Actor and musician William Shatner picks his records, artists and gigs of lasting significance, and reveals why BB King's daughter called him "a gift from god"

“We’re your new leaders!” announce The OBGMs, who’ve clearly got it in for the music business

When the going got tough, heading for burn-out and facing calling time on something they’d put so much into, Swedish band Blues Pills pulled together and got going

That Mark Lanegan is alive is a surprise – to him as much as to anyone else. His self-destructive days are now behind him, but for years it looked like we would be robbed of one of the stand-out singing voices of his generation

A song that Mungo Jerry didn’t consider to have potential as a single, In The Summertime was a worldwide hit that soundtracked the summer of 1970

Everybody's got to start somewhere, and some of our very best bands started slowly. Here's 10 great bands whose debut albums weren't actually great

10 live albums that remain a career pinnacle for 10 legendary bands

Between 1967 and 1982, Captain Beefheart and his Magic Band wrote some of the most startling, sly and plain out-there songs this side of Frank Zappa

Roy Harper's fifth album, 1971's Stormcock is widely considered to be one of his very best

From The Who’s forgotten singles to unsung solo gems, these are 10 classic Pete Townshend songs you’ll never hear on CSI

Bernie Marsden’s story reads like a budding rock muso’s dream. Not only has he lived alongside some rock greats, he’s also one of the best blues-rock guitarists of his generation

Too punk to be pop, too loads of other things to be punk, The Stranglers had dozens of hits by doing it their own, unique, way

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

It was the decade David Bowie entered the Labyrinth and fired up Tin Machine, but there's plenty of gold to be found in his 1980s work

From the Prog archive: Throbbing Gristle and Psychic TV founder Genesis P-Orridge reflects on a career inspired by Hawkwind, Pink Floyd, Can and Jan Dukes De Grey

Psychedelic outlaws the Flying Burrito Brothers mixed rock with country and came up with a sound that generated fortunes for others

Think of the most outrageous gig you’ve ever seen, then forget it. Butthole Surfers took balls-out anarchic performance ‘art’ to a debauched new low

Jeff Lynne looks back at a long and hugely successful rock’n’roll career, one that has seen him lead ELO, work with The Beatles, and be in a band with Bob Dylan and Tom Petty