Features archive

November 2025

Filter

Year
Month

180 articles

November 30
- “We were a really weird punk band that came out of hardcore and were shot into this vortex”: Fall Out Boy came out of the US hardcore scene. So how did they become poster boys for 21st century emo?
- “In pursuing my own fake band, I stumbled upon something that had real potential”: How Porcupine Tree unexpectedly grew out of Steven Wilson’s “shameless pastiches”
- “We were absolutely convinced we were gonna just kill in the US. Then Phil gets hepatitis and – boom! – the tour just stopped there”: A metal fan’s guide to Thin Lizzy, the hellraising 70s rock icons who inspired Metallica and Megadeth
- “I said: ‘If the South Park guys are gonna do a Barbra Streisand on us, it’s a no’”: How Queen, The Who and Star Wars inspired the greatest power ballad about alien abduction ever written
- “All it takes is someone like Neil to point at you and it’s on”: what Eddie Vedder learned making Pearl Jam’s Merkin Ball EP with Neil Young
November 29
- “I was ready to go out and really promote the album. But then Guns started to stir and the plug was pulled”: The ‘back-to-basics’ side-project that saw Slash step out of the shadow of Guns N’ Roses – and led to his departure from the band
- “Bon downed about two bottles of bourbon and says, ‘Right, I’m ready’. And he was, too”: Why the best thing AC/DC released in the mid ’80s wasn’t an album – it was an EP of 10-year old songs
- “It was a death sentence in the 80s. His illness and our whole future being so uncertain propelled us towards not worrying if something was completely out of the box”: The heartbreaking tragedy that produced a cult early 90s metal anthem
- “If they are going to stick so violently to the form, then the standard of content must get a lot higher”: Led Zeppelin, the Rolling Stones, Free and the forgotten godfather of British blues who helped them all get off the ground
- “It was the last embers of mine and Roger’s ability to work collaboratively together”: The transcendent Pink Floyd song that David Gilmour says marked the beginning of the end for the band
- “We’ve spent too much time raging against each other and not enough time raging against the machine”: the kiss-off covers album that brought Rage Against The Machine’s glorious first phase to a messy end
November 28
- "It is no cowardly act to release something of this nature, but a service to those who believed in a band that did not compromise. And yes, it is f***ing heartbreaking." The story of My Chemical Romance's Fake Your Death, their "eulogy" of a 'final' song
- I'm a horror nut and these are the Black Friday streaming deals that'll give you the biggest scares (in a good way!)
- Cool new proggy sounds from The Ocean, Alex Henry Foster, The Hirsch Effekt and more in Prog's brand new Tracks Of The Week
- The 9 best new metal songs you need to hear right now
- “The teacher would say, ‘OK, get out your health books,’ and I would have to leave. My parents told me a little speech to say about our religion and why, and I didn’t believe it”: How Metallica turned childhood trauma into a decades-spanning trilogy
- "She was like a caged animal let loose, commanding the stage like she'd been doing it forever": Meet Hollow Souls, the rising blues rockers making a big noise
- "The vampire make-up slowly melts off during the show, revealing the human beings underneath": Welcome to the blood-drenched, Rocky Horror-inspired world of Creeper
November 27
- "It was pretty freaky getting zipped up in the body bag. It’s like, 'Okay, how many other times is this ever going to happen?'" How metal icons Korn finally broke the charts with a smutty song, a controversial look and a truly deranged video
- "I thought this album was going to be the biggest of my career." The crazy forgotten music project featuring Ozzy Osbourne, System Of A Down, Wu-Tang Clan, Xzibit and more than was meant to be legendary, but was a total disaster
- "Listening to this, it’s like going back to a good time, but a really horrible time at the same time." The story behind the song that saved Ozzy Osbourne's career (and why it gave him mixed emotions over three decades later)
- "When I moved to Birmingham I assumed every band was going to sound like Black Sabbath": Meet Margarita Witch Cult, the big-riffing Brummies keeping Sabbath’s traditions alive
- "I couldn't believe how casual she was acting. Did she not realise how insane this was?" The story of the 15-year-old boy who flew to Rio to see Ozzy Osbourne
November 26
- Which member of Yes released the best solo album?
