News archive
January 2026
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94 articles
- January 31
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- "We don't accept the brutality, the lies, the loss of our simplest pleasures": Joan Jett joins growing list of musicians to voice solidarity with anti-ICE protesters
- Here are 5 ways to watch the 2026 Grammy Awards for less – find out if Sleep Token, Deftones, Linkin Park, Spiritbox and Ghost scoop any gongs this year
- January 30
- January 29
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- “It was something Ozzy was very passionate about: giving young talent a stage in front of a lot of people”: Sharon Osbourne is talking to Live Nation about bringing Ozzfest back
- “I think we’re headed to some really ugly terrain”: Ice-T explains why he changed lyrics from Body Count’s Cop Killer to ‘ICE Killer’ last year, as government agency faces heightened backlash for 2026 killings
- “Why would I want to play with those guys?” Dave Mustaine doesn’t want to reunite with certain former Megadeth members because they bad-mouthed him in interviews
- “I’m taking care of myself for the first time ever”: Metallica, Slayer and Kiss members appear in new trailer for Paul Di’Anno documentary Di’Anno: Iron Maiden’s Lost Singer
- "New York is an eccentric city. We met a police officer smoking a cigar outside JFK and got in a cab while Africa by Toto blasted out of the radio." How memories of a "surreal" first US trip re-lit a fire under one of Britain's best young bands
- "Mars was forced to admit under oath that his statements were false": Mötley Crüe claim comprehensive victory in legal battle with Mick Mars
- January 28
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- "Going back to our roots, we felt that spark in the studio and how we work together": The Black Crowes announce new single and massive co-headline tour with Whiskey Myers
- "There were bloody footprints where mercy should have stood. And two dead left to die on snow-filled streets, Alex Pretti and Renee Good." Bruce Springsteen releases moving anti-ICE protest song Streets of Minneapolis
- "It's a more sinister sound, because these are sinister times." Kneecap announce new album Fenian, share its politicised, hard-hitting punk-rave single Liars Tale
- Jeff Buckley finally scores an entry on the US singles chart nearly three decades after his death
- “There’s no other explanation for how bad we looked”: Basketball fan goes viral after suggesting their team lost because a Ghost concert cursed the arena
- "You guys got more money than God, why do you have to take my money?" Dave Mustaine on his conversation with James Hetfield that ended Metallica's plan to release their legendary No Life 'Til Leather demo on vinyl and CD
- "What we're doing is more closely related to Lady Gaga than many rock bands." Ghost frontman Tobias Forge reveals what the Swedish metallers have in common with one of pop's biggest icons
- “I just want this dementia-riddled sociopath and his cabinet of freaks removed from office”: Lamb Of God, Converge and other leading metal bands speak out following fatal ICE shootings in Minneapolis
- January 27
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- The new collector's edition of Aerosmith's debut album comes with unreleased music, a satin tour jacket and a 3D pop-up diorama
- "The first song I ever wrote with Ozzy was on that guitar - and then also, the last tribute to him." Ozzy Osbourne's longest-serving guitarist Zakk Wylde opens up on the emotional new song he's written in memory of the Prince Of Darkness
- The guy who just climbed that skyscraper live on Netflix listened to a lot of Tool on the way up
- "I hope my music and music films will ease some of the unwarranted stress and threats you are experiencing from our unpopular and hopefully temporary government": Neil Young gifts his entire back catalogue to the residents of Greenland
- January 26
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- "Wander into Alice's Attic, a realm of insanity… if you dare!" Alice Cooper announces Alice's Attic tour
- Hungry heart for music biopics? Here's how to watch Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere from as little as £3.99 on Disney+ – but you only have 2 days left to grab this deal
- "It wasn't as big as Guns N' Roses - but it could have been. It just didn't last long enough." A member of one of rock's most celebrated supergroups says things could have got even bigger if the wheels hadn't fallen off
- January 25
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- Yungblud responds to backlash over controversial Till Lindemann photo: “You all know what I stand for, always. I’ll be more for it in the future”
- "She understands the history of music, but she’s also pushing it forward. She is the future." Record company execs expect big things of Dave Grohl's daughter Violet
- January 23
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- “I’ve got fame, I’ve got adulation, but I was still in the mental prison." One of heavy metal's most iconic stars reflects on the day he knew that he had to choose between sobriety or annihilation
- "It doesn’t feel like anything we’ve done before": Tedeschi Trucks Band announces new studio album and mammoth tour - listen to first single I Got You now
- Former Scorpions / Michael Schenker bassist Francis Buchholz dead at 71
