The Uncool by Cameron Crowe review – inside rock’s wildest decade
From shadowing a cocaine-addled David Bowie to winning over Joni Mitchell, deliciously readable tales by the director of Almost Famous
Riot Women to Sunlight: the week in rave reviews
Sally Wainwright brings us a superb drama about women of a certain age forming a punk band, and Nina Conti’s monkey makes for an unlikely movie star. Here’s the pick of the week’s culture, taken from the Guardian’s best-rated reviews
Rumours of My Demise by Evan Dando review – eye-popping tales of drugs and unpredictability
An indie-pop darling details his rise to fame and subsequent public humiliations with appealing frankness
Britney Spears calls claims in Kevin Federline’s memoir ‘extremely hurtful’
Singer disputes account in ex-husband’s memoir You Thought You Knew, in which he says she behaved erratically around their sons
Unseen Bohemian Rhapsody verses to feature in Freddie Mercury lyric book
Drafts of other Queen hits and photos from singer’s private archive will also feature in A Life in Lyrics
‘Almost 30m plays on Spotify!’ When fake bands hit the real-life big time, from Spinal Tap to the Flaming Dildos
How do you invent a convincing fictional band for your play, film or novel? And what happens if they actually top the charts? The creators of Scott Pilgrim, the Commitments, Stereophonic and more reveal all
‘A palette unlike anything in the west’: Ben Okri, Yinka Shonibare and more on how Nigerian art revived Britain’s cultural landscape
To mark a new exhibition at Tate Modern, author Ben Okri and other leading British-Nigerian cultural figures trace the impact of their heritage on their work, and consider its growing influence on the world stage
‘Rock stars would be like, Yeah, bring the kid in’: Cameron Crowe on his wild years as a teenage music journalist
The film-maker told his own story in Almost Famous. Now he’s looking back on his younger days with Bowie and Led Zeppelin and revealing the family tragedy he’s finally facing up to
‘We’ve all done stupid things but we’re all capable of redemption’: spoken-word artist Joshua Idehen on fighting hate with hope
His poem Mum Does the Washing went viral – but he started out parroting conservative talking points online. Now the British-Nigerian vocalist preaches a message of radical positivity
‘Nobody is painted any worse than they actually were’: new book tells the true story of the Cars
In Let the Stories Be Told, the surviving members of the 80s band share the behind-the-scenes drama behind some of the decade’s biggest hits
House of Guinness to Olivia Dean: the week in rave reviews
Steven Knight takes on Dublin’s booze dynasty with sex appeal, while the London singer-songwriter goes from strength to strength with her second album. Here’s the pick of the week’s culture, taken from the Guardian’s best-rated reviews
Cat on the Road to Findout by Yusuf/Cat Stevens review – fame, faith and charity
The enigmatic singer-songwriter on pop stardom, becoming a Muslim and returning to the stage decades later
Fleetwood Mac call reports they will reunite to play JK Rowling’s 60th birthday ‘categorically false’
A representative for the band – who have not played together since 2019 – says it is ‘not in the realm of true’ that they will play at the author’s James Bond-themed celebration
One Battle After Another review – Paul Thomas Anderson’s thrillingly helter-skelter counterculture caper
Anderson updates Thomas Pynchon for the era of Ice roundups, pitting shaggy revolutionary Leonardo DiCaprio against cartoonish forces of reaction
Tinseltown takeover: how Harry Potter fanfic has evolved into Hollywood’s hottest property
What once seemed a pretty fringe subculture of hobbyists riffing on stories that got them privately hot is now bringing mainstream cinema to a rolling boil