The Observer: Observer Music Monthly

Miranda Sawyer: Too many acts play it safe on stage. Let's hear it for risk-takers like Julian Cope and Kanye West

Uppers and downers

The inaugural Pop Idol winner tells Will Hodgkinson how a wolf and the Spiders from Mars shaped his love of music

... most memorable uniforms in rock

Why Jay-z is a working-class hero... | Summer lovin' | One of the Kings' subjects writes... | Dennis is a menace | Who are you calling Dodgy?

Mike Skinner of the Streets films epic trek through France

Dr Who fans flock to the Royal Albert Hall for a classical prom that's out of this world. Portraits by Alex Sturrock

Simon Armitage's vinyl quest takes him from backslapping in a bar via a jazz temple in Hay-on-Wye to a meditation at a Salford church

Soulwax salute their nude support act

Katy Perry's 'I Kissed a Girl' is a runaway hit in the States - and she's now repeating that success over here. Sheryl Garratt caught up with the ministers' daughter

Everyone in the music business is rolling in cash, right? Wrong. James Robinson asked 16 people from all parts of the industry about their job. The results will surprise you

Julian Cope is now 50. Still passionate about Krautrock and stone circles, he tells Jon Savage about his quest for the freedom to be different

Their name sounds like a character from Roald Dahl, but Thomas Tantrum, Southampton's art-punks, aren't doing it just for the kids, says Sarah Boden

Fifty years ago, a generation marched on Aldermaston to ban the bomb, and gave birth to the British protest song. Colin Irwin talks to veterans of the movement

(Columbia)

(Big Dada)

(Keysound Recordings)

(Parlophone)

(WEA)

(Ricky-Tick Records)

(Strangetown)

(Interscope)

(Harvest /EMI)

(Light in the Attic)

(Naive)

(Full Time Hobby)

(Beat the World)

(Domino)

(RCA)

(EMI)

(Roadrunner)

(Tin Angel Recordings)

(City Slang)

(Verve Forecast)

(Mercury)

(Fence)

(Parlophone)

(S Curve)

The Liberty director likes guitars more than protest singers. Can Paul Mardles find a band for whom she would vote?

(Geffen)

(Virgin)

(Wichita)

(Yep Roc)

(Domino)

(EMI)

(Def Jam)

(Because)

(Roper Records)

(Crammed Discs)

(EMI)

(Memphis Industries)

(Delta Music)

(Orange Street)

(MU Transmissions)

Review: The Rise Of Jamaican Dancehall Culture by Beth Lesser

A vibrant document of post-Marley Jamaican music delights Steve Yates

Paul Heaton on what he's reading and watching

Bill Drummond's new book is both scholarly and funny. Paul Morley wonders what he's doing in it

Sixteen years before Jay-Z, Public Enemy become the first rap act to headline a major UK festival. Chuck D recalls how his band stormed Reading