- "There were a few people in the band who were like, ‘Hey, stupid, this is a big deal. It’s Michael Bay, don’t be an idiot.'" How one of Linkin Park's biggest songs solidified their place as an essential part of the Transformers film franchise
- “We wanted some filth on this album." How Touchstone rocked out on their fourth album, Oceans Of Time
- “The magic has gone. I’m trying to find it in other places”: The Norwegians who abandoned black metal to re-enact the psychedelic era – covering songs that weren’t always their favourites
- The festive season just turned ugly thanks to EMP's huge Black Friday Christmas jumper sale: Up to 27% off these monstrosities from Ghost, Kiss, AC/DC and more
- “I thought it was frat boy stuff...it's my least favourite record of our history.” The story of thrash metal legends Slayer 'going nu metal' and regretting it almost immediately (and why that album is much better than you remember)
- “I said, ‘I don’t want to work with him!’ I was bitter that he was doing so well. But I needed the money”: How a prog supergroup with 200 hits between them got together
- "You should have seen us in '93, we were so much worse": The Lemonheads are back and Evan Dando says he's straight and "in heaven"
- Debate: Which is the better album? Highway To Hell or Back In Black?
- From Bondi to the Agora Ballroom: The story of what happened when AC/DC arrived in America
- "One of the most influential and exhilarating players in rock": Nine Zakk Wylde albums to listen to, and one to avoid
November 25
- Fuelled by humanistic thinking and pure, feminine power, Bianca's debut album is more proof that black metal has progressed far beyond Satanism and petulant rebellion
- Vote: who are the Big 4 in all of metal?
- “Our manager basically kicked us out of his house. We were supposed to go to Europe for the first time, and our gear had gotten stolen”: How Metallica turned tragedy into Fade To Black – the acoustic epic that put the elitists in their place
- "Our fans were starting to say, ‘Hey, these guys are prophets, they’re saying things that hadn’t happened yet.'" 9/11, censorship and conspiracy theories: the bizarre story behind the System Of A Down classic that became metal's biggest song
- "The record label dyed all of our food black. Black sandwiches!" Three decades in, prophets of doom Paradise Lost still haven't made their best album
- “I sold out three nights at Wembley but it cost me a fortune. It always gets voted biggest spectacular and also biggest folly. I take that as a compliment!” Six myths and legends of Rick Wakeman
- "Who would you rather sleep with, Ozzy or Geezer?": Smuggling, private jets, and expecting the unexpected with the Osbournes
- "I might as well wear a cowboy hat and stick a piece of straw in my mouth!": The story of the boozy Counting Crows classic their drummer detested
November 24
- "People heard it and found it deeply offensive because they didn’t have the brain capacity to realise what it’s about." The story behind Ghost's most famous song - and what it really means
- From Max levitating via Kate Bush to Eddie Munson shredding Metallica, a guide to the very best Stranger Things needle drops
- "He's a legend but he’s also a great person. When I met him, he had a guitar in his hand, and we started playing right away." How a punk rock hero helped Jimmy Cliff spark a late career peak - and write a modern reggae classic
- Classic Rock's Tracks Of The Week: November 24, 2025
- Cyber Monday MP3 player deals 2025: Time is ticking for you to get a new MP3 player for less
- Quiz: How much do you know about Iron Maiden's breakthrough masterpiece The Number Of The Beast?
