Looks good on the dancefloor
With 'Hung Up' at number one and her new album also set to storm to the top of the charts, Madonna has taken back her crown as the undisputed queen of pop. Simon Garfield talks to her about her faith, her family and her ever-changing image. And she explains why, at 47, she has returned to her disco roots.
Behind closed doors
They won't record and they certainly won't tour, but for this band, music is a lifeline in a grim world. Martin Hodgson reports on a pioneering scheme inside one of Britain's most notorious jails.
Welcome to our world
Jazz was the great American art form of the twentieth century. Now everyone else is muscling in. Stuart Nicholson picks six of the best of the new breed breaking free from the code
A clearer vision
An inspirational performer, serial womaniser and civil rights champion, Sam Cooke was soul music's first superstar. In exclusive extracts from his new biography, award-winning author Peter Guralnick traces the singer's tempestuous journey from the affections of a besotted Aretha Franklin to the night of his murder - and explains why his legacy has endured.
Flash-forward
The Like's punk-pop sensibility should land them a huge audience. And, says Kitty Empire, they don't need any help from their famous fathers
Surgical spirit
All families have Christmas traditions. In Sarah Hughes's house, her hospital consultant father's soundtrack to the festive season was endless Johnny Cash. She even got his records as presents - but then had to hand them back.
Light up, light up
Rock'n'roll without cigarettes is like the Stones without Keith. So when gigs become smoke-free, even healthy, clean-living people will lose out.
The 10 (nuttiest) producers
You don't have to be a bloody-minded, arrogant, oddball loner to become a hit-maker. But it helps...
Daniel Radcliffe
He may look fresh-faced but the Harry Potter star is an old punk at heart, and on a mission to 'convert the heathens'. So what can Luke Bainbridge magic up for him?
The futurist
Kurt likes precise perfection in the buildings he designs and his synth-based music. So why can't he leave Southampton, asks Tom Cox.
Blame it on the boogie...
DJ Gaz Mayall, of Gaz's Rockin' Blues fame, traces rhythm'n'blues's evolution from Thirties piano stompers to heavenly voiced soul.
The OMM recommended 10
Andrew Perry works his way through the pioneers of jive and godfathers of soul.
What's wrong with advertising?
Too many Eno fans are making a fuss over one of his ambient classics being used in a commercial, writes our man who now has his own album out.
Q & A
Film-maker Don Letts quizzes Win Butler, head honcho of the Arcade Fire, about Bono and Bowie, favourite TV series, and what it has been like to be make one of the year's landmark records...
Mary J Blige, Rose Hall, New York 16 October
Mary J Blige put her life at the centre of her art and became an icon for her pains. But when she cleaned up her act, she suffered. In an OMM exclusive, Barney Hoskyns sees her triumphant return.
The barometer
The month's ups and downs.
