Latest Features on Classic Rock
What really happened when the Sex Pistols appeared on the Bill Grundy show
Pistol on Disney+ dramatised the Sex Pistols' appearance on the Bill Grundy Show in December 1976. The truth is even better than the show
How Porcupine Tree unexpectedly grew out of Steven Wilson’s “shameless pastiches”
He only wanted a harmless distraction from No-Man – but when the debut album sold 30 times its original pressing run, he had to take things more seriously
How Queen, The Who and Star Wars inspired the greatest power ballad about alien abduction ever written
It even got the South Park seal of approval
The side-project that saw Slash step out of the shadow of Guns N’ Roses – and led to his departure from the band
Way before Velvet Revolver, Slash’s Snakepit were the GN’R guitarist’s first extra-curricular band
Why the best thing AC/DC released in the mid ’80s wasn’t an album – it was an EP of 10-year old songs
The ’74 Jailbreak EP was a reminder of what AC/DC sounded like at their rawest
The heartbreaking tragedy that produced a cult early 90s metal anthem
Armored Saint should have been bigger than they were – but they produced a classic in Last Train Home
Led Zeppelin, the Rolling Stones, Free and the forgotten British blues pioneer who played a part in all their careers
There were bigger and more famous British blues musicians, but few were as influential as the late Alexis Korner
The Pink Floyd song that David Gilmour says marked the beginning of the end for the band
It featured not one but two astounding guitar solos
How Metallica turned childhood trauma into The Unforgiven: heavy metal’s decades-spanning trilogy
Inspired by James Hetfield’s isolated upbringing (and a little bit of Chris Isaak), Metallica made an honest, inverted ballad and kicked off a 27-year-long series
Meet Hollow Souls, the rising blues rockers making a big noise
Kris Barras's new group is informed by his time in the all-star Supersonic Blues Machine
Welcome to the blood-drenched, Rocky Horror-inspired world of Creeper
Creeper’s new album is a rich, lascivious feast of vampires and rock’n’roll theatre, Jim Steinman-style. But the real Creeper story starts with shoestring punk gigs, DIY video shoots and community spirit
The forgotten singer who replaced Ozzy Osbourne in Black Sabbath before Ronnie James Dio
The story of the short-lived union between Black Sabbath and a former singer of Fleetwood Mac
The story behind Ozzy's Crazy Train (and why it gave him mixed emotions decades later)
After being dumped from Black Sabbath in 1979, Ozzy Osbourne needed a big comeback. And boy did he find it
Meet Margarita Witch Cult, the big-riffing Brummies keeping Black Sabbath’s traditions alive
Built on a Sabbath template with lashings of Motörhead and Alice Cooper, Margarita Witch Cult also admit to being influenced by Desmond Child
The story of the 15-year-old boy who flew to Rio to meet Ozzy Osbourne
Stephen Rea's 40-year friendship with the Osbourne family began at Rock In Rio in 1985 - and he tells the story in a new book
The Norwegians who abandoned black metal and re-enacted the psychedelic rock era
They were always known for genre-hopping. But their exploration the Age of Aquarius’ disintegration via obscure tracks from the era was something else again
“I said, ‘I don’t want to work with him!’ But I needed the money”: The prog supergroup with 200 hits between them
Quartet with connections to Yes, 10cc, Kate Bush, The Police and many others took five years to agree their debut album was ready to release