- “Goths would get up for their songs, then glare when the punks’ tracks came on. No one really mixed”: Paradise Lost’s Gregor Mackintosh, who’s never liked a happy song in his life, escaped genre restrictions and embraced Dead Can Dance
- "Their music was about us, about you, about the big wide world that waited": Every studio album by The Clash ranked from worst to best
November 23
- “It was about the second coming of Jesus, except he’s in a spaceship”: Sammy Hagar on aliens, Jesus and the 70s sci-fi prog album he started then abandoned
- "He walked through the airport wearing a soldier’s helmet, holding two massive boxes that said ‘GUNS’ on the side. The security said ‘What is in there?’ He said, ‘Guns! Can’t you read?!" Inside the top-secret HQ of Sabaton, power metal's biggest band
- “An intense work of dark, progressive beauty staggered out of the wreckage”: Blending Pink Floyd and Kate Bush, this band sustained permanent damage as they tore themselves away from Britpop
- “The bar owners pulled guns on us. It was over whisky and disrespect. We were 22 and hard as steel”: The incredible story of the forgotten Detroit hellraisers who blazed a trail for Alice Cooper, Bob Seger and The Stooges
- "We thought we were going to get a Top 10 but we got smoked by Abba and Oasis." Following Bring Me The Horizon, viral mosh pit-starters Malevolence might be Sheffield's next breakout metal band
- “In America you had guys in bed sheets and placards with prayers on picketing the gigs. I said: ‘Who are they here for?’ And they said: ‘You!’”: The unholy AC/DC classic that riled the religious right – and marked the tragic end of an era
- "If Morrissey says not to eat meat, then I’ll eat meat - that’s how much I hate Morrissey." The story of the hugely-entertaining, long-running beef between Robert Smith and Morrissey
November 22
- "This girl walked up to me and stopped like she’d seen a ghost. She said, 'You’re not dead.' And I said, ‘No, you’re right.'" The sad, messy story of Alice In Chains’ final album with Layne Staley - and the beginning of the end of an era
- “When you were in that taxi saying Pink Floyd are w*nkers, my brother was driving it!” How Bob Geldof ended up in The Wall despite everything
- "I found myself at 52, going through my third divorce and fourth financial collapse – from ‘I’m a millionaire’ to ‘I live in my car.'" J.K. Simmons, Ozzy Osbourne, Limp Bizkit and the adult industry: the wild and unpredictable career of Evan Seinfeld
- I'm a guitarist and metal obsessive. So why have I only wanted to listen to video game soundtracks this year?
- “I’d like to think that when you die death comes for you however you want, and I feel that it’s your strongest memory”: The bleak but uplifting story behind the emo Bohemian Rhapsody
- "It's definitely different. There's a lot of soul music in there." The story of Luke Machin's debut solo album, Living On The Edge
- “They said, ‘You mean we’ve paid $12,500 for a piano player?’ My publisher said, ‘Yes, but he’s a good piano player’”: The label called it “unsellable”, the critics hated it, but this prog icon’s solo album went on to sell nearly 15 million copies
- “I thought, ‘Enough. I don’t know that I need this kind of thing’”: In the early 90s, Nine Inch Nails’ Trent Reznor was at war with his label – so he did the most extreme thing he could
- “I thought no one’s gonna buy this because it’s too long. I thought our label would say, ‘Sorry boys, you’ll be hearing from our lawyers’”: How Genesis wrote one of prog’s wildest epics – with help from a rumoured exorcism
November 21
- "I started feeling the political wheels starting to turn toward conservatism a little bit" How a song on Green Day's most misunderstood album set the groundwork for one of their biggest acts of protest
- The 12 best new metal songs you need to hear right now
- Great new prog you need to hear from Einar Solberg, The Blackheart Orchestra, Blanket and more in Prog's brand new Tracks Of The Week
- “I get into arguments with fans all the time about this. Everybody’s like, ‘Oh, it’s just a leftover Stone Sour song.’ No, I wrote that for Slipknot!” How Slipknot made the greatest metal ballad of the 21st century
- "We owed everybody money. We knew that if the next album didn't succeed, the ship would sink": The inside story of the album that saved Queen
November 20
- "Music is fun when it’s bisexual and sexy and silly and over the top, when an artist struts across the stage like David Bowie." Heavy metal, severed heads and Rocky Horror: an audience with Creeper, Britain's most theatrical band
- "I let my father know there were no bad feelings. I sorted out a lot of my anger in his departure." A death, Nirvana, U2 and a crucifixion: the surprising story behind Metallica's most successful single (and no, it isn't Enter Sandman)
- “We knew we were messing with prog royalty. It could have been like painting a moustache on the Mona Lisa”: Welsh duo covered Peter Gabriel, Mike Oldfield and others on their latest side-project album. They think they’ve got away with it
- Six years in the making, you can get a taste of In Virtue's long-awaited new album Age of Legends with epic new single Karma Loop, featuring Charlotte Wessels - watch the exclusive video premiere here
- “People like Elon Musk are looking towards Mars, but I think we have issues to look at here first”: Why is heavy metal so obsessed with space all of a sudden?
