Mark Blake

Often regarded as the best song on 1994 album The Division Bell, it was a key moment in bringing David Gilmour’s wife Polly Samson into his songwriting team

Pink Floyd explored the theme of communication on 1994 album The Division Bell – despite their infamous communication issues

Roger Waters argued there was no difference between playing guitar or a water tap. But after exploring the concept of Household Objects over four years, they abandoned their early experimental era for ever

With a Best Of album in the shops and a documentary on the big screen, Rob Halford looks back over four decades of Judas Priest

If ever a gold-selling Top 20 album can be overlooked, then Bad Co’s Burnin’ Sky is it

Lynyrd Skynyrd’s final album of the 70s is forever linked to the fatal plane crash that followed – but did Ronnie Van Zant predict it?

50 years ago, the singer banned everyone from his studio as he created his debut solo album about four musical tribes, three magicians, a flying galleon and a dying planet. He still doesn’t know where it all came from

The fleeting moment when a prog supergroup hijacked the US pop charts, becoming 1982's band of the summer

After Peter Gabriel left Genesis, many thought it signalled the end of the band. But Phil Collins stepped up to the mic, and the triumphant result was one of their greatest albums

As Iron Maiden's historic Eddfest show at Knebworth gets ever closer, the band look back over half a century of Monsters and Maiden

Peter Green was one of the greatest guitarists of the late 60s British blues boom – but he never truly conquered his demons

Without a big hit single to raise its profile, Bad Company's fourth album has fallen between history's cracks

The Who’s Lifehouse album could have been Pete Townshend’s masterpiece – but no one understood it

Hipgnosis design house co-founder Aubrey Powell recalls the 70s from their first big success and the inflatable pig incident to destruction at the hands of a young punk artist

In July 1986, Queen became the first band to play a stadium show in the communist Eastern Bloc. Cue armed soldiers and genital-related insults

Magic hexes, hotel robberies and cut-throat deals: Led Zeppelin band members and associates chronicle the heady days of 1972/73

It took Queen four years to record Stone Cold Crazy – but when they finally did, they nailed it

With a background in three of the genre’s biggest bands, the quartet got tired of creating epics and decided to go pop. But they know their debut album would have only achieved a thousandth of its sales without the last track to be added

Pink Floyd’s Shine On You Crazy Diamond is a bittersweet tribute to former frontman Syd Barrett

Steely Dan: An enigma in search of perfection

Spurred on by surprise early success, Mike Rutherford’s band endured a tough time with a demon-haunted singer, then a replacement who expected rehearsals to be all thought and no action

The quartet attempted to continue as an instrumental group, then sorted through hundreds of audition tapes, before realising they already had their new vocalist

When The Who toured the US in 1967, they wanted to “leave a wound” – they succeeded

There was more to The Tubes than White Punks On Dope