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April 2026

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124 articles

April 17
- Ten albums that prove, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that 1980 was the greatest year ever for hard rock and heavy metal
- "We will miss you Prince!" As the 10th anniversary of his death nears, watch Bruce Springsteen, David Gilmour, Pearl Jam, Lenny Kravitz, Chris Cornell pay tribute to the legend that was Prince
- Forget Live And Dangerous, No Sleep 'til Hammersmith and At Fillmore East, The Killer's Live at the Star Club, Hamburg is the greatest live show ever committed to vinyl
- Cool new proggy sounds you need to hear from The Anchoress, Matt Berry, Magenta, Soen and more in Prog's brand new Tracks Of The Week
- "I have been looking for that brain forever. Someone might be using it as a paperweight for all I know." The day that surrealist art legend Salvador Dalí recreated Alice Cooper’s brain using a chocolate éclair, ants and diamonds
- “I moved to an old Victorian pile where the previous owners had put a swimming pool in. I said, ‘Let’s fill it in.’ Then I said, ‘You know what we need? A Viking mead hall!’” Clive Nolan built a home venue so he doesn’t have to tour
- The 11 best new metal songs you need to hear right now
- "Sometimes I get in trouble when I get naked in public. It happens when I’ve been drinking Jägermeister." How an ode to self-destructive behaviour took one Orange County band out of the clubs and onto the TV
- The vinyl rescue kit: 8 budget buys to protect and enhance your Record Store Day finds
- "There’s a dead rat hanging in my face, a guy playing a flute and this topless lady belly dancing." Ex-members of Papa Roach, Trivium, Faith No More and Opeth on what it's like being in a major metal band before it blows up
- 9 stylish and affordable vinyl storage upgrades for your Record Store Day 2026 scores
- "It was one of the most emotional performances I've ever done. I was in tears." How David Bowie's Heroes became his most life-changing single
- Record Store Day, April 18: The 164 best releases you can buy
- “We played shows with all the black metal bands and I was wearing flares and had an old Gibson SG. I didn’t look right in those surroundings!” How Mikael Åkerfeldt fell in love with prog, even though his friends hated what he was doing
April 16
- Led Zeppelin Quiz: The beginnings of the legend
- “I could go to a festival in a unicorn outfit and no one would bat an eyelid. Nobody cares”: From teenage rebellion to gatekeeping and mental health, we interviewed a therapist to try and understand how metalheads’ brains work
- "I jumped through a window and hit one. Someone started choking me; I was basically blue by the time I was rescued." Russian Nazis, emotional encounters with Dio and rumours about Tom Hanks: Shane Embury on almost 40 years of Napalm Death and beyond
- "I went looking for heroin in a subterranean club and approached some guys. I got a severe beating outside instead." Depeche Mode's Dave Gahan recalls the painful day that he told his bandmates he was struggling with addiction
- “Every song I wrote came together easily. It was just one of those patches – about five years’ worth. I was really lucky to go through that”: Jeff Lynne didn’t notice he’d turned ELO into the world’s biggest rock band
- "There were a lot of hardcore racists in the South, but we thought they were just silly." Lynyrd Skynyrd, Neil Young, and the truth about rock's most misreported beef
- "We all dropped acid and went to see Yellow Submarine. I couldn't stop laughing the whole movie." An unusually candid Neal Schon comes clean on drugs, errant frontmen and the future of Journey
- "It sounds great while floating lazily on a yacht or zooming down the interstate in a Lamborghini." The story of Player's debut album, a record for people who like to get home before it gets dark
April 15
- "Some of the band didn't even want to finish Love Shack. They said, Let's just forget it." How a band who were "just too weird for the powers that be" became national treasures
- "Business people think anyone who doesn't want to be rich is a nutcase." In 1970, Fleetwood Mac leader Peter Green walked away from his band, saying that he wanted to give all his money away, and make music that would bring people closer to God