- "I didn’t like the stigma of being a YouTuber." How The Darkness' Justin Hawkins became metal's least likely influencer
- "I felt like Tom Cruise, and I'm nearly eighty": Dave Hill's Slade are hitting the road for the last time, but he isn't finished
- "The way he trusted me gave me the confidence I needed early in my career": Longtime Ozzy Osbourne photographer Mark Weiss remembers the Prince of Darkness
- "Do you know how much fun it is to scream, 'I'm never gonna work another day in my life' really loud? It feels good!" How Monster Magnet came up with metal’s greatest f**k-you anthem
November 19
- "If I mess that up, I'll never forgive myself." How Billie Eilish's favourite Paramore song went from being one of Hayley Williams' biggest fears to one of their most powerful live moments
- "Winona Ryder was confused. She wanted to know why we'd write a song about her. I told her: 'It has nothing to do with you.'" How a cult 90s rock band's song about a beaver sparked a surprise encounter with a Hollywood A-lister
- After 20 years of thought, a prog metal band recorded three albums in one go. “I wouldn’t recommend it,” says their singer, who has now realised the challenge is just beginning
- “There was no way we were gonna put out the full hour-and-a-half video, because it would have been a rip-off”: The story of the great Iron Maiden live album that was lost for 20 years
- “We made bad albums. Two of them should be melted down into flowerpots. But how many great pieces of artwork are you going to create in your career?” What Carl Palmer really thinks of ELP
- Genesis made long, complex, instrumentally elaborate rock for hirsute proggers: Then they wrote the song that brought women to their shows
- "It sounds very pure and sweet. It's beautiful, like a flower child of an album": Heart's Ann and Nancy Wilson look back on the album that changed their lives
- The End is only The Beginning: The Kiss Kruise in Las Vegas kicks off a new chapter in Kisstory
November 18
- "I don't know if she'd heard of us": Cyndi Lauper, Chrissie Hynde, Aimee Mann and the Rush duets that got away
- "It’s about those times when you’ve got no feeling left or you just don’t care." The song that helped Linkin Park kiss goodbye to the nu metal era - and that got a new lease of life courtesy of one rap megastar
November 17
- Hatebreed’s Jamey Jasta names the essential hardcore bands everyone needs to hear
- "Some kid is driving inside the residence of the president, and you’ve got girls making TikToks in front of burning buildings." Deadly earthquakes, addiction and revolution: the story of Underside, Nepal's biggest metal band
- Classic Rock's Tracks Of The Week: November 17, 2025
- "I went to a party in San Francisco...there were all these freaks shooting up and this girl was real sick." How Metallica wrote their most iconic anthem - and how Stranger Things made it relevant to a whole new generation over three decades later
- “Recorded at a time when progressive music was anathema, it deserves recognition alongside some of the more leftfield heroes of the genre”: Why The Only Ones’ Even Serpents Shine is actually a prog album
- “It was beginning to feel like everyone’s mind wasn’t on the job… a feeling that there should be some hiatus”: Jethro Tull’s saddest, darkest album could have been even darker
November 16
- "It was pretty surreal. All of our families, friends and haters saw that live on TV!" The surprise smash hit 90s single that saw an underground punk band beat Alanis Morissette, Weezer and Portishead in one of the biggest award upsets ever
- "I came in like, ‘Doc, I know you like Rush. I’m in a metal band, we’re flying out in a week to go do one of our biggest shows in a long time. Any way you can help me out?’" An interview with metal's busiest man, Matt Heafy
- “Pavarotti is our hero, he’s more rock’n’roll than anyone we’ve ever met before”: the story of Bono’s favourite U2 song, even though it isn’t by U2 and features an operatic legend on vocals
- “I’ve been in bands that really felt like you were creating something new – but you were just another band doing what had already been done”: Blending Tool, Bjork and Black Sabbath helped Swedish psych-proggers stand out from the start
November 15
- "I'm sure he was thinking of Stevie Nicks." From Public Enemy and Tom Waits to Spider-Man, the ten songs that changed the life of Clutch's Neil Fallon
- Here's who I'd put on my Mount Rushmore of nu metal (three spots were easy, one was excruciatingly hard)
- "I showed up with Tibetan Singing Bowls, some percussion instruments and champagne, and asked them permission to do some experiments." The strange story behind Deftones and Maynard James Keenan's incredible collab, Passenger
- From someone who’s already seen the show twice, here’s 10 songs Radiohead should try and get into the setlist on their triumphant comeback tour
- Who is the prog-powered creator of “revenge pop” targeting? “All those people who didn’t think I could do it. Isn’t that what all musicians are doing?”
