Features archive

May 2026

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93 articles

May 13
- "The whole truck just disappeared, all our gear, gone!" How a $40,000 robbery in New Orleans in 1970 forced Pink Floyd's David Gilmour to purchase what has become the highest-priced guitar in history
- “The cycle of album-tour-album-tour is dying. It’s long been dead at our end of the scale”: This prog band took a risk to escape broken music industry models. So far, it’s paying off
- "If Michael Hutchence says anything about me, I'll go back down there and kick his ass!" The "horrific" Guns n' Roses show with INXS that led a disgusted fan to break their copy of Appetite For Destruction into pieces and mail it to Slash
- “Music, art, death, time – they’re all part of the same thing. I can’t articulate it. I’m just some stoned goofball with a guitar”: How Gong became more Gong than ever with latest album Bright Spirit
- “We’ve played each other songs, but we still haven’t come eye-to-eye on how things should be done”: 15 years after their comeback, will there ever be a sixth System Of A Down album?
- “I used to think I’d keep screaming until a trickle of blood came out. But it hasn’t happened yet”: How post-metal maverick Julie Christmas returned with her first album in eight years
- "We never fit into any scene or genre, ever, so all our friends are weirdos." What happened when we took Skindred record shopping in Newport
May 12
- "70s metal was definitely the coolest. AC/DC had some fly records, Sabbath had some cool s**t." Ten Beastie Boys songs featuring samples of classic rock anthems
- “Most of the audience reaction was negative. It was messing with my focus. So we decided to do something different”: A change of approach allowed Sunn O)))’s prog influences to run wild
- I write about music tech for a living - here are my tips, tricks and products that'll help keep your record player clean and your vinyl collection in tip-top condition
- “We were in this pub and Paul Di’Anno pulled this young nurse. She invited us all to sleep on her floor”: How Iron Maiden made the scrappy four-track EP which launched their career
- "Some kids wanted to come up onstage, chaos ensues and the people in charge seemed to panic and cut the power." How a cult hardcore punk band shut down one of rock's most legendary festivals after bagging an unlikely major label deal
- "It's about a man driven mad by betrayal who murders the woman he loves." The misunderstood Tom Jones cover that became the Sensational Alex Harvey Band's biggest hit
- Fancy trying a European festival this year? Here's five reasons to hit Mad Cool 2026
- “There was a lot of smack and really scuzzy groupies around. It was ugly”: Traffic’s spiralling demise sent Steve Winwood driving his Rolls-Royce into the sunset
- "When we go up there on stage I'd almost liken it to a sexual experience." Ann and Nancy Wilson on love, sobriety, politics and the changing face of Heart
May 11
- "When we played in America with bands we influenced, their fans were like, ‘Who are you?'" They've inspired generations of huge bands, toured with Slipknot and helped put Swedish metal on the map. This is the story of In Flames
- Classic Rock's Tracks Of The Week: May 11, 2026
- "We were drunk on the bus and he was being annoying. We threw punches at each other." From singing in a pub getting him a job in one of Europe's biggest metal bands to MMA and cat fostering: five minutes with Amon Amarth's Johan Hegg
- "I had to kickstart my engine again." How David Bowie relaunched his career, and confused the world, with his deeply unloved hard rock band Tin Machine
- "When I went to rehab, they forced me to do the serenity prayer...I told them I’d say, ‘Ozzy grant me the serenity.'" Heartbreak, partying with Playboy bunnies and relapsing with Slayer: Every HIM (and VV) album in Ville Valo's own words
- The 13 best new metal songs you need to hear right now
- “There’s a threat to the paying-the-rent part of music, for sure. The guys who write muzak are done. But I got into music to understand it more”: The only person to have won Grammys in 10 different categories isn’t afraid of AI
- "It's been an incredible journey to get to this place." Squeeze guitarist and singer Chris Difford on the band's great 'lost' album and the dicey nightclub that inspired it
- "I looked over in his direction and tears were rolling down his cheeks. I thought: My God! I've done it!" How a gospel choir and the Lord's Prayer saved one of rock's greatest power ballads
