Features archive
July 2023
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220 articles
- July 31
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- Avenged Sevenfold singer M Shadows picks his ten favourite concept albums
- Every The Darkness album ranked from worst to best
- "I and everybody else were old farts in her opinion" - Roger Waters on the night Sinéad O'Connor sang her spellbinding version of Pink Floyd's Mother
- "I didn’t listen to any of the same music as my friends. I didn’t fit in.” How heavy metal helped Rhea Ripley grow from school misfit to world champion and one of WWE's biggest stars
- "I hope girls see it's OK to do what you want." How Indonesia's Voice Of Baceprot shook off religious pressure and misogyny to become one of their country's most exciting young metal bands
- “This is what I can’t bear about fans: they assume songwriters are writing about themselves all the time” - Brian Eno’s quest to deliver “interleaved stories”
- A beginner's guide to speed metal in five essential albums
- These are the best new rock songs you need to hear right now, featuring Duff McKagan, Pretenders and more
- "We went there to have a whale of a time – a sex holiday, really. But it got out of hand": Billy Idol on the Thailand vacation that ended with a visit from the army
- "I just carried all this anger and horror." From his grandmother's experiences in Nazi Germany scarring his childhood to Godflesh being labelled the 'new Nirvana', Justin Broadrick is an extreme music icon like no other
- Shvininiai Sharvai are one of the wildest, most unique things to hit thrash metal in years - and they’re only getting started
- July 30
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- "We had the opportunity to reimagine what we do to a certain degree." Big Big Train and the making of Common Ground
- “It was an apex moment in the history of live rock’n’roll”: Tom Morello on the night that he teamed up with Bruce Springsteen and Eddie Vedder to perform an AC/DC cover
- "If you haven’t been ripped off, you haven’t been in the music business”: How personal tragedy, the demands of touring and the pressure to make money destroyed Alex Harvey
- "When Dahmer hit the news I thought, ‘I have a lot of stuff to work with here!'" Tom Araya explains Slayer's fascination with serial killers
- “It was exhilarating – it felt like an illicit liaison”: the true story of Brian May and Eddie Van Halen’s Star Fleet Project collaboration
- July 29
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- “Right Here, Right Now captured the optimism of the Berlin wall coming down. We’re at the other end of the spectrum now”: How Prince’s Sign O’ The Times inspired Jesus Jones’ biggest hit
- "I am the founding father of progressive symphonic rock". Robert John Godfrey states his case
- “The goal was to make music that was so extreme we’d never even get a gig”: Tom Morello on the early days of Rage Against The Machine
- "We’re fried": Thom Yorke on keeping it together as OK Computer blew up big
- “Randy Rhoads embodied everything I love about the guitar”: Mötley Crüe’s Nikki Sixx on the music that changed his life
- “Everyone thought the maestro was totally off his rocker”: when Stevie Wonder invoked flower power for his own Dark Side Of The Moon
- “Led Zeppelin was responsible for bigging it up. We had no choice… it was insane”: Robert Plant on how Led Zeppelin invented stadium rock
- July 28
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- The best new metal songs you need to hear right now - starring KK's Priest, Slaughter To Prevail, Sevendust, Dying Wish and more
- Here are the best alt. rock songs you'll hear this week, featuring Ashnikko, Dream Nails, Lynks and more
- "I held him against the wall and spit in his face... then all hell broke loose": the night Pearl Jam's Eddie Vedder was arrested for fighting and locked up in New Orleans
- The 50 best metal albums of the 2000s
- “Cameron Crowe said, ‘This is killer, it’s awesome!’”: Jerry Cantrell on how he wrote Alice In Chains’ classic hit Would?
