiths, The Stone Roses and The La’s: 7 guitar riffs that changed my life with Shapes Like People

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

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

Bob Dylan's greatest love songs, ranked!

‘Places were being decimated’: How The Jam wrote Town Called Malice

‘An outpouring of love’: The micro record labels fighting back against AI

‘The hairs were standing up all over my body’: How Shapes Like People wrote Find Me There

Live Aid at 40: The story of a punk, a prime minister and a Britain now vanished (Part 2)

Live Aid at 40: The story of a punk, a prime minister and a Britain now vanished (Part 1)

ALL FEATURES »

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