White lies

Lawrence unveils his Novelty Rock masterpiece...

Bruce Springsteen closed the Isle Of Wight Festival last night (June 24) with a three-hour set ending in a cover of "Twist And Shout", the song made famous by The Beatles. Opening with "Badlands", the 62-year-old joked with the crowd about the coverage of the weekend's weather. "It looked bad on TV," he told the crowd. "I didn't bring my wellies, I think I left them at Glastonbury."

Beneath Welbeck Abbey, an expansive estate in North Nottinghamshire thus far untouched by any sort of National Trust daytripping, there is a vast network of underground tunnels, wide and stretching for miles around the roots of Sherwood Forest. Somewhere down there, according to my mother, there’s even a ballroom that she visited for a dance the best part of 60 years ago.

Punk's high priestess on poetry, pot and psychedelia

Alex Chilton’s wild, idiosyncratic life after Big Star is examined in the new issue of Uncut (Take 180, May 2012), out now. But what happened before the demise of Chilton’s greatest group? They should have been rock superstars, but Rob Jovanovic explains how drugs, in-fighting and personal tragedy meant Big Star had to settle for being the biggest cult band of all time (from Uncut's Take 94, March 2005). ________________________________

Arctic Monkeys, Arcade Fire and The Clash are among the artists releasing new records as part of this year's Record Store Day.

The new April issue of Uncut, out now, features David Bowie peering from the cover in his guise as sleazy space-star Ziggy Stardust. To celebrate this look at Bowie’s greatest creation 40 years on, here’s a fantastic piece from Uncut’s 18th issue, in November 1998, in which Chris Roberts looks back at the glammed-up, transgressive superstars who changed his adolescent world.

An angry Boss attacks big business on his grim but brilliant 17th studio album...

Very much feeling the first two on the list this week. And also Number 16, last week’s mystery record, now revealed…

Rocker isn't happy with Michele Bachmann using 'American Girl' without his permission