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December 2024

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117 articles

December 21
- “It wasn’t the notes he was playing, it was the wild abandon”: Jack White on the guitarist he learned the most from
- “I’d be lying if I said there weren’t times when we thought: ‘Let’s just abandon the concept, and write some good songs’”: How Queensryche made conspiracy theory-based masterpiece Operation: Mindcrime,
- “He said he reflected the craziness around him – he’d see other people go nuts and write about that”: Frank Zappa’s talent for using popular music to sell unpopular music, by people who helped him
- “I had just taken my first acid trip, and I had an African spear and a Chinese Warlord outfit”: Arthur Brown’s wild tales of Jimi Hendrix, Frank Zappa, David Bowie and more
- “I’d say to him, ‘You say words that I would prefer you didn’t say. I think they’re unnecessary!’”: the modern pop superstar that Stevie Nicks thinks should tone down their swearing
December 20
- "Early on, there were a lot of people who judged us for our looks, how we wanted to dress." Kittie on their most underrated track - and why its message is still important twenty five years on
- “A mix of killer melodies, heartbreak and nihilism that’s as timeless as Nirvana”: This is the best punk-pop album you haven’t heard this year
- Big Star wrote it, Jamie T sampled it, and it was one of Jeff Buckley’s favourite songs. The story of the sleazy song that was reimagined to capture “the beauty of despair”
- “Lady In Red will have most of us reaching for the sick bucket. But if you dip into his back catalogue at any point from 1974 to 1984 you’ll find worthy listening:” Chris De Burgh… prog star?
- "Babymetal were written into the script as a placeholder. I didn’t think we’d actually get them!" Heavier Trip director Juuso Laatio on making 2024's most metal movie
- “A Rolls Royce appeared to pick me up for Top Of The Pops. I asked who booked it; the driver said, ‘Your manager.’ We sacked him and I took the bus”: The convoluted story of Procol Harum’s A Whiter Shade Of Pale
- "I'm not Rory; I don't want to be a tribute act": Joe Bonamassa on paying homage to Rory Gallagher in Ireland
- "I was lying in bed at about three in the morning when an axe smashed through my door": Deep Purple’s 25 maddest moments
December 19
- "If we win an Oscar, we’ll take it to Cash My Gold, melt it down and get some gold teeth made." It's been Kneecap's year, we just lived through it
- "I’d love to do a crossover Sleep Token track." Bullet For My Valentine's Matt Tuck and Trivium's Matt Heafy field questions on Welsh cuisine, punching people in the face and having a willy for a nose
- "When Jimi Hendrix died, Shane spent the whole day with his face turned to the wall." How Jimi Hendrix became an unlikely influence upon Irish folk-punk legends The Pogues
- “We’re maintaining en element of prog but hopefully still being accessible”: Giant Walker chase an audience who wouldn’t normally bother with their style of groovy riffs
- “Steve Harris from Iron Maiden said, ‘If any band can carry our torch, it’s them.’ You think, ‘Wow – do we even want that?’” Nightwish’s constant reinvention could be a chain reaction that explodes out of control
- "I've walked past people with tattoos of mine on their arm without a flicker of recognition": How the Sisters Of Mercy's Andrew Eldritch avoids being stopped in public
December 18
- "Slash comes up to me and gives me a hug, and that was a moment that I will take to my grave." We asked Myles Kennedy to make us a playlist, and what he gave us is pure gold
- “I realised this music is what influenced the stuff I’d been listening to – Pink Floyd, Genesis and so on”: Ben Short saved a Stravinsky album from a skip, and A Formal Horse was the result
- "I had one mate who was massively into Deep Purple but they were a bit too proggy for me." How Frank Skinner became a born-again metalhead
- "Why limit yourself to retreading what's already been done?" New Age philosophy, conspiracy theories and the cosmos: how Blood Incantation made death metal nerdier and cooler than ever
- “The Doctor Who theme was just a fraction of what she could do… She felt sound very deeply – things that haunted her came out”: Actress Caroline Catz on hearing Delia Derbyshire’s unreleased archive
- "If you ever forget what 1984 sounded like, well, it sounded like Frank Stallone. And it still does": That time Sylvester Stallone's brother almost became a rock star
- Genius or an overrated relic? The Eric Clapton albums you should definitely listen to
December 17
- "I listened to classical music right up until I saw Black Sabbath on TV when I was eight": Michael Monroe picks the records, artists and gigs that mean the most
