"What we need is a song that is just really simple that everyone can sing": Paul Rodgers on the mission statement and magical musical combination that fuelled Free classic All Right Now By Matt Frost published 14 March 24 "I do think Koss’s sound was a big part of it"
“It was the tune that changed everything” for Noel Gallagher and Oasis, with his greatest guitar solo – but it turns out that Live Forever got a serious guitar edit in the control room By Matt Frost published 12 March 24 "It was essentially the same solo that’s on the finished version Noel always plays live, but when it went high on the second half all I could think of was Slash in leather kecks with a wind machine on the Grand Canyon"
“It was just another riff, like Into The Fire. We didn’t make a big deal out of it and it wasn’t being considered as a track for the album": Ian Gillan on the unlikely success story of writing and recording Deep Purple's Smoke On The Water By Matt Frost published 11 March 24 "The downdraft from the mountains caused the smoke to blow across Lake Geneva, like a film set or dry ice on a stage show. At this point, Roger wrote the words ‘smoke on the water’ on a napkin”
“I know Pagey made me mix the outro section half a dozen times: ‘Not enough of me, dear boy! Not enough of me, make me louder!’” – Andy Johns on the challenges of engineering Led Zeppelin's Rock And Roll By Matt Frost published 10 March 24 In 2011 the acclaimed engineer revealed some of the realities behind making Led Zeppelin IV: "John’s got his hi-hat nearly all the way open and that was bleeding all over the place"
“There were so many demos that sounded like major songs, but that one was near the top of the list": The making of the 1995 Radiohead classic that became one of their all-time greatest anthems By Matt Frost published 8 March 24 Producer John Leckie: "It sounded instantly like a big track"
"Phil picked up my second guitar and went up to the microphone and just started singing all these silly songs" – Eric Bell on the unlikely success story of Thin Lizzy's version of Whisky In The Jar By Matt Frost published 5 February 24 "As the taxi driver's talking to me, I suddenly made a riff in my imagination"
Engineer Andy Johns on recording and mastering Led Zep IV: “I put the tape on and the first song goes by and sounds bloody awful. Then the second one comes along and that’s really horrid, too... Pagey should’ve fired me at that point" By MusicRadar, Matt Frost published 8 November 23 "Pagey was going on about seeing ghosts on the stairs and we were like, ‘Oh yeah right, Jimmy!’"
"I said, ‘Well, it’ll just be a back-up song in case some other things don’t work out’" – How Robbie Robertson wrote The Band's classic song, The Weight By Matt Frost published 10 August 23 "I sat the guitar on my lap and I was kind of bent over it and I looked inside the sound hole on the guitar and it said, Nazareth, Pennsylvania"
Bassist Bruce Foxton on the story of The Jam's That's Entertainment: “It was a bit of a departure for us, because it was acoustic” By Matt Frost published 11 July 23 The birth and recording of a British classic
The story of Wild World: "I don’t think that either Cat Stevens or Alun Davies would have been the same without the other. They were a complete fit” By Matt Frost published 7 June 23 Tea For The Tillerman producer and former Yardbirds bassist Paul Samwell-Smith on the recording of an acoustic classic
Genius and controversy: the story of Led Zeppelin's Bring It On Home By Matt Frost published 17 April 23 "People say, ‘Oh, Bring It On Home is stolen’. Well, there’s only a little bit in the song that relates to anything that had gone before it, just the end”
“Phil Spector would whisper, ‘You better not f*** up’”: the story of the Ramones' recording of Baby I Love You By Matt Frost published 3 January 23 Legendary keys player Barry Goldberg on the sessions that spawned the band's biggest UK hit
Producer John Leckie looks back on recording The Stone Roses classic I Am The Resurrection: “I knew it was going to be good, but I didn’t think I’d still be talking about it years later!” By Matt Frost published 26 September 22 “I’m sure the backing track was done in one go”
“It was an exceptionally long time to spend on one song” – the co-writer and guitarist on Roy Orbison's Oh, Pretty Woman tell the story of a classic song By Matt Frost published 1 September 22 Insight from co-writer Bill Dees and guitarist Wayne Moss on Orbison's greatest hit
"David Bowie said, ‘Have you got anything?’ Then I remembered these chords”: Ricky Gardiner on co-writing Iggy Pop's The Passenger By Matt Frost published 17 August 22 “Iggy recorded it on his mono battery cassette player with me playing it unplugged on the Strat"
Gregg Rollie on the recording of Santana's Abraxas and the classic instrumental Samba Pa Ti: "We put things on there that nobody would do. We experimented and had hit songs as well!” By Matt Frost published 28 July 22 The insider perspective on Carlos in peak form: "His headphones actually ended up on the ground. He was so engrossed in what he was playing and we only stopped it when he finally lost it"
Donald ‘Buck Dharma’ Roeser on Blue Öyster Cult’s (Don't Fear) The Reaper: "It’s unlike the rest of our music and it’s unlike the rest of the songs I’ve written, too" By Matt Frost published 4 July 22 “It’s not about suicide, although I can see how people can think that, but that’s not where it’s at"
“It was very much against my wishes but at that moment I had absolutely no power in the band, in the studio” – Cream and the troubled birth of Strange Brew By Matt Frost published 26 June 22 For fans, this psych-blues stomper kicked off Cream’s ‘Disraeli Gears’ LP in irrepressible style, but it’s never been a favourite of the band. This is why…
“I remember I was at an awards ceremony and I actually heard Tony Iommi say it was his favourite riff ever" – Scott Gorham and Brian Robertson tell the story of Thin Lizzy's Jailbreak By Matt Frost published 1 June 22 “Jailbreak was actually going to be the beginning of the concept album”
"If we do this correctly, I think this could be one of the best blues songs ever!” – the story of Joe Bonamassa's version of Sloe Gin By Matt Frost published 18 May 22 "The solos were done live… But the sort of Jimmy Page bits, those were overdubbed. I had the hardest time doing those"
"My Tele was on just about every track I did with The Smiths" – John Porter talks producing Johnny Marr on Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now By Matt Frost published 28 April 22 The crafting of an indie classic
The story of Boston's More Than A Feeling: "It was many, many years of long nights playing along with a tape deck!" By Matt Frost published 25 April 22 A timeless classic from the sound design vision of Tom Scholz
Leslie West tells the the story of Mountain's Mississippi Queen: "If only every song was that easy, man!" By Matt Frost published 11 April 22 In 2011 the late guitar icon offered the inside perspective on his signature song
Smoke On The Water at 50: The story of Deep Purple Mk II and the most famous guitar riff of all time By Henry Yates published 25 March 22 Between 1969 and 1973, Deep Purple’s MkII incarnation took on the world then tore itself apart. This is the story of the axe fights, smashed Strats, neo-classical solos and power struggles behind British rock’s most dysfunctional family
Miles Kane: the 10 records that changed my life By Matt Frost published 29 August 18 Plus the Last Shadow Puppet gives us the lowdown on high-flying new solo album, Coup De Grace