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June 2026

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246 articles

June 30
- “To call Led Zeppelin heavy metal is at the very least absurd and at worst a sin. To me, Zeppelin was the equivalent of great classical music”: Kiss stars Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons on why Zep and The Beatles’ debut albums are the greatest of all time
- “You'll come for the hands-on tweaking but stay for the sound”: Modal Electronics Carbon8X review
- “In a world that so often reduces art to commerce and genius to product, you held the line”: Alicia Keys, Dionne Warwick, Springsteen and Manilow pay tribute to Clive Davis at his funeral
- “I was so excited, 'cause I met my pre-saves goal, and then it dropped, and I was like, ‘Oh, OK, this isn't what I thought it would be": Lizzo says that her new album's poor commercial performance felt "soul crushing"
- UJAM's Retrocraft is an all-in-one multi-effects plugin for lo-fi vintage vibes
- I’m so obsessed with your sets: Olivia Rodrigo’s new LEGO collection includes a dual acoustic/electric guitar, vinyl display and the crescent moon she rode on her Guts world tour
- “No plausible basis for suggesting a more accurate, let alone fairer, distribution": Blur drummer loses legal action against PRS over distribution of royalties
- “When we played with Mötley Crüe, Nikki Sixx said to us, ‘We did some dumb stuff in our career, but man, you guys need to step on the brakes!’ So you can imagine the insanity”: Zoltan Bathory on 20 years of Five Finger Death Punch
- "I remember it to this day, you know, exactly where I was when he said it": Paul McCartney's favourite song he's ever written is possibly the only one John Lennon ever complimented him on directly
- “I was chatting to our guitarist yesterday and he said, ‘Do you remember when we were playing around and discovered F?’”: We speak to Haircut 100's Nick Heyward
June 29
- “My dad just wrote Walrus for Magical Mystery Tour. That’s one song in six months”: But Sean Ono Lennon is still amazed at the Beatles’ work rate
- “I’m from dance music – there’s nothing wrong with staying on one note for 6 minutes as long as it’s a really good note. So I said to her: ‘I don’t think I’m the right person to do this’”: Stuart Price on the start of his working relationship with Madonna
- “The promoter knew a dangerous storm was brewing but still had the crew set up the stage and told the band to get ready to perform”: B-52s criticise French promoter who they claim put band and crew at risk
- “Let’s get clear: a lot of the white men in suits loved Jagged Little Pill and got excited about female artists for myriad reasons, one of them being ‘women make us money now’”: Alanis Morissette reflects on how the music industry has changed for women
- "It is an impressive and genuinely pleasurable keyboard to play, and arguably one of the finest key actions available on any digital piano today" Kawai CA901 digital piano review
- “He has poured his passion, creativity, and relentless commitment into Gibson”: Cesar Gueikian steps down as Gibson CEO after three years
- Is your track in the datasets that are being used to train AI? The Atlantic unveils a way you can find out
- "I just felt something come over me and I said, ‘Now we're gonna do our first number one record. It's called Baby Come Back – hope you like it": The story of the classic yacht rock single that Clive Davis rejected but the world fell in love with
- “We discovered pretty early on that we were not going to succeed by trying to emulate the likes of Bob Dylan. There are some very strange things on ZZ Top records”: Billy Gibbons on ZZ’s blues roots, ’80s mega-hits and their unique “sense of weird”
- School's out for summer: It's MusicRadar's Quiz of the Week #11!