- “We should have toured Europe and taken advantage of the impact our single had. We were lazy and stuck to playing in Britain. It was a huge mistake”: The all-too-short story of promising early proggers Rare Bird
- "I’ve said no to tours and let some opportunities go by because they’re not what I’m really interested in doing." Serj Tankian on System Of A Down, heritage and the importance of staying active
- "Lady Gaga was swinging about on a JCB; it was a bit of a circus": Jeff Beck on awards shows, the end of Ziggy Stardust, and refusing to audition for the Rolling Stones
- “I’m probably the one who’s most aware of everything we’ve done. I probably like our music the most”: Genesis’ Tony Banks wonders if the world needs any more of his music
- "I see reviews saying: 'The band were great.' Yeah, the 'band' is me": Joan Armatrading on her new music, riding an elevator with Leslie West and walking with Nelson Mandela
- Gary Marx co-founded the Sister Of Mercy: Now he's released a Slade-worshipping, Bowie-loving glam rock album - and he wears a papier-mâché elephant head
December 16
- "The most successful symphonic metal band in the world." Every Nightwish album ranked from worst to best
- “It was a clever tactical manoeuvre, selling an album at the price of a single. Many people bought it to play frisbee with! But it worked”: For Faust, music has always been just a part of the art
- The best new rock songs you need to hear right now
December 15
- “Roger asked, ‘Who’s singing it?’ ‘Ice-T.’ ‘Approved!’” How Ice-T got Roger Waters and David Gilmour to stop bickering with a cover of Pink Floyd’s Comfortably Numb
- “A good heavy metal song is like a good horror movie, and vice versa. Heavy metal sounds evil and horror movies are evil!“: Inside Metallica guitarist Kirk Hammett’s lifelong love of horror
- “There’s nothing that annoys me more than when people don’t think their emojis through”: Charli XCX on upping your WhatsApp game, why dancing at parties is compulsory, her teenage diary and more
- “My father wrote the parallel universe theory”: the Ant-Man-starring rocker whose dad invented the idea of the multiverse
- “It always pulls something out of you. Even if the winds are blowing in the wrong direction, it still sounds good”: The Freddie Mercury song that Queen’s Brian May never gets tired of playing
- “It could have gone either way… I figured that if this was going to be my last hurrah, we should really go for it and make something that would be astonishing to listen to”: How Big Big Train broke through with The Underfall Yard
December 14
- “I could spend hours going through the mistakes we made and were made on our behalf. We all truly felt we could be big”: The tumultuous history of Testament, thrash metal’s greatest nearly-men
- “Sometimes the ‘you’ in my songs is me talking to me. Other times I can be talking to somebody else. It’s up to you to figure out who’s who”: The epic story of Bob Dylan’s holy trinity of mystical, magical mid-60s albums
- “People have tried to copy it and rip it off, but no one has come close. No one will ever beat it”: The cult metal album Slipknot drummer Joey Jordison said was as good as Reign In Blood
- “We had a plan. Jesus Christ, are you kidding? My whole plan was to make an album that sells more than the last one”: How Whitesnake shed their skin and made a solid gold hard rock classic with the 1987 album
- “Keith Moon was schizophrenic. I saw many sides of him in half an hour. If that‘s not a split personality, I don’t know what is”: Late keyboard legend Ian McLagan’s wild tales of the Stones, Rod Stewart, Bob Dylan and more
- “There’s all these secret passages where staff seem to just appear and disappear again”: what it’s like to stay at Elton John’s house
- “Nick Cave has this spiritual fervour with the audience”: Radiohead’s Colin Greenwood on becoming a Bad Seed
- “Unfriendly immigration officers read ‘musician’ and ask, ‘Anything I should know?’ I say, ‘Oh yeah!’ They remember Ferris Bueller’s Day Off and it’s OK”: Yello’s offbeat synth prog ethic gets Dieter Meier round the world
December 13
- The 50 Best Rock Albums of 2024
December 12
- The 10 best hip-hop albums of 2024
- “I remember trying to work out what extra notes he’d put in. I was so infatuated…” Gun guitarist Jools Gizzi on his prog hero Alex Lifeson
- 10 brilliant rock albums that last less than 30 minutes
- "Our first show we made two songs last for fifty minutes": Meet Sacri Monti, the psychedelic rockers who don't know where they're going but dig the journey
December 11
- "I've always existed between two cultures." Meet Lowen, 2024's breakout prog metal sensation inspired by System Of A Down and Akercocke
- “I lie to them and change the goalposts… you build up techniques of throwing the curveball of discomfort. If it gets comfortable I change it”: David Thomas calls Pere Ubu “avant-garage” – but how prog are they?
