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April 2026

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290 articles

April 25
- “Metallica have tried some crazy things, some which have worked better than others. That’s a part of being an artist”: Twenty thousand people, an 80-piece symphony and the world’s biggest metal band – the epic story behind rock’s greatest orchestral gig
- "You gotta hit rock bottom to move somewhere else." Earthquakes, power struggles, and 16 songs that "sounded like people fighting": the curious tale of The Black Crowes 'lost' album, Tall
- “We were looking for a song along the lines of The Bay City Rollers. Coming home from the grocery store, I just thought of a chant – ‘Hey! Ho! Let’s go!’”: The unlikely teenybop inspiration behind punk rock’s first classic single
April 24
- “It’s historically important for music lovers of that genre”: The legal dispute over Black Sabbath’s earliest recordings has been settled – and they could finally be released
- "One of the songs is the sound of a tree hearing itself for the first time." The forthcoming solo album from former R.E.M. frontman Michael Stipe sounds like it'll be quite a trip
- Great new proggy sounds you need to hear from Crown Lands, A.A. Williams, Devin Townsend, Tarja and more in Prog's brand new Tracks Of The Week
- "I had to fight for everything I wanted and got treated like a child." How Amy Lee fought to take back control of Evanescence
- "They blame us as musicians because it's easier than blaming family or society." How Brazilian metal legends Sepultura were demonised in the media following a heartbreaking tragedy
- "We had a song that was humongous, but we were just dumb and young." How Hoobastank wrote a billion-streaming hit single and entrenched themselves in pop culture forever
- Marillion are "cooking with gas" as new album nears completion
- "I didn't want to be like stage dad." Dave Grohl shares his pride in his daughter Violet's emergence as a star on her own terms
- "I want to dedicate this next one to a dear friend of mine in the sky tonight!" Watch a tearful Yungblud pay emotional tribute to Ozzy Osbourne with his cover of Black Sabbath's Changes in Birmingham last night
- New Muse single Cryogen recalls classic earlier years with spiralling guitar riffs
- "Look at the bands that are out there now, crap like Radiohead. You can't tell us that we don't deserve to be more than that." On the eve of the release of Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness, Smashing Pumpkins wanted to take on the world
- "I was grossly overconfident because I was 21 years old: ‘Of course I’m going to get the gig.'" Iron Maiden frontman Bruce Dickinson opens up on what it was like joining the metal legends just as they were blowing up
- "This is the sound of a band finding their spark again amid the wreckage." Foo Fighters bounce back from turbulent few years with punky, at-times surprisingly thrashy new record Your Favorite Toy
- "I said to Phil on the side of the stage: 'What are we going to do? I can't distinguish between the songs!'" Brian Robertson played with Thin Lizzy, Motörhead and Wild Horses: Now he finally reveals all
- "He's jumping up in the air and breathing really heavily, making these animal noises. I'd never seen anything like it." The story of Andrew W.K. and the strangest TV performance in music history
- “Even when I got pretty good fees, I lost money on everything. I was thinking so idealistically”: Leprous’ Einar Solberg releases Vox Occulta, with hard lessons learned from the past
- "This is the new sound – it's hyper, it's energy, it's urgent.” Nine Van Halen albums to listen to and one to avoid
- "It's like The Who channelling Cheap Trick, filled with catchy pop songs slathered with hard rock guitars." How the folk songs of Pope John Paul II buried one of rock'n'roll's great lost albums
- "His music reflects the joy and the pain of his life experiences." Watch the trailer for the upcoming Gregg Allman movie
April 23
- Korn return with pounding single Reward The Scars, in collaboration with new Diablo IV expansion Lord Of Hatred
- “It was cheaper to come here and rent a whole hotel out of season. The bar was open 24/7”: Iron Maiden’s Bruce Dickinson recalls writing classic albums in empty Jersey hotel
- "We didn’t talk to each other for three months." Haunted houses, fallouts and a drunken singer: inside Slipknot's experimental masterpiece, Vol. 3
- "One love for the world!" French psychedelic rock mind expanders Slift announce North America, Europe and UK tour dates
- "The Ramones rescued rock 'n' roll." How Ramones' first album changed the lives of punk rock icons Henry Rollins, Bob Mould, Ian MacKaye and Steve Albini, in their own words
- The niece of late Iron Maiden drummer Clive Burr has become a WWE wrestler – and her gimmick is pure 80s metal
- "I wrote a lot of the tracks envisioning powerful live drumming – enter Dave Grohl." How the former Nirvana drummer shaped the sound of Nine Inch Nails' album With Teeth
- Yes reschedule postponed UK Fragile tour to May 2027
- "One of the year’s most instantaneous, joyous, technicolour listens." Mixing reggae, heavy metal, punk, hip hop and pop and never missing a beat, Skindred's You Got This is the burst of sunshine you need
- "I was really glad that she never asked me what I thought of her singing." What happened when Gregg Allman appeared on Cher's TV show
- Prog, power-balladry and arena rock: Nine Styx albums you should listen to and one to avoid
- “Bruce Dickinson’s manager was really angry. He cancelled the whole project”: Arjen Lucassen stupidly talked himself out of making an album with Iron Maiden’s singer
- "You make one record, and now you have your own fried chicken restaurant and your own hovercraft company!" The Black Crowes reflect on success and longevity, and answer the question: Why do they still bother making albums?
