Author: Tom Bickerdike

27th October, we lost one of music’s greatest individuals, a man who helped shape rock music for nearly fifty years. He was one of the faces of the alternative rock scene in 1970s. Ladies and gentlemen – Lou Reed. Reed was born on March 2 1942 in Brooklyn, NY. He learned to play guitar by listening to the radio and developed an interest in rock and roll and rhythm and blues. He played guitar in numerous high school bands. After graduating from Syracuse University in 1964, he moved to New York City and worked as an in-house songwriter for Pickwick…

BBC 6 Music recently broadcast the third annual John Peel Lecture, where a musician presents a view on the current state of the music industry and music-related media. In 2011, it was Pete Townshend. Last year, Billy Bragg. This year’s luminary was Charlotte Church. She described the music industry as having a “culture of demeaning women”. Current pop stars such as Miley Cyrus and Rihanna have been criticised for their sexual imagery. Church called it “a male dominated industry with juvenile perspective on gender and sexuality”. Ms Church related how the industry seems to have roles specifically for women, mainly…