Latest Features
Adrian Smith on how Steve Harris is the secret behind Iron Maiden’s triple-guitar attack
When your principal songwriter and driving force is directing traffic on bass, is it any wonder the guitars took a different path in search of brave new worlds to explore?
The unlikely encounter between a pre-fame Freddie Mercury and David Bowie at a London market
The future Queen frontman encountered his eventual Under Pressure collaborator when working as a shop assistant at Kensington Market
"He was one of the most talented people I've worked with”: The making of 2Pac’s era-defining hit California Love
A sense of self-assurance and pomp oozed through the fabric of the music
The strange, sad day that Syd Barrett unexpectedly showed up in the studio when Pink Floyd were making Wish You Were Here
The making of Pink Floyd’s 1975 masterpiece was partly a tribute to their former frontman - but when Syd Barrett himself appeared at the studio, his former bandmates took a while to realise it was actually him
“The greatest rock ballad of all time!”: The classic song that held the No.2 spot for 10 weeks without ever hitting No.1
But at least the album made it to the top
“After Smells Like Teen Spirit, there was no place for bands like us”: The life and death of a hair metal band
Two top 10 hits and two million album sales couldn't save them
“There’s a freedom of thought that doesn’t exist elsewhere”: How and why California became the heart of the synthesizer world
Many of the biggest players in the genesis of modern music-making hailed from California, but just what made the state such fertile ground for the synth pioneers to flourish?
The intriguing mystery of the ringing phone captured at the end of David Bowie’s Life on Mars
The ringing phone that closes out Bowie’s Hunky Dory epic was captured by accident - and nobody quite knows who was on the other end
“You’re the only one who made it to the end of the song — you’re hired!”: The madness of Captain Beefheart's masterpiece
“Man, it was weird!” recalls bassist Rockette Morton
“It’s about reconfiguring what a human voice is so it’s not just aesthetic, but political”: Lyra Pramuk turns vocal processing into protest on new project Hymnal
On her second LP, Lyra Pramuk collides experimental vocal edits with classical instrumentation to create an eerily beautiful sonic symphony