April 22
- "His songwriting, musicianship and distinctive spirit helped create music that has lasted far beyond its era." Steve Winwood pays tribute to fellow Traffic founder Dave Mason
- "A reminder of just how powerful and wonderful music can be in a world where little else makes sense." Frank Turner charms the capital with a celebration of twenty years of punk rock honesty
- Former Slipknot drummer Jay Weinberg reveals he first jammed with the band just 24 hours before they announced the departure of Joey Jordison
- Pink Floyd collaborator Polly Samson, wife and creative partner of David Gilmour, has a London photo exhibition featuring her documentation of the creation, recording and live performance of Gilmour's Luck and Strange album
- "Veering between sweet and sour, violent metal, disturbing imagery and cutesy melodies." A guide to every Poppy album so far
- “Something we never could have imagined when this all began”: Songs by melodic death metal pioneers In Flames, At The Gates and Dark Tranquillity to be performed by Gothenburg orchestra
- Porcupine Tree offshoot Voyage 35 unveil full band line-up
- "It was like a little vacation." The Tool and Failure side project which dissolved before most people knew it had ever existed
- “The people who I know who’ve been on this journey… we’d never go back”: Ex-Iron Maiden singer Blaze Bayley opens up about quitting alcohol
- "On his final performance, he wields words like a weapon." Following the death of their beloved frontman Tomas Lindberg, death metal legends At The Gates' produce one final triumph with The Ghost Of A Future Dead
- Carl Palmer announces An Evening With Emerson, Lake & Palmer shows in England for February 2027
- "The toughest thing I've ever done." The trauma behind Otis Redding's tragic classic (Sittin' On) The Dock Of The Bay
- “Maybe they thought we wanted out of our contract, like when a band does a deliberately bad album”: Opeth gave their label two records for the price of one, and it nearly cost them their career
- Traffic founder Dave Mason dead at 79
- "We were just jamming, making stuff up. Our session went totally out of the window." The true story of Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin's lost jam
- "People turned on us. It was as if they resented their big secret band suddenly being the property of the mainstream." After a decade's hard slog, a sublime ballad made stars of REO Speedwagon - and their die-hard fans didn't like it one bit
April 21
- "Basically all their songs are about loss and dying." Emo-loving pop star PinkPantheress on her favourite My Chemical Romance song
- "I feel like a robot and I can’t believe a crowd can care about what we’re doing." The genre-smashing underground band who recorded one of the best metal albums of the 21st century - and then disappeared
- Slayer to play two special US shows celebrating 40 years of Reign In Blood this autumn
- "Discharge meets GBH and Motörhead at an anti-Nazi demonstration after drinking cider all afternoon in a Hackney squat." Ten obscure and criminally under-rated UK punk albums
- Peter Gabriel, Brian Eno, Paul Weller, Massive Attack, Sigur Rós, Mogwai and more sign open letter asking the European Broadcasting Union to ban Israel from participating in Eurovision 2026
- “With all the stuff surrounding his illness and eventually passing, I had a hard time listening to it”: At The Gates drummer couldn’t listen to new album until “recently”, due to late singer Tomas Lindberg’s cancer battle
- BBC's 2026 Proms season to feature a Prog Prom for the very first time!
- Watch former WWE World Heavyweight Champion CM Punk walk out to an AFI song and pay tribute to Harm’s Way’s Bo Lueders during his WrestleMania entrance last weekend
- "Jaw-dropping from start to finish, Offering is a once-in-a-lifetime sort of album." A heartfelt salute to Axe's forgotten blue-collar gruntrock party classic
- "I think he is a genius. He's the master of the middle eight." Big Big Train's Gregory Spawton picks the soundtrack of his life
- “Professional pianists are the only ones who say, ‘I understand why he wanted to kill himself. I would think the same thing’”: Keith Emerson’s partner says his health issues were caused by his fear of letting people down
- "Only a couple of us saw that it was giving a glimpse of the future." How Aerosmith changed the internet as we know it
- "I won't stop until I'm able to actually sit down with Bob Seger, ideally playing darts, hopefully having a beer." Boston man goes viral for certifying bars as Bob Seger-friendly
April 20
- Sammy Hagar downsizes Best Of All Worlds UK tour to more "intimate" venues
- "If there’s one thing that we hate, it’s being compared to Korn or Tool. We’re far better than that.” The mystery of the 90s band that almost gave the UK an answer to Limp Bizkit - then vanished without a trace
- "It's been too long since we've been in the UK!" Joan Jett And The Blackhearts announce first UK headline tour in 16 years
- "A masterpiece, and yet not the band's finest hour." Every Smashing Pumpkins album ranked from worst to best
- Classic Rock's Tracks Of The Week: April 20, 2026
- “The lyricists had been left to their own devices. I said, ‘For once, can we all get behind the concepts and the lyrics?’” How TesseracT’s fans helped them make fourth album Sonder
- "I honestly wondered if this was the end for Metallica." Rehab, prison and the battle for the future of music: The story of the most divisive album in metal
- “You realise the hard way that it sucks when your passion is your job”: Periphery lost their way then found it again. That’s why they don’t care about how successful they could be
- "It was an embarrassment, but we were desperate for the cash." How Thin Lizzy saved their career by recording an album of Deep Purple covers
- "Turn the lights down, put your feet up, whisky chaser in one hand, beer in the other." A grieving Gregg Allman slows things down on the late-night gospel-country-blues of Laid Back
- "I've got a couple of ideas I've been working on for quite some time": Fred Durst wants to set up an alternative to Coachella for musicians who aren't invited to Coachella
April 19
