Taylor Parkes

Short Biography

Taylor Parkes (born 30 April 1972) is a British journalist. He is best known for his music journalism which appeared in Melody Maker from 1993 to 1998, notable for a style which mixed dark humour, especially in bitterly critical pieces, with an intellectual tone, influenced by the likes of Simon Reynolds and Paul Morley. He took a stand against the more unadventurous Britpop groups of the mid-1990s (which motivated his involvement with the short-lived Romo scene), although somewhat surprisingly, he was for a time largely positive towards Oasis, in stark contrast to his cohort Simon Price. Parkes was most closely associated with bands he described as "unafraid of their own intelligence", including Saint Etienne, Pulp and Manic Street Preachers, and was an occasional champion of the avant-garde, writing favourably about Post-rock.