June 28
- “For about six months, we were the coolest band on the planet”: We talk to Embrace about the extraordinary song that put them on the indie map
- “What we learned from Steve was don’t overthink it. It’s a performance, a vibe, a take, and sometimes the accidents and mistakes add to it”: How Neurosis nailed their epic sound with Steve Albini
June 27
- “When I heard Wes, it killed me. The guy played with his thumb, and it’s all downstrokes, which means it’s twice the effort, but he was still so fast it just smoked me!”: The jazz classic that Nile Rodgers named as his favourite guitar track of all time
- “I think he altered his perspective after working with us. He did some wonderful stuff after that. He got out of just heavy metal, and that's a good, good thing": John Lydon and Bill Laswell remember the making of Rise - with a little help from Steve Vai
June 26
- "The baritone format might just be the CVT’s natural home": Gretsch Electromatic CVT Baritone review
- Has Kramer ever looked better? The shred brand's golden era arrives as it celebrates 50th Anniversary with metallic gold makeover for its high-performance lineup
- “The ones who were there want to go back. The ones who weren't want to understand what the fuss was about”: There's no Glastonbury this year, but this newly restored movie is here to show you what it looked and sounded like in 1993
- “A very impressive all-in-one audio recording solution aimed at music and multimedia users”: Hisong AirStudio S1 review
- How to re-create Drake’s smooth Burning Bridges sound using plugins
- “We strongly believe that in the coming years, writing code manually won't be a thing”: Inside the new wave of AI vibe coding tools turning prompts into plugins
- “I was like, ‘Taylor, what songs do you want me to sing? This is your night.’ And she was like, ‘No, you choose.’ So I was like, ‘Seriously?’”: Sombr reflects on being asked to perform in honour of Taylor Swift after she called him "the future"
- “An incredibly exciting instrument that's capable of some pretty clever party tricks”: Expressive E Osmose CE review
- “This is actually rock music written on electronic equipment”: How to replicate the sample-based sonics of a gnarly Prodigy classic
- “Charli has one consistent theme when it comes to drum beats - simplicity”: How to replicate Charli XCX’s sonic characteristics
- Want to recreate the classic sound of golden age '90s hip-hop? Download this pack of 537 free samples from SampleRadar
- “When I listen to the record, it just sounds like me. Maybe that was the point to begin with. There was no point doing an anorak sounds-alike thing”: Why Joe Bonamassa’s tribute to Rory Gallagher didn’t turn out exactly as expected
June 25
- I’ve been a professional producer for decades, and these are the plugins I always call-up when working on a project
- “Apparently that beat was originally for Kanye, years ago, and then didn’t work out. Then he was like, ‘I know where to put this’”: Finneas on the "weird production choices" in a TV theme that's become a modern classic
- Arturia’s new Ocean-inspired reverb will turn your sounds “into a living sonic current”
- “There will be, like, maybe two more LPs of unreleased tracks… There was a lot of writing in that band”: Billy Corgan to release unheard Zwan material
- What’s the difference between distortion and saturation? Here’s how you can get the best dirt for your sound
- “They were far superior guitar players to me. I could never play lead to save my life. But one thing I’m quite good at is playing with a certain feel”: Def Leppard bassist Rick Savage reveals “80%” of Hysteria’s jangle guitars were him all along
- Want crispy, retro digital drum machine sounds? Here’s our top picks of the plugin options that emulate the pioneering classics
- “Beginners start with In My Life, while advanced players choose Hey Jude”: New data reveals which Beatles songs musicians want to learn the most
- “One of the most ambitious gatherings of heavy metal royalty ever”: William Shatner's upcoming metal album is set to become live “immersive spectacle” too
- “I got tons and tons of messages from people begging me to bring it back somehow”: Brian Clevinger talks us through the legacy of Absynth, and how it was reborn for a new generation
- “Grown men were coming up to him with tears in their eyes, saying how he would never fully understand what the song had done for them over the years”: Producer Stephen Hague tells us how he made “the best English football record” with New Order
- How to tune a guitar… even if you haven’t got a tuner
- “Whether you make boom bap, trap, house, lo-fi, drill or experimental music – we want to hear your unique style and vision”: Thomann launches its beat-making competition for 2026
- “Before I was diagnosed, I used to lose my voice all the time”: Breakout star Sienna Spiro's distinctive singing voice comes at a cost
- This time-saving tool solves one of producers’ most common problems with a single keyboard shortcut
- “The best feeling is when you play back the thing you’ve made that day and you actually feel good about it. That’s the drug I’m chasing every day”: Unlocking the production tricks that Fred Again swears by
- “It speaks to something vital for community, connection, and the power of bringing people together”: Apple celebrates World Beatles Day by uploading colourised version of All You Need Is Love
June 24
- “I’m just not gonna tell you which ones they are, and I don’t think you’ll know”: John Mayer says he has already used his signature Neural DSP plugin on record – but on which songs?
