‘We’re catalysts of the new plague’ – from the archive, Patti Smith interviewed in 1976 (opens in new tab)

15 May 1976: Robin Denselow meets New York’s latest sensation as she prepares for her first British concertShe was sitting in a hotel in Notting Hill Gate, talking about her favourite subject. She was wearing a white shirt, a black tie and black trousers, and if it wasn’t for those piercing blue eyes she’d have looked like a rag doll in drag. Considering she had just got off a plane from New York, and had only been asked a simple question, the words were pouring from her in an excited and une...