- "Your Favorite Toy is a ferocious reaffirmation of Foo Fighters' initial post-grunge power." Troubled times call for torrential measures on hard-rocking new album from Dave Grohl and Co
- “Shannon’s sister and Axl Rose were in school together. Labels jumped all over us cos of his connection with Guns N’ Roses”: Blind Melon were more than just a grunge-era one-hit wonder – but tragedy cut their career short
- “I hear, ‘Look who’s preparing to face his public then!’ It was Mick Jagger with Bowie. I said, ‘Well, you’re not doin’ so bad yourself after ten years’”: How Mott The Hoople fell to earth - but left one of rock’s great farewell albums behind them
- “I’d just come offstage at Monsters Of Rock and someone went, ‘I hear you like the Marquis de Sade. It was Bruce Dickinson”: Therapy? were three noise-rock outsiders from Northern Ireland – but they made one of the greatest alt-metal albums of the 90s
- “She said, ‘Do you know anybody who plays keyboards?’ I lied and said, ‘Yeah – me!’” Hawkwind’s Magnus Martin isn’t actually a member of Hawkwind. He just never stopped turning up
- “It became too much. It was like when Yoko came along to The Beatles and Paul said, ‘Oh no’”: The 70s rock classic inspired by a tragedy at sea which tore the band that wrote it apart
- “The Slipknot guys are totally aware of who were are, and System Of A Down opened for us before they even got signed”: The chaotic birth of Grindcore, the scene that changed metal forever
April 18
- Beatles Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr to duet on Macca's new album The Boys of Dungeon Lane
- “Storm Thorgerson didn’t say the pig on the cover of Animals had been Roger Waters’ idea. Roger was very angry”: Why Pink Floyd didn’t go to their go-to artwork guys for The Wall, and what The Dark Side Of The Moon cover might have looked like
- Charity cuts ties with Sharon Osbourne after social media post in which she suggests she will attend Tommy Robinson's anti-immigration rally
- “I had fights with band members who told me I’d completely lost it. And they were right. It was a terrible time”: The cult band who gave the world members of Fleetwood Mac, Black Sabbath and Yes – but only blues rock connoisseurs know who they are
- “It was like Lord Of The Flies. You could vaguely hear music and there were giant mud puddles with naked people writhing around”: Metallica, Nine Inch Nails and 350,000 mud-caked people – the chaotic story of the biggest US music festival of the 1990s
- “Sometimes change is hard to take for some people, but we knew how far we could push things”: How Bo Diddley, beards and a Mexican battle song set one of the greatest blues trios of the 70s on the road to 80s superstardom
- “In those days a gimmick was a big deal. Bowie’s was that he’d written a song about being in space when the first moonshot was taking place”: The weird connection between Neil Armstrong, a future British Prime Minister and one of rock’s greatest icons
April 17
- Ten albums that prove, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that 1980 was the greatest year ever for hard rock and heavy metal
- "We will miss you Prince!" As the 10th anniversary of his death nears, watch Bruce Springsteen, David Gilmour, Pearl Jam, Lenny Kravitz, Chris Cornell pay tribute to the legend that was Prince
- "Ever wondered what Trent Reznor would be like with a couple of glowsticks and a string vest?" Nine Inch Noize captures Coachella's most vibrant team-up in a rave-happy remix
- "The fans always come first." Iron Maiden won't be attending their induction into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame
- Forget Live And Dangerous, No Sleep 'til Hammersmith and At Fillmore East, The Killer's Live at the Star Club, Hamburg is the greatest live show ever committed to vinyl
- Cool new proggy sounds you need to hear from The Anchoress, Matt Berry, Magenta, Soen and more in Prog's brand new Tracks Of The Week
- "I have been looking for that brain forever. Someone might be using it as a paperweight for all I know." The day that surrealist art legend Salvador Dalí recreated Alice Cooper’s brain using a chocolate éclair, ants and diamonds
- “I moved to an old Victorian pile where the previous owners had put a swimming pool in. I said, ‘Let’s fill it in.’ Then I said, ‘You know what we need? A Viking mead hall!’” Clive Nolan built a home venue so he doesn’t have to tour
- The 11 best new metal songs you need to hear right now
- "Sometimes I get in trouble when I get naked in public. It happens when I’ve been drinking Jägermeister." How an ode to self-destructive behaviour took one Orange County band out of the clubs and onto the TV
- The vinyl rescue kit: 8 budget buys to protect and enhance your Record Store Day finds
- "There’s a dead rat hanging in my face, a guy playing a flute and this topless lady belly dancing." Ex-members of Papa Roach, Trivium, Faith No More and Opeth on what it's like being in a major metal band before it blows up
- 9 stylish and affordable vinyl storage upgrades for your Record Store Day 2026 scores
- A petition has been launched to save the legendary London studio where Iron Maiden recorded The Number Of The Beast and Def Leppard recorded Pyromania
- "It was one of the most emotional performances I've ever done. I was in tears." How David Bowie's Heroes became his most life-changing single
- Record Store Day, April 18: The 164 best releases you can buy
- “We played shows with all the black metal bands and I was wearing flares and had an old Gibson SG. I didn’t look right in those surroundings!” How Mikael Åkerfeldt fell in love with prog, even though his friends hated what he was doing
- "The largest tape transfer project in the history of rock'n'roll." Grateful Dead release official Play Dead streaming app
April 16
- Led Zeppelin Quiz: The beginnings of the legend
- “I could go to a festival in a unicorn outfit and no one would bat an eyelid. Nobody cares”: From teenage rebellion to gatekeeping and mental health, we interviewed a therapist to try and understand how metalheads’ brains work
- "I jumped through a window and hit one. Someone started choking me; I was basically blue by the time I was rescued." Russian Nazis, emotional encounters with Dio and rumours about Tom Hanks: Shane Embury on almost 40 years of Napalm Death and beyond
