Best Of Archives

A selection of our top stories, for your reading pleasure…

ROLLING STONE: LIFE AND DEATH OF BRIAN JONES

Gary Lucas·September 7, 2020

The acclaimed guitarist Gary Lucas (Captain Beefheart, Jeff Buckley, Gods and Monsters, Lou Reed, et al.) has long held a special flame for Brian Jones, the co-founder of the Rolling Stones whose deep love of American blues gave the band...

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TINA BELL’S HIDDEN LEGACY: THE BLACK WOMAN WHO CREATED THE SOUND OF GRUNGE

Jen B. Larson·September 3, 2020

In 1983, the Seattle band Bam Bam, fronted by a talented, elegant Black woman named Tina Bell, created a sound and lyrical foundation for a genre that white men with knit hats and plaid shirts would later make famous as...

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GAIL ANN DORSEY: LIFE BEFORE AND AFTER BOWIE

Robert Gourley·August 20, 2020

After two decades as a member of David Bowie’s band, Gail Ann Dorsey never put her bass guitar down, becoming an indispensable part of Lenny Kravitz’s band and pursuing other solo and collaborative projects, including recent work with The National....

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HERE’S LOOKING AT HUGH: THE STRANGLERS’ HUGH CORNWELL SPEAKS

Anthony Petkovich·August 10, 2020

The former guitarist/vocalist of the classic English punk band has, since he left the Stranglers, had a long and wide-ranging solo career as both a musician and writer. Cornwell talks at length about his musical roots, solo projects, friendships with...

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THE PRETTIEST STAR: ANGIE BOWIE-BARNETT CARRIES ON

Lucretia Tye Jasmine·August 6, 2020

She helped make her now-legendary husband David Bowie a star—managed his early career, shaped his Ziggy alter ego, even sewed his costumes—but had enough after 10 years and one child (film director Duncan Jones). When faced with what to do...

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SLANT 6: STRAIGHT OUTTA WASHINGTON, D.C. IN THE ’90S

Eric Davidson·July 13, 2020

Catching some wind from the Riot Grrrl Movement but sailing mostly on their own, the all-female trio Slant 6 created a sound—minimalist garage rock influenced by everyone from Blondie, Wire, the Breeders and the Gories to the Kinks and Ramones—that...

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HEAVY METAL PARKING LOT: UNRAVELING A MYSTERY

Jim Powell·July 2, 2020

Jeff Krulik and John Heyn’s 1986 film Heavy Metal Parking Lot has become an unlikely cult classic. In less than 20 minutes, the film—culled from footage taken in a parking lot outside a DC-area venue where Judas Priest was playing—captured...

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THE INTREPID TRAVELLER: KEN BABBS ON THE MERRY PRANKSTERS, THE BEATS, THE DEAD, WOODSTOCK, AND MUCH MORE

Gregory Daurer·July 1, 2020

How did a basketball-playing Marine Corps lieutenant from Ohio become a driving force for the Merry Pranksters, an emcee for the Grateful Dead, farmer, novelist, publisher and raconteur? The ageless Ken Babbs talks with PKM’s Gregory Daurer about how he’s...

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JONI MITCHELL: A RECKLESS DAUGHTER’S BRILLIANT JOURNEY

Scott Schinder·June 25, 2020

Joni Mitchell was a “folk singer” for two years, but she has been an artistic badass for more than half a century since then. Her pioneering work and enduring influence over the decades are, however, often reduced to that early...

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YOU CAN’T WIN: WILLIAM S. BURROUGHS AND THE REAL JACK BLACK

Tony Mostrom·June 23, 2020

Jack Black was a burglar, rambler, jailbird and writer whose lone published memoir, You Can’t Win (1926), was an important early influence on William S. Burroughs and, through him, the other Beat writers. With a film adaptation of the book,...

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FRED WILLARD WAS FOREVER YOUNG: AND REALLY REALLY OLD

Burt Kearns·May 27, 2020

For 60 years, Fred Willard made us laugh playing the same character, from early comedy club gigs with Vic Greco and appearances on Steve Allen’s and Ed Sullivan’s shows to countless appearances on David Letterman’s and Jimmy Kimmel’s shows. And...

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SHOOTING STIV BATORS AND LORDS OF THE NEW CHURCH

Chris Epting·May 7, 2020

When he was a senior at Boston’s Emerson College in 1982, Chris Epting was enticed by members of Lords of the New Church (Stiv Bators, Brian James, Dave Tregunna, Nick Turner) to tag along on a short band tour with...

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DENNIS HOPPER’S BLUE PERIOD: THE MAKING OF OUT OF THE BLUE (1980)

David Stewart·May 4, 2020

Dennis Hopper followed the success of Easy Rider (1969), which he directed and claims to have co-written, with the abject failure of The Last Movie (1971), a shambling, incoherent, drug-fueled epic set in Peru. He then spent the next decade...

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REMEMBERING VICTOR HAYDON: THE MASCARA SNAKE, FAST & BULBOUS

Pamela Des Barres·April 30, 2020

Pamela Des Barres’ life changed completely when she met Victor Haydon, first cousin to Don Van Vliet (Captain Beefheart) and later The Mascara Snake in his Magic Band. A high school infatuation became a lifelong connection to “Uncle Vic,” an...

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Jack Kerouac based his muse/lover “Mardou Fox” in The Subterraneans on Alene Lee, a mixed race (Black/Cherokee) bohemian writer and intellectual who was a part of the NYC Beat circle of Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, Gregory Corso and Lucien Carr. Despite her intimate connection to these writers, the real Alene Lee is nowhere to be found in most accounts and biographies—partly due to her own reticence to speak. Erika Blair did some digging and presents a more rounded portrait of this fascinating woman. Read more!

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SAM CUTLER: LIFE WITH THE STONES, THE DEAD & OTHER WONDERFUL REPROBATES

ALL THE RAJ: HOW ‘NORWEGIAN WOOD’ UNLEASHED THE ‘INDIAN INVASION’

THE KNACK … AND HOW TO GET IT: AN INTERVIEW WITH PRESCOTT NILES

Best Of

PLEASE READ ME: THE BEST OF PKM FOR 2021, PART II

UTOPIA PARKWAY: THE ENDURING MYSTERY OF JOSEPH CORNELL

RUTH UNDERWOOD: A MOTHER OF INVENTION

THE SHOCKING LIVE TELEVISION SUICIDE OF A NEWS ANCHOR!

WERE WE ALL BRAINWASHED BY THE CIA WITH SEX, DRUGS AND ROCK & ROLL?

PRIDE TV: THE QUIET GAY HEROES OF SIXTIES SITCOMS

Best Of

ROLLING STONE: LIFE AND DEATH OF BRIAN JONES

TINA BELL’S HIDDEN LEGACY: THE BLACK WOMAN WHO CREATED THE SOUND OF GRUNGE

GAIL ANN DORSEY: LIFE BEFORE AND AFTER BOWIE

HERE’S LOOKING AT HUGH: THE STRANGLERS’ HUGH CORNWELL SPEAKS

THE PRETTIEST STAR: ANGIE BOWIE-BARNETT CARRIES ON

SLANT 6: STRAIGHT OUTTA WASHINGTON, D.C. IN THE ’90S

HEAVY METAL PARKING LOT: UNRAVELING A MYSTERY

THE INTREPID TRAVELLER: KEN BABBS ON THE MERRY PRANKSTERS, THE BEATS, THE DEAD, WOODSTOCK, AND MUCH MORE

JONI MITCHELL: A RECKLESS DAUGHTER’S BRILLIANT JOURNEY

YOU CAN’T WIN: WILLIAM S. BURROUGHS AND THE REAL JACK BLACK

FRED WILLARD WAS FOREVER YOUNG: AND REALLY REALLY OLD

SHOOTING STIV BATORS AND LORDS OF THE NEW CHURCH

DENNIS HOPPER’S BLUE PERIOD: THE MAKING OF OUT OF THE BLUE (1980)

REMEMBERING VICTOR HAYDON: THE MASCARA SNAKE, FAST & BULBOUS

SAM CUTLER: LIFE WITH THE STONES, THE DEAD & OTHER WONDERFUL REPROBATES

ALL THE RAJ: HOW ‘NORWEGIAN WOOD’ UNLEASHED THE ‘INDIAN INVASION’

THE KNACK … AND HOW TO GET IT: AN INTERVIEW WITH PRESCOTT NILES

POLY STYRENE: BREAKING DOWN THE BONDAGE

WE NEVER LEARN: GUNK PUNK IN THE 1990S