As a new comp proves that there was more to Britpop than Blur Vs Oasis, we explore a dizzy mess of near-misses and also-rans

John Kay tells the story of Steppenwolf: "We’re a hard rock band and we don’t take shit from anybody"

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

Even the best can get it wrong sometimes: here's the worst albums by 10 of rock's greatest bands

The 20 hardest party anthems for beer drinkers and hell raisers

10 extremely American songs to celebrate America in all its star-spangled and/or faded glory

The classic T.Rex style and records are cloaked with glitter and stardust, and stand up with the very best rock’n’roll

From Dublin freakniks to international rockers, Thin Lizzy were the ultimate rock band for the people

From Queen to The Stooges, these are the Sex Pistols guitarist and radio DJ's six-string stepping stones

Updated In 2015, Mos Generator's Tony Reed put an astonishing collection of note-for-note cover versions of heavy rock classics online. Now they're finally out on vinyl and CD

Remembering that time Zodiac Mindwarp attempted to top an album that probably won't be topped for another thousand years, and failed...

When Vanilla Fudge split in 1969, Cactus emerged from the meltdown. When they weren’t in jail they were partying. When they weren’t naked they were taking drugs