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Acclaimed author Simon Reynolds joins us in Hammersmith to discuss his latest book. A journey through the many bands and scenes he wrote about between 1984 and 1994, Still in a Dream gives us a chance to ask our guest about shoegaze, C86 and the book's autobiographical threads. Clips from an early 2000 Jay-Z audio interview by Dorian Lynskey prompt a general discussion of the hip hop superstar whose debut album Reasonable Doubt turns 30 this week. Jasper and William then wrap up the episode with their highlights among new additions to the RBP library, including pieces about LL Cool J (1986), Rick Rubin (2009) and Randy Newman's priceless song about Vladimir Putin (2017). Many thanks to special guest Simon Reynolds. Still In a Dream: Shoegaze, Slackers and the Reinvention of Rock, 1984–1994 is published by Hachette and available now. Pieces discussed: Younger Than Yesterday, The Butthole Surfers: Deeper & Down, "Dream-Pop" Bands Define the Times in Britain, Jay-Z audio, Jay-Z: The Blueprint (Roc-A-Fella), Oscar Peterson Trio: Assembly Hall, Worthing, LL Cool J: He Has Seen Rap 'n' Roll Future, Rick Rubin and Randy Newman: And You Thought 'Short People' Was Controversial?.

For this episode we're joined in our Hammersmith HQ by James ("The Hardest Working Man In Show Business") Brown. The former NME star and founder of "lads' mag" progenitor loaded takes us back to his Yorkshire boyhood in Headingley. He recalls his parents' record collection, the first gigs he attended as the class "smart-arse" at Lawnswood School... and his acclaimed '80s fanzine Attack On Bzag! Our guest's account of how he came to contribute to Sounds leads to clips from the late Andy Gill's 1991 audio interview with the KLF, the maverick duo of Bill Drummond and Jimmy Cauty whom James championed in the paper's pages in 1987. After waxing nostalgic about his days at the NME, James gives us the origin story of the hugely successful loaded ("for men who should know better") and talks us through the publishing phenomenon it triggered. A discussion follows of '90s sexism and its connection to the misogyny of today's "Manosphere". Many thanks to special guest James Brown. Animal House: Music, Magazines, Mayhem is published by Quercus and available now from all good bookshops. Zine Age Kicks is available through James' Instagram, @jamesjamesbrown. Pieces discussed: The Beastie Boys: Keep Taking The Tabloids, Mark E Smith, Nick Cave & Shane MacGowan: The Three Horsemen Of The Apocalypse, The KLF audio⁠ and The decline of lads' mags: Unloaded, and now the party is over.

In this episode we're joined by Pete Paphides, former rock critic for the London Times and author of 2020's acclaimed memoir Broken Greek. We start with our guest's unique "'Starman' moment" – seeing the Brotherhood of Man lip-sync to the ghastly 'Save Your Kisses for Me' on Top of the Pops in 1976 – and then plunge straight into a celebration of his favourite pop group ABBA. We hear about his love of the Swedes' countless classic songs; his interviews with Björn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson; and how the quartet was indirectly responsible for his marriage to fellow scribe Caitlin Moran. Pete talks us through his journalistic odyssey from ill-fated pubescent fanzine Pop Scene via the longer-lasting Perturbed to Jim Arundel's mentoring of him at Melody Maker. Talk of his tenures at Time Out and The Times leads to his memory of "falling back in love with music" after years of being glutted with free records. The 60th anniversary of the release of 'Uptight' takes us into clips from Amy Linden's 1995 audio interview with the musical colossus that is Stevie Wonder – and a broad discussion of the Motown legend's creative evolution from 'Uptight' to Songs in the Key of Life. After Mark quotes from a 1963 review of the Beatles' first album Please Please Me, Jasper talks us out with his thoughts on Jaan Uhelszki's 2015 interview with the extraordinary Joanna Newsom.