- "I went looking for heroin in a subterranean club and approached some guys. I got a severe beating outside instead." Depeche Mode's Dave Gahan recalls the painful day that he told his bandmates he was struggling with addiction
- "This track is arriving in an atmosphere of chaos." Tom Waits and Massive Attack collaborate on haunting, politically-charged new single Boots On The Ground referencing "the militarisation of police forces fusing with neo-fascist politics"
- “Every song I wrote came together easily. It was just one of those patches – about five years’ worth. I was really lucky to go through that”: Jeff Lynne didn’t notice he’d turned ELO into the world’s biggest rock band
- “I told her to write a poem about batteries that are dying that cannot be recharged”: Slipknot’s Shawn “Clown” Crahan explains how Lacuna Coil’s Cristina Scabbia ended up on Look Outside Your Window
- "There’s injustice, and so much hate and fear, and it’s such a drag." Foo Fighters leader Dave Grohl says it's difficult not to feel angry and disillusioned about the state of America in 2026
- "There were a lot of hardcore racists in the South, but we thought they were just silly." Lynyrd Skynyrd, Neil Young, and the truth about rock's most misreported beef
- "Maybe they should have included a disc of Lemmy spinning in his grave." Motörhead's On Parole Sessions are a noble endeavour but the extras are perplexing
- "We all dropped acid and went to see Yellow Submarine. I couldn't stop laughing the whole movie." An unusually candid Neal Schon comes clean on drugs, errant frontmen and the future of Journey
- "It sounds great while floating lazily on a yacht or zooming down the interstate in a Lamborghini." The story of Player's debut album, a record for people who like to get home before it gets dark
April 15
- "We had a lot of fun revisiting these songs and hope you enjoy. Listen LOUD." Trent Reznor reveals details of the forthcoming Nine Inch Noize album, coming later this week
- There's now a massive archive of thousands of indie rock gig recordings online, and it's awesome
- "I just feel so lucky to be considered in the same breath as some of the other artists on there." Former Iron Maiden singer Blaze Bayley shares his feelings on being inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame
- "Some of the band didn't even want to finish Love Shack. They said, Let's just forget it." How a band who were "just too weird for the powers that be" became national treasures
- "Business people think anyone who doesn't want to be rich is a nutcase." In 1970, Fleetwood Mac leader Peter Green walked away from his band, saying that he wanted to give all his money away, and make music that would bring people closer to God
- “Joey was the best that ever did it. The greatest drummers would come to our shows to watch this guy play”: Slipknot DJ Sid Wilson pays tribute to his late former bandmate Joey Jordison
- “For roughly 150 days of the year I’m an unpaid amateur flute player, and I have a lot of fun doing it”: Ian Anderson explains why he does what he does – and the onstage mistake that sometimes stops him
- "I finally had to ask the road crew to get him off the stage, he was messing it all up." Suzi Quatro's stories of Alice Cooper, Iggy Pop, Joan Jett, Phil Lynott, Peter Frampton, Chrissie Hynde and more
- "It was a little over the top, wasn't it? A bit naff." From a much-loved bomber to a creaking mechanical fist: The story of Motörhead's Spinal Tap moment
- "The band were screaming at me to come on stage as our time was running out." How Rick Wakeman got his first cape, by Rick Wakeman
- "I'd come back from the unemployment office when the phone rang. Jimi said 'Hey, what you doing? We'd like for you to come up and join us.'" The story of the Jimi Hendrix guitarist who was written out of history
April 14
- Watch R&B superstar Thundercat play bass for his former band, thrash metal hellraisers Suicidal Tendencies, at Coachella last weekend
- "The great thing about being an icon is you can stay young forever." Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley talk up Kiss avatar show, set to launch in Las Vegas in 2028 with new Kiss songs
- "The vibe is definitely Slipknot except no screams." Slipknot fan compares Look Outside Your Window album to Pink Floyd after getting early listen, claims Lacuna Coil's Cristina Scabbia appears
- "There’s beauty in the fact we didn’t strangle each other at the end." Ville Valo would love to reunite goth metal icons HIM
- "He’s already got worst President in the history of America on lock, but I’m gonna go ahead and take the honour of pronouncing Trump Worst American of All Time." Jack White is distinctly unimpressed by Donald Trump's now-deleted AI Jesus post
- "This was something else. I could feel it in every part of me." What it was like seeing metal legends Metallica in their early days, according to fellow thrash veteran and Death Angel frontman Mark Osegueda
- “The criticism of Heaven & Earth was that there weren’t any big epics. We had a couple of longer tracks on The Quest. With this one we’ve gone overboard!” The story of Yes’ 23rd album Mirror To The Sky
- "Her voice was the signature sound of Clannad and will live on forever." Singer Moya Brennan has died, aged 73
- The Afghan Whigs announce UK shows to extend their 40th anniversary celebrations
- "I got called into the principal’s office because our songs didn’t say ‘Jesus’ enough." Halestorm’s Lzzy Hale opens up about stepping away from church as a teenager
- 7 metal songs from the year 2000 that were way ahead of their time
- "They looked good from the audience, but if you were near them there were an awful lot of casualties." The day the Rolling Stones accidentally killed thousands of butterflies
- "My job was to get rid of Alice Cooper – and I did exactly the opposite." Bob Ezrin on his long, strange trip with Alice Cooper
- California’s sleaziest exports: Nine Buckcherry albums you should listen to and one to avoid
- “I opened the curtains a bit and said, ‘Look at all these people who’ve paid to see us!’ I didn’t realise that was the worst thing I could have done”: Carl Palmer on Keith Emerson, and how his death wasn’t the worst part of losing him