- "A man was beheaded there and sometimes you can hear his head rolling down": The historic Loch Ness manor once home to Jimmy Page and Aleister Crowley is opening to the public for the first time in 260 years
- January 22
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- "It's hard rock for us. It's got a bit more of an 'oomph' than stuff we've been doing for a while": Def Leppard launch new single Rejoice ahead of Las Vegas residency
- "We’re gonna come back – it’s gonna be bigger than Oasis." Kyle Gass reflects on the "highly inappropriate, dangerous" joke that forced Tenacious D to go on hiatus, and reveals his horror over the "tsunami of s**t" that followed
- "Like a fantastic beast sprung from Dante's Inferno": Meet the 67-million-year-old Triceratops skull named after Ozzy Osbourne
- January 21
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- "We are monitoring Mick's progress daily": Uriah Heep founder Mick Box to miss dates on farewell tour after falling ill
- "Dementia? What is? NO! Trump smart, pass brain test, name giraffe!" Jack White mercilessly mocks Donald Trump over "365 wins in 365 days" claims
- "There was a lot of tension throughout. I’m surprised they didn‘t fire me early on!" Producer Michael Beinhorn reflects on the "difficult" challenges he faced recording Soundgarden masterpiece Superunknown, and how Frank Sinatra helped
- "We’re broke. We can't get jobs – and we just did two months in arenas and stadiums." One of the UK's best young bands have revealed the depressing reality of playing rock music in 2026
- January 20
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- "The impact he left on art is truly magical." Dave Grohl's daughter Violet, and Gary Numan's daughter Persia, team up to salute one of America's greatest film-makers on what would have been his 80th birthday
- Rush to release Super Deluxe box set of 1984's Grace Under Pressure in March
- "We don't let many people use our music but we felt it was a calculated risk." Iron Maiden respond to the jaw-dropping 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple scene that might have already produced 2026's best needle drop
- "This footage is absolutely unbelievable, and nobody can deny it": Ten minutes of previously unseen live film of Pink Floyd has escaped onto the internet
- January 19
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- "Mike is a complicated person, but he is not a thief." NOFX reveal that guitarist Eric Melvin is suing band leader Fat Mike, accusing him of "financial malfeasance" after 42 years together
- Still to watch The Beatles Anthology or Tron: Ares? Now’s the perfect time with a Disney+ subscription up for grabs from only £3.99 a month
- "He could send masked men around to shoot me in the head." Former Pink Floyd frontman Roger Waters says that his vocal opposition to "evil" US President Trump could get him killed
- "Our state is the best place in the country to bring dreams to life": A second Sphere venue is coming to the US
- January 18
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- "I was literally dumbfounded and shocked that it had happened": John Fogerty sprinkles rock'n'roll magic with songs and stories at intimate Tiny Desk Concert
- "We're looking forward to incredible crowds, massive energy and more unforgettable nights!" Alice Cooper, Joe Perry and Johnny Depp announce Hollywood Vampires tour
- January 16
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- "I started listening to what the gym guys were listening to. When I first heard Metallica, I was like, 'Right, this is speaking to me.'" WWE Champion Drew McIntyre reveals what's on his workout mix - and the huge role music plays in his life
- "I wouldn’t do Glastonbury because of the politics of the people who run it." Brian May rules out Queen performing at Glastonbury festival for the foreseeable future
- Pink Floyd's legendary Pompeii concert film to get 4K Ultra HD Blu-Ray release
- January 15
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- Limp Bizkit, Bad Omens, Papa Roach, Gojira, Poppy, plus more than 50 other bands announced for Inkcarceration Festival 2026
- "Some of the people we lost have really affected me. Lemmy, Dio, Ozzy… you hear about them going and you think, ‘No!’" Metal legend and Megadeth frontman Dave Mustaine on losing his friends and peers
- "We’re heading into oblivion...particularly here in America. Things are acceptable now that would’ve horrified people 20 years ago." One of the 21st century's best metal bands is back with a new album – listen to the ferocious new Lamb Of God single here
- January 14
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- Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist Flea announces first North American, UK and European solo shows in support of his debut solo album, Honora
- "The thing that influenced me most was the news. We are in some kind of ‘post empire’ now, where people just disappear." Sonic Youth legend Kim Gordon announces new album Play Me, shares new single Not Today
- Peter Gabriel announces physical release of live albums In The Big Room and Live At WOMAD 82
- January 13
- January 12
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- "We're celebrating the legacy of the music and bringing it to a whole new generation of fans": Sammy Hagar promises "deep dive into the Van Halen years" on Best Of All Worlds tour dates with Rick Springfield