- “For roughly 150 days of the year I’m an unpaid amateur flute player, and I have a lot of fun doing it”: Ian Anderson explains why he does what he does – and the onstage mistake that sometimes stops him
- "I finally had to ask the road crew to get him off the stage, he was messing it all up." Suzi Quatro's stories of Alice Cooper, Iggy Pop, Joan Jett, Phil Lynott, Peter Frampton, Chrissie Hynde and more
- "It was a little over the top, wasn't it? A bit naff." From a much-loved bomber to a creaking mechanical fist: The story of Motörhead's Spinal Tap moment
- "The band were screaming at me to come on stage as our time was running out." How Rick Wakeman got his first cape, by Rick Wakeman
- "I'd come back from the unemployment office when the phone rang. Jimi said 'Hey, what you doing? We'd like for you to come up and join us.'" The story of the Jimi Hendrix guitarist who was written out of history
April 14
- “The criticism of Heaven & Earth was that there weren’t any big epics. We had a couple of longer tracks on The Quest. With this one we’ve gone overboard!” The story of Yes’ 23rd album Mirror To The Sky
- 7 metal songs from the year 2000 that were way ahead of their time
- "They looked good from the audience, but if you were near them there were an awful lot of casualties." The day the Rolling Stones accidentally killed thousands of butterflies
- "My job was to get rid of Alice Cooper – and I did exactly the opposite." Bob Ezrin on his long, strange trip with Alice Cooper
- California’s sleaziest exports: Nine Buckcherry albums you should listen to and one to avoid
- “I opened the curtains a bit and said, ‘Look at all these people who’ve paid to see us!’ I didn’t realise that was the worst thing I could have done”: Carl Palmer on Keith Emerson, and how his death wasn’t the worst part of losing him
- "I look back on it and simply marvel that I didn't plummet to my death." The story of that time Love/Hate frontman Jizzy Pearl crucified himself on the Hollywood sign and got arrested
- "They were doing something totally unique and otherworldly. It was mysterious and thrilling." 10 songs that Limp Bizkit guitarist Wes Borland wishes he had written
April 13
- "We learned everything from the Wipers." The story behind the obscure debut album which inspired Nirvana's Kurt Cobain and changed the sound of Seattle rock
- "I was embarrassed turning that song in because it was an obvious hit." How Smash Mouth wrote an anthem for bullied fans and accidentally became a pop culture phenomenon thanks to Shrek
- "This has definitely confused some people - but I just wanted to rock out!" The Nashville singer-songwriter who has ditched country music for metal
- Classic Rock's Tracks Of The Week: April 13, 2026
- "I joined the circus!" How tragedy, a stint in Sleep Token and a very surprising career detour defined the fall and rise of one of British metalcore's most promising bands, Shields
- "He went off at the deep end with drugs and I was just beside myself with frustration and depression.” Paramore, Deftones and Tool love them. This album broke them. The story of Failure's Fantastic Planet
- "Touring was about how messed-up I could get, and it wasn't about the music any more. Things got very, very dark." British bluesman Danny Bryant hit rock bottom two years ago: Now he comes clean
April 12
- "It felt more punk rock than anything anyone was doing at the time. People were ****ed off at us." How an underground metal band became championed by Metallica and the Stone Roses through one breakout hit
- "There was that feeling of like, ‘Wait, are we breaking up?'" Why Dave Grohl walked out on Foo Fighters and joined Queens of the Stone Age in 2002
- "He was in chainmail, said he needed it for protection." From communist Hungary to joining metal's most murderous band and working with Slipknot's Joey Jordison, Attila Csihar is an extreme metal pioneer
- “This wasn’t party rock any more. It was fusion and progressive music, and I absolutely loved it”: Paul Gilbert on the genius of Allan Holdsworth, and the one song that proves it
- "I had a bad flu and was delirious, but the lyric was so great that it lifted me up in my sick bed." How Ann and Nancy Wilson poured their feelings about love and the state of the world into a debut single that became an evergreen rock classic
- The genre that refuses to die: A history Of Southern rock In 40 songs
April 11
- “I listen now and think, ‘This is a young man’s game!’ I’m proud of the albums”: How future members of Marillion, Soft Machine and Caravan got their start via Darryl Way’s Wolf