November 14
- "What would Van Gogh be worth if he had other artists dabbing their paint brushes on his canvas?" How Trent Reznor wrote Nine Inch Nails' first big hit - and why it annoyed the hell out of him
- The 12 best new metal songs you need to hear right now
- “I think Prince wanted a romance, but I didn’t because then we wouldn’t have had a musical relationship.” Stevie Nicks on why she turned down Prince's biggest song, and how their flirty friendship influenced three hit singles
- "Someone was dressed up in a big dinosaur suit, we saw him right in the middle of a wall of death!" Inside the wild and wonderful world of Hanabie - Japan's next metal superstars
- “It was an awful mistake to overlook his album. But you could be excused for not sticking with it”: Fired by King Crimson, this prog poet assembled a group of A-list colleagues and took them on a trip into the unknown. They got lost – or so it seemed
- Platform shoes and skintight jeans: Every David Coverdale and Whitesnake album, ranked from worst to best
November 13
- "One of those rare records where I literally love every note": Devon Allman picks the soundtrack of his life
- Every Predator movie ranked from worst to best, from the original classic to Badlands
- "We're not running from the law, we're running towards something": Parker Barrow feel connected to Bonnie & Clyde, even if their pursuits are different
November 12
- "I take a lot of pride in starting this band and creating this universe." Black Sabbath, homemade chainmail and Frank Frazetta - getting to know Castle Rat, the fantasy metal sensations everyone's talking about
- "They commenced to destroy, slaughter and wipe the stage with our blood." How a hip hop powerhouse and a heavy metal institution united to create a whole new genre - and spark one of the rowdiest tours in history
- “He sang of partying with such ferocity that suddenly parties seemed like trench warfare…” How we saw, and only just survived, an early performance of the 00s' first rock classic
- “We knew we had to push and push. We did the work ourselves and toured so much, until radio had no option but to play us”: The unlikely story of the last classic nu metal album
- “I had a big lump in my throat when we did the last gigs. A big chapter in my life was coming to an end – and I couldn’t tell anyone”: The curious tale of Genesis and The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway tour
- "The bank robber seemed like a nice bloke. Said he had all my albums": The story of the wild tour that sent Joe Cocker over the edge
- “When the first riff came together, we locked in and played it for 100 hours.” How a song about a big angry whale helped four Southern misfits hang with Slipknot and Slayer - and become 21st century metal trailblazers
- Quiz: How much do you know about Bruce Springsteen's bleak masterpiece Nebraska?
November 11
- "It's an ode to a Goth girl who was so into herself that she once held a mirror over my face so she could see herself climax." Sex, vampires and black lipstick: the story of Type O Negative's goth metal anthem, Black No. 1 (Little Miss Scare-All)
- "It was just a pub. If they went there to discuss the sick things they were doing, it’s not the pub’s fault." From Mafia-run streets to the Satanic crime that shocked Italy, the incredible life of Lacuna Coil's Cristina Scabbia
- “It’s one of the greatest songs ever written, like a Bohemian Rhapsody or a Stairway To Heaven”: What happened when Avenged Sevenfold threw caution to the wind and made an eight-minute necrophiliac symphony
- “Refusing to revel in his own chaos, he proves it’s possible to turn even short compositions into suites”: The emo pioneer who suddenly went prog
- “If you were told to listen to us because you like Tool, that’s a positive. But if you listen just for those similarities, you’ll miss out”: The heart and soul that went into Soen’s Tellurian
- "I'll break both yer arms": Memories of life with Lemmy as a friend and neighbour