- “We are still getting compared to artists that have nothing to do with us. And not always good or talented artists”: Jinjer’s Tatiana Shmayluk takes aim at the term “female-fronted band”
- “What happens when a guy can decide everything when he owns everything?”: Elon Musk inspired the bad guy on the new album by synthwave maestro Carpenter Brut
- January 11
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- “AC/DC started calling me ‘Batgirl’. Every day I’d go into my dressing room and there’d be a little bat rubber ducky”: AC/DC threw Taylor Momsen a bat-themed birthday party, after she got bit halfway through a show
- "I had to stick my head in the low bins - it got blown off when Bill Ward was hammering the kick drum." Alex Van Halen praises the impact of seeing Black Sabbath for the first time
- Grateful Dead founding guitarist and singer Bob Weir dead at 78
- January 10
- January 9
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- "Something has to change this. We know what to do. Rise up." One of rock music's most respected voices says that Donald Trump is "destroying America" with the support of "idiots with no conscience"
- Rick Wakeman, Steve Hackett, Asia, Caravan, Focus and more lined up for huge new prog cruise taking place this summer
- "I was Catholic when I put the album on. Midway through, I became a full-blown Satanist": Watch the first episode of the eagerly-awaited series Tony Iommi - The Godfather of Heavy Metal, starring Rob Halford, Zakk Wylde, Brian May, Tom Morello and more
- "Rich brought a spontaneity to the record that I can't describe, but it's the best s*** he's ever done": The Black Crowes announce new album - listen to the first two tracks now
- January 8
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- “Playing in space would be a fitting climax!” Megadeth are on the cover of the new Metal Hammer
- Arena singer Damian Wilson to leave the band at the end of this year. Paul Manzi to return...
- "Sweat was dripping off the walls!" Rolling Stones guitarist Ronnie Wood looks back on the '60s, shares memories of The Yardbirds, Jeff Beck, Jimi Hendrix and Deep Purple's Jon Lord
- Halsey, Iron Maiden, Gorillaz, Limp Bizkit and Bring Me The Horizon to play Rock For People 2026 – day splits announced
- January 7
- January 6
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- “I feel despondent about the world of humans.” Queen legend Brian May reveals the fears that keep him awake at night
- “I lost a lot of hair when Lemmy blasted his bass. You’d see big bikers at the front of the house throwing up”: Watch Motörhead drummer react to fans’ stories about the heavy metal trailblazers
- Gong kick off the New Year with video for blissed out new single The Wonderment
- Steve Harris reveals the song he wants to bring back to Iron Maiden’s setlist: “It’s difficult to do a set from any part of our career and not miss things out”
- January 5
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- David Lee Roth announces extensive North American tour
- "The collective mood is influenced by the combination of loud, fast music, synchronized with bright flashing lights, and frequent intoxication." What the science behind mosh pits can tell us about human behaviour
- "It is unlikely that extreme metal musicians are trying to increase mating success through their music." A study suggested that men who play guitar in extreme metal bands mainly do it to impress other men
- "A powerful tribute to the unbreakable connection between music, tradition and the human spirit." Depeche Mode’s acclaimed concert film M to premiere on Netflix this week
- Haken part ways with Charlie Griffiths and Conner Green
- January 4
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- Led Zeppelin bassist John Paul Jones is auctioning off a load of studio equipment including a bass amp with speakers that were blown after being left at Dave Grohl's house
- "I'll never forget it. It still brings goosebumps." System Of A Down's Daron Malakian on being asked to fill in for injured James Hetfield on Metallica's Summer Sanitarium tour in 2000
- Watch Billy Joel perform live for first time since being diagnosed with rare brain condition – as he surprises tribute band and audience in Florida
- January 2
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- "They did okay without me." Iron Maiden guitarist Adrian Smith looks back on his unsuccessful 1991 audition for one of the biggest bands in the world
- "To watch one of my idols work on something that I had written was one of the greatest honours of my life. " Watch Yungblud team up with Smashing Pumpkins for a reworking of 2025 single Zombie
- The return of the Prog Magazine Progcast, discussing the Prog writers' Albums Of The Year lists
- "I have been thinking about the future and how we might respond to it." Peter Gabriel announces surprise new album and single
- Phil Lynott, 40 years gone: A celebration by his bandmates and friends - only in the new issue of Classic Rock
- January 1
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- Sum 41 frontman Deryck Whibley gives "major health update" and reveals his body is operating at level of someone 8 years younger
- Guitar God Nita Strauss announces 'miracle' pregnancy as she and husband look forward to welcoming their first child
- "In 2026 I shall have definitely, definitely have my solo album out": Tony Iommi films New Year message, reflects on the "Summer of Sabbath"