- "Growing up, I noticed bands like Motorhead, Limp Bizkit and Drowning Pool were always part of it. Now I understand why." How heavy metal became a lifelong passion for WWE Women's World Champion Stephanie Vaquer
- "I found out through the Internet that I have AIDS. I learned I was dead." How one final, heartbreaking TV performance marked the end of an era for Alice In Chains - and a swan song for their brilliant but troubled frontman, Layne Staley
- “We weren’t after our version of Iron Maiden’s Eddie, but it needed to be striking.” The story behind Slayer's grim Reign In Blood album artwork
- “It sits between Genesis, Van der Graaf Generator and Roxy Music – all viewed through a haze of spectral menace”: Before Crowded House, before their new-wave hits, Split Enz were unabashedly prog
April 10
- The 12 best new metal songs you need to hear right now
- “I didn’t do terribly well with solo work compared to my colleagues in Genesis. But I had a golden period, and I bought the Steinway piano I play on this record”: Anthony Phillips’ fight through pain barrier to make Gemini
- "On our first tour one of the venues burned down, and the cops would shut things down." Police raids, venue fires and murderous rednecks: the story of Converge, the band who defined metalcore for a generation
- “I’d love it to become a musicians’ platform – curated, high-quality, and fair”: Why Steven Wilson launched Headphone Dust
- "The band's accountants possibly didn't figure in the cost of their eccentric new guitarist insisting upon recording his parts inside a bespoke chicken coop." The 10 most eye-wateringly expensive rock albums ever recorded
- Great new proggy sounds you need to hear from Einar Solberg, Evergrey, MONO, Crippled Black Phoenix and more in Prog's brand new Tracks Of The Week
- "What began to change us was success. When your dream comes true, where do you go from there?” Kansas: an everyday story of success, failure, religion, drugs, booze and jealousy
April 9
- "There was an old fella who screamed that we'd been sent by Oliver Cromwell. He jumped on the bonnet of the car and tried to boot the windscreen to pieces." Not everyone was pleased to see The Rolling Stones on their first Irish tour
- "I’d have to be careful if I did wear a big, flowing dress onstage… I’d be worried about pyro setting me on fire." Cliff Burton, Wicked and real-life High School Musicals: Five fun minutes with Amaranthe's Elize Ryd
- "There are a lot of people who don't seem interested or even notice that the world's on fire." Puscifer's Maynard James Keenan and Carina Round discuss soundtracking the end times
- "No-one writes rock ’n’ roll better than this.” The story of the AC/DC album that true AC/DC fans love best
- "They were the inadvertent godfathers of the independent music scene." Power-pop nirvana met emotional baggage and personal tragedy in the story of Big Star, a band destined to fail
- “It was the first keyboard solo I’d heard on the radio for a very long time”: The Marillion song that proves Mark Kelly’s genius, by Adam Wakeman
April 8
- "English people don't really want to feel that much." The curious tale of Robert Smith's least favourite Cure album, despite him telling the world "anyone who doesn't like this just doesn't like the Cure"
- "Slipknot is a big scary monster and we're losing control of it." How Slipknot's angriest and sweariest song helped the metal icons land the heaviest number one album in history
- “I’ve often wondered if other people knew what I was talking about!” This is why Roger Chapman sings about his shoe in Family classic Burlesque
- "I’m not the first woman in metal. I just did it a little more my own way." The trailblazing black metal star who worked with Martin Scorsese and Michael Bolton before taking on the mother of all career changes
- "There can be more spices – we have a choir on three songs – but the foundation must be secure." 16 albums into a 44-year career, German thrash veterans Kreator are still doing their own thing
- "Their record label couldn't figure out whether they were the next Poison or the first Guns N' Roses." The story of Jetboy, the band who could have saved glam metal but didn't
- “We’re back to being the opening act – a difficult pill to swallow. But I see a great opportunity”: Textures pioneered djent but never received full credit. Can their comeback album secure their achievements?