- Prog's brand new Tracks Of The Week: brand new music from Einar Solberg, Kyros and more
- "The sight of Cliff wading into the insane mass of scrapping people with a hammer was legendary:” Cliff Burton's hammer, the Finnish schoolgirl, and the Metallica gig that turned into a mass brawl
- “If it hadn’t been for music, I’d have ended up killing myself”: the epic life and turbulent times of Black Sabbath’s Geezer Butler
- “It is, ultimately, a ridiculous, vomit-smeared, gleefully violent good time”: Remembering the brilliantly daft Cradle Of Filth horror movie, Cradle Of Fear
- July 27
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- "We’re heading somewhere beautiful and peaceful, but it may take some time to get there and there may be some fighting on the way": A tribute to Sinead O'Connor, pop star, protest singer and eternal rebel
- “I’ve taken my lack of proficiency into the spotlight… unless you push yourself, I can’t see the use in a solo album”: Trevor Rabin’s desire to take risks
- What's it really like taking your kids to a festival?
- A beginner’s guide to Metal Blade Records in five essential albums
- Rock’s 20 greatest one album wonders: the bands that made one album then vanished
- "Playing our songs in t-shirts and jeans is not the way." Brothers Of Metal look like vikings, play power metal and are annoying elitists - and they're loving every second of it
- "It was us saying, This is us, we're here to kick your door down": The tortured birth and eternal genius of Smashing Pumpkins' masterpiece Siamese Dream
- “It might take a few people by surprise". Michael Romeo and his second solo album War Of The Worlds Pt. 1
- 10 bands whose best album was recorded live
- July 26
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- "He was one of the best drummers the metal world has ever seen." The wild life, incredible career and tragic end of Slipknot legend, Joey Jordison
- 10 terrible nu metal albums with one classic song
- “It would have been a rip-off”: How Iron Maiden recorded their first great live album – then scrapped it
- “Nova Twins, The Linda Lindas, Wet Leg… all the girls are rocking out, none of the boys are doing it”: Elton John on the new artists that excite him
- Corey Taylor has the most disgusting story you’ll ever hear about Dimebag Darrell, Clown from Slipknot and a urinal cake
- “A lot of people turned up just to see what we could get away with, the sheer nerve of it all… we weren’t pretending to be very good at what we did”: the implausible rise of the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band
- “I ate an entire chorizo sausage and woke up covered in sick”: Matt Bellamy looks back on Muse’s lowest point
- Wolfgang Van Halen: 11 albums that changed my life
- "People were spitting at us": How one of Alice In Chains' worst gigs ever earned them the respect of hardcore Slayer fans
- “A reunion is something I'm absolutely resistant to”: how Yes weathered a decade of turmoil to return with their finest album in years
- The 30 best Brian Johnson AC/DC songs
- “Fans haven’t seen something like this since the late ’80s”: Meet the new bands making Glasgow the UK’s death metal capital
- July 25
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- "What a creep!" The day that Prince broke Trent Reznor's heart
- Watch Metallica defeat a superfan in a TV pop quiz then rifle through his wallet in search of a cash prize
- A beginner's guide to death-doom in five essential albums
- These are the best new rock songs you need to hear right now, featuring Skindred, Chris Stapleton, Royal Blood, In This Moment and more
- "It feels like we're poised to take the reins." We got Wargasm, Loathe, Heriot, Ithaca and Blackgold together to discuss why British metal is entering a new golden age
- 10 times metal bands re-recorded their classic songs – and it actually went well
- “He didn’t like to be reminded of the past… he went to his sister’s to watch a documentary about him and Pink Floyd, but left, complaining it was too loud”: Syd Barrett was more than just another mad genius
- July 24
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- “I thought I’d bitten off more than I can chew”: how Yes guitarist Steve Howe accidentally ended up playing on a Queen hit single
- "Fripp-ishly brainy" - the magic of Japan's Tin Drum
- “Half the buggers would write the album for you if you let them!" - Mostly Autumn and the making of The Ghost Moon Orchestra
- “The greatest album of all time? AC/DC’s Back In Black”: this is the soundtrack to Buckcherry singer Josh Todd’s life
