Rob Hughes

Rob Hughes

Freelance writer for Classic Rock since 2008, and sister title Prog since its inception in 2009. Regular contributor to Uncut magazine for over 20 years. Other clients include Word magazine, Record Collector, The Guardian, Sunday Times, The Telegraph and When Saturday Comes. Alongside Marc Riley, co-presenter of long-running A-Z Of David Bowie podcast. Also appears twice a week on Riley’s BBC6 radio show, rifling through old copies of the NME and Melody Maker in the Parallel Universe slot. Designed Aston Villa’s kit during a previous life as a sportswear designer. Geezer Butler told him he loved the all-black away strip.

Articles by: Rob Hughes

Black Sabbath in 1971

"He used to go around carrying a large case with a hammer in it. And if you weren’t getting paid, they’d break somebody’s knees": The heroes and villains of the Black Sabbath journey

By Rob Hughes published

Ozzy Osbourne, Tony Iommi and Geezer Butler reflect on some good, bad and ugly encounters

Steven Wilson Jr. standing in front of a tree

"Ten years ago I was a scientist in a lab coat and had never sung in front of anybody in my life": From microbiologist to musician - the unlikely rise of Stephen Wilson Jr

By Rob Hughes published

Inspired by his late father, songwriter-for-hire Stephen Wilson Jr is now telling his stories with his own voice

Dire Straits studio portrait

"We were living on next to nothing and weren't even able to pay the gas bill": The song that transformed Dire Straits' fortunes and set them on the path to global fame

By Rob Hughes last updated

Inspired by watching a hopeless jazz combo play in a deserted pub, Sultans Of Swing sent Dire Straits on a journey to superstardom

Them Crooked Vultures posing for a photograph in 2009

“I’ve always embraced my musical schizophrenia, and this is just another room in that mansion of personality”: How Them Crooked Vultures became modern rock’s greatest one-and-done supergroup

By Rob Hughes published

What happened when Dave Grohl, Josh Homme and John Paul Jones teamed up in Them Crooked Vu.tures

“I found the underground a more realistic place – bodies all over the floor, film projections on various surfaces, and a right old racket coming from the stage… altogether rather dreamlike”: Robert Wyatt on his improvised life

By Rob Hughes published

Fuelled by jazz, socialism and an absurdist slant on the world around him, the retired Canterbury icon’s instincts served him well during a remarkable career

Maxine Peake

“I was shocked when I found out Demis Roussos was in the band. I had to convince a friend that it was really him”: Maxine Peake’s prog adventures with Aphrodite’s Child, Gong, Hawkwind and mushrooms

By Rob Hughes published

The award-winning Shameless, Silk and The Village actress finds inspiration in the genre’s theatrics – and explains why she feels it’s a summertime experience

Jethro Tull posing for a photograph while pulling faces in the early 1970s

“Aqualung got its share of bashings in the Southern USA. It created anger amongst those ultra-conservative Baptist types”: How Jethro Tull conquered America in the 70s and became rock’s unlikeliest superstars

By Rob Hughes published

They ended the 1960s opening for Led Zeppelin in the US and ended the 70s headlining multiple nights at Madison Square Garden

John Carpenter portrait with lots of shadow

“Turn the lights off, put the music on, close your eyes and start to have a waking dream… it might even inspire people to create movies that could be scored with this music”: John Carpenter’s second career in prog

By Rob Hughes published

The cult movie director started composing his own soundtracks out of necessity. Eventually he returned to his first love of music to create the Lost Themes album series, and began touring too

Phil Manzanera

“I know it sounds like a joke musical but one of my ancestors was a pirate in the Caribbean. He looked a bit like I did when I was 21 in Roxy Music”: The amazing things Phil Manzanera discovered when he looked into his past

By Rob Hughes published

After writing a memoir, the guitarist has done the musical equivalent with an 11-disc box set exploring his five-decade career. He explains how he landed his dream gig, how Robert Fripp beat him to a tonal ambition, and why, in a way, Roxy is still active

Neil Innes

“The NME said, ‘There’s one of your Rutles songs on this Beatles bootleg album.’ I got them to play it to me over the phone. I said, ‘That’s me on Saturday Night Live!’” How prog were Neil Innes and the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band?

By Rob Hughes published

The Bonzo Dog and Rutles man discusses his career and recent studio album Nearly Really...