April 7
- "I was never a fan of it and I didn't even want it to be on the record." The emotional Linkin Park anthem that Chester Bennington didn't originally like but became one of the biggest rock songs of all time
- "When I wrote that song I was really going through it...I was almost embarrassed by it." From Brazil to the UK, the hardcore punk four-piece channelling Distillers fury via some deeply personal lyrics
- “Someone put toilet paper in my back pocket and set fire to it. I sat in the sink and fell asleep. The soundtrack to that night was Gong!” How Napalm Death’s Barney Greenway got into prog
- The 11 best songs from 1973
- “My partners lived bohemian lives but ran the band like a capitalist corporation. Exploiting other people makes you feel lonely, I guess”: Why Karl Bartos had to leave Kraftwerk
- "I first met Phil Lynott completely by accident during my first ever acid trip." Original Thin Lizzy guitarist Eric Bell on the birth of the band and his relationship with their "gentle and romantic" frontman
- "My role in life was to be a proud, bold lion, to tell the truth, and stick up for what's right." Dave Mustaine on Megadeth's final chapter, his love for Ozzy, finger numbness, and trading mosh pits for a silver-screen future
April 6
- “The atmosphere was intense. Manson said hello and I froze. There was a feeling of extreme evil in the room”: Jon Keliehor went from an unknown psychedelic group to playing with The Doors, turning down The Byrds and rubbing shoulders with Charles Manson
- "We were invited to a séance by some girls in Italy. It all got a bit out of hand, a bit freaky. That was the first and last time we tried to summon spirits of the dead." How Uriah Heep's Demons And Wizards album turned them into global superstars
- Classic Rock's Tracks Of The Week: April 6, 2026
- "We didn’t always know what we were doing on this record, and I think that’s the beauty of it." Jonathan Davis and Munky share the stories behind every song on Korn's game-changing debut album
- “When you’ve got the helicopter, the yacht, the private jet, what do you do? ‘I’ll go into space and pretend it’s for research!’” Ian Anderson wonders if he should have sent a flute into the cosmos, and regrets William Shatner went there too
- “I used to cringe when I heard my voice on those songs, and then it went to Number 1! I remember it blasting out of radios. I was mortified”: The Pretenders’ Chrissie Hynde wrote a classic late 70s hit. She’s still not sure why it was so popular
- “How dare he revolutionise rock’n’roll then give it all up and just walk away without a word!” Syd Barrett was never lost. He just didn’t want to be found
April 5
- “Whoever listens closely to Hallelujah will discover that it is a song about sex, about love, about life on earth”: How Jeff Buckley turned a Canadian troubadour’s forgotten song into a one-man tour de force – and launched a million bad cover versions
- “When Eric Clapton left, we tried different guitarists. Peter Green told me he was better than everybody else. Once I heard him play, I realised he was”: How the most influential British blues band of the 60s replaced one brand new guitar god with another
- “I cried my eyes out when I heard Maiden’s Brave New World. There was this sense of great loss that hit me really hard”: Blaze Bayley comes clean about leaving Iron Maiden, clashing with Rick Rubin and the heart attack that nearly killed him
- “His legend has only grown since his death. He comes closer than anyone to being the best guitar player that ever lived”: In 1989, this cult rock’n’roll musician was called “the world’s greatest unknown guitar player”. Five years later he was dead
- “There would be no Holiday In Cambodia without Hawkwind”: Jello Biafra discovered the space rockers in a copy of Penthouse – and wound up singing Silver Machine with Nik Turner
April 4
- “We’d been getting a battering about how polished we sounded. So we started to search for a little more earthiness”: How a hard rock band who made Johnny Rotten “jump around like a lunatic” made a gritty 70s classic – and caused uproar with the cover
- “Our peers – Metallica, Guns N’ Roses, Green Day – see the honesty and they get it. A lot of people never will, but that’s not important”: Horror-punk icons the Misfits recorded their classic debut album in 1978. It took 18 years for it to be released
- “He asked, ‘Who owns the rights to your albums?’ I was like, ‘We should.’ He said, ‘How about I buy them for you?’” It took nearly 50 years for Happy The Man to hear their music the way they’d intended
- “Gram had this idea of ‘Cosmic American Music’. Music had no rules back then. There was so much freedom”: The trailblazing ’60s country-rock band who pioneered a whole new sound – only for the Eagles to steal their thunder