- Iron Maiden, Oasis, Billy Idol and Phil Collins to be inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame this year
- "I look back on it and simply marvel that I didn't plummet to my death." The story of that time Love/Hate frontman Jizzy Pearl crucified himself on the Hollywood sign and got arrested
- "They were doing something totally unique and otherworldly. It was mysterious and thrilling." 10 songs that Limp Bizkit guitarist Wes Borland wishes he had written
April 13
- "We learned everything from the Wipers." The story behind the obscure debut album which inspired Nirvana's Kurt Cobain and changed the sound of Seattle rock
- "Trust me, the music that he's into, it’ll make your songs be like Mary Had a Little Lamb." How Sopranos legend Stevie Van Zandt persuaded Bruce Springsteen to take a chance on future Slipknot drummer Jay Weinberg
- Following their Justin Bieber support slot at Coachella, The Strokes announce world tour in support of new album Reality Awaits
- "I was embarrassed turning that song in because it was an obvious hit." How Smash Mouth wrote an anthem for bullied fans and accidentally became a pop culture phenomenon thanks to Shrek
- "This has definitely confused some people - but I just wanted to rock out!" The Nashville singer-songwriter who has ditched country music for metal
- Classic Rock's Tracks Of The Week: April 13, 2026
- "I joined the circus!" How tragedy, a stint in Sleep Token and a very surprising career detour defined the fall and rise of one of British metalcore's most promising bands, Shields
- "He went off at the deep end with drugs and I was just beside myself with frustration and depression.” Paramore, Deftones and Tool love them. This album broke them. The story of Failure's Fantastic Planet
- Metalcore icons Bring Me The Horizon have announced a special one-off show where they'll play a classic early album in full - and it's probably not the one you think
- "Touring was about how messed-up I could get, and it wasn't about the music any more. Things got very, very dark." British bluesman Danny Bryant hit rock bottom two years ago: Now he comes clean
- "The production is so polished and shiny that magpies tried to steal my stereo every time I pressed play." Supergroup Bad English's debut album is a perfect time capsule of late-80s AOR
April 12
- "You are my god!" Watch Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi praise Ian Paice as she meets her Deep Purple heroes
- "It's been a struggle, it's a struggle every day." No Doubt guitarist Tom Dumont diagnosed with early-onset Parkinson's disease
- "It felt more punk rock than anything anyone was doing at the time. People were ****ed off at us." How an underground metal band became championed by Metallica and the Stone Roses through one breakout hit
- "There was that feeling of like, ‘Wait, are we breaking up?'" Why Dave Grohl walked out on Foo Fighters and joined Queens of the Stone Age in 2002
- "He was in chainmail, said he needed it for protection." From communist Hungary to joining metal's most murderous band and working with Slipknot's Joey Jordison, Attila Csihar is an extreme metal pioneer
- “This wasn’t party rock any more. It was fusion and progressive music, and I absolutely loved it”: Paul Gilbert on the genius of Allan Holdsworth, and the one song that proves it
- "I had a bad flu and was delirious, but the lyric was so great that it lifted me up in my sick bed." How Ann and Nancy Wilson poured their feelings about love and the state of the world into a debut single that became an evergreen rock classic
- The genre that refuses to die: A history Of Southern rock In 40 songs
April 11
- "That dude just showed me a dead alien." Foo Fighters drummer Ilan Rubin on his wedding day – when Blink 182's Tom DeLonge let Nine Inch Nails frontman Trent Reznor see something very odd on his phone
- Turnstile open Coachella set with video of singer Brendan Yates' father who is recovering from alleged attempted murder attack by band's former guitarist Brady Ebert
- “I listen now and think, ‘This is a young man’s game!’ I’m proud of the albums”: How future members of Marillion, Soft Machine and Caravan got their start via Darryl Way’s Wolf
- "Growing up, I noticed bands like Motorhead, Limp Bizkit and Drowning Pool were always part of it. Now I understand why." How heavy metal became a lifelong passion for WWE Women's World Champion Stephanie Vaquer
- "I found out through the Internet that I have AIDS. I learned I was dead." How one final, heartbreaking TV performance marked the end of an era for Alice In Chains - and a swan song for their brilliant but troubled frontman, Layne Staley
- “We weren’t after our version of Iron Maiden’s Eddie, but it needed to be striking.” The story behind Slayer's grim Reign In Blood album artwork
- “It sits between Genesis, Van der Graaf Generator and Roxy Music – all viewed through a haze of spectral menace”: Before Crowded House, before their new-wave hits, Split Enz were unabashedly prog
April 10
- The 12 best new metal songs you need to hear right now
- “I didn’t do terribly well with solo work compared to my colleagues in Genesis. But I had a golden period, and I bought the Steinway piano I play on this record”: Anthony Phillips’ fight through pain barrier to make Gemini
- "On our first tour one of the venues burned down, and the cops would shut things down." Police raids, venue fires and murderous rednecks: the story of Converge, the band who defined metalcore for a generation
- The Rolling Stones are releasing a new song tomorrow, but under a fake name
- “Two iconic albums! One unforgettable night!” Thirty Seconds To Mars announce A Beautiful Lie vs This Is War arena tour
- “I’d love it to become a musicians’ platform – curated, high-quality, and fair”: Why Steven Wilson launched Headphone Dust
- "Making this record was joyful." Yes share first music from brand new studio album, Aurora
- "The band's accountants possibly didn't figure in the cost of their eccentric new guitarist insisting upon recording his parts inside a bespoke chicken coop." The 10 most eye-wateringly expensive rock albums ever recorded
- Exclusive Magenta Tarot bundle with limited edition t-shirt on sale now!
