A beginner's guide to thrash metal in five essential albums
Thrash metal's DNA has rarely undergone any drastic alterations, but its evolution over the years can still be charted via these five classics
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“Absolutely, horribly gutted, p***ed off, self-righteous”: A pre-fame Thom Yorke on the early days of Radiohead
Radiohead haven't always been the biggest alternative band of a generation: back in 1992 they were still finding their feet, reeling from the abject failure of a little song called Creep
What happened the night Stevie Ray Vaughan died - by those who were there
On August 27, 1990, Stevie Ray Vaughan played the gig of his life. Just hours later he was killed when his helicopter crashed in thick fog. This is the inside story of that tragic day
Say hi to the your new favourite southern rockers, Hillbilly Vegas
"We’re a band from the South and we play music that comes from the South" - Hillbilly Vegas frontman Steve Harris
Floor Jansen: the soundtrack of my life
Nightwish singer Floor Jansen picks her songs and albums of lasting significance, and reveals the amazing singer whose music is "absolutely cheese-bombs"
Blues, booze and debauchery: the agonising life and death of Paul Butterfield
Paul Butterfield inspired Dylan to plug in, was a virtuoso singer and mouth harp player, and took black blues to white America. But beneath the surface, trouble was brewing
"I do like a good yarn!" Rick Wakeman and Journey To The Centre Of The Earth
As he prepared to bring a live version of his classic solo album to the stage 40 years later, Rick Wakeman looked back on the epic Journey To The Centre Of Earth
Lars Ulrich: "Metallica is just as clusterf***ed as everything else"
Lars Ulrich and Rob Trujillo take us behind the scenes of Metallica's 72 Seasons - a dramatic record even by their standards
If you ever wondered what The Number Of The Beast sounds like compressed 666 times, we have news
A man on the internet has made a thing, part 6593
Every band each member of Iron Maiden was in before Iron Maiden
They're one of the biggest and greatest metal bands of all time, but every member to have come through Maiden's ranks has some prior history
Silverhead could have been huge: instead they imploded from a mix of class-A chemicals and "mad, decadent sex"
British glam rockers Silverhead provided the musical template for Hanoi Rocks, Mötley Crüe and Poison, and in frontman Michael Des Barres they gave Hollywood a star
"I don't think I could hum any of your stuff" - what happened when Led Zeppelin visited the BBC
In 1970 The Beatles abdicated and Led Zeppelin took their crown, so Robert Plant and John Bonham visited the BBC to explain the rock revolution
Joey Tempest sometimes wonders what life would be like without The Final Countdown
As Europe's 40th anniversary shows approach, frontman Joey Tempest looks back and ponders the legacy of *that* song
10 metal songs that are weirdly popular on streaming
These lesser celebrated tracks by Iron Maiden, Slipknot, Avenged Sevenfold, Slayer and more have even outshined some of their biggest hits
10 revolutionary instrumentals that inspired the guitarists who invented rock music
Jeff Beck, Jimmy Page, Pete Townshend and the rest: They all owe so much to the instrumental artists of the 50s and 60s
How Richard Marx's "dumbest, lamest" song became his biggest hit
Richard Marx only recorded the "laughably stupid" Hazard to prove people wrong. So just how did his worst ever song become a global smash hit?
A beginner's guide to post-punk in 5 essential albums
The rise, fall and rise again of post-punk, explained by five albums that define the genre
Here's what happened when cops raided a Thin Lizzy tour hoping to score a huge drugs bust
When the Royal Ulster Constabulary decided to go after Thin Lizzy for suspected drug abuse it resulted in road blocks, surprise backstage busts and strip searches – but not an ounce of cocaine to be found
Remembering the time Bon Scott made a rival drink his piss. Out of a turkey
When former AC/DC singer Bon Scott ran into Daryl Braithwaite backstage in 1975, the Sherbet singer thought he was being offered some poultry-flavoured champagne. He was wrong.