- “Most of them had never worked with a Black American singer before. He was really supportive. He’s one of two who introduced me to their mothers”: Keith Emerson remembered by PP Arnold
May 10
- “Zeppelin was primarily an in-person band… that’s what it was really about”: The greatest Led Zeppelin album no one ever talks about might just be a legendary bootleg
- “Originally, Metallica had a dreadful tape as our intro. Then our manager came up with the idea of replacing it with The Ecstasy Of Gold”: How metal’s biggest band turned a song from a Clint Eastwood movie into the greatest intro music in history
- “The last thing I wanted to do in the world was to have a fist fight with Pete Townshend. Unfortunately he hit me with his guitar”: The tangled story of one of rock’s mythical lost albums – and the two classics it eventually produced
- “We thought he was copping out joining AC/DC, cos they were a pretty simple rock band”: Before he joined one of the most iconic bands in music, this legendary Australian singer was in a forgotten country-rock outfit
- “He was great at self-promotion. He was also excellent at spreading confusion”: They played alongside Pink Floyd, the Rolling Stones, Blind Faith (and Keith Chegwin). Then this 60s prog outfit were gone
- “ZZ Top use sequencers and drum machines – do you consider them an industrial band? Of course not!”: The twisted birth and chaotic explosion of industrial music
May 9
- “Paul Kossoff had gotten addicted to these heavy sedatives. Some nights he wasn’t functioning”: This cult British singer grew up with Robert Plant, worked with The Doors, and nearly joined Free and Deep Purple – but today no one knows his name
- “For us, Motörhead was a confirmation of something we were looking for, an ever heavier form of hard rock. There was no other band that had that violence in their music”: How Lemmy and Motorhead influenced extreme metal
- “He wanted to put a synthesiser run on it. Diddle diddle diddle… like Rick Wakeman in Yes. You couldn’t have come up with a worse idea”: When Def Leppard teamed up with a million-selling producer to make their biggest album, it turned into a disaster
- "I always go back to the early 1970s because those sounds are timeless, even though they’re from before I was born." Why Lars Fredrik Frøislie plays it defiantly old school on second solo album Gamle Mester
- “I saw Frank Zappa sit in with Pink Floyd. He was terrible”: Michael Gira of post rock icons Swans loved the father of invention – but hated him a bit too
- “Ronnie was not interested in improvisation. Every bit of it was planned out. Every guitar solo was played exactly the same. I have never met a band that did that”: The accidental classic that lifted one band to immortality – and defined a whole genre
- “We tried to go across the Berlin Wall many times, but they said we looked too funny." How Voivod embraced East German culture, Killing Joke and Bauhaus to help soundtrack their prescient album Killing Technology
May 8
- “I was always sober so I couldn’t understand: 'Why are you throwing away your life?'" Addiction, fights and intervention from the 'Metal Godfather': How Five Finger Death Punch came back from the brink
- Cool new proggy sounds you need to hear from Muse, If These Trees Could Talk, Raphael Weinroth-Browne and more in Prog's brand new Tracks Of The Week
- "It's not my goddamn art project!" The story behind the birth of the extremely weird but misunderstood side project from Faith No More genius Mike Patton that influenced Korn, Avenged Sevenfold and more
- "It feels a bit like coming home – back to where I originally came from. It almost feels like everything led to this." Anika Nilles interview: stepping into the glare of the Rush spotlight and her life growing up with music
- “You couldn’t replace David Byrne, and I wouldn’t have wanted to. It came out of anxiety”: When Talking Heads asked Adrian Belew to replace their vocalist, he knew the answer
May 7
- "If someone’s gonna set themselves on fire, it might as well be me." Dementia, pyro and shouting wizards: backstage with one of metal's most shocking success stories, Lorna Shore
- "One of my best friends died. I told our vocalist if he could write lyrics to tell that story, it'd mean the world to me.” Meet the metal band who aren't interested in gimmicks - only overcoming tragedy
- "Sometimes the occasional fool would break out a knife." From defining a genre to wild generator parties and the 90s metal reunion everyone's waiting for, Kyuss legend John Garcia looks back on his life
