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

The Stranglers in 1977

The Stranglers' albums you should definitely own

By Rob Hughes published

Too punk to be pop, too loads of other things to be punk, The Stranglers had dozens of hits by doing it their own, unique, way

Poltergeist

"If I were stuck on a desert island, I wouldn’t take Never Mind The Bollocks, it'd be Meddle or Foxtrot." The prog roots of Echo & The Bunnymen guitarist Will Seargent and Poltergeist

By Rob Hughes published

The story of Poltergeist's 2013 album Your Mind is a Box (Let Us Fill It With Wonder)

Echo & The Bunnymen group portrait

"We'd play small islands on the west coast of Scotland rather than stadiums": Echo & The Bunnymen wouldn't play the game, but that didn't stop them from creating "the greatest song of all time"

By Rob Hughes published

Echo & The Bunnymen's Ocean Rain divided opinion upon release in 1984, but time has only deepened its supernatural beauty

No-Man

“Robert Fripp played the solo and we didn’t like it. He said, ‘You’re wrong.’ Steven Wilson said, ‘This is how wrong we are,’ and deleted it”: How No-Man prospered by refusing to ever fit in

By Rob Hughes published

Housekeeping box set illustrates that when Tim Bowness and Wilson refused to compromise, it was a strength rather than a weakness – even if one of them couldn’t listen to their early work for 20 years

Bill Berry, Michael Stipe, Mike Mills and Peter Buck at the Aragon Ballroom in Chicago, Illinois, July 7, 1984

R.E.M.'s Reckoning: raw, mysterious and strangely melodic, refracting their influences through a murky Southern prism

By Rob Hughes published

How the melodic sophistication of R.E.M.'s second album Reckoning served as a pre-echo of their 90s success

Michael Chapman playing guitar in the recording studio in the late 70s

“I don’t know that much about folk music, except that most of it bores me to tears”: the incredible life of Michael Chapman, the greatest singer-songwriter the world never knew about

By Rob Hughes published

The life and times of Michael Chapman, the cult singer and guitarist beloved of David Bowie, Elton John and Sonic Youth

The Pretenders

Recorded in the wake of tragedy, The Pretenders' Learning To Crawl was an indestructible triumph of sheer will

By Rob Hughes published

Named in honour of Chrissie Hynde’s baby daughter Natalie, Learning To Crawl was also an applicable metaphor for Pretenders 2.0

Taylor McCall studio portrait

Taylor McCall studied wildlife management at university: Now he writes deeply personal songs inspired by the Vietnam War and tours with Robert Plant

By Rob Hughes published

If acoustic hymns, weird gospel and “some real ripping guitar” floats your boat, climb aboard

Brian Auger

“Certain people I knew from the scene wouldn’t speak to me after I got a hit. But it’s all music… I just had a great time”: Brian Auger warned Jimi Hendrix off drugs, lent money to Rod Stewart and learned what prog was from Keith Emerson

By Rob Hughes published

Multi-genre organ master’s fervent hope is that he opened a channel between rock and jazz: ”And it kind of worked out…”

Justin Hayward sitting in front of a fireplace holding an acoustic guitar

"In the sixties, my mind was elsewhere – chemically, mystically and emotionally": Justin Hayward picks the soundtrack of his life

By Rob Hughes published

Moody Blues man Justin Hayward picks his records, artists and gigs of lasting significance

Al Jourgensen headshot

"We're all in this together": In a world getting crazier and crazier, Ministry's Al Jourgensen is the unlikely voice of sanity

By Rob Hughes published

Ministry return as a band rather than just Al Jourgensen, and there's both venom and truth in new album Hopiumforthemasses

Jethro Tull studio portrait, 1972

"The red wine had flies in it. The mystery meat caused musicians to head loo-wards. There were bedbugs": In 1972 Jethro Tull retreated to a French chateau to record a new album. It was a disaster

By Rob Hughes published

The story of Jethro Tull's "lost" album, the so-called Chateau D'Isaster tapes

Mike Bloomfield circa 1970

"He was absolutely the best guitar player of his generation. Dylan thought he was. Hendrix thought he was. Clapton thought he was": The sensational story of Mike Bloomfield, from prodigy to tragedy

By Rob Hughes published

A 60s guitar prodigy who shaped Bob Dylan's sound and blew Eric Clapton away, Mike Bloomfield had the world at his feet before his demons came calling