- "His mouth moved, but I'd have to say he gave me only 30 percent": The night Bob Dylan trolled David Letterman and a TV audience of millions
- The 10 best King Crimson songs, by Jakko Jakszyk
- For years Tommy Henriksen has played guitar for others: Now's he's spreading the gospel of Crossbone Skully, avenging superhero from outer space
- "I told Thunder that if they wanted to replace me, I was fine with that": Danny Bowes on the long road to recovery and his return to the stage
December 10
- "I was twelve, on the bus, and someone said it was angel dust, and I thought 'That sounds great'": Fantastic Negrito has poured his upbringing into his extraordinary and beautiful latest album
- “I don’t have many rock’n’roll stories for you – that was always someone else’s job”: Phil Collins was pranked by George Harrison, outdrunk by John Martyn, blown away by Robert Fripp and well-behaved with Eric Clapton
- "I had never heard of Cats In Space because I no longer listen to music": Cats In Space and Willie Dowling are on tour and cannot get enough of each other
- "We played to more than 350,000 fans in stadiums": Those Damn Crows are used to big crowds, but their next show is another step up
December 9
- The 10 best metalcore albums of 2024
- The 10 best black metal albums of 2024
- Kate Bush's only live performance on US TV didn't transform her fortunes, but she did inspire a Hollywood actor's recipe for braised spare ribs
- “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?
- The best new rock songs you need to hear right now
December 8
- “Jimmy Page allowed Eric to unleash the power he had”: How Eric Clapton helped reinvent the blues with The Bluesbreakers’ landmark Beano album
- “He had a level of charisma beyond what you normally experience”: Christopher Nolan on working with David Bowie
- “He’s one of the most gifted songwriters that ever lived. What can I say? I’m not worthy!”: The eccentric prog icon who blew Iron Maiden bassist Steve Harris’s mind
- “He wasn’t a phoney. He didn’t have to be somebody else – he felt comfortable being himself“: We lost Dimebag Darrell 20 years ago today. His brother Vinnie Paul never let his memory die
- “I said, ‘No way, I’m not having a song on some show we’ve never heard of’ and my publisher pretended that conversation never took place”: how Stephen Fretwell came to have one of his songs as the Gavin & Stacey theme tune
- “They didn’t do the posing rock thing – that attitude has stuck with me ever since”: Ruts DC drummer David Ruffy explains why Edgar Broughton Band are his prog heroes
December 7
- “If we weren’t tied to the whims of another band, things would be different. There’s been a lot of bumps in the road”: The story of Brad, the greatest Seattle band no one ever talks about
- “There were fire, floods and riots. We saw LA being destroyed. We channelled that into the record”: How Fear Factory predicted the apocalypse with industrial-metal masterpiece Demanufacture
- “It was a reaction to a life of being bullied and also a celebration of fun. A lot of the metal world didn’t understand that”: How Limp Bizkit’s Fred Durst became nu metal’s biggest star – and lived to tell the tale
- “I’m told that I introduced Ozzy to cocaine when Black Sabbath opened for Mountain on their first American tour”: Leslie West’s wild tales of Ozzy Osbourne, Mick Jagger, Jimi Hendrix and Tom Hanks
- “Given the state he was in I would have given him two years, tops. But Sharon literally rescued him”: Inside the booze-soaked 35-year friendship between Lemmy and Ozzy Osbourne
- “I grew up around rock stars. My dad’s mates were Mark Knopfler and Thin Lizzy… and Christopher Biggins was a mainstay in our house!”: the indie-pop superstar who had a slightly different upbringing than your average frontman
- “Don’t blame me for glam metal. Most of those bands played their hairspray cans better than their instruments”: The wild story of Hanoi Rocks’ Back To Mystery City, the glam-punk classic that helped invent Guns N’ Roses
- “I just see a pie hit me in the grill”: Metallica’s Robert Trujillo on the rock legend who caked him in the face onstage
- “The sort of thing which got prog a bad name, but which now seems increasingly bold and ambitious”: 10 essential Greg Lake songs
December 6
- The 10 best prog metal albums of 2024
- The 20 Best Songs by The Sisters of Mercy – as chosen by former members, collaborators & more
- “Eccentric characters at the centre of songs was all the rage… maybe it was all the acid!” Steve Howe’s bandmate, a tragic grocer and an unfinished concept album – was Excerpt From A Teenage Opera the strangest prog hit single ever?
