Latest Features on Classic Rock
Tears For Fears sneaked prog into a run of hit singles in 1984 and 85. So why weren’t they at Live Aid?
As they tried to outdo Trevor Horn, with influences including Genesis and Yes, their second album hit No.1 in the US and No.2 in the UK. But they didn’t contribute to Bob Geldof’s world-changing charity extravaganza
How Faith No More lost half their audience by making the most antagonistic album “in history”
How Faith No More made ‘the least commercial follow-up to a hit record in history’
How pockets of mindless violence inspired the most important 63 seconds of punk ever
Even 45 years after its release, this 1981 single remains depressingly relevant today
Ronnie James Dio rose from the ashes twice to make one of metal’s greatest ever debut albums
How Dio made their iconic 1983 debut album
How William Shakespeare inspired the song which became a surprise grunge-era hit and saved an entire genre
This 1992 classic was a turning point for progressive metal
“Ghosts, rustling, scraping at the window… happening every full moon”: The creepy tale of Camel’s Moonmadness
Charged with matching The Snow Goose’s surprise success, Andy Latimer’s band wrote a record about themselves – disguising their vocals because they’d been told they couldn’t sing
Metallica, Slayer, Megadeth, Anthrax and more remember how thrash metal took over the world 40 years ago
1986 was the year where thrash metal broke through. We got the genre’s leading bands to look back on those whirlwind 12 months.
The debauched story of the Wildhearts classic made perfect by the last guitar solo from a legend
All the elements of the classic rock'n'roll lifestyle fed into a storming tune about a crazy ex-lover
Adrian Smith on how Smith/Kotzen got started, bonding over British rock and Iron Maiden's big homecoming
Guitarists Adrian Smith and Richie Kotzen are preparing to take their side project on the road with shows in the UK and Europe
This is the soundtrack of H.E.A.T frontman Kenny Leckremo's life
H.E.A.T frontman Kenny Leckremo picks his records, artists and gigs of lasting significance, and talks a lot about Iron Maiden
Nine Blondie albums you should listen to, and one to avoid
With their sharp songwriting and lyrical flair, Blondie are the pop-punk disco titans who embraced rap before it went mainstream. These are their best albums
“He wrote, ‘Eat more shit – 100,000 flies can’t be wrong”: German prog icon ignored haters to scale the charts
Accused of being a European “knob-turner,” he faced the music establishment’s rejection attitude with a lesson learned from Salvador Dali, and defied expectations by scaling the charts
The story of the love/hate hit that split the Judas Priest fan base
Rob Halford recalls how Judas Priest celebrated 1980s materialism - complete with sexy motor imagery and state-of-the-art studio technology
Every solo album by Iron Maiden’s Bruce Dickinson ranked from worst to best
Even if you take The Beast out of the equation, Bruce Dickinson has had a magical career. Here are his seven albums in reverse-order of excellence.
The chaotic and confusing story of Metallica’s abandoned album
In 2001, Metallica hired an old army barracks in California to try and record album eight. The songs were scrapped when James Hetfield entered rehab, but many fans still want to hear them finished.
Steven Wilson tried to forget his shamelessly commercial song, but met it again in a strip club
The band leader learned a valuable lesson about himself after an attempt to do his record label’s bidding
Ian Anderson on Jethro Tull, the right kind of guitarist, and forgetting what he's done
Ian Anderson talks about Jethro Tull’s latest album Curious Ruminant and ponders the itch to make another
