Rock News 2026-01-08

• “She said, ‘Mick wants to speak to you.’ It was Jagger asking if I was free to tour with the Stones”: He produced the Sex Pistols, played with Bryan Ferry and Tom Waits, and turned down the Rolling Stones. But he remains one of rock’s best kept secrets
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• Six Things You May Not Know About Syd Barrett
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• “They combine emotional intensity with rapidly evolving progressive chops”: EBB’s The Mirror
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• Nikki Sixx Says He's 'Locked and Loaded' to Deal With Stalkers
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• “I was living on my own. Things had gone off the rails a bit, drinking too much”: It was in a weird time signature and their old singer struggled to play it, but this huge hit helped turn a 70s prog band into 80s pop stars
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• How Triumph's Expanded Lineup Will Split Duties on Reunion Tour
  Ultimate Classic Rock
• "We'd like to discuss a chart position." How a secret $70,000 cash payment to Italian gangsters secured a British rock band their first US hit single
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• Led Zeppelin bassist John Paul Jones is auctioning off a load of studio equipment including a bass amp with speakers that were blown after being left at Dave Grohl's house
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• Watch Billy Joel perform live for first time since being diagnosed with rare brain condition – as he surprises tribute band and audience in Florida
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• "The collective mood is influenced by the combination of loud, fast music, synchronized with bright flashing lights, and frequent intoxication." What the science behind mosh pits can tell us about human behaviour
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• The Styx Album That Never Saw the Light of Day
  Ultimate Classic Rock
• Peter Gabriel Announces New Album 'o/i' and Releases First Single
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• “If anything makes me regret not pursuing more of an artistic career, it’s looking at Brian Eno”: Still, BJ Cole didn’t do too badly with David Gilmour, The Orb, Bill Nelson, Scott Walker and others
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• Haken part ways with Charlie Griffiths and Conner Green
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• Gong kick off the New Year with video for blissed out new single The Wonderment
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• “I say, not entirely jokingly, we’re mapping out the architecture of eternity”: Every year the most unlikely prog supergroup spend three days shaping weirdo music. Their third album proves it’s working for them
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• The day that one of BritPop's biggest and best-loved stars shocked Glastonbury festival by joining hard rock legends Spinal Tap for a controversial celebration of plus-sized female buttocks
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• "It is unlikely that extreme metal musicians are trying to increase mating success through their music." A study suggested that men who play guitar in extreme metal bands mainly do it to impress other men
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• "Metallica seek raw, rowdy 'n' gutsy frontman." That time Metallica launched a worldwide search to find a new vocalist via an ad in a British music magazine
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• Win a Trip to Los Angeles to Attend THEE Music Awards Show
  Ultimate Classic Rock
• “We identified with bands like Metallica because they came in with this punk rock energy. But back then the biggest songs were Love In An Elevator and Still Of The Night”: The unexpected rap metal hit that saved a band’s career and ushered in the 1990s
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• "To watch one of my idols work on something that I had written was one of the greatest honours of my life. " Watch Yungblud team up with Smashing Pumpkins for a reworking of 2025 single Zombie
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• "It did surprise us. People started calling us sell-outs." How Metallica wrote the metal power ballad that saved Miley Cyrus - and that Elton John called 'one of the best songs ever written'
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• Ted Nugent Tells Tom Morello: 'You Are the Machine'
  Ultimate Classic Rock
• When Black Sabbath Played Its Final Concert Without Ozzy Osbourne
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• Triumph Expands 2026's Long-Awaited Reunion Tour
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• "If he had survived that period, he would be one of the biggest stars in rock now, making records with Bono and Bon Jovi": The 12-month struggle for the life of Phil Lynott
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• The Top 40 Albums of 1976
  Ultimate Classic Rock
• Morrissey Has Reportedly Canceled 49 of His Last 100 Concerts
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• "After he died, his body was dug up and moved seven times because people thought his fingers were possessed by the Devil": Bruce Dickinson's unreleased rock opera may be the greatest untold story of them all
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• Alex Van Halen Teams Up with Toto's Steve Lukather for New Album
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• The return of the Prog Magazine Progcast, discussing the Prog writers' Albums Of The Year lists
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• 10 '90s Rock Bands That Deserve More Respect
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• “War is senseless, it’s stupid, and in the end you could end up dead… but in some ways it is glorious”: From the Crimean War to the Stranger Things finale, the story of Iron Maiden’s The Trooper
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• How Pope John Paul II forced Queen to cancel a planned appearance at Manchester United's 'Theatre Of Dreams'
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• "The record company barely even knew who we were. When we took the demos into them, they said: 'You're Super-Who?'": The story of the Supertramp classic the band eventually found too difficult to play
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• "They did okay without me." Iron Maiden guitarist Adrian Smith looks back on his unsuccessful 1991 audition for one of the biggest bands in the world
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• “Originally a career-staller, this version really is essential”: Ultravox’s The Collection – Deluxe Edition
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• Hear the Smashing Pumpkins and Yungblud Join Forces for 'Zombie'
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• "I looked around and nobody was happy. And I was thinking: 'This is going to be rough'": What happened when Bruce Dickinson made the decision that changed his life
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• "I see them as the greatest ever rock'n'roll band. How can it be a bad thing to be compared to the best there is?" Airbourne on AC/DC, non-annoying Christmas songs, and why their new album had to be exactly right
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• "I probably should have retired years ago but I really love keeping the band alive": Ten Years After are down to one original member but there's still gas in the tank
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• Bad Company Album-Opening Songs Ranked Worst to Best
  Ultimate Classic Rock
• "Frequently melancholy and austere, this is music that rewards active listening rather than offering up easily consumed hooks or sing-alongs":Steven Wilson seeks the sweet spot between pop precision and progressive wizardry on Hand. Cannot. Erase.
