Classic Rock Features

From denim vests to bullet belts and drawer after drawer of black t-shirts, this is how metal music developed its signature dress code

With 28 albums’ worth of songs to choose from, there'll be some surprises as Sparks tour their MAD! album

Skunk Anansie’s future hung in the balance, but a new album and the power of love changed everything

From U2 in a Batman movie to Korn in Tomb Raider and Slayer in Dracula, these songs have outshone the movies they were first featured in

Singer Nick Holmes talks to Metal Hammer about Paradise Lost’s new music, dealing with depression, and why the band aren’t returning to electronica any time soon

Ascending Canadian bluesy duo The Blue Stones tell us the inspiration behind their trippy new LP Metro

With Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham on board, Fleetwood Mac’s 1975 self-titled album was the first record by what became the band’s most beloved and successful line-up

Mötley Crüe left behind them a trail of destruction and nine albums – here ranked from worst to best

Finnish slide ace Erja Lyytinen on murder ballads, the joys of vinyl and playing a skeleton on The Masked Singer

How Pearl Jam’s out-of-control shows on the 1992 Lollapolozza tour sparked crowd frenzies verging on riots

Completely false rumours about the premature death of rock stars circulated long before the internet

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

Listen to Suzy Snowflake, the first professional recording made by a pre-fame Debbie Harry

Motörhead’s appetite for virulent, violent melodies charted over the course of 23 ear-threatening albums

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

Featuring Castle Rat, Starbenders, Buckcherry and five other lords of the new church of rock'n'roll

Punk’n’rollers Split Dogs bust out of their West Country origins to show that they’re best in breed

With a new guitarist in their ranks, Thin Lizzy set off on an American tour with Queen, but trouble lay ahead

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.