In this episode we invite the highly entertaining Lisa Verrico to join us from her native Glasgow and talk us through her career from IPC's Vox magazine to The Times. Commencing with her memory of first hearing Prince's 'Little Red Corvette' as a kid on holiday in Spain, our guest recalls her days of raving (and working in radio) before describing how she got her foot in the door at Vox. Hair-raising Mancunian encounters with Happy Mondays and Mark E. Smith serve as preludes to Lisa's hilarious 1994 interview with Oasis. We hear her "bootleg recording" of the Gallagher brothers' competing impersonations of Mick Jagger on the band's impromptu rendition of 'You Can't Always Get What You Want'. A broad discussion of what the '90s meant for pop culture takes in Lisa's memories of Oasis hanger-on Evan Dando and of the altogether different My Bloody Valentine. Clips from a 1989 audio interview with the latter's Kevin Shields and bandmates prompt reflections on MBV's extraordinary sound and their somewhat dysfunctional relationship with Creation's Alan McGee. We return to Lisa's own story by asking her what happened after Vox folded in 1998 — and how she wound up reviewing (and interviewing) for The Times for 25 years. We also discuss how much the live music experience has changed in that time. Finally, we hear about our guest's 2019 trip to L.A. to interview 17-year-old superstar-in-the-making Billie Eilish. After paying heartfelt tribute to cult neo-soul star D'Angelo — note that news of the death of former KISS guitarist Ace Frehley only reached us after this episode was recorded — Mark quotes from a 1984 interview with jazz giant Wynton Marsalis and Jasper takes us out with his thoughts on Joe Muggs' 2011 interview with the great James Blake. Many thanks to special guest Lisa Verrico. You can find her writing in The Times. Pieces discussed: Oasis: Shake'n'vac, Evan Dando: Baby I'm Bored, Evan Dando: "I get the feeling I'm being bullshitted", Evan Dando: The Smoker You Drink, The Player You Get, Evan Dando: Different Drum, My Bloody Valentine audio, Billie Eilish, D'Angelo: Soul Asylum, On D'Angelo and the Birth of Neo-Soul, D'Angelo: Black Messiah, Wynton Marsalis: The Hottest Lips in America and James Blake: Point Blake.

In this episode, we ask one of the greatest music writers of the rock and roll era to talk about Mystery Train as he celebrates its 50th anniversary with a brand-new edition of his classic book. Talking to us from Oakland, 6,000 miles away in his native Northern California, Greil Marcus looks back on the pivotal moments that led to his starting work on Mystery Train in the fall of 1972: his experiences as a student at Berkeley, his discovery of film critic Pauline Kael and his early writing for Rolling Stone. From there we focus on the book's extraordinary chapters about Sly Stone and Elvis Presley before relating its overarching theme – America as an "invented nation" – to the Trump administration's assault on the diversity that produced so much great art from Walt Whitman and Herman Melville to Robert Johnson and Randy Newman. A somewhat abrupt switch takes us over to our side of the pond and our guest's second book: the vast "secret history of the 20th Century" that was 1989's Lipstick Traces, along with the 1993 collection of his punk writings entitled In the Fascist Bathroom. Clips from Paul Moody's 2018 audio interview with Jamie Reid – the subversive graphic designer who became Malcolm McLaren's principal partner in iconographic crime – prompt Greil's reflections on what made (the) Sex Pistols such a vital sea-change in the subculture of rock and roll. Many thanks to special guest Greil Marcus. The 50th anniversary edition of Mystery Train is published by Faber and available now. Pieces discussed: Greil Marcus⁠, ⁠Greil Marcus: A Life In Writing⁠, ⁠The Band: We Can Talk About It Now⁠, ⁠Jamie Reid audio⁠, The Beatles: Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (Parlophone)⁠, Ray Davies: A Study In Frustration, The Pet Shop Boys: Hip, Clever and Pop and The Black Keys Acknowledge Their Muses on Delta Kream.

For this episode we're joined by the immensely respected Alexis Petridis, The Guardian's principal pop critic since September 2001. Our guest tells us about his childhood in Yorkshire, his teenage years in Buckinghamshire and his initiation into the Acid House scene while at Cambridge University. Work experience at MixMag in the mid-'90s led to his becoming that dance/clubbing monthly's Features Editor – and then to a slightly less felicitous eight months as editor of Select. A short digression on "Britpop nostalgia" leads us to discussion of the changing role of music journalism and to our guest's near-quarter-century tenure at "the Graun". Jasper quizzes him about his encounters with Daft Punk and we bring matters up to date by discussing the fabulous Irish singer CMAT, whom Alexis interviewed this summer. The episode concludes after Mark introduces clips from Mat Snow's 1992 audio interview with Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley of KISS, 50 years after the double album Alive! made them a '70s rock phenomenon. Many thanks to special guest Alexis Petridis. Find his writing in the pages of the Guardian. Alexis Petridis: 'I used to dream about owning every record in the world', How Music Criticism Lost Its Edge, Britpop nostalgia, Suede: Roll Over, Jimmy Dean, Why Daft Punk's New Album Has Given New Life To The Music Business, A Celebration of Prince, CMAT interview and KISS audio.

