Features archive
March 2026
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61 articles
- March 9
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- "I always took a flagon of cider on stage with me. When I'd finished drinking it I played the jug." The extraordinary story of the debut single that sold 73,000 copies before lunch on release day and became a hit all over the world
- “He came on stage in a witch’s hat and cape, carrying a sword. In the second song he attacked me with the sword! What’s wrong with this picture, you know?” The flawed genius who even kept Lemmy on his toes
- March 8
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- "Hearing Prince covered it or Taylor Swift hand-picked it for an Apple commercial? What is that?" How an email rant inspired a song worth a billion streams and picked up some iconic fans along the way
- “Slamming started with us because of the speed. When we added reggae, and they started skanking like they’d come to see The Specials”: The cult punk icons who smashed together rock and reggae and influenced Slayer, Guns N’ Roses and Dave Grohl
- “I was in an airport and these people went: ‘Hey Steve! Thumbs up, man! Tony Soprano loves Journey!’ It was amazing”: This multi-million selling rock singer disappeared from music for more than 20 years. It took a personal tragedy to bring him back
- “There was a lot of violence. We were fighting off stage moshers, people were running in and crashing into us. Those were violent times”: How a “desperate” band dived into Egyptian myth and made the album that reinvented death metal in the 21st century
- “The label said, ‘We find the cover a bit dark, the logo is ugly and, frankly, we don’t hear a single’”: Amazingly, a prog supergroup soundtracked the summer of 1982. The secret of their success? English church music
- “Oh look, we’re rich. We set out to achieve what we set out to achieve. What do we do now?” How a freak meeting with a lost friend shocked one of rock’s biggest bands to tears - and inspired one of their greatest ever songs
- March 7
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- “I met Billy Corgan at a funeral. I said: ‘Are you aware of my band?’ He goes: ‘You kidding? I got your album in my car’”: The cult hair metal band with links to Styx, Smashing Pumpkins and Kanye West who had the world in their hands – but threw it away
- “You could barely drive down Sunset Strip because of the drunk people. A couple of my friends got hit. Luciky, they lived and partied on, like good headbangers”: The outrageous movie which captured the debauched 80s scene that “made Caligula look tame”
- "That number-one hit poses the gentle question: 'Should I just kill myself?'" How a "throwaway" lyric written during a dark time helped turn some punk misfits into one of the biggest rock bands of the 2000s
- “Our first logo was a couple of witches throwing stuff into a cauldron. It was mystical – hobbits and the Bible and the Koran. We didn’t know what we were doing”: The cult band who made one of the greatest albums of the 70s – but struggled to match it
- “That bloke’s right – we are crap!” The insult and the instrument that turned a failing pop act into prog giants
- “Lady Gaga is awesome. Have you seen her play piano? She’ll sit down and throw down something. Aside from all the crazy outfits, she’s a great musician”: The classic 1983 album that Zakk Wylde says defines metal – and the unlikely pop megastar he loves
- "I had a lovely chat with Princess Anne about my career and touring. She was quite genned up." Graham Gouldman on royal approval and the chances of 10cc's original lineup reuniting
- "She steps in the room with us, a rock'n'roll band that's fronted by a guy she adores": How a song from Tom Petty's reject pile unwittingly became the massive hit single that launched a Fleetwood Mac icon's solo career
- “Jim could write a song that was so passionate you felt like you were being disembowelled, but he never had that love in his own life”: The epic power ballad that propelled an unlikely singer to stardom – and nearly provoked a “chick fight” in the process
- March 6
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- Reggae-rock, Southern ballads and the sound of black metal melting: the 9 heavy new tracks that everyone needs to hear this week
- "If you don't really get the concept of wanting to sing sad songs in the dark, you are never going to be a fan of this band, ever." The story behind the "nursery rhyme" 90s alt. rock classic covered by Metallica for one night only
- "The LAPD chased down some of the miscreants and beat them to the ground with their nightsticks." How one of the worst riots in the history of music got a legendary metal band banned from a major Hollywood venue
- Cool new proggy sounds you need to hear from Long Distance Calling, VLMV, Lorenzo Bedini and Amanda Lehmann and more in Prog's brand new Tracks Of The Week
- "To us, this was a decent album track, no more. We certainly did not think it could be a single!" Without the support of two American DJs, one of rock's classic singles might never have been released
- "Why have Kiss lasted in a town like Detroit? 'Cos we appeal to the real masses, the great unwashed of America." In 2003, Kiss fans coughed up $1,000 for front-row seats on their 2003 US tour with Aerosmith, and we joined the throng
- “I drove a different Ferrari to the studio every day. David Gilmour and Nick Mason would wait outside to see which one”: How Sammy Hagar tried and failed to become a prog star after falling for Pink Floyd
- March 5
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- "If you’re getting compared to bands like Genesis, who’s going to complain?” Why UK prog rockers Ghost Of The Machine's 'difficult' second album, Empires Must Fall, wasn't so difficult after all
- "We were like, ‘What if we take speed? Maybe we can play even faster!’ We were definitely better without the drugs." How Europe's biggest thrash band went from getting their mum to sign deals to satanic metal mastery
- Heavy metal, hard rock, guaranteed sunshine and a setting like no other – Spain’s Rock Imperium is the one amazing festival you can’t afford to miss in 2026
- "I'd love to hang upside down in a stadium." How Avenged Sevenfold, Bring Me The Horizon and Robbie Williams inspired these rising British rockers to reinvent themselves