- "I asked, Where are the harnesses? The answer was, Between the butt plugs and the ball stretchers." How Judas Priest's Rob Halford and an 'eye-opening" visit to a Hollywood sex shop inspired Derek Smalls' iconic stage wear in This Is Spinal Tap
- "Lemmy said: 'I’ve got some friends in Texas. Do you need any weapons?'" After years of trauma, Corrosion Of Conformity are on the comeback trail - for the second time
- “The most glorious example of infuriatingly pretentious or highly intriguing nonsense”: In the 80s, many artists used newfangled samplers to make jolly tunes. The Art Of Noise went solid prog rock
- "We recorded a river that flows nearby. Some of those sounds are played backwards." Six decades on from the hit that made him a legend, Arthur Brown's world continues to be crazy
- “We never thought, ‘Let’s piss people off!’ Now I can see it’s going to piss people off!”: Steven Wilson and Mikael Åkerfleldt went crazy and outrageous with Storm Corrosion. But Åkerfleldt still doesn’t know what the album’s about, and won’t ask
- My favourite Thin Lizzy song, by James Hetfield, Tony Iommi, Jon Bon Jovi, Suzi Quatro, Joe Elliott, Francis Rossi, Mick Box, Johnny Van Zant and more
May 6
- "I had to run out of the control room, and I found myself standing in the kitchen, sobbing away. James came into the kitchen in the same condition: he was sobbing too." The Metallica song that made both James Hetfield and Kirk Hammett cry
- "I worked at the World Trade Center...I left at 2am on September 11." From working as an opera singer, DJ and Playboy model to finding her true calling in heavy metal, the incredible story of Huntress singer Jill Janus
- "One version is about a car, the other is about a feminine hygiene product. Guess which the kids liked to shout more?" The story of the failed Springsteen song that topped the American charts after being banned in the Bible Belt
- “They each rented castles within sight and proceeded to wage magic war upon one another”: A real-life prog version of The Two Towers is just one strange story in the history of Magma
- "The music world would be a dried-up, tumbleweed-riddled desert if it weren't for Debbie Harry." The importance of Blondie's defiant leader of the pack
- "A relevant, inspiring and beloved icon of rabble-rousing artistry and individuality." Every Patti Smith album ranked from worst to best
May 5
- "I had that thing of, 'I don’t wanna play that song because every time I sing it, I start crying.'" From falling in love with Nirvana to channelling Iron Maiden and embracing activism, some life lessons from Within Temptation's Sharon den Adel
- "There were nights when everything felt like it might collapse." Inside Thailand's passionate but criminally ignored metal scene, from alley bars to open air festivals
- "I'd been conscious of hardly ever being able to capture the heart, soul and spirit of the band." How David Coverdale led a fans' choir to create the connoisseur's favourite Whitesnake album
- “He cannot do that – it’s a criminal act! This is destroying classical music!”: Orchestral players were horrified by Keith Emerson’s work. But times have changed, says acclaimed conductor
- "The best AC/DC album that AC/DC never made." Nine Krokus albums you should listen to and one to ignore
- “I used Steven Wilson’s Mellotron in exchange for me guesting at his London Palladium show!”: Prog pioneers Soft Machine spared no effort on their new album, then took a risk by calling it Thirteen
- "There's been times where I've gone: 'Oh my god, how am I gonna get through this?'" Jeff Scott Soto might be labelled a journeyman, but what an adventure it's been
May 4
- “My dad introduced me to Deep Purple, Ronnie James Dio and Van Halen. My mom said: ‘Well, if you’re going to be into all of that stuff, you’ve got to know that women can do this too’”: When Halestorm’s Lzzy Hale met Heart’s Ann Wilson
- "We thought Venom were excellent. But then they came to New York and we found out that they weren't joking." Why the Beastie Boys were disappointed to discover that British metal legends Venom weren't a comedy band
- "We didn’t have television in Israel and when I first saw the news, I thought there was a guy inside the box." Condoms, coffins and capitalism: a far-reaching interview with Gene Simmons of Kiss
- Classic Rock's Tracks Of The Week: May 4, 2026
- "Freddie said, Darling, leave it to me. I believe in this." The story behind Another One Bites The Dust, Queen's best-selling single ever