For this episode we're joined online from northwest Massachusetts by the legendary Byron Coley, champion of all things weird and non-mainstream. After describing his somewhat peripatetic childhood, our guest explains – very amusingly – why as a teenager he hated the Beatles and what led him eventually to the more subversive sounds of the Mothers of Invention and their ilk. A digression on the Grateful Dead – whose Jerry Garcia we lost 30 years ago this month – is followed by Byron's memories of first reading R. Meltzer and Nick Tosches in Crawdaddy! and Creem... and how a teaching assistant grad student inspired him to "write like you talk". After Barney reads from Byron's 1980 New York Rocker piece on Lydia Lunch's 8-Eyed Spy – prompting our guest's recall of first seeing her No Wave trailblazers Teenage Jesus & the Jerks live – we hear about his 1978 Rocker interview with the incomparable Captain Beefheart. This in turn leads to clips from Gary Lucas' audio interview with the artist born Don Van Vliet, recorded in January 1972. After a quick late '70s/early '80s detour via his temporarily adopted California, Byron talks about his return to the East Coast and his writing for Boston's Forced Exposure – not to mention his rather more lucrative "Underground" columns for Spin. In passing he explains how his friendship with Sonic Youth led to a declaration of war on Bob ("Dean of American Rock Critics") Christgau. We finish up by paying tribute to blue-eyed-soul man Terry Reid and beloved Salsa star Eddie Palmieri. Finally, Mark and Jasper talk us out with remarks on newly-added library pieces about the Legendary Stardust Cowboy (1968), Ronnie Wood and cronies (1974) and Lana Del Rey (2019). Many thanks to special guest Byron Coley. Find his book C'est La Guerre in all good bookshops and follow him on BlueSky @byroncoley.bsky.social. Pieces discussed: Way Out West With 8-Eyed Spy, Sonic Youth, Captain Beefheart: Grow Fins, Jason Gross interviews Byron Coley, Jerome John Garcia 1942-1995, The Grateful Dead: Burnout Sets In, The Exhumation of The Dead, Captain Beefheart audio, Terry Reid, Terry’s Funky Steamer, Eddie Palmieri: The Man Who Stirred Up Salsa, Top Tunes: the Legendary Stardust Cowboy, The Night Ron, Keith, Mac and Rod played a gig without falling over and Lana Del Rey Lives In America's Messy Subconscious.

In this episode we welcome novelist and screenwriter John Niven to "RBP Towers" to ask him about his career and his acclaimed novels. We start with the Wishing Stones, the post-C86 combo for whom John played guitar in the late '80s, and progress swiftly to the subject of his caustic 2008 classic Kill Your Friends — the UK's drug-riddled music industry, in which he toiled through the '90s. After John talks about his uncanny 2005 novella Music from Big Pink – inspired by the Band album of the same name — we switch to the week's featured artist (and vocal inspiration to The Band's Richard Manuel) Bobby "Blue" Bland. We then pivot to the sublime writing of Deep Blues author and New York Times pop critic Robert Palmer, who would have turned 80 this summer. We mark the 50th anniversary of the deeply unloved Metal Machine Music by listening to — and discussing clips from — a 1996 audio interview with the inimitably supercilious Lou Reed. Finally, we return to our guest's fiction and ask him about his brand-new novel The Fathers. Many thanks to special guest John Niven. His new novel The Fathers is published by Canongate and available now from all good bookshops. John Niven's Music from Big Pink: A Foreword, Bobby Blue Bland: Arrival!, Bobby Bland: This Time He's Here for Good, A Tribute To Bobby "Blue" Bland, Articles, interviews and reviews from Robert Palmer, Etta James: The Comeback of a Fifties R&B Star, The Sun King: Sam Phillips, Robert Palmer: Recording the Blues in North Mississippi, Steely Dan: Disaster and triumph in the Custerdome, Lou Reed audio, "Jellybean" Benitez and Arthur Baker: The Producers and George Shearing, 1919–2011.