- “Spielberg requested a meeting. They’d written a movie and decided their hero’s favourite band would have been Huey Lewis & The News”: How a Hollywood legend and a time-travelling teenager turned a veteran rocker into an unlikely 80s superstar
- 5 insanely obscure 1980s rock albums that are a perfect 10/10
April 3
- "I started chemo and got in touch with my Native American roots." How Testament's Chuck Billy survived cancer (and grunge) to become a thrash metal legend
- Cool new proggy sounds you need to hear from Plini, Chimpan A, William Gilmour & John McGuigan, Playgrounded and more in Prog's brand new Tracks Of The Week
- “David Coverdale believed those things were alright to say. Jon Lord and I would see something he’d said and wrinkle our noses”: How a controversial album cover and cheeky T-shirts helped turn two ex-Deep Purple members into stars all over again
- "I wanna write lyrics that have real weight in real life experience. I don’t wanna write about still dyeing my hair black!" Members of influential bands Crowbar and Type O Negative unite in dour new supergroup Sun Don't Shine
- If you think Bruce Springsteen should shut up about politics and just play his songs, you obviously have no idea what Bruce Springsteen has been singing about for the past 50 years
- Lost treasures: Ten cult classic albums worth scouring second-hand record stores for
- “Taking up music was a rebellion against order… I realised I was never going to be the most studious guitarist”: Why Steve Howe didn’t join The Nice or Atomic Rooster, and didn’t even go to his Jethro Tull audition
April 2
- "I want to do lots of different things. I'm always on some sort of learning curve." Every album Robert Plant has made since Led Zeppelin broke up, ranked from worst to best
- “He may be alluding to life, the universe or a balance sheet, for all the listener knows”: The 1980 album that brought George Orwell, Casio calculators and a pop producer into the realm of prog
- "If you’re trying to have followers and make them think like you do, you’re just building a cult." How Maynard James Keenan's Puscifer explore comedy and tragedy
- "We like going places where it's a challenge." How Queen helped tear down the Iron Curtain
- "Our goal is to be the biggest heavy metal band in the world." Tailgunner want to be the new Iron Maiden. Or the new Metallica. Or the new Judas Priest. And KK Downing is convinced
- “I wake up in the middle of the night thinking, ‘What if we hadn’t gone with him?’ I can’t see how it would have worked”: If Big Big Train hadn’t met Alberto Bravin, they wouldn’t have been on tour to discover the inspiration for Woodcut
- "Bonzo picked George Harrison up and launched him into the swimming pool. He said it was the greatest night of his life!" How Led Zeppelin seized control of the industry and became the biggest rock band on the planet
April 1
- "I could feel his heart through his chest and he passed away right there." Childhood tragedy, unlikely success and emotional reunions: Max Cavalera on how he reshaped metal with Sepultura and Soulfly
- "I lost it. I was just screaming and swinging at people. I’m not proud of it." How Red Hot Chili Peppers made By The Way, in their own words
- "When you live in Mexico there is always this thought in the back of your head that you are not safe. You’re always alert." Meet the band bringing true heavy metal back to Mexico - while trying to escape it
- "Linkin Park helped me survive." Anti-war protests, hidden identities and split personalities: Meet N0trixx, the Russian-born trap metal artist exploring mental health
- An incredible lineup and a unique, intimate European festival experience just round the corner from a beautiful city and Dracula's Castle? Rockstadt is unlike any other metal festival around - and you need to be there
- "Pete Doherty said that I was a high-kicking acrobat crossed with Nico. I was very pleased with that." Approved by Blondie, Iggy Pop and the Sex Pistols, The Molotovs are a ferocious generational voice
- "I'll definitely take being number one in fourteen countries!" The story of the song that heralded Blondie's comeback – but tanked in the US
- “I freely admit to doing disgraceful things in the past. What I did to certain band members was appalling. I hope that’s all behind me”: When Robert John Godfrey rebooted The Enid
- Why you need to be at Alcatraz 2026
- "We exchanged no words. He eyed me up and down, dipped the silver tube he wore on a chain into a bag of white powder, shoved it up my snout, then walked out. I was up for three days." The day The Pretenders' Chrissie Hynde met Motorhead's Lemmy