Latest Features on Classic Rock
Meet Erja Lyytinen, the Finnish guitarist inspired by 70s classic rock, 80s thrash and happiness
Finnish slide ace Erja Lyytinen on murder ballads, the joys of vinyl and playing a skeleton on The Masked Singer
Chaos and carnage with Pearl Jam at Lollapalooza 1992
How Pearl Jam’s out-of-control shows on the 1992 Lollapolozza tour sparked crowd frenzies verging on riots
Heart's Ann Wilson on the show at which everyone thought her band had been killed
Completely false rumours about the premature death of rock stars circulated long before the internet
8 things we learned at Download Festival 2025
From Spiritbox and President to Cradle Of Filth, Anaal Nathrakh and erm, The Vengaboys, these are the bands that ruled and defined Download Festival 2025
Before she found fame fronting Blondie, Debbie Harry was in a 'baroque folk rock' band called The Wind In The Willows. Listen to the never-released Suzy Snowflake, the first professional recording she ever made
Listen to Suzy Snowflake, the first professional recording made by a pre-fame Debbie Harry
Every Motörhead studio album ranked from worst to best
Motörhead’s appetite for virulent, violent melodies charted over the course of 23 ear-threatening albums
A bathroom full of snakes and Slash's road to compromise
Classic Rock presents the second in an exclusive series of excerpts from former Guns N' Roses manager Alan Niven’s forthcoming book Sound N’ Fury
The best new rock songs you need to hear right now
Featuring Castle Rat, Starbenders, Buckcherry and five other lords of the new church of rock'n'roll
Why Split Dogs could be the new/old sound of punk to come
Punk’n’rollers Split Dogs bust out of their West Country origins to show that they’re best in breed
Aggression and anger on the road with Thin Lizzy across America and Europe
With a new guitarist in their ranks, Thin Lizzy set off on an American tour with Queen, but trouble lay ahead
Why your favourite British metal bands are breaking up
UK metal beloveds Svalbard, Orange Goblin and Ithaca will all split in the coming months. Their reasons why hint at a grim future for the country’s alternative artists.
Those Damn Crows and the search for meaning in uncertain times
On their chart-topping album God Shaped Hole, Those Damn Crows turn their attention to the existential fears we all face
Pete Townshend and the lifelong search for answers
The Who's Pete Townshend on parents, partnerships, punk, songwriting, the aristocracy, addiction, the internet and the ongoing search for extraordinary music
"Edge left the band. He was feeling that he couldn't serve both god and man. I decided I couldn't either. So we both quit."
Fears that Christianity was incompatible with life in a rock band caused much soul-searching for U2 in the early '80s, and almost led the band to break up
How Brian Wilson recorded Pet Sounds and reinvented music
Tiring of making frothy pop, the late Brian Wilson threw away his Beach Boys’ template, assembled a battalion of top session players, and began recording an all-time classic
Brian Wilson interview: "I don’t like SMiLE any more. I got so tired of it and did it so many times"
The late Brian Wilson on carrying the legend of the Beach Boys, Macca’s tears, and how soft drinks messed him up for years
The Beach Boys albums you should listen to, and one to avoid
Bolstered by the genius songwriting and production of Brian Wilson, the Beach Boys' best albums contain some of the greatest music you’ll ever hear
