All content archive

June 2026

Filter

Year
Month

101 articles

June 13
- “This track is very much John Deacon world. I don’t think I was on it at all to start off with! He was much more into funk than we were. So it’s his rhythm guitar playing – not mine”: Brian May on the No 1 hit that made Queen the biggest band in the world
- “The best songwriter we ever had, followed closely by Paul McCartney”: Graham Coxon on his influences and why his new album is coming out 15 years late
June 12
- “Even though words are supposed to kind of be my thing, I will never be able to express my gratitude to you guys for doing that for me”: Taylor Swift pays tribute to her parents at Songwriters Hall Of Fame ceremony
- “An immensely powerful tool for recording, live use, rehearsing and practising, teaching, live streaming and more”: Yamaha EAD50 review
- "A stunningly good reverb pedal that sounds and operates like one twice the price": Hotone NC-200 Verbera review
- “It used to be, like, 25 minutes long!”: How Axl Rose took inspiration from Elton John to create a classic Guns N’ Roses ballad that was years in the making
- “I didn't even want it to be on the record, honestly. How wrong could I have possibly been?”: How Linkin Park created their biggest song that has now racked up billions of streams
- “All the notes are different, but the feel of it and the rhythm of it gives that track an extra little kick”: Producer Mike Stock on the secret sauce in Rick Astley's biggest song, why Stock Aitken Waterman was never a 'hit factory', and new music
- "I’d imagine James Murphy would think: ‘The kids are coming up from behind – but this one I’m not concerned about actually’…”: The Unofficial Scotland World Cup song is a tribute to LCD Soundsystem
- “Did Bob Dylan sue me? He teased me about it but didn’t sue”: Elvis Costello won’t be suing Olivia Rodrigo over supposed plagiarism
- “I think he’s the most underrated guitarist in rock history. People don’t realise how inventive he was”: Geddy Lee, Paul Gilbert and John Petrucci on the guitar genius of Rush legend Alex Lifeson
- “I was sitting there thinking, 'I have no idea how I'm learning that,' but somehow it's working because I learned those songs in a completely different way”: How Anika Nilles prepared for the Rush tour
- “Playing with your fingers has something to do with immediacy and soul. You’re absolutely in touch with what’s going on”: How Mark Knopfler combined sublime fingerpicking and Shakespearean tragedy in a Dire Straits classic
- Misstra know it all? It's MusicRadar's Quiz of the Week #9
- UVI's Rumble reinvents bass sound design by sculpting subs, mids and highs as separate instruments
June 11
- “Sounds you'll never have heard from a guitar before”: Strandberg x Jamstik Chameleon review
- “Playing music should always be fun. It should feel like an escape”: Ed Sheeran teams up with Orange to create the “ultimate busking amp” and launches grassroots music campaign to encourage young players to get out and play
- “They’re not really football people who are performing anyway, are they?” Noel Gallagher on the artists playing the first World Cup Half Time Show
- "In this very broken moment of my life, my little grandson Bear looked at me and said, ‘Try again’”: Billy Ray Cyrus on the moment he was inspired to overcome the vocal paralysis that had stopped him from singing
- "A first step in making sure that these ‌tracks ⁠don't dilute the royalty pool in any significant way": Deezer to launch an AI sniffer for users on all platforms
- “Almost nobody seemed to realise it was him. There were no crowds and you could really tell just how much fun he was having”: Mick Jagger turns up and sings at an Oxford pub folk session
- “You’re supposed to be a big pop producer, give me some pop!”: We just got a track-by-track breakdown of The Boys of Dungeon Lane with Paul McCartney himself - here's what he had to say
- “Say goodbye to unravelling cables, trip hazards on stage, and restricted movement”: The t-bone launch new series of wireless mics
- “He had to have his privacy. He had to be completely alone. We did not have visitors in the studio”: After the brutal firing of his Purple Rain band, Prince worked in isolation to create a foreboding masterpiece
- “An affirming, beautifully written testament to art, life and sound, Music is a lasting gift from a true musical great”: Ryuichi Sakamoto’s autobiography to be published in September
June 10
- “A natural fit for industrial, techno, noise and experimental electronic music”: Erica Synths Xenodrive review
- "The addition of NAM profile compatibility pushes it well beyond your average multi-effects pedal": Nux MG-50Li review
- Is Synplant 2's new prompt-based patch generator the future of synthesis?