- “He gave metal bands the exposure that a mainstream act would murder for”: Why Conan O’Brien is metal’s greatest unsung champion
- July 23
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- “The hardest thing in the world is to write a simple song”: Lars Ulrich on why Noel Gallagher is his favourite songwriter
- “Ozzy had been to school with Tony and they hated each other.” Geezer Butler on the fractious early days of Black Sabbath
- 10 terrible Britpop albums with one classic song
- How the CIA inspired Firestarter, why Axl Rose hates JD Salinger, David Bowie’s Orwell musical and why Jimmy Savile was the first ever club DJ: The books and stories that influenced classic songs
- "If Bruce Springsteen saw Slipknot live, he'd be into it." A conversation with Slipknot drummer and one-time E-Street member, Jay Weinberg
- “The minute I met him, I thought he was a special guy”: Tony Visconti looks back on working with David Bowie
- “I feel like everyone is culpable”: How Eddie Vedder reacted to the news that Amy Winehouse had died
- July 22
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- Cults, drugs and religion. The story of Oceans Of Slumber's Starlight And Ash
- "My dad listened to nu metal a lot." We spent two days in Las Vegas at the world's biggest nu metal festival, and it was an eye-opener
- “Ziggy Stardust was the first song I ever performed”: Perry Farrell on his pre-fame days as a David Bowie impersonator
- A beginner's guide to sludge metal in five essential albums
- “They crawled up their own bums”: The album that made Butch Vig lose faith in Radiohead
- “Phil Lynott could sing you into bed”: Primal Scream’s Bobby Gillespie on his love of Thin Lizzy
- “Joe Walsh branched out – a genuine progressive instinct at work”: when future Eagles icon went prog with The Smoker You Drink, The Player You Get
- July 21
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- The 10 best new metal songs you need to hear right now
- “I used it as a doorstop, then I had it on the back of my toilet”: Inside the night Slipknot won their first Grammy Award
- "We never felt like we were in anybody's scene". How System Of A Down invaded nu metal, baited Slayer fans and created a classic debut album in 1998
- Prog's Tracks Of The Week: brand new music from Queensryche, Teeth Of The Sea and more
- Watch Ghost play their first-ever show in 2010 and see just how far the Satanic Swedes have come
- “We didn’t arrive on a magic carpet. He was a little heartbroken over that… his followers gathered outside and they were close to stoning us”: the Moody Blues’ weirdest fans
- July 20
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- "I said, 'Can we have flames coming out of it?'" Cyborgs, Samurai and gun battles: backstage and front row for Iron Maiden's massive Future Past tour
- The genius of Talk Talk's Spirit Of Eden
- There’s a new thrash metal band obsessed with pizza, for some reason
- A beginner’s guide to Britpop in five essential albums
- 10 metal b-sides and bonus tracks so perfect that they should have been classics
- July 19
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- “We used to travel in Clark Gable’s Cadillac, refurbished by Rolls Royce. We had a TV in there, and two bars, just for the band”: Secrets of Rick Wakeman’s excess
- 10 up-and-coming British metal bands that every self-respecting metalhead needs to know
- The history of Iron Maiden as told in 10 groundbreaking gigs
- Ten songs that fought back against the PMRC
- July 18
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- "It was the one were we felt, 'wow, we’re there'": Joe Perry settles an eternal debate between Aerosmith fans
- “We discovered we had an audience out there and it numbered in millions”: How Focus secured TV music show The Old Grey Whistle Test’s future
- “In those days, you didn’t talk about those kind of things”. Rob Halford's reaction to becoming metal’s first gay icon
- "Understand this – the band will read what is written about them": The rules Led Zeppelin gave to journalists who joined them on the road
- “Ozzy would be running down the hallway, completely out of his mind…” Robert Trujillo on the time he joined Ozzy Osborne's band
- “He smashed up my parents’ house three times”. Killing Joke’s Jaz Coleman on how Rolling Stones guitarist Brian Jones was a regular guest at his family home
- “I had to punish my vocals constantly”. How George 'Corpsegrinder' Fisher perfected the death growl
- July 17
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- The 50 greatest Guns N’ Roses songs ever, and the stories behind them
- 80s glam, vampires and 'Ska-mericana': these are the best new rock songs you need to hear this week
