antirock

Imagine Arctic Monkeys, Franz Ferdinand and Babyshambles rolled into one - that’s how important The Smiths were in the ’80s. And 1986 was their peak year, the year they released their third album, The Queen Is Dead. In this Uncut exclusive, Johnny Marr, Andy Rourke and Mike Joyce talk to Smiths biographer and Uncut contributor Simon Goddard about the protracted sessions for the album that began exactly 20 years ago, in December 1985, and how they overcame problems with drink, drugs, depression and legal wrangles to create their masterpiece

 tracks associated with the late, great DJ and his annual Festive 50 countdowns. Featuring The Fall, Billy Bragg, The House Of Love, The Sugarcubes, The Wedding Present, Pavement, Half Man Half Biscuit, Felt, The Mighty Wah! and more

- This month we look back at John Peel’s annual Festive 50, meet filmmaker extraordinaire John Waters and interview, variously, mod god Paul Weller, legendary rock journalist Nik Cohn, veteran movie director David Cronenberg and Americana figurehead Jeff Tweedy of Wilco.

- In the reviews section, we consider new albums by Babyshambles, Julian Cope, Ryan Adams and Bright Eyes while in reissues we reassess the work of Bruce Springsteen, John Martyn, Beastie Boys and Nils Lofgren’s solo debut.

- New films reviewed include Brokeback Mountain, Lower City and Ultranova, while DVDs under inspection range from Alfred Hitchcock and Alex Cox to Joe Cocker and New York Dolls.