The Story Behind The Song: The Kinks' Lola By Nick Hasted A tale of sexual ambiguity in 60s Soho, Lola provided The Kinks with a worldwide hit at the exact moment they needed it most
How Jack White and the White Stripes breathed new life into the blues By Nick Hasted There’s always another supposed saviour coming along to resuscitate the blues. Jack White is one of those who actually did
The Kinks: a guide to their best albums By Nick Hasted Not only are The Kinks credited with creating the heavy metal blueprint, they also recorded some of rock’s most enduring songs. Here are their best albums
Ginger Baker meets Herman Rarebell: pain, playing and marijuana By Nick Hasted One of them is a drumming great and a true legend, the other learned from him and became a great too. We put Cream legend Ginger Baker and former Scorpions man Herman Rarebell together
Purple Rain by Prince: the story behind the song By Nick Hasted Prince's Purple Rain was the epic ballad that reclaimed rock for black musicians, enjoying airplay everywhere from country to rock radio
Yngwie Malmsteen: a career faster than the speed of light By Nick Hasted He’s the Swedish speed demon whose six-string theatrics enthral and infuriate in equal measure. Now, Yngwie Malmsteen has made… wait for it… a blues album
Francis Rossi & Hannah Rickard: We Talk Too Much album review By Nick Hasted After Rick Parfitt, what next for the Status Quo man?
20 banned album sleeves: when rock falls foul of the censors By Nick Hasted, Fraser Lewry Rock’s often deliberately provocative cover art can lead to outrage. Here are 20 main offenders in our gallery of banned record sleeves
Joe Bonamassa: Redemption album review By Nick Hasted Woke up this mornin’… the break-up blues drag Joe Bonamassa low
DeWolff - Thrust album review By Nick Hasted Hungry like DeWolff: Dutch trio deliver a classic rock master class.
We Sell The Dead - Heaven Doesn’t Want You And Hell Is Full album review By Nick Hasted Jack the Ripper’s mooted influence on metalheads is fortunately minimal
Sterling Ball, John Ferraro And Jim Cox - The Mutual Admiration... album review By Nick Hasted Steve Vai and Albert Lee join the R&B jam
The Story Behind The Song: Tina Turner's Nutbush City Limits By Nick Hasted Suffering at the hands of an abusive husband, Tina Turner looked back to her childhood days for the lyrics to the song that was her declaration of artistic independence
Beth Hart And Joe Bonamassa - Black Coffee album review By Nick Hasted Third time together for rock’s Ike and Tina
What happened when we went off the grid with Electric Wizard By Nick Hasted Classic Rock goes off the grid to track down Electric Wizard, who tell us about swapping doom for Detroit, geese attacks, utopian nightmares and the weirdness of Wimborne
Heavy Load: Beth Hart answers heavy questions for heavy rockers By Nick Hasted Singer Beth Hart on her troubled childhood, insecurity, singing with Jeff Beck, death and the “miracle” of life
The Making Of Mike Oldfield’s Tubular Bells by Richard Newman review By Nick Hasted How a prog classic was got together in the country
Status Quo - Live At The N.E.C. album review By Nick Hasted 1981 Prince’s Trust concert triumph, complete
Pearl Jam - Let’s Play Two album review By Nick Hasted Soundtrack to Eddie Vedder’s home-town baseball homage
Walter Trout - We’re All In This Together album review By Nick Hasted All-star all-clear for blues king
Breaking bad: George Thorogood looks back over a tumultuous career By Nick Hasted Bad To The Bone made George Thorogood and his Destroyers stars in the MTV age. Now back with a new solo album, the bluesman looks back on the highs and lows