Latest articles by Rob Hughes
That time Carlos Santana recorded an album of classic rock covers including songs by AC/DC and Led Zeppelin
You’ve got to have big balls to do an album of covers of songs from rock’s crown jewels. Or be totally bonkers
Moby Grape, Oar, and the wild genius of Skip Spence
Moby Grape co-founder Skip Spence wrote his album Oar in a psychiatric ward after threatening his bandmates with an axe. Years after his death, artists still acknowledge its influence
The Stranglers' albums you should definitely own
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
The story of Poltergeist's 2013 album Your Mind is a Box (Let Us Fill It With Wonder)
The story of Poltergeist's 2013 album Your Mind is a Box (Let Us Fill It With Wonder)
"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"
Echo & The Bunnymen's Ocean Rain divided opinion upon release in 1984, but time has only deepened its supernatural beauty
“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
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
R.E.M.'s Reckoning: raw, mysterious and strangely melodic, refracting their influences through a murky Southern prism
How the melodic sophistication of R.E.M.'s second album Reckoning served as a pre-echo of their 90s success
“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
The life and times of Michael Chapman, the cult singer and guitarist beloved of David Bowie, Elton John and Sonic Youth
Recorded in the wake of tragedy, The Pretenders' Learning To Crawl was an indestructible triumph of sheer will
Named in honour of Chrissie Hynde’s baby daughter Natalie, Learning To Crawl was also an applicable metaphor for Pretenders 2.0
Taylor McCall studied wildlife management at university: Now he writes deeply personal songs inspired by the Vietnam War and tours with Robert Plant
If acoustic hymns, weird gospel and “some real ripping guitar” floats your boat, climb aboard
“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 and learned what prog was from Keith Emerson
Multi-genre organ master’s fervent hope is that he opened a channel between rock and jazz: ”And it kind of worked out…”
"In the sixties, my mind was elsewhere – chemically, mystically and emotionally": Justin Hayward picks the soundtrack of his life
Moody Blues man Justin Hayward picks his records, artists and gigs of lasting significance
"We're all in this together": In a world getting crazier and crazier, Ministry's Al Jourgensen is the unlikely voice of sanity
Ministry return as a band rather than just Al Jourgensen, and there's both venom and truth in new album Hopiumforthemasses
"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
The story of Jethro Tull's "lost" album, the so-called Chateau D'Isaster tapes
"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
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 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
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
"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
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
"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
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
"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
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
"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
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
“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
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
"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
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
“Genesis was the key to everything really, and also Yes." How Tin Spirits made second album Scorch
The story of the criminally short-lived Swindon prog quartet Tin Spirits' second album, 2014's Scorch
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"
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
“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
America evoked the wild romance of the West with timeless melodies and harmonies – and served up a 70s soft rock classic in the process