- “In three years we went from folk clubs to the LA Forum. I mean, we fought and got drunk and all that, but it was still a great time”: Approaching six decades in music, these prog heroes never operated as a democracy
- "You are not what you own." Why you still can't buy an official T-shirt from one of the greatest American rock bands ever
- “I was like, ‘I think it’d be cool if I die and spit up blood but I need to play another show the next night.’” How Black Sabbath and ‘major death anxiety’ inspired metal’s new fantasy sensation, Castle Rat
- "I remember listening to it and freaking out – I couldn't believe how authentic it sounded." How The Darkness created the ultimate modern power ballad
- “It’s fortuitous that Viv Stanshall was there – and what a good idea to put the tubular bells in”: 19-year-old Mike Oldfield was planning to defect to Russia before fate intervened
- "He wanted my shotgun – he'd just have these total freakouts. There were so many wonderful moments and terrible mayhem with him." Fuelled by bipolar disorder, the 70s' most outlandish concept album predicted a political meltdown
- March 4
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- "I was angry at them for writing that song. I thought, You don’t know. You weren’t there." The tragic and horrifying true story behind one of the biggest rock anthems of the 90s
- “I said, ‘Just start again. It would be good for you.’ He persuaded me to stay. I never felt good about it”: Martin Barre tried to quit Jethro Tull in 1980, but Ian Anderson wouldn’t have it
- “Armour-plated anthems about guns, battles and dudes shooting other dudes”: Every Sabaton album ranked from worst to best
- "I made my bed by leaving the band in 2010." The prog metal master who links Dream Theater, Avenged Sevenfold and The Beatles (but not Rush)
- "I'm on a pyre, a monk sentences me to death, and I will burn. Burn, burn, burn." Why you should probably go and see Powerwolf this week
- "There were a lot of 'folk musicians' who'd seen A Hard Day's Night and wanted to be pop stars, but they couldn't earn twenty-five dollars in Texas." Nine Steve Miller albums you should listen to and one to avoid
- “Of course, none of us agreed on any of it. Not one idea was liked by us all. So then it was, ‘Which idea do four of us like, which idea do three of us like?’” The story of Marillion’s upbeat lockdown album An Hour Before It's Dark
- "If we were legendary for anything, it was for bringing Jello to a show and getting it all over the monitors." The story of the hate song that kick-started the entire grunge movement
- March 3
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- "We saw the end coming." How the 90s' last big rock band reinvented after their frontman went off the rails - courtesy of one of the best singers in the game
- “I was always sure we were going to come back. My friends said, ‘You’re still waiting? Are you stupid?’” With Mike Portnoy’s help, Bigelf battled back from tragedy to make Into The Maelstrom
- "I remember finishing the lyrics and literally feeling sick to my stomach." How Alter Bridge regrouped, faced the dark side, put their foot on the gas and recorded a brilliant album
- "Nothing Is What It Seems was written about Tony Blair and Gordon Brown. They're the liar and the thief in the song": Brinsley Schwarz on his state-of-the-world album Shouting At The Moon
- “I interviewed him and he denied ever hearing the album. I find that somewhat hard to believe”: Did Jethro Tull inspire a character in Spinal Tap? The actor says no. Ian Anderson’s not so sure
- "It's not something I'd like us to be remembered for. It was a thorn in our side but I'm stuck with it." After lacing their neighbour's water supply with LSD, the Small Faces wrote the hit that ended their career
- March 2
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- "The jams that turned into songs on the album began with us playing out in the woods at night. Crazy spirit." Meet Ever Age: The 21st-century power trio whose debut album might just be a once-in-a-generation record
- "Alanis Morrisette inspired me to express how I was feeling." One of 2000s metal's early stars on being a teenage rockstar, breaking up nu metal's boys club and the art of failure
- “It’s inherent in the fanbase. You’re always measured against this yardstick. People comment, ‘This isn’t Yes!’ Where did we say this was Yes?”: Arc Of Life’s struggle to self-identify
- Classic Rock's Tracks Of The Week: March 2, 2026
- "I said, 'This is our last show.' He said OK. We never, ever talked about why it was so easy to break up the band." The curious story of the thinking man's hair metal band, and where it all went wrong
- "Future generations will consider it one of the most important recordings of all time." Rising Southern rock star Marcus King picks the soundtrack of his life
- "Those teenage kids could be kind of wild. It could be downright frightening at times." The story of the tongue-in-cheek classic that slammed manufactured pop music, aided by a pair of South African legends
- March 1
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- “I woke up in a panic – a door in my mind had opened which I couldn’t close”: How a psychotic reaction triggered the cult 70s album that fused progressive rock and the blues – and influenced Queens Of The Stone Age, The Damned and Nirvana’s producer
- “We couldn’t have really fitted in with grunge, because we were a different type of a band. We were Irish and from Limerick, and we had our own ideas”: The tragedy that inspired an iconic grunge-era anti-war anthem – and reinvented the band that wrote it
- “Everyone goes, ‘We pour our hearts into these things.’ But this genuinely was us, tears down our cheeks, trying to be manly”: How Big Big Train survived the death of David Longdon
- “What Keith Moon did on drums, he did on keyboards. Without him the genre would be much poorer”: When Geoff Downes saw Keith Emerson live, he found immediate inspiration
- “He was seeing the devil in everything. To him, his whole life had been in service to Satan...” This LA band had the world at their feet. Then their guitarist joined a religious cult while their bassist faced 11 years in jail for trying to rescue him
- "Tyler The Creator made me realise that I don’t need to scream for a song to be heavy.” Freedom-fighting hardcore punk, Victorian doom metal and 'angry dance music': the best new metal bands you need to hear this month