- Great new proggy sounds you need to hear from Einar Solberg, Evergrey, MONO, Crippled Black Phoenix and more in Prog's brand new Tracks Of The Week
- Attention all planets of the Solar Federation! Rush have assumed control of the cover of the new issue of Prog, on sale now!
- All hail the Rat Queen! Hotly-tipped fantasy doom metallers Castle Rat launch video for bombastic single Siren
- "What began to change us was success. When your dream comes true, where do you go from there?” Kansas: an everyday story of success, failure, religion, drugs, booze and jealousy
- "Then there was this. I was floored!" Long-lost promo video for Led Zeppelin's Good Times Bad Times found in University of Georgia archive
April 9
- Jack White expands 2026 tour, with UK and Irish headline dates sandwiched between American tours
- "There was an old fella who screamed that we'd been sent by Oliver Cromwell. He jumped on the bonnet of the car and tried to boot the windscreen to pieces." Not everyone was pleased to see The Rolling Stones on their first Irish tour
- How to watch the Coachella 2026 livestream: Iggy Pop, Wet Leg, Turnstile, David Byrne, Die Spitz, Interpol & Nine Inch Nails' set with Boys Noize just some of this weekend's highlights
- Watch Robert Plant and Saving Grace breathe new life into a Led Zeppelin classic on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert
- "Its venom did a number on my system." The Pretty Reckless' Taylor Momsen has been bitten by yet another animal on the AC/DC tour
- "I’d have to be careful if I did wear a big, flowing dress onstage… I’d be worried about pyro setting me on fire." Cliff Burton, Wicked and real-life High School Musicals: Five fun minutes with Amaranthe's Elize Ryd
- "We’re here for you, Randy. Might be time for a beer or three." Tool frontman Maynard James Keenan offers support to the US Army's top general ousted by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth
- "There are a lot of people who don't seem interested or even notice that the world's on fire." Puscifer's Maynard James Keenan and Carina Round discuss soundtracking the end times
- "No-one writes rock ’n’ roll better than this.” The story of the AC/DC album that true AC/DC fans love best
- "They were the inadvertent godfathers of the independent music scene." Power-pop nirvana met emotional baggage and personal tragedy in the story of Big Star, a band destined to fail
- “It was the first keyboard solo I’d heard on the radio for a very long time”: The Marillion song that proves Mark Kelly’s genius, by Adam Wakeman
- "Everybody I know is sending me the clip!" Kansas react to viral Carry On Wayward Son sketch on Saturday Night Live
April 8
- "English people don't really want to feel that much." The curious tale of Robert Smith's least favourite Cure album, despite him telling the world "anyone who doesn't like this just doesn't like the Cure"
- "Slipknot is a big scary monster and we're losing control of it." How Slipknot's angriest and sweariest song helped the metal icons land the heaviest number one album in history
- "People were throwing coins and smashed up cups. It was horrifying!" This is what it's like supporting metal legends Iron Maiden in front of a hostile crowd, according to Atreyu guitarist Dan Jacobs
- "A starting point for new listeners to discover the depth and breadth of their peerless album catalogue." Pink Floyd announce new compilation album including extended version of classic track
- “I’ve often wondered if other people knew what I was talking about!” This is why Roger Chapman sings about his shoe in Family classic Burlesque
- "I’m not the first woman in metal. I just did it a little more my own way." The trailblazing black metal star who worked with Martin Scorsese and Michael Bolton before taking on the mother of all career changes
- "There can be more spices – we have a choir on three songs – but the foundation must be secure." 16 albums into a 44-year career, German thrash veterans Kreator are still doing their own thing
- "Their record label couldn't figure out whether they were the next Poison or the first Guns N' Roses." The story of Jetboy, the band who could have saved glam metal but didn't
- “We’re back to being the opening act – a difficult pill to swallow. But I see a great opportunity”: Textures pioneered djent but never received full credit. Can their comeback album secure their achievements?
