Guardian Music — Ready Steady Go!, the pioneering 60s pop show, takes to the stage as part of this year's Meltdown festival. Its producer Vicki Wickham recalls the impact – and fun – of the early yearsLike the Beatles' first LP and sexual intercourse, you might g... more info

Impose Magazine — It's sort of hard to argue with anything that sounds like Jeff Lynne and/or Marc Bolan, but this handclapping anthem by Brooklyn's Lavalier is pretty damned infectious because it has the proper balance of pop sensibility and weird. Maybe lik... more info

Guardian Music — (Domino)Chicago's Smith Westerns started in thrall to compilations of 60s garage rock, such as Nuggets, before their listening habits moved on a few years – to David Bowie when he was still wearing makeup, Marc Bolan in silver lamé and the like. T... more info

Impose Magazine — We are dedicated followers of everything Cool Runnings, so it brings us great pleasure to announce the release of the Tennessee kids' debut record Dracula Is Only The Beginning. The biggest surprise on our first listen through DIOTB is the Marc Bolan... more info

Guardian Music — The Radio 1 DJ and dance-music pioneer on the sounds that shaped his life in musicPete Tong is a DJ whose championing of cutting-edge dance music has seen him become one of Radio 1's most influential and enduring broadcasting personalities. He grew u... more info

Guardian Music — An alternative history of pop would need to embrace Marsha Hunt, the Au Pairs and Zakk Wylde. Oh, and WestlifeI once wrote an article in response to a single released on 17 September 2001 that ended up being so long it became a book. I had been asked... more info

KEXP Seattle — Marc Bolan, eat your glittery heart out. Smith Western‘s latest efforts, Dye It Blonde, plays razor sharp solos and glitzed out rockers like it was 1971 all over again. This Chicago outfit time warps back to footing bills on Sunset Strip, supportin... more info

Stereogum — I’m used to people covering Neon Indian, but here’s chillwave’s biggest Marc Bolan fan putting his spin on T. Rex’s “Children Of The Revolution.” The track won’t see an official release, but Fat Possum’s in the midst of reissuing T. R... more info

Guardian Music — They're not the best songs. They might not even be good ones. But they become the tracks we play again and again. Here, musicians and writers share their obsessionsIan Rankin (novelist)Van Morrison, Hard Nose the Highway (1973 LP)1989. I'd been livin... more info

Guardian Music — Paul Morley introduces his discussion with Simon Napier-Bell, former manager of Wham!, mentor to Marc Bolan and lover of pop and pop starsLet me count the ways that you could describe Simon Napier-Bell, and also the ways that confirm that if you want... more info