- "When I’m happy, I’m writing the heaviest riff possible." From his deeply religious upbringing to fronting the world's biggest metal band, the life of Metallica's James Hetfield, in his own words
- July 16
- July 15
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- “Our days of easily digestible folky paeans are behind us. Goodbye chamber pop, hello folk prog”: When Fleet Foxes acted like men driven mad on Crack-Up
- "Some people will be like, ‘That’s not what metal is’. I know. That’s the point." Meet Scene Queen: innovator of 'bimbocore' and the artist calling out predators in the metal scene
- Five new bands you need to hear if you love Faith No More
- July 14
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- The 10 best new metal songs you need to hear right now
- Here are the best alt. rock songs you'll hear this week, featuring Demi Lovato, Royal Blood, Wargasm and more
- “The others realised they couldn’t stop me because it was too close to the show… I got away with it, although it was a close-run thing”: How Peter Gabriel developed his Genesis frontman act
- Every Enter Shikari album ranked from worst to best
- 15 bands to check out if you miss Motorhead
- Prog's Tracks Of The Week: brand new music from Soen, Devin Townsend and more
- “All the excesses of rock’n’roll stardom – the sex, the drugs, the parties – were open to us”: Extreme’s Gary Cherone and Nuno Bettencourt on the highs, the lows and the hedonism
- "It doesn't matter what you go through, there's always hope." Royal Thunder were one of the underground's most exciting metal bands. Then addiction almost destroyed them
- “I looked at drugs as a short cut to the subconscious”: an epic interview with Aerosmith’s Joe Perry
- The night The Beatles were guarded by Christ and Moses
- July 13
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- "He was Slayer. He affected a lot of people and he didn’t even realise it.” The life and tragic death of Slayer’s Jeff Hanneman
- “Some guy who obviously didn’t recognise me said, ‘You just ruined a classic song.’ But another chap replied, ‘He’s allowed. He wrote the song!’”: Keith Emerson’s disastrous karaoke incident
- 10 brilliant but overlooked albums turning 40 this year
- 10 times stand-up comedians made brilliant references to heavy metal
- July 12
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- “I don’t know if Prince was really odd or playing at being odd”: how a future Foo Fighters member accidentally ended up in a Prince video in 1985
- Inside the lost Tony Visconti-produced U2 album that never was
- 4 brilliant new bands you need to hear this month
- “There was an extraordinary amount of tension...” Inside Led Zeppelin’s final US tour
- 10 songs by 'one hit wonders' that are actually way better than their most famous hit
- "Why don’t you give Jimmy Page a ring?" How John Paul Jones came to join Led Zeppelin
- "There definitely will be an end, but I don’t see it any time right now." Rumours of Sevendust's demise have been greatly exaggerated:
- 10 terrible punk albums with one classic song
- How Stone Temple Pilots’ Purple album captured a band at their peak, before everything started to go wrong
- Watch Mastodon portray violent cinema snacks in the most metal movie opening of all time
- “We made a protective circle of candles around us”: how Michael Monroe ended up duetting with Axl Rose on a Guns N’ Roses cover of punk rock classic
- July 11
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- The ironic story of when Slipknot’s Clown almost gouged his eye out playing, you guessed it, Eyeless
- "I was working in a hamburger joint... when he left, I had to clean up after him": Joe Perry on the first time he met Steven Tyler
- That time Thom Yorke formed a glam rock band with members of Radiohead, Suede, Roxy Music and, umm, David Gray’s drummer
- “It was a feeling of betrayal – they buy your record then come to a concert and whistle and hoot and screech… it all felt quite vulgar”: The time Jethro Tull’s Ian Anderson nearly quit music
- Demons, hair metal and Ozzy Osbourne playing a priest: Why Trick Or Treat is the 80s’ unsung metal horror classic
- Here’s everything we know about Slayer guitarist Kerry King’s new band so far
- July 10
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- The best new rock songs you need to hear this week
- "We’re proud to show our commitment to thrash metal." The bizarre moment Napalm Death turned up on 90s TV staple TFI Friday to smash out three songs in 90 seconds
- "Ancient aliens? I'm open to the idea." The incredible life, career and beliefs of Testament frontman and thrash metal legend, Chuck Billy