- "There are certain signature sounds that come directly from his playing – not from the equipment, but from him." New Rush drummer Anika Nilles reveals her thoughts on Neil Peart's playing
- Twisted Sister announce first show with Sebastian Bach - and it's in Alaska
- Take a tour of Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne's Los Angeles home – and if you like what you see, it's yours for $17 million
April 7
- "It was scary when we were getting death threats over social media." After angering the far right by pretending to murder Donald Trump, alien monster metallers Gwar couldn't believe people were trying to censor them
- "I am your Rat Queen! We're on a mission to defend the realm from those who seek to destroy it." Watch one of the most hyped young bands in heavy metal battle on stage as Castle Rat slay a brilliant new live set
- New Hawkwind release unearths the late Huw Lloyd-Langton's final recording with the band
- "I was never a fan of it and I didn't even want it to be on the record." The emotional Linkin Park anthem that Chester Bennington didn't originally like but became one of the biggest rock songs of all time
- "When I wrote that song I was really going through it...I was almost embarrassed by it." From Brazil to the UK, the hardcore punk four-piece channelling Distillers fury via some deeply personal lyrics
- “Someone put toilet paper in my back pocket and set fire to it. I sat in the sink and fell asleep. The soundtrack to that night was Gong!” How Napalm Death’s Barney Greenway got into prog
- The 11 best songs from 1973
- “My partners lived bohemian lives but ran the band like a capitalist corporation. Exploiting other people makes you feel lonely, I guess”: Why Karl Bartos had to leave Kraftwerk
- "I first met Phil Lynott completely by accident during my first ever acid trip." Original Thin Lizzy guitarist Eric Bell on the birth of the band and his relationship with their "gentle and romantic" frontman
- "My role in life was to be a proud, bold lion, to tell the truth, and stick up for what's right." Dave Mustaine on Megadeth's final chapter, his love for Ozzy, finger numbness, and trading mosh pits for a silver-screen future
April 6
- "Like Blondie with Teeth." Shakin' Street mix high-energy rock with post-punk pop sensibility on album starring Ross The Boss and Fabienne Shine
- “The atmosphere was intense. Manson said hello and I froze. There was a feeling of extreme evil in the room”: Jon Keliehor went from an unknown psychedelic group to playing with The Doors, turning down The Byrds and rubbing shoulders with Charles Manson
- "We were invited to a séance by some girls in Italy. It all got a bit out of hand, a bit freaky. That was the first and last time we tried to summon spirits of the dead." How Uriah Heep's Demons And Wizards album turned them into global superstars
- Classic Rock's Tracks Of The Week: April 6, 2026
- "We didn’t always know what we were doing on this record, and I think that’s the beauty of it." Jonathan Davis and Munky share the stories behind every song on Korn's game-changing debut album
- “When you’ve got the helicopter, the yacht, the private jet, what do you do? ‘I’ll go into space and pretend it’s for research!’” Ian Anderson wonders if he should have sent a flute into the cosmos, and regrets William Shatner went there too
- Former King Crimson drummer Michael Giles returns with Shadows/Solo, his first album for 25 years
- “I used to cringe when I heard my voice on those songs, and then it went to Number 1! I remember it blasting out of radios. I was mortified”: The Pretenders’ Chrissie Hynde wrote a classic late 70s hit. She’s still not sure why it was so popular
- “How dare he revolutionise rock’n’roll then give it all up and just walk away without a word!” Syd Barrett was never lost. He just didn’t want to be found
April 5
- “Whoever listens closely to Hallelujah will discover that it is a song about sex, about love, about life on earth”: How Jeff Buckley turned a Canadian troubadour’s forgotten song into a one-man tour de force – and launched a million bad cover versions
- “When Eric Clapton left, we tried different guitarists. Peter Green told me he was better than everybody else. Once I heard him play, I realised he was”: How the most influential British blues band of the 60s replaced one brand new guitar god with another
- “I cried my eyes out when I heard Maiden’s Brave New World. There was this sense of great loss that hit me really hard”: Blaze Bayley comes clean about leaving Iron Maiden, clashing with Rick Rubin and the heart attack that nearly killed him
- “His legend has only grown since his death. He comes closer than anyone to being the best guitar player that ever lived”: In 1989, this cult rock’n’roll musician was called “the world’s greatest unknown guitar player”. Five years later he was dead
- “There would be no Holiday In Cambodia without Hawkwind”: Jello Biafra discovered the space rockers in a copy of Penthouse – and wound up singing Silver Machine with Nik Turner
April 4
- "I just want her to leave me alone and not hurt anyone else." Woman charged with alleged stalking of Ghost singer Tobias Forge
- "Good luck with your music, I will continue to not listen to it." Gloves are off in Arch Enemy v Kiko Loureiro copyright beef as former Megadeth man and Michael Amott trade barbs
- “We’d been getting a battering about how polished we sounded. So we started to search for a little more earthiness”: How a hard rock band who made Johnny Rotten “jump around like a lunatic” made a gritty 70s classic – and caused uproar with the cover
- “Our peers – Metallica, Guns N’ Roses, Green Day – see the honesty and they get it. A lot of people never will, but that’s not important”: Horror-punk icons the Misfits recorded their classic debut album in 1978. It took 18 years for it to be released
- “He asked, ‘Who owns the rights to your albums?’ I was like, ‘We should.’ He said, ‘How about I buy them for you?’” It took nearly 50 years for Happy The Man to hear their music the way they’d intended
- “Gram had this idea of ‘Cosmic American Music’. Music had no rules back then. There was so much freedom”: The trailblazing ’60s country-rock band who pioneered a whole new sound – only for the Eagles to steal their thunder
- “Spielberg requested a meeting. They’d written a movie and decided their hero’s favourite band would have been Huey Lewis & The News”: How a Hollywood legend and a time-travelling teenager turned a veteran rocker into an unlikely 80s superstar
- 5 insanely obscure 1980s rock albums that are a perfect 10/10
April 3
- Crowdfunding campaign launched to support the family of late GosT mastermind James Lollar
- Voyage 35 share their first music with a cover of Porcupine Tree's The Nostalgia Factory
- "I started chemo and got in touch with my Native American roots." How Testament's Chuck Billy survived cancer (and grunge) to become a thrash metal legend