- Dweezil Zappa shredding in a skate park? That must be Charvel’s all-new American Neo-Classic Series – doublecuts loaded with Seymour Duncans, built for speed, and made in the USA
- “The ES-355 has always been a really special guitar for me – it’s got this incredible balance of elegance and power”: Epiphone and Alex Lifeson team up for an Inspired By Gibson Custom replica of the Rush guitarist’s iconic 1976 ES-355
- “For engineers mixing on small studio monitors, these will be a huge asset for checking the bass and sub bass”: Sennheiser HD 480 Pro review
- "When he died, I cried. And I actually jumped into the ocean at San Francisco. And let me tell you, the ocean at San Francisco is cold": Bass legend Jaco Pastorius
- “Thank you for the kind words. I deserve them”: Randy Newman playfully accepts Taylor Swift’s praise as they sing You Got A Friend In Me together at the Toy Story 5 premiere
- Chili Peppers' Dani California, Ghost, Extreme, BABYMETAL and Weezer all confirmed for Guitar Hero successor game: “Our ultimate goal is not only to bring the rhythm game back but bring it back better than ever before”:
- “The violin bow was laying on the floor of the studio. Just to be class clown, I picked it up and tried to emulate Jimmy Page from The Song Remains The Same”: How The Cult created their classic signature song
- "She’s banging out songs, saying ‘what do you think of this?’ And I’m like, ‘it’s great’. I’m not really sure, but it took me 16 years to do the last album!'": Robert Smith can't match Olivia Rodrigo's work rate but teases 'dismal' and 'poppy' Cure albums
- “I said to Guy-Man, ‘Let’s wear ski jackets – if we get through that anything will be easy.’ And that’s what we did – it was the worst ever”: Thomas Bangalter reveals Daft Punk's extreme preparation for the heat of their iconic 2006 Coachella set
- “We never wanted David to write the score. It would have been a cliché”: Why Ryuichi Sakamoto’s spellbinding theme from Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence remains so captivating
- One small pedal for your ‘board, one giant step for reverberation: EHX expands the Pico series with a "cosmic reverb" for adventures in soundscape generation and otherworldly guitar sounds
- "The more you look at it like some tech-boy producer, the less you get it": 5 great songs with questionable mixes
June 9
- “It quickly became one of our more popular models, but we have regularly heard players request one change”: Do not adjust your set – Gibson just unveiled a doublecut shred machine with a Floyd Rose
- “I was so happy for her… nailing all of the big Neil moments with a giant smile on her face the whole time! She really is the perfect choice for this!”: Mike Portnoy is effusive in his praise of Anika Nilles’ performance at Rush comeback gig
- “They keep tagging the band and they don’t even say it’s not a real band”: Angine De Poitrine have acquired some Russian doppelgangers
- “One of the most creative, out-of-the-box things we have done in a while”: PRS Guitars just made a signature guitar for an anime character
- “Believe you me, I think the offers that have been turned down are literally eye-watering”: They might be Gen-Z's new favourite band, but the chances of a Dire Straits reunion are "unfortunately, nil” says keyboard player Guy Fletcher
- “If 100 people think your song sucks, they will create 200 people who think your song is awesome”: Questionable music marketing didn't begin with the recent Geese scandal - it's been going on for decades
- “I said, ‘You’ve got to be joking! You can’t put out a record about a trad band playing in a pub and expect it to sell!’": the story of the classic Dire Straits song that's often imitated, but rarely mastered
- “AI isn’t the destination. Making music is”: Fender looks forward as its Studio Pro DAW integrates Moises stem separation and a smart studio assistant
- “It was a crazy bizarro moment for me to be sitting there with Brian May as he's talking about Skeletor and Man-E-Faces. It was so weird and so cool": How Brian May ended up wielding his 'Sword of Power' Red Special on the Masters of the Universe theme
- “I knew when I first heard PinkPantheress that we had similar musical DNA. She's insanely melodic”: Producer Oscar Scheller on the studio secrets behind his viral hits
- “It’s supposed to be ridiculous. It’s a song about ridiculousness. So I called Jim Steinman”: How a goth legend hooked up with Meat Loaf’s songwriter to create an ’80s rock anthem