- Roger Waters said he “couldn’t care less” about Van Halen, forgetting that he once appeared on a song with Eddie Van Halen
- July 9
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- The strange story of the song that some people thought ‘inspired’ Enter Sandman (but probably didn’t)
- Every Lord Of The Rings and Hobbit film ranked
- Remembering the time MTV got a bunch of unsuspecting college students to review Nirvana's In Utero
- “Ray visited him just before he died and apologised for putting him at the centre of the story”: It took five decades for the Kinks’ Arthur to come of age
- Hostile Tool crowds, a demonic Dave Grohl, pirvate jet rides with Slash and pissing off Lemmy: How Tenacious D became the world's most successful comedy metal band
- July 8
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- Human skulls, ghostly witches and Satanic invocations: the mysterious story of Pagan Altar, the greatest doom metal band the world doesn’t know about
- A beginner's guide to Earache records in five essential albums
- 10 non-famous bands who have the same name as a way more famous band
- Five new bands you need to hear if you love Smashing Pumpkins
- "Wherever you go, the Metallica family is there": Front row and in the snake pit at the opening night of Metallica's blockbuster M72 tour
- “Personally, I’d love to get to where Steven Wilson’s at". Luke Machin welcomes you to the Maschine
- Thom Yorke on the Radiohead and Massive Attack album that never happened
- July 7
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- Here are the best alt. rock songs you'll hear this week, featuring Goat, KennyHoopla, CHERYM and more
- The 12 best new metal songs you need to hear this week
- The 10 best Stevie Nicks solo songs
- “He gave people permission to be themselves”: 10 of the best David Bowie songs, picked by Bowie keyboard player Mike Garson
- A beginner's guide to Creation Records in five essential albums
- "Musically Scheherazade And Other Stories is the one.” Annie Haslam on Renaissance's 1975 masterpiece
- 10 bands proving that NWOBHM is alive and kicking
- What happened when Avenged Sevenfold released a prog metal concept album
- Remember the time The Simpsons took a hilarious potshot at Woodstock 99?
- Prog's Tracks Of The Week: new music from Tusmorke, Silent Skies and more
- Listen to Van Halen blaze through a cover of Queen’s Now I’m Here… in 1975
- Wishbone Ash's Andy Powell: the soundtrack of my life
- "Zeppelin wasn’t safe, but we had such a following that virtually everything was accepted" - How Robert Plant made peace with the end of Led Zeppelin
- "I was still up at seven in the morning, howling away at the top of my voice" - How Lemmy wrote Motorhead by Motörhead
- Bullet trains and atomic bombs: what happened when Iron Maiden went to Hiroshima
- July 6
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- “Look at Kate Bush or Queen: sometimes when you don’t do the norm, that’s what changes the world a little bit” - How Midge Ure finally embraced his prog tendencies
- “There has always been friction between me and Roger… I think, ‘Why do you have to say these things?’” Richard Wright’s personality clash with Pink Floyd colleague Roger Waters
- "I thought I was going to be making a regular album. Then I heard this yelling, and saw Chris throw a glass of champagne in John's face": The inside story of the messy birth of Fleetwood Mac's Rumours
- "Saying no to someone offering you money to make one seems psychotic.” How Rob Zombie ended up making movies
- "We were young, hotheaded and everything boiled over." The reason Max Cavalera left Sepultura
- July 5
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- A beginner’s guide to Nuclear Blast records in five essential albums
- "I felt like I'd run a marathon": Architects' Sam Carter on supporting Metallica
- A beginner's guide to Factory Records in five essential albums
- Remembering the crazy time 50 Cent got bottled off stage in 20 minutes at Reading Festival
- “He’s took over the songs, but he’s not took over me": Watch Liam Gallagher explain how Noel changed Oasis in this lost 1994 interview
- "It's the sound of acoustic guitars in your face and unapologetic": Why I ❤️ Bruce Springsteen's We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions, by Frank Turner
- “The drama's gonna be there, always": Serj Tankian on the turmoil that makes System Of A Down tick
- "If you didn’t know I was in it, you’d miss me." When Rage Against The Machine legend Tom Morello turned up in Star Trek (twice!)