- Foghat haven't played in the UK for over half a century: This weekend, that changes
November 10
- "He was a genuine, unforgettable, lunatic presence." How a heroin-kicking, hell-raising, heavy metal-hating genius named Brent Hinds changed the face of metal forever
- Classic Rock's Tracks Of The Week: November 10, 2025
- “I would have liked to have not chopped the ends of my fingers off. It became a burden”: The Devil, the blues and a factory accident – the story of the Black Sabbath song that kicked off heavy metal
- "He made his point known in a way that scared this guy half to death": Eric Gales' new album pays tribute to the man whose music he grew up with - his brother
- “If you want to play that kind of music, play it on your solo album. I’m not interested”: In 1971 Greg Lake enraged Keith Emerson, who immediately quit ELP. The result was their acclaimed album Tarkus
- “They’d often taken leaps into more powerful, aggressive album tracks at odds with their hit singles. Then they went even further”: When a 70s bubblegum pop quartet surprised fans by releasing a prog album
November 9
- “It’s hard to watch a friend face down their demons in front of you and come off second best”: The doomed blues hotshot who blew away Bono and toured with Dylan – but ran from fame and died in obscurity
- “Jimmy was up and running and in great shape – he was in fantastic form. I thought, ‘Job done’”: Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page and Bad Company singer Paul Rodgers’ 80s supergroup should have been huge. The reality was very different
- “People were partying like there was no tomorrow because they were gonna die. It captures that joyous nocturnal life”: Ghost’s Tobias Forge wanted a song to match Queen. Instead, he wrote the greatest plague-inspired metal banger of the last 20 years
- “I had this void in front of me. It was intimidating. Then I realised I had total freedom, and it’s been amazing”: When one of prog’s biggest bands shut down, their guitarist bounced back by releasing three albums in two years
- “Bacchanalian, primal, subversive, translucent… like what might happen if Robert Fripp’s drink had been spiked with acid”: 10 great psychedelic songs that’ll shake any prog fan’s tree (but aren't by Pink Floyd)
November 8
- “I could see downtown Hollywood and all the transformers were blowing. It looked like the city was being bombed”: How Terminator 2, a banned video and a massive earthquake shaped a classic Tool song
- “Morrison was very clever. He was a regular guy but he really played that image of his well. He was an actor”: The Byrds’ Roger McGuinn on John Lennon’s dangerous side, the myth of Jim Morrison and the forgotten guitar player who was as good as Hendrix
- “We all blamed each other, but we never doubted the song”: It took Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers more than 100 takes to nail one of their greatest songs – and it still ended up being “an albatross” around their necks
- “If I’d put a live act together we’d have conquered the world. But it was a fear I had – what does a record producer do onstage? It was unfounded. We should have done it”: Studio veteran reveals big regret to a fan who’s now a big name himself
November 7
- The 12 best new metal songs you need to hear this week
- Cool new proggy sounds from Jan Akkerman, Soen, Evergrey and more in Prog's brand new Tracks Of The Week
- “There’s no special effects – there were kids falling through ceilings, flying through glass, jumping off roofs”: From kicking booze to an anarchic video shoot, the story of Slipknot’s biggest single, Duality
- "It felt like my head was going to explode." Alligator murder, police raids and abandoned adult theatres: the story of the chaotic video shoot that helped make an underground 90s band cult legends
- "It was something that hit you like a flash of light, so you write a song about it": The story of the magical Saxon classic inspired by heavy metal music, heavy metal fans and... Toto?
