“I want to be the Patti Smith of now, with something like ‘Rock ‘n’ Roll Nigger’ blaring out of kids’ speakers. I fantasize about that, but I’m not going to be that. I’m just not that dangerous,” Bradford Cox told me in an interview for The Big Takeover back in 2008. While it’s defeatist to [...]

“To me, Conor Oberst resembles Patti Smith a great deal,” R.E.M.’s Michael Stipe told me in an interview back in 2008. “As a performer, as a magnet. He’s just got that thing that she’s got.” The “thing” Stipe refers to has both captivated legions of followe...

’90s alt-pop professionals Garbage and Jersey basement-punk heroes Screaming Females have an unlikely bond. They toured together last year, and Scremales leader Marissa Paternoster joined Garbage onstage regularly to cover Patti Smith’s “Because The Night” (itself the result of an unlikely Smith/Springstee...

Full line-up announcement for London festival    

Robert Plant, Johnny Rotten and Patti Smith are set to appear in a new film by director Terrence Malick