- “The benchmark for vintage authenticity”: Gibson revisits the Golden Era of the original P-90 hollowbody with exquisite Custom Shop reissues of the ’59 and ’62 ES-330
- “We kept experimenting for our whole career as INXS, which is probably insane from a commercial point of view”: Multi-million selling songwriter Andrew Farriss on his band’s genre-hopping early days – and why he’s now making country music
- How to use reverb to build impressive-sounding filters, reverses, risers and pads
- “It just got ranked – what? – 75th or 76th best guitar solo of all time”: How Jim Adkins nailed his solo on the Jimmy Eat World smash-hit that Taylor Swift and Prince covered
- I stress-tested the MacBook Neo for music production and failed to topple it - now, with £50 off for Prime Day it’s the only budget laptop I’m recommending to musicians
- The best plugins for re-creating the grit and punch of classic analogue drum machines
- “Just because some of your university friends defaulted to it at karaoke doesn’t act as a strike against it”: A music professor breaks down the theory behind Oasis’s Wonderwall
- Amazon Prime Day has over 100 sound treatment deals. I run my own studio – these are the only 5 products that will actually work in your space
- Honey, it’s shrunk the orchestra!: How KeyComp is reducing the number of musicians in the musical theatre pit
- “This guy walks up to me. I thought he was gonna ask for a picture and I'm like, oh yeah, that's cool, but he goes, ‘You are so beautiful – can I take you to dinner?’”: Olivia Rodrigo on the making of Stupid Song – and an unlikely power ballad inspiration
- “If you can’t make payments, you’re forbidden from using the software”: Thinking of making your next music tech purchase on a rent-to-own plan? Read this first
- “We were debating whether George Michael or Bon Jovi should sing it, but Carlos was like, ‘I like this guy’s voice’. Clive loved the idea of getting this older guitar player together with newer generations”: Rob Thomas explains the genius of Clive Davis
- “Thom's always looking for new ways to try and express different personae”: How to get Radiohead’s resonant National Anthem vocal effect in software
- “I kind of sabotaged my earlier success. I couldn’t quite manage the whole pop thing - I wasn’t good with it”: Three decades since her debut, Beth Orton speaks to us about the road to her self-produced new album
- “The show must go. on. I nearly f***in’ fainted up there, I’m telling you”: Rod Stewart has to steady himself with a blast of oxygen during show in Utah
June 23
- 4 Prime Day fan deals to keep your home studio cool and your creativity flowing during the UK heatwave – plus, 3 practical reasons it's a wise investment for any musician
- "Some of the best things I've written were quite naive, where I didn't know what I was doing. That’s why I collect instruments I can't play": Ital Tek on creating ‘sonic worlds’ and new album Mind Abandon
- “Well balanced and sit wonderfully with each other in terms of pitch”: Zultan Alaris Cymbals review
- “Be transparent on costs or risk action”: Are you one of StubHub's 50,000 customers due a ticket refund?
- “Think of the processes like cars on a motorway. Our CPU has one lane for traffic to flow; the GPU has thousands of lanes”: Can GPU really unlock limitless music production potential?
- "There’s all this discourse online about how everything is out of tune on that track, but we need imperfection!": Oscar Scheller on his chart-smashing, Zara Larsson-featuring remix of PinkPantheress' Stateside
- Thomann has taken the fight to Amazon with its Prime Day-beating Music Days sale – save up to 60% on big gear brands including Kawai, D'Angelico, Slate Digital, and so much more
- “The tube is a slippery little sucker!”: Build your own expressive talkbox with plugins
- “Artie would be singing it, people would stomp and cheer, and I would think, ‘That’s my song, man. I wrote that’”: How Simon and Garfunkel created their transcendent masterpiece – with tension rising and emotions running high
- “It’s bittersweet to be parting with these guitars but I want them to go to new homes and new people who will love them as much as I have”: Johnny Marr is auctioning off his most-famous guitars
- “Sylvian then felt justified in mixing our work alone – which by any other name would be known as hijacking”: The destructive breakdown of a band that reached artistic greatness only to fall apart due to internal tensions – twice!