- "A triumphant two fingers to everyone who had written him off": Why Diary Of A Madman deserves to be remembered as more than the album that kicked off Ozzy's crazy years
- “They told me, ‘David Gilmour’s not going to like this. You’re going to hear some thunder!’ You think he’s going to be one way and then he goes completely the other. And that’s good”: Pink Floyd’s Indiana Jones adventure with The Endless River
November 6
- "Jonathan was just bugging out. So we thought, ‘That may work out if Chester sang on the verse’”: The unreleased Korn album we’ve been waiting 20 years to hear – complete with Chester Bennington collaboration
- “I was staring at the LA cityscape wondering what the hell I was doing with my life. I was examining every awful thing about myself”: How My Chemical Romance took alienation, anxiety and hair bleach and turned it into the emo Bohemian Rhapsody
- "He smells like the inside of your grandmother's purse": Spinal Tap's improbable return is the comeback no one expected – and even fewer requested
- “It’s the moment the cracks appeared and their decline into preposterousness began. It sinks under the weight of its own self-importance”: What members of Marillion, Dream Theater, Asia and more think of Yes’ Tales From Topographic Oceans
- “We were very aware of creating something that didn’t sound exactly like anybody else. Now, of course, it sounds like everyone else”: This cult Seattle band helped invent 90s emo. Then Dave Grohl poached two of their members for Foo Fighters
- “Dave and I were in a position where there was no Plan B. There was no escape hatch”: Megadeth were broke, homeless and way behind Metallica. But this thrash classic inspired by Patti Smith and written on a borrowed bass would change everything
November 5
- "I did the entire record in a wheelchair; it was brutally painful.” How a stagediving accident, massive hospital bills and the grunge explosion turned a bunch of "dirtbag punks" into Metallica-approved stoner metal icons
- “Even though Dave might claim that he wrote Leper Messiah, he didn’t”: The story of every song Dave Mustaine co-wrote for Metallica – and what Megadeth did with those riffs
- One of the best British rock bands of their generation just released their first new song in seven years - and it absolutely slays
- "Some killer songwriting behind the blood and raw meat": Nine albums by W.A.S.P you should hear and one to avoid
- "I think the song will resonate for the next hundred years": The story of the Kiss classic Kiss didn't actually write
- “They lock in and deliver really interesting riffs in a way that makes them sound simple, when they’re not simple at all” TesseracT’s James Monteith on the guitarist and band who changed his approach to music in the 90s
November 4
- A female-fronted band is finally headlining Download Festival. It's about damn time
- “Arnold saw me and went, ‘You! Out!’. He didn’t want anybody challenging him”: The incredible story of the 80s heavy metal bodybuilder who bent steel bars with his teeth and links Ozzy Osbourne, Jimmy Page and Arnold Schwarzenegger
- “The edges were bound to fray – we were bound to take from each other. David Gilmour openly accused Roger Waters of copying me”: The influential folk singer-songwriter who never quite gained stardom, but gained massive respect instead
- Are you the ultimate Bon Jovi fan? Take our quiz to find out
- "We wanted Wayne Kramer from The MC5 to be our guitarist": Founding Motörhead drummer Lucas Fox looks back on the band's earliest days
- "Did you ever have one of those days when you want to go out, buy an enormous bag of coke and dive into it face-first?" Memories of a Hollywood night out with Ozzy Osbourne
November 3
- Classic Rock's Tracks Of The Week: November 3, 2025
- “We were never meant to be a professional band...it’s like, ‘Oh my God, what have I done?'" A politician's assassination, a motorbike ride and a gothic Western: the story of the song that crowned one of Europe's most unlikely star bands
- “There’s no such thing as coincidence. It’s about being in a flow state. Joining the band I tripped to as a teenager… it all makes sense”: Gong may have lost some humour and older songs, but Kavus Torabi says they’re still supernatural
- “I loved working with bands like Opeth and Marillion. I was starting to get a name for myself. But my New Year resolution was to learn to say ‘no’”: In 2009 this notorious workaholic was trying to do less. His career suggests it didn’t go that way
November 2
- “He couldn’t stand up so I hit him over the head with my bass. He fell to the floor. I ran away… I didn’t know if he was still alive”: The bassist who survived Fairport Convention, Jethro Tull and believing he’d murdered his bandmate on stage
- “It was those first two lines. I felt like it was speaking to my life. I knew I could deliver that song with conviction”: One day Sebastian Bach was playing to Jon Bon Jovi’s parents. The next he was singing one of hair metal’s greatest anthems
November 1
- “I asked them, ‘What’s it like to be famous?’ and they all said, ‘We hate it’”: The story of the landmark grunge album that paved the way for Nirvana’s Nevermind but set the band that made it on the path to darkness
- 4 brilliant new metal bands you need to hear this month
- “Even my dental hygienist sent me something the other day to say they were all singing it at some wedding reception”: How a British boogie-rock band turned a minor John Fogerty hit into an all-time classic that kicked off the biggest gig in history
- “You’ll hear him say everything from, ‘I never wanted it to be a single’ to ‘I hated the song’”: The huge Linkin Park hit that Chester Bennington didn’t even want on Hybrid Theory
- “I was with Ozzy nine months and it didn’t end in a good break-up”: Drum legend Carmine Appice on getting high with Jimi Hendrix, falling out with Ozzy Osbourne and the late guitar hero he spoke to just before he died