Latest articles by Mark Blake
From the sublime to the ridiculous: What happens when drummers go solo
A short celebration of Herman Rarebell, Roger Taylor and eight other sticksmen who bravely stepped out from behind the kit
The 50 greatest Pink Floyd songs ever
From underground clubs to sold-out stadiums, Pink Floyd's path through rock has been revolutionary and stunningly successful. Here are their 50 best songs
Pink Floyd's tribute to Syd Barrett and the moment that moved the band to tears
With Pink Floyd out of ideas for the follow-up to the all-conquering The Dark Side Of The Moon, they delivered what would become one of their defining songs
The making of Pink Floyd's The Division Bell
In 1994 Pink Floyd released The Division Bell, their final album with Rick Wright. This is its story...
From Sgt Pepper to Syd Barrett: the psychedelic birth of prog rock
In the late 1960s, the psychedelic revolution changed everything – and, thanks to The Beatles, Floyd and more, helped usher in the progressive rock era…
Kettles and bacon: the tortured creation of Pink Floyd's Atom Heart Mother
Looking back at the making of one Pink Floyd's most overlooked but important releases, Atom Heart Mother
How Pink Floyd became the ‘go to’ rock band for space scientists
Pink Floyd may have hated the term ‘space rock’, but in 1988 their music was the chosen soundtrack for the crew of the Soviet spacecraft Soyuz TM-7
The story of Richard Wright's last ever show
Pink Floyd keyboardist Richard Wright made a surprise appearance with David Gilmour at a London Cinema in 2007. A year later, he was gone
How Pink Floyd reinvented themselves and journeyed towards The Dark Side
After Syd Barrett left, Pink Floyd were on a constant search for a sound – their sound. Eventually, Roger Waters, David Gilmour, Rick Wright and Nick Mason would find it
Rioting, bitter acrimony, and the story of Pink Floyd’s unsung masterpiece: Animals
Pink Floyd's Animals raged about sexual oppression and material greed, and the tour that followed almost broke the band
What really happened the night Keith Moon died?
It was just another night in the life of a successful rock star: a film premiere and a party. But the evening was also Keith Moon's last
Every song on Rush's Moving Pictures, ranked from worst to best
Moving Pictures was the album that turned Rush from a cult progressive rock band into globe-straddling rock titans. Here it is, rearranged from worst to first
Cocaine, Quaaludes and chaos: the Casablanca Records story
In hock to the Mob, fuelled by booze and cocaine, and with a roster that ran from Kiss to Donna Summer, Casablanca Records was the embodiment of 70s record label excess
No Quarter: The Led Zeppelin reunion that wasn’t
Put Jimmy Page and Robert Plant in a room with a bunch of Moroccan musicians and what do you get? A glorious, unledded update of Led Zeppelin’s legacy, that’s what
10 albums by supergroups you should definitely own
Often maligned and occasionally magnificent, sometimes supergroups really do make albums as good as the sum of their parts - here are 10 of the best
The story behind Stone Cold Crazy by Queen
Clocking in at just over two minutes, Stone Cold Crazy announced Queen to the world (in a town hall in 1970) but wasn’t recorded until their third album
Exploding heads and mellotrons: The story of Led Zeppelin's Houses Of The Holy
How Led Zeppelin borrowed Mick Jagger's house to make Houses Of The Holy, the album that would finally gain them respect from the critics... before it all went dark
10 peculiar facts you might not know about Freddie Mercury
How Freddie Mercury's teeth can be blamed for the Sex Pistols, and nine other strange Freddie facts
AC/DC’s Malcolm Young – the lost interview
In 1992, Malcolm Young sat down to look back over AC/DC’s career - and have a sly dig at Robert Plant and Kurt Cobain
The Tubes: They came, they outraged, they conquered
The Tubes shocked and rocked in equal measure – here the most theatrical band of the 80s talk about breaking boundaries, assless chaps, and balancing art with outrage
What's it like to grow up with Keith Moon for a dad?
Keith Moon's daughter Mandy Moon talks about growing up with one of rock's favourite wild men and foremost drummers
Marillion: the story of their dark masterpiece, Misplaced Childhood
Misplaced Childhood is the album that turned Marillion into bona fide rock stars. It’s also the record that broke the group
20 of the most obscure prog albums
Prog picks 20 of the most obscure prog albums that you might have nestled at the back of your collection. Some that could even unearth you a small fortune