- “It belongs to the people, and it was a magical moment between the people and the players”: Wonderwall looks like being England’s anthem for this World Cup and Noel Gallagher is right behind it
- “Its success was something no one could have expected”: How Oeksound's Soothe became one of modern production's most ubiquitous plugins
- “The visionary who transformed dreams into reality, leaving an indelible mark on music and lives worldwide”: Clive Davis, music industry veteran and mentor to the stars has died, aged 94
- We urge you to check out this fantastic treasure trove of free glitch plugins
- “I wanted to dislike it, I really wanted to dislike it, but I couldn’t!”: Why Joe Bonamassa finally opened up to digital amps
- “The sample is quite timeless - I think the power of the beat itself is what people really like about it”: How to recreate the ’90s-channelling energy of a PinkPantheress banger
June 22
- “Jeff said, ‘That’s a really good riff but there’s one chord too many.’ So I cut it back a chord and then – just to amuse Jeff, honestly – I sang that first verse”: How Tom Petty created his most famous song – with a little help from Jeff Lynne
- “He swears he knows nothing at all about music, and it’s like, just Google ‘Rick Rubin, Johnny Cash’. There are many videos of him setting up the mics. He doesn’t know nothing”: Finneas seems as confused by Rick Rubin’s production claims as the rest of us
- Thomann vs Fender: World’s biggest music retailer pushes back at the Big F's cease-and-desist campaign
- “I know that there’s been a lot of conversation around me making a rock album, which is something that I never said”: Charli XCX reflects on the reaction to her 'dancefloor is dead' lyric, and says she's not about to release a rock record
- "We get along great as long as we’re not trying to make music together”: Stewart Copeland says he and Sting are still talking, even though they’re fighting a high court battle over royalties
- “I have absolutely no regrets. But with Eric Carr’s illness, I wish I’d handled that differently. The idea that someone close to me had cancer and was going to die, I couldn’t take it in”: Paul Stanley recalls the darkest day in the history of Kiss
- “You’ll find it in everything from the Prodigy to Skrillex”: How to get recognisable pop sounds and effects using only Logic’s stock plugins
- “I think you need to shake someone out of the state that they’re in in quite an aggressive way, then soothe it”: How to emulate one of Jon Hopkins' signature techniques with plugins
- “It felt like the mission statement of what the album was about”: Exploring how Harry Styles brought the sounds of minimal techno to pop with Aperture
- “You do not need to know chemistry to enjoy fireworks”: Exploring the physics-driven thinking behind some of the most groundbreaking plugins
- Soundtoys at Plugin Week 2026: The Effects the Pros Reach For First: Why Soundtoys 5 Lives on the World's Busiest Sessions
- Roland at Plugin Week 2026: Access a universe of sound with Roland Cloud – start your free trial today!
- Reason Studios at Plugin Week 2026: Unlock infinite sound design - inside Reason 14’s new RV-9 reverb and upgraded rack workflow
- U-he at Plugin Week 2026: The sonic wonder of Zebra 3 and colourful effects suite Uhbik 2
- EastWest Sounds at Plugin Week 2026: EastWest Sounds release DrumX in Collaboration with Legendary Hitmaker Jimmy Jam
- Sonarworks at Plugin Week 2026: Clone your studio to any headphones in 10 minutes. Mix with studio accuracy – anywhere, anytime, on any over-ear headphones
- Cherry Audio at Plugin Week 2026: New from Cherry Audio - Ensoniq ESQ-1 Virtual Synthesizer
- Mastering The Mix at Plugin Week 2026: FASTER MASTER gives 10 instant pro-quality mastering starting points, tailored to your track in seconds
- Dreamtonics at Plugin Week 2026: Synthesizer V Studio 2 Pro – Instant vocals for your songs in a few clicks
June 21
- “It was too odd, too complicated. I felt like I had been so in my head that I couldn’t judge”: From Bollywood to Bond – unpacking the intricate arrangement of Toxic
- “Everything that's come – ever since the very first recordings we made – has made things slower, not faster”: Better music technology hasn’t made life easier for producers than it was in the ‘80s, says Mike Stock
June 20
- Hot for teacher? It's MusicRadar's Quiz of the Week #10!
- “We called it Slow Tools. I mean, we’d have 19 breakdowns a day": How the producer of Ricky Martin's Livin' La Vida Loca overcame troublesome tech to make recording history with the first all-digital number one single
June 19
- “Could easily become one of the most beneficial elements of your mastering suite”: Mastering the Mix - Stereovault review
- "The film follows André as he journeys to work, armed with a piano strapped to his back and a notebook full of sketches in hand": André 3000 has made a short film inspired by his 7 Piano Sketches EP
- “We were in his dressing room, I was having a peek at his guitar and I was just about to stroke it, and he went: ‘Nobody touches it!’ And bam!”: Keith Richards recalls the time Chuck Berry punched him for touching his guitar
- "A legend of the game”: Acclaimed hip-hop producer Tay Keith has been found dead in his apartment, aged 29
- “George was talking to Bonzo one evening and said, ‘The problem with you guys is that you never do ballads.’ I said, ‘I’ll give him a ballad’”: How a light-hearted comment from a former Beatle inspired one of Led Zeppelin’s greatest songs
- “Got so inspired, got the songwriter zoomies. Went home, wrote the song for Toy Story 5. We have now produced it and I’m doing vocals”: Taylor Swift appears to confirm that I Knew It, I Knew You was written, recorded and produced in around eight hours