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• "A powerful tribute to the unbreakable connection between music, tradition and the human spirit." Depeche Mode’s acclaimed concert film M to premiere on Netflix this week
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• What Phish Fans Can Expect From Mike Gordon's Solo Tour
  Ultimate Classic Rock
• 50 Years Ago: Journey Shakes Things Up on 'Look Into the Future'
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• Aldo Nova Sets New Tour Dates After Serious Neck Injury
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• Five Rock Legends Who Said Farewell to the Stage in 2025
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• "At school I did a presentation about Black Sabbath! I knew I wanted to move to the UK." Jack Black, angry nuns and Duolingo: the strange story of metal's weirdest new stars, Calva Louise
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• “I lost a lot of hair when Lemmy blasted his bass. You’d see big bikers at the front of the house throwing up”: Watch Motörhead drummer react to fans’ stories about the heavy metal trailblazers
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• Los Lobos Returns to the Road With 2026 Tour Dates
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• Steve Harris reveals the song he wants to bring back to Iron Maiden’s setlist: “It’s difficult to do a set from any part of our career and not miss things out”
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• How Bruce Springsteen's Debut Album Overshadowed Aerosmith's
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• "We weren't seen as enigmatic as some bands. I do feel that we were kind of under-appreciated": Ben Ward looks back on three decades in the Orange Goblin trenches
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• "I live in my childhood home, so the studio's right there. It's what I need to watch and protect, for the rest of my life": Wolfgang Van Halen on 5150, battling demons and the good ship Mammoth
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• David Lee Roth Announces Massive 2026 US Tour
  Ultimate Classic Rock
• “I’d never played a professional gig. To suddenly be aboard a cruise ship surrounded by real prog legends was just surreal”: How Haken’s last line-up change powered seventh album Fauna
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• “I spent four days arguing about what could be done with an orchestra.” The story of a Smashing Pumpkins classic, aided by The Who, the cast of Titanic and SpongeBob SquarePants
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• Watch Billy Joel Perform Surprise Set With Tribute Band
  Ultimate Classic Rock
• “I feel despondent about the world of humans.” Queen legend Brian May reveals the fears that keep him awake at night
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• Pat Smear to miss upcoming Foo Fighters shows after "bizarre gardening accident"
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• "The band started that album cycle as ones to watch and emerged as one of rock’s new leaders." Every Halestorm album ranked from worst to best
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• Tony Iommi’s New Solo Album 'Definitely' Coming Out in 2026
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• "I'll never forget it. It still brings goosebumps." System Of A Down's Daron Malakian on being asked to fill in for injured James Hetfield on Metallica's Summer Sanitarium tour in 2000
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• Our pick of the best band t-shirts you can get your hands on right now
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• 6 Great John Paul Jones Collaborations Outside Led Zeppelin
  Ultimate Classic Rock
• “With strange chords and enigmatic lyrics, it fed the metal mainstream with some of its most prog-friendly material in years”: In the desperate moments before grunge, this British band offered an ambitious alternative direction
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• David Lee Roth announces extensive North American tour
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• "Purple Rain is like Stairway To Heaven. It's non-religious, but people feel reverent about it": The story of Prince's Purple Rain, this year's viral Stranger Things needle drop
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• Gene Simmons Says Peter Criss 'Had Nothing to Do' With 'Beth'
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• Vinnie Vincent Defiantly Threatens to Shelve His New Album
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• Jethro Tull's Anderson Lashes