- "I'm really starting to get the itch. I want to headline arenas" - Rival Sons on the album that should take them to the next level
- Sweet & Lynch: "We're proving to the world that even if you're polar opposites, you can still work together"
- The 50 best rock albums of the year... so far
- July 4
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- A beginner’s guide to hair metal in 5 essential albums
- Have internet sleuths figured out the new Slipknot keyboardist's identity?
- "A ferocious shot across the bows": How Love's Da Capo album blew the 60s wide open
- How Keith Moon-loving, kimono-wearing multi-instrumentalist Steel Beans became Tenacious D’s favourite new band
- "Some guy jumped onstage with a carving knife": Cradle Of Filth's Dani Filth on the time Scandinavian Satanists came for him
- Cave In's Anchor: how the "emo-metal Radiohead" helped put the final nail in the nu metal coffin
- "He screwed up bad…" In the 70s, members of Little Feat grabbed our writer by the throat for asking about Lowell George. After his death, they were able to look back honestly
- "Brian always had to have an enemy, he always had an imaginary foe": Five years after Brian Jones' death, Keith Richards was ready to talk about the myths surrounding the late Rolling Stones' guitarist, and he did not hold back
- "Run DMC made me want to rap." These are the albums that mean the most to Linkin Park's Mike Shinoda
- 10 pop covers of metal songs you won't believe actually happened
- Every Coheed And Cambria album ranked from worst to best
- Meet Wytch Hazel, the faith-driven rockers making religious music for non-believers
- "I've spent six months making a recording of a song that I've thrown out" - Tom Scholz on the secrets of Boston's first album
- "This is my first album where nobody dies" - The White Buffalo
- July 3
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- The Tubes: Fee Waybill on departed band members, the Hollywood Vampires, and why the 80s will never die
- The best 10 Eddie Vedder impressions you'll ever see
- "The other kids in school voted me 'Class Clown'". From taking English lessons to becoming a thrash legend, the life of Slayer's Tom Araya, in his own words
- “David Bowie’s Lodger was supposed to be called Planned Accidents… I was the accident!” Adrian Belew on being poached from Frank Zappa’s band
- 10 metal one hit wonders
- Winger have taken the knocks and they've been knocked out, but at least Metallica have apologised
- Classic Rock tracks of the week: eight new songs you need to hear right now
- July 2
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- "We got stones thrown at us". Sahil ‘Demonstealer’ Makhija helped India finally embrace heavy metal - but the scene is facing more challenges than ever
- "For some bizarre reason, women seem to feel compelled to take their shirts off when we play it..." How Florida's strippers made Def Leppard's Pour Some Sugar On Me a hit and saved the band's career
- "We freaked everybody out": Why no one wanted to work with Guns N' Roses on Appetite For Destruction
- July 1
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- Before she became one of the planet’s biggest pop stars, Taylor Swift collaborated with Def Leppard: “She heard our music in her mother’s womb”
- "We want to give people anxiety": how Avenged Sevenfold made 2023's strangest, most divisive heavy metal record with Life Is But A Dream...
- Shagged-out chic and avant-garde pop: How Godley & Creme became Britain's weirdest popstars
- A beginner's guide to 90s UK indie in five essential albums
- A beginner’s guide to yacht rock in five essential albums
- "It gets in the way of originality": Why Kurt Cobain thought it was a bad idea to get good at guitar
- “You could record yourself on a computer”: John Frusciante once wrote Jimmy Page a letter asking him to appear on his best friend’s album
- 12 examples of the songwriting genius of Lou Reed that aren't Perfect Day or Walk On The Wild Side
- "There was something about this music" - Eddie Vedder and the magical intensity of of Pearl Jam