- "There's no knife-in-the-back twist. When I read these lyrics back, I was like, 'Oh, that's weird.' All the other love songs I've written have a dark edge”: How Snow Patrol constructed one of the most enduring hits of the 21st century
- “I always felt like I was the weak link in the band. I felt that my guitar playing was was too raw and unpolished”: How guitar hero Vivian Campbell overcame self-doubt to create a heavy metal masterpiece with legendary singer Ronnie James Dio
June 18
- “The most powerful standalone MPCs we have ever built at these prices": Akai’s MPC One and MPC Key 37 get second-gen upgrades
- “Right at the same time Radiohead came out with a song called Creep. To me, it felt like its moment had already passed": Beck says that he was "a little embarrassed" by his debut hit, which had “the most simple slide guitar riff you could possibly play”
- “I'm fed up with playing it. It's all right but you do get fed up with it after 50 years”: The surprising truth behind one of the biggest-selling instrumental hits of all time
June 17
- Cherry Audio emulates the Ensoniq ESQ-1 for its 40th birthday, “faithfully reproducing the complex, evolving, and richly textured sounds that defined the hardware”
- "When a doctor had to explain to me that one of the cords was literally atrophying, it was confusing”: After battling to return to the stage, Jon Bon Jovi says he’s now “fully recovered” from his vocal cord surgery
- “It's an intimidating field to step into as someone who doesn’t - cannot - read music”: Harry Styles reinterprets a Simon and Garfunkel classic plus his back catalogue with help from Jules Buckley Orchestra and Gospel House Choir
- “Despite this minimalist footprint, it’s one of the sturdiest racks I’ve tested in this price bracket”: Donner Groove Ultra electronic drum set review
- “So insanely powerful that I could see it lasting a decade or more in home recording studios”: Apple Mac Mini M4 review
- “It changes how I work – it delivers the best sound, simplifies setup, offers a sonic palette that spans decades and improves everything”: The new MU-1 mic makes the much-loved ribbon-and-condenser recording trick way more accessible, says JZ Microphones
- “First and foremost, Fender is not suing anybody”: CEO Edward ‘Bud’ Cole pushes back on the cease-and-desist controversy
- “It just seems dishonest. It seems like theft”: The Atlantic magazine uncovers that the tech giants are illegally scraping millions of songs to train their AI models and not paying grass roots musicians a cent
June 16
- “This is the record that’s been the most cathartic. The title seemed to sum up the way I think a lot of people are feeling”: A new Johnny Marr album is on the way, and his new single is out now
- “I get to 171 tracks before any errors during a full playthrough at the lowest buffer setting”: Apple MacBook Neo review
- “People who grew up in that era know all about turning the volume up at the end of the fade - that's when all the cool stuff starts happening”: Keith Urban explains the lost art of the song fade-out – and its influence on his new yacht rock covers album
- “The day that I finished learning the last song on the album, I wept. I felt like a bona fide musician”: Amanda Seyfried reflects on her viral Joni Mitchell moment – and the Joni biopic she was preparing for that never happened
- How to beat writer's block: 11 tips to help you finish that track today
- “What a weird song. Weird chord sequences, weird everything. I have no recall of what was going on in my head. For that to be your most streamed song… kind of weird, don’t you think?”: Mick Jagger on The Rolling Stones’ deathless classic
- “What is the point of this?”: Boy George has released a new AI version of Karma Chameleon, and fans aren't impressed
- “All the sonic devastation of its predecessors at roughly half the size”: EarthQuaker Devices unveils compact version of Sunn O))) Life Pedal – and this time the ultimate doom pedal is here to stay
June 15
- “Thank you for making this week so effin’ amazing!”: Rush thank fans for their support after triumphant comeback shows
- “The ‘We've gotta hold on’ was the first chorus. Jon was happy with that. I said, ‘No, no, no, that's just the B section. Let's write the chorus now’”: Songwriter Desmond Child had to fight for Livin' On A Prayer's killer chorus – and for the song itself
- “I remember when it entered the Billboard charts, when it was number one – then we had champagne in the office the whole day”: ABBA confirm that their ‘fifth member’ Gorel Hanser has died, aged 76
- "For really just a long time, it was just way too sad for me to make music”: Mike D on his grief at the loss of Adam Yauch
- “I don't know any of the chord names. I would describe my guitar playing style as nothing technical. It's technically bad, actually, but it feels correct”: Singer-songwriter Eloise talks voice notes, vocal harmonies and learning guitar by watching YouTube
- "It’s freedom from that lie that anything was ever under control. You don’t chase the parade anymore”: Dylan publishes his thoughts about ageing
- “It means whatever you want it to be”: The hidden meaning of Earth Wind And Fire’s ‘ba-dee-ya’ September chorus is revealed in new documentary
- Do you want to remix faster and better? Here's 6 essential remix skills every producer should know
June 14
- “I was looking for it and he said, ‘Oh that? I threw it away. It was crap.’ I couldn’t believe it”: How Tony Iommi found the secret to his Black Sabbath tone (and how he lost it)
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