The Pretty Things in a photo studio in the mid-70s

“The press called us The Dirty Things: ‘Did you see them last night? Disgusting!’”: the epic story of The Pretty Things, the cult British band who should have been as big as the Rolling Stones

By Rob Hughes published

They went to school with Mick Jagger, Pink Floyd and David Bowie loved them, and Led Zeppelin signed them to their label. But The Pretty Things remain the greatest rock band the wider world doesn’t know about

Israel Nash publicity photo

"He ended up moving to Hawaii and living in the jungle in a tent for two decades": Israel Nash on the stories that inspired new album Ozarkers

By Rob Hughes published

With his new album Israel Nash is following in the footsteps of the great songwriters for whom the American heartland is a rich inspiration, who re-told tales passed down generations

Mott The Hoople in 1973

"I walked into my publicist's office saying, 'I've got the formula. I've cracked it.' And that was the minute I stopped having the formula": How Roll Away The Stone was the beginning of the end for Mott The Hoople

By Rob Hughes published

Roll Away The Stone was such an obvious hit The Hollies tried to steal it sway, but it was effectively Mott The Hoople's final chartbuster

Grace Slick close-up

"In all those children's stories, you take some kind of chemical and have a great adventure. Alice In Wonderland is blatant": Grace Slick on the inspiration behind Jefferson Airplane's White Rabbit

By Rob Hughes published

Riffing on Lewis Carroll's Alice, inspired by Miles Davis, Grace Slick's two-and-a-half minute hallucinogenic classic would provide her with an income for life

Rich Robinson studio portrait

"No matter what his issues may be personality-wise, he's a brilliant singer": The Black Crowes' Rich Robinson chooses the soundtrack of his life

By Rob Hughes published

The Black Crowes' Rich Robinson picks his records, artists and gigs of lasting significance, and names the album that brings him joy every time he listens to it

Edgar Broughton

“The council turned the power off in the middle of Out Demons Out. We carried on, and David Bowie is happily shouting his head off with me… We both received letters from the council, banning us for life”: Edgar Broughton has mellowed, but not entirely

By Rob Hughes published

He’s defended students in court, ordered cops to stop assaulting fans, and played free shows when he was warned against it – and while identifying with the prog genre, he believes he was proto-punk too

Focus pose by the Thames River London, in 1972

"One minute they were a band you'd never heard of, then the next you couldn't get into the gigs": In 1972 the then-unknown Focus appeared on UK TV. Within a year, their guitarist was voted best player on the planet

By Rob Hughes published

Powered by Jan Akkerman's guitar and Thijs van Leer's Hammond organ, Sylvia helped pave the way for the rapid rise to fame of Dutch proggers Focus

Tin Spirits

“Genesis was the key to everything really, and also Yes." How Tin Spirits made second album Scorch

By Rob Hughes published

The story of the criminally short-lived Swindon prog quartet Tin Spirits' second album, 2014's Scorch

Dolly Parton in a car wearing sunglasses

How Dolly Parton corralled a Who's Who of rock royalty to record her landmark Rockstar album: "There's more aggression in rock'n'roll – you've got to treat it with respect"

By Rob Hughes published

Dolly Parton, the undisputed Queen Of Country, talks about the road to her rock album, transcending country music, and what Stairway To Heaven and Free Bird mean to her

A group photograph of the soft rock band America

“I didn’t expect some of the backlash. But then you get the Neil fans, who were rabidly protective”: the story of America, the 70s soft rockers behind the greatest Neil Young song Neil Young never wrote

By Rob Hughes published

America evoked the wild romance of the West with timeless melodies and harmonies – and served up a 70s soft rock classic in the process

Starbenders, Wolfgang Van Halen, The Rolling Stones, Grace Potter and Skindred

The 50 best rock albums of 2023

By Fraser Lewry published

The past 12 months may go down in history as a period of tumult and turmoil, but on the positive side, rock'n'roll is very much alive and well – as the best 50 albums of 2023 reflect

Stiff Records founder Jake Riviera at the Stiff office

The albums on Stiff Records you should definitely own

By Rob Hughes published

Pioneering indie label Stiff Records was home to some of the great music of the 70s and 80s, from Ian Dury to The Pogues, The Damned and beyond. And these are the labe's best albums