King Crimson posing for a photograph in 2016

“As a term, ‘prog’ only evolved in the 1990s. And I loathe it. As soon as someone sticks a label on to you, they stop listening”: How Robert Fripp brought King Crimson back for their final resurrection

By Rob Hughes published

In 2014, Robert Fripp brought King Crimson back from hiatus – and he was ready to make a “joyous racket”

Nils Lofgren posing for a photograph in 1975

“We’d do these crazy shows with 16-inch glitter boots tacked to the piano and Neil screaming into the mic. It was like pre-punk. Audiences hated it”: Nils Lofgren’s wild stories of Neil Young, Bruce Springsteen, Keith Richards and more

By Rob Hughes published

From The Boss to Chuck Berry, Nils Lofgren has played with them all and lived to tell the tale

Louise Patricia Crane leaning on a bar

"It was terrifying being so vulnerable, but it was all or nothing": Louise Patricia Crane's album features three members of King Crimson and Jethro Tulls Ian Anderson – it's also a work of beauty and darkness

By Rob Hughes published

Informed by childhood memories, Louise Patricia Crane's new album is an intensely personal dark fantasia

The Dave Matthews Band in 2023

A beginner's guide to the Dave Matthews Band in 10 songs

By Rob Hughes published

Fresh from their induction into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame, we look at the Dave Matthews Band's finest moments

The Jesus Lizard

"I don’t remember how I came up with the lyric about wanting to brush the teeth of everyone I see": The Jesus Lizard are back and they're just as surreal as ever

By Rob Hughes published

The Jesus Lizard are back with a bang, referencing their past, building on it and retaining their sense of humour

Lone Justice press shot

"I'm able to retire because of that song becoming such a ginormous hit everywhere": Maria McKee on the new Lone Justice album and the reunion that isn't

By Rob Hughes published

Almost 40 years after the band called it a day, Viva Lone Justice is just around the corner

Kavus Torabi

“The interesting thing about going mad is you don’t realise you are… I think I’d become unbearable to live with”: Kavus Torabi’s new solo album brought him back from insanity in an almost religious way

By Rob Hughes published

The Banishing is the triumphant result of Gong and Utopia Strong member’s mental battle, loss of his family, support from his friends and a “heroic dose of magic mushrooms”

BB King holding his guitar

"The sun will rise and fall, and BB King will play the blues": The incredible life of BB King

By Rob Hughes published

BB King was the greatest bluesman the world has ever seen. We look back at his life, with a little help from his friends

Jakszyk, Fripp & Collins - A Scarcity of Miracles

“Robert Fripp was triggering sounds and I just responded… I told him I was feeling more comfortable, and he said: ‘You mean like you’re no longer being auditioned?’”: The series of incidents that led to Jakszyk, Fripp & Collins’ A Scarcity Of Miracles

By Rob Hughes published

The reunion of two bandmates who’d fallen out badly in the 70s, combined with the energy of a lifelong fan, resulted in a stunning album that assembled the leading lights of Crimson’s final era

Taj Mahal playing an acoustic guitar in a field

A beginner's guide to Taj Mahal in 10 essential videos

By Rob Hughes published

Highlights from the career of the man formerly known as Henry Saint Clair Fredericks

Mikael Akerfeldt

“When it comes to many of the classics, I don’t even know what they’re about!” How Mikael Åkerfeldt’s policy of not taking advice led Opeth to Pale Communion

By Rob Hughes published

Inspired by sharing records with Steven Wilson, he took a more melodic approach, added a vague title that just sounded cool, and forged them into a “journey through life that starts pretty good and ends shit”

Jean-Michel Jarre

“We weren’t doing electronic music with synthesisers, but with a bank of oscillators we stole from radio stations”: Jean-Michel Jarre and the creation of Oxygène

By Rob Hughes published

A story of challenges, limitations, the completion of its 40-year journey and working with Stockhausen – who “considered himself to be made of sound”

Tears For Fears

“We were trying to get to that level of the music we really loved… It’s always slightly out of reach, but my God, you can have fun trying to get there”: Tears For Fears on their mystical purpose

By Rob Hughes published

A King Crimson show in 1981 kickstarted the duo’s partnership, powered by all kinds of prog and never completely destroyed by their battles

Paul Weller headshot

"Bless the Rolling Stones' hearts, but I don't necessarily want to go on doing the same old thing": The Paul Weller albums you should definitely listen to

By Rob Hughes published

From punk beginnings to Britpop and avant-rock, the Woking Wonder has a thousand things he wants to say to you – and these are his best albums

Captain Beyond - Captain Beyond cover art

"If it had come out two years earlier, it would have captured the zeitgeist": Captain Beyond miss their moment on much-loved debut album

By Classic Rock Magazine published

Legend tells us that Captain Beyond were pioneers of stoner rock, a supergroup who should have been super-massive