December 5
- “The lyrics come from articles about near-death experiences. They all follow a similar thread… they read like a metaphor for discovering true meaning and purpose”: Stuckfish’s fourth album contains a collection of firsts
- "They’re very special to me, probably my favourite band in the world." Oscar-winning Irish actor Cillian Murphy on the band he adores, and the "remarkable" song that he listened to "five times in a row" when it was released
- "Phil wouldn't be afraid to throw a punch, but it was Eddie who gave people a battering": How Motörhead made their game-changing Overkill album and the anarchic tour that followed
December 4
- “We were limited by venues, by the number of people in the band. We wanted to play louder. Everyone had been talking about going electric as Dylan had. None of us had the budget…” Maddy Prior’s history of Steeleye Span
- "They all lived on half a pigeon’s egg each in the morning": The extraordinary life of Bill Wyman: WW2 evacuee, RAF airman, hit solo artist, bandleader, author, restaurateur, archaeologist, cricketer and Rolling Stone
December 3
- "Above all, it was detested by the critics": A beginner’s guide to yacht rock in five essential albums
- "The album has a very spooky touch." Epica say they're embracing "dark fantasy" themes on their next album
- “I was on Battersea Bridge when the pig broke free. I drove to the power station and saw this look of schoolboy glee on Roger Waters’ face… ‘You sort this out, Po’”: Aubrey Powell’s Hipgnosis story
- 4 brilliant new metal bands you need to hear this month
- "We've got a new lot from Leighton Buzzard who're going to do their best for you." Keith Richards playing tuba on Sonny and Cher's I Got You Babe while The Rolling Stones' manager professes his love for Mick Jagger is peak '60s TV
- “There are hardly any solos here… it has to feel like we have something new to say”: Why the Von Hertzen Brothers dropped wizard-cloak synths but added sax to In Murmuration
- "Ultimately, you realise that people will forget about you": Myles Kennedy on being in three bands, how Jim Carrey changed his life, and why he worries about Billie Eilish
- All hail the goth Led Zeppelin: Every album by The Cure ranked from worst to best
December 2
- There are a ton of retro WWE shirts included in Hot Topic's Cyber Monday sale that are pushing all my nostalgia buttons
- CDs are back! Here are ten essential rock and metal albums you can still get in Amazon's Cyber Monday CD sale before the end of tonight
- Here are the most disgustingly ugly Christmas jumpers you can bag in EMP's Cyber Monday deal - if you have the guts to wear them in public
- Some of my favourite rock and metal records ever are included in Walmart's big Cyber Monday vinyl sale
- “I can’t stop reading it, cos I’m a hypochondriac it affects me, makes me want to cut my nose off”: Kurt Cobain on the book he was obsessed with and how it inspired a Nirvana classic
- “An album drenched in musical innovation that proves quality is not defined by quantity”: The Clash used the musical language of prog to make the statement that is Combat Rock
- "He sent me an email that said, I watched. I laughed. What do I do now?" How David Bowie ended up starring in one of the most memorable TV comedy scenes of all time
- “A phrase that works on every occasion is an invaluable exit strategy”: Bono on the priceless advice he was given by a hard rock, harder-drinking legend
- “There are many things I like to express musically that aren’t related to Dream Theater. It’s important that I can find my voice”: Jordan Rudess hopes the band he gathered for Permission to Fly becomes a permanent part of his world
- The best new rock songs you need to hear right now
December 1
- Cyber Monday Lego deals 2024: Lego kits for little rockers up to adults are on still on sale - but get in quick
- Cyber Monday CD player deals: Save a bundle on a top CD player - even though the big sales day is over
- Cyber Monday CD deals 2024: There's still time to grab a CD bargain but you're going to have to be quick
- "I remember Jimmy yelling at us and calling us hooligans": Jimmy Page, Keith Moon, Jeff Beck and the chaotic session that sowed the seeds for Led Zeppelin
- “Whatever response it gets is irrelevant to us”: revisiting The Stone Roses 1994 comeback interview for their long-awaited, hugely-anticipated second record
- Vagabonds, kings, fools and madmen: The Thin Lizzy albums you should definitely listen to