- Cool new proggy sounds you need to hear from Plini, Chimpan A, William Gilmour & John McGuigan, Playgrounded and more in Prog's brand new Tracks Of The Week
- “David Coverdale believed those things were alright to say. Jon Lord and I would see something he’d said and wrinkle our noses”: How a controversial album cover and cheeky T-shirts helped turn two ex-Deep Purple members into stars all over again
- "We don't write songs which shy away from witnessing a world in its trauma, its rage and pain." U2 surprise-release new six-song EP Easter Lily
- "I wanna write lyrics that have real weight in real life experience. I don’t wanna write about still dyeing my hair black!" Members of influential bands Crowbar and Type O Negative unite in dour new supergroup Sun Don't Shine
- If you think Bruce Springsteen should shut up about politics and just play his songs, you obviously have no idea what Bruce Springsteen has been singing about for the past 50 years
- "This record could change your life, if it needs changing. It's a defiant burst of joy for a world in flames." Jim Jones All Stars' Cat Fight is a record for people who wanna have a good time, all the time
- Lost treasures: Ten cult classic albums worth scouring second-hand record stores for
- "It wasn't quite working with the three of us. We were thinking that maybe we should continue with someone else." Alex Lifeson says he initially had doubts about new Rush drummer Anika Nilles
- “Taking up music was a rebellion against order… I realised I was never going to be the most studious guitarist”: Why Steve Howe didn’t join The Nice or Atomic Rooster, and didn’t even go to his Jethro Tull audition
- "I put my hand up and said I'm bringing trouble to them. Here we are." Pussy Riot founder Nadya Tolokonnikova added to Russian federal wanted list
April 2
- "I want to do lots of different things. I'm always on some sort of learning curve." Every album Robert Plant has made since Led Zeppelin broke up, ranked from worst to best
- "When I started playing guitar at 14 I was watching Alice Cooper live shows on YouTube, dreaming of joining one day!" Alice Cooper announces new guitarist Anna Cara
- Harm's Way guitarist Bo Lueders dead at 38
- Former Turnstile guitarist Brady Ebert facing charge of attempted murder of Turnstile frontman Brendan Yates' 79-year-old father
- James Lollar, the mastermind behind dark synthwave trailblazers GosT, dead at 46
- “There’s a man trapped inside my cat!” – genre-smashing star Poppy is on the cover of the new issue of Metal Hammer with an exclusive new interview
- Yes postpone this month's Fragile UK tour as guitarist Steve Howe requires surgery
- “He may be alluding to life, the universe or a balance sheet, for all the listener knows”: The 1980 album that brought George Orwell, Casio calculators and a pop producer into the realm of prog
- "If you’re trying to have followers and make them think like you do, you’re just building a cult." How Maynard James Keenan's Puscifer explore comedy and tragedy
- "We're exploring the similarities between recycling and horror. For example, zombies are recycled flesh and bones." Sweden has a new face in the war against household waste: heavy metal monster band Lordi
- "It takes me back to my schooldays." Peter Gabriel shares his latest single Till Your Mind Is Shining
- "We like going places where it's a challenge." How Queen helped tear down the Iron Curtain
- "Our goal is to be the biggest heavy metal band in the world." Tailgunner want to be the new Iron Maiden. Or the new Metallica. Or the new Judas Priest. And KK Downing is convinced
- “I wake up in the middle of the night thinking, ‘What if we hadn’t gone with him?’ I can’t see how it would have worked”: If Big Big Train hadn’t met Alberto Bravin, they wouldn’t have been on tour to discover the inspiration for Woodcut
- "Bonzo picked George Harrison up and launched him into the swimming pool. He said it was the greatest night of his life!" How Led Zeppelin seized control of the industry and became the biggest rock band on the planet
April 1
- Fleetwood Mac star Lindsey Buckingham attacked in Santa Monica
- "Not just a way to disrupt the status quo, but perhaps to destroy it completely." Sub Pop announces details of what promises to be the best record on the label since its '90s heyday, and you can hear the first single now
- "The America that I've written about for 50 years is currently in the hands of a corrupt, incompetent, racist, reckless, and treasonous administration." Bruce Springsteen launches his fiercest attacks yet against "criminal clown" Donald Trump
- "It was an experiment, and not everyone was ready for that kind of change!" Jethro Tull announce six-disc reissue of 1984 album Under Wraps
- "I could feel his heart through his chest and he passed away right there." Childhood tragedy, unlikely success and emotional reunions: Max Cavalera on how he reshaped metal with Sepultura and Soulfly
- "I lost it. I was just screaming and swinging at people. I’m not proud of it." How Red Hot Chili Peppers made By The Way, in their own words
- "When you live in Mexico there is always this thought in the back of your head that you are not safe. You’re always alert." Meet the band bringing true heavy metal back to Mexico - while trying to escape it
- "Linkin Park helped me survive." Anti-war protests, hidden identities and split personalities: Meet N0trixx, the Russian-born trap metal artist exploring mental health
- An incredible lineup and a unique, intimate European festival experience just round the corner from a beautiful city and Dracula's Castle? Rockstadt is unlike any other metal festival around - and you need to be there
- Masked-up Canadian math rockers Angine de Poitrine announce new EU and UK tour for October
- "We're honouring a legend." Inside King Ultramega, the star-studded tribute to Chris Cornell featuring members of Soundgarden, Alice In Chains, Mastodon, Anthrax and more
- "Pete Doherty said that I was a high-kicking acrobat crossed with Nico. I was very pleased with that." Approved by Blondie, Iggy Pop and the Sex Pistols, The Molotovs are a ferocious generational voice
- "I'll definitely take being number one in fourteen countries!" The story of the song that heralded Blondie's comeback – but tanked in the US
- “I freely admit to doing disgraceful things in the past. What I did to certain band members was appalling. I hope that’s all behind me”: When Robert John Godfrey rebooted The Enid
- Why you need to be at Alcatraz 2026
- "I kind of did that on purpose, because there's just so much fake AI stuff going on." Journey's Jonathan Cain admits to deliberately misleading fans over Steve Perry return
- "We exchanged no words. He eyed me up and down, dipped the silver tube he wore on a chain into a bag of white powder, shoved it up my snout, then walked out. I was up for three days." The day The Pretenders' Chrissie Hynde met Motorhead's Lemmy
- "I was so terrified to go out I stayed in my room for a week." Rare 1974 talkshow footage starring Ozzy Osborne, Jon Lord and Ian Hunter appears online