- Eventide unveils the H9 Harmonizer Gen 2 – now with the complete suite of H90 and algorithms, ARM processing and more
- “More drummer-friendly than ever”: Drum Workshop launch updated version of their 9000 series of stands and hardware
- “The union passed a motion to ban the use of synths, drum machines and any electronic devices”: the day the 'Loony' Musician's Union tried to kill the synthesizer (which also happened to be Bob Moog’s birthday)
June 8
- “A kid called Chris Martin was reaching out for music and A-ha became part of his story”: The deep connection between modern rock giants Coldplay and ’80s pop legends A-ha
- “She’s the best engineer I’ve ever worked with, period. I’ve made all my albums with Laura pretty much since I started”: Jack Antonoff on the “genius” engineer behind Taylor Swift's biggest albums
- “They were so similar and they were like, ‘You should change it, Whitney Houston has this other song’”: Jennifer Lopez says that she was advised to change one of the songs on her debut album because it sounded too similar to a Whitney Houston hit
- “He didn’t write that many but if you think about it the ones he did were big, big hits”: How John Deacon’s genius for pop songwriting was kickstarted with the follow-up to Bohemian Rhapsody
- “I told my label I was going to make a rock album – as in an album made of rocks”: Laura Misch is turning the natural world into music with field recordings, saxophone and experimental electronics
- “I just can’t believe that this song exists with the person that it exists with”: Olivia Rodrigo confirms new song, What's Wrong With Me, featuring Robert Smith, then immediately sings it live with him during her surprise set at Primavera Sound
- “She said ‘You sing it yourself!’ There was frustration, for the first time and only time in our creative process”: The troubled making of Amy Winehouse's Tears Dry on Their Own
June 7
- “We’re playing Led Zeppelin songs, and Eddie would imitate Jimmy Page… I mean, he had it down!”: Steve Farris on the time he jammed ZZ Top and Led Zeppelin songs with Eddie Van Halen
June 6
- "Where it truly triumphs is in its versatility and value proposition": Fender Strobo-Sonic Pro Tuner Pedal review
- “I always tried to push him to be better, and he’s always been my incentive for trying to be better – better than him, sometimes”: Paul Stanley on the synergy and the rivalry that drove Kiss
June 5
- “Ibanez serves up another RG that’s built for stunt guitar, priced for virtuosos-in-training, and with enough sounds to please the fusion kid and headbanger alike”: Ibanez RGR431PB review
- Confused by guitar tabs and notation? Use this complete guide to reading music for guitar
- Bad Brains? It's MusicRadar's Quiz of the Week #9!
- MusicRadar deals of the week: We've found $200 off both a Gretsch and a Yamaha drum kit, hundreds off acoustic guitars, jaw-dropping plugin deals, and tasty recording gear bargains
- “You created the Toy Story musical world, and we are lucky to get to live in it”: Taylor Swift thanks “the incomparable” Randy Newman as she releases her own Toy Story song, I Knew It, I Knew You
- “I can visualise sitting at the lovely black Steinway piano. I was playing on it one day, and this song came to me”: How Paul McCartney created his greatest post-Beatles song
- “It’s boring to know what you’re doing in the studio – once you know what you’re doing, the magic leaves”: Jack Antonoff on why music production "expertise" is overrated
June 4
- “I just love them and they inspire me to be weirder and more myself”: Olivia Rodrigo names her current favourite band and says that their divisive 1996 record is “the only album I listen to these days”
- “It took me back to the days of riding my BMX to pick out a VHS”: Meris unveils the Ottobit X, a high-end purveyor of lo-fi guitar sounds inspired by the ‘80s
- “Engineered to be loud, fast, and absolutely zero fun for your neighbours”: Harley Benton unleashes a $185 shred-ready hotrod with a roasted maple neck and dual-humbuckers
- “The seed of the song came from McCartney. Yes, I ripped him off”: Yacht rock legend Christopher Cross reveals that Ride Like The Wind was inspired by a 1974 Wings song
- “I used to think that Reaper was a joke. If I saw someone using it, I would assume they're not serious”: How Reaper is taking over the production world one enthusiastic user at a time
June 3