- "We have a lot to prove because of Butterfly. We have to prove we’re aggressive punk kids." How a Red Hot Chili Peppers instrumental turned Crazy Town into a one-hit wonder and earned Anthony Kiedis a fortune for doing absolutely nothing
- "I got $100 to do the job, and it was a full day with Michael Bolton." From Saturday Night Live and King Diamond to Eurovision and pagan rituals, Myrkur has tales to tell
- "Ninety-nine per cent of bands would have broken up after what we've been through." After weathering personal loss, recovery and a changing line-up, A Thousand Horses have finally delivered the "full-throttle" album they were born to make
May 3
- “There was talk of Duran Duran being involved, but we wanted something with a heavier edge. Queen had that”: The soundtrack to one of the greatest cult fantasy films of the 80s could have been very different
- “Under the applause he leaned in and said clearly: ‘Don’t you dare!’” Rick Wakeman’s label boss claimed to love Journey To The Centre Of The Earth, but he’d actually tried to have it shelved. When it became a hit, Rick’s award came with a warning
- "It’s strange to grow up feeling like 230lbs of mucus and then see all these girls taking their clothes off and throwing them at you." Why one of 90s metal's most unlikely sex symbols wrote a 60s pop bop Austin Powers would be proud of
- “Possibly our lowest point artistically. It sounds like we didn’t have any idea between us. But we became much more prolific after it”: The hated experimental albums that set Pink Floyd on the road to The Dark Side Of The Moon
- “It became very ugly. When our manager punched Rick Allen, we were dumped from the tour.” Fistfights with Def Leppard and bust-ups with AC/DC: the incredible story of Switzerland’s first great heavy metal band
- “It’s the realisation that Radiohead is only part of the story”: Philip Selway put his solo ambitions on hold for 20 years. Does he regret it?
- “We knew we could never do what Led Zeppelin were doing, but what if you’re not the greatest musician and still wanna do it?”": Billy Idol comes clean about religion, nearly losing a leg, and taking it to the edge and living to tell the tale
May 2
- “When people used to come over to my house, they would expect to see people hanging off meat hooks cos they been listening to my music”: Rap and metal icon Ice T’s home is nothing like you’d expect. We know – we went there
- “We were listening to Velvet Revolver. It was the first time in a long time that Slash had been doing that. We wanted to incorporate that vibe”: The OTT metal anthem that transformed Avenged Sevenfold from metalcore upstarts into rock’n’roll stars
- “GN’R’s version was a bit of a copycat thing – they didn’t try to make it their own. Axl wanted to sound like Dan”: The 70s rock classic that was censored by the label, inspired Guns N’ Roses and almost got banned in Chile
- “Tony was always saying, ‘We’ve gotta sound like Foreigner’, or ‘We’ve gotta sound like Queen’”: Chaos, walk-outs and an album Ozzy Osbourne called “disgusting” – the sad end of Black Sabbath’s original line-up
May 1
- The 10 best new metal songs you need to hear right now
- "It looked like somebody had been sliced to bits with a chainsaw." Beavis And Butt-Head, Pantera and TiKTok - how sludge metal legends Crowbar have suddenly become bigger than ever
- “Sounds of the universe crying”: This pop icon’s label wanted a pop solo album. He gave them a prog record instead. Which is why they suppressed it for three years
- "Everyone always looked at me like I was an alien. When I moved to the UK, it felt like freedom." The French misfit who found a home in the British metal scene - and has become one of its most exciting young vocalists
- "Other than a forty-eight-piece string orchestra, everything else was the band or synths." The story of the global hit inspired by Lego and Simon & Garfunkel that soundtracked a Martian invasion
- "I can't physically breathe if I can’t play music." With a musical education from his grandfather, former busker Ty Freeman is now playing with his childhood heroes
- "You're never too old to learn a bit about technique." Colin Blunstone on The Zombies, keeping it in the family, and looking after what Suzannah Hoffs calls his "just plain sexy" voice
- Nudity on stage, handing out drugs at shows, police searches, stabbings and a fatal crash: The roots of Hawkwind, the “barbarians with electronics” accused of stealing Paul McCartney’s bass