Paul Lester on Muck Rack

Paul Lester

Verified
London
As seen in: Record Collector, Medium, MSN, Yahoo Entertainment, The Guardian, The Independent (UK), Wiley Online Library, Daily Express, MIT Sloan Management Review, BMC Psychology, Flipboard and
Editor of Record Collector.
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Articles

“I rode him so hard he threatened to take me apart piece by piece if I didn’t back off”: How an ex-punk band delivered one of the greatest albums of the late 70s - with a little help from Suzi Quatro’s producer and a prog legend | Flipboard

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By Paul Lester 
| Flipboard
1 day ago "Hearst Magazines and Yahoo may earn commission or revenue on some items through these links." Growing up in Brooklyn in the 1960s and ’70s, young Fred Brathwaite dreamed of becoming an architect. He pored over books detailing the works of Frank Lloyd Wright and, one Christmas, he begged his mom for …
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"How would anyone feel when one is the principal songwriter in the band and along comes this upstart and spoils everything?" What happens when your bass player accidentally writes your first big hit

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By Paul Lester 
| Inkl
XTC studio portrait, 1980. It might have had a powerful hook and a monumental groove, but Making Plans For Nigel was not an obvious chart contender. In fact, with its cavernous drums, jagged guitar riff and nagging melody it was like some mutant hybrid of dub reggae, post-punk and chirpy pop. And yet it became Swindon band XTC’s first Top 20 hit. It didn’t start off as a skanking nursery rhyme.
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What happened when XTC's bass player accidentally wrote their first big hit

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By Paul Lester 
| Yahoo Entertainment
XTC's hit song "Making Plans For Nigel" was inspired by a real dread among band members about being pushed into a life of work tedium by middle-class parents. The song's metallic tone and dub-spacious sound were influenced by a mix of industrial disputes, David Essex's "Rock On," and Devo's drum patterns. Despite initial doubts and tensions within the band, "Making Plans For Nigel" became XTC's first Top 20 hit and helped pave the way for their successful career in the 1980s.
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