- Scientists finally unravel the mysteries of a pianist’s ‘touch’ after measuring hand and finger movements with "microscopic spatial precision"
- Fender gives the Tone Master Pro a serious firmware update, adding some bona-fide classics from the Big F amp archive – and some high-gain fire from EVH Gear too
- “I looked at my band, and they were all looking at the floor, so that was the first hint that something was not right": Barry Manilow says that he doesn’t “sound like me” after cancer surgery
- Universal Audio takes on Auto-Tune with Topline Vocal Tune – and promises pitch-perfect vocals "from the first take"
- The Gibson Hummingbird is one of the world’s most-loved high-end acoustics – and Epiphone just made a $229 Tribute version
- “What is it? Do you know the wacky chord?”: Paul McCartney shows you how to play the mystery guitar chord that kickstarted his new album – but he still doesn’t know what it’s called
- “The very guitar Ace played at Kiss’s legendary four night residency at Japan’s Nippon Budokan arena”: Ace Frehley’s iconic ‘Budokan’ Les Paul Custom sells at auction for $512,000
- “There’s only me and Mick and David Bowie and Willie Weeks and Kenney Jones on it – the basic track”: Ronnie Wood on the first Stones song he helped to create – before he was in the band
- “I can't stand Eddie Van Halen's guitar playing. I think he ruined rock guitar all through the '80s and '90s 'cause so many people copied him”: Fighting talk from the Jesus And Mary Chain
- "He will remain for me always as a real symbol of the joy that music has brought to my life. His voice and his talent will be missed": R&B singer Peabo Bryson has died, aged 75
- “I had confused the two similar circuits and made a horrible mistake. I made a video. I told everyone”: JHS Pedals unveils the Fumble – an $89 boost pedal with a seriously complicated back story involving John Mayer, Dumble amps and a ‘70s acoustic preamp
June 2
- “I wrote this song as soon as I got home from the screening. Sometimes you just know, right?: Taylor Swift reunites with Jack Antonoff and goes back to country for Toy Story 5 song, I Knew It, I Knew You
- “Thanks for the geography lesson… I don't know what you have to be so proud of right now": Black Crowes booed at gig in Tampa, Florida
- After seeing them in action, I’m convinced that Ableton’s Extensions are going to change how music-makers use Live forever
- “In actual fact, it’s pure maths”: Just what are Angine de Poitrine actually doing musically? We dissect their biggest track
- “Tom got really angry with me. He said, ‘You’re one of the best songwriters I know. You don’t need my help. You don’t need anybody’s help!’”: How Tom Petty inspired Stevie Nicks to make a comeback – and why she felt misunderstood by Prince
- “The thoughts, prayers and love of friends and fans are welcomed and deeply appreciated”: R&B singer Peabo Bryson has suffered a stroke
- “It did occur to me that the guitar part was very much something I would do”: Fleetwood Mac's Lindsey Buckingham spots something familiar in a hit Sam Fender song
- "The app is where things get both wild and a little weird:" Positive Grid Reactor 50 Intelligent Guitar Combo Amp review
- "We got so bored with it, we didn’t even play it, which was a mistake": it’s the song everyone wants to hear": The Bluetones on their “sideways tribute” to Jimi Hendrix
- “The technology always needed to catch up in a sonic sense. The opinion was always that it never sounded as good as a cable and would not be adopted”: How Radiohead were finally convinced to embrace wireless guitar and mic tech for their most recent shows
- Positive Grid's new AI-enabled combo lets you design "any tone imaginable" by text or image – and can even create an amp sound that has never existed before
June 1
- “The chorus wrote itself, the chords took me about 10-15 minutes and then Paul came up with the verses while he was waiting for a lift to a gig the next day!”: How one of the greatest rock anthems of all time was created in the wake of a nightmare show
- “As it was coming up, I was thinking, ‘Oh no, how’s he going to be able to handle the solo?’”: Audience member at a live orchestral performance of La La Land wows both conductor and crowd as he steps in for ailing keyboard player at the half-time interval
- “I said, ‘I tell you what. I will give this song to the group – just put it on the album’”: Commodores bassist Ronald LaPread, who has died at the age of 75, said that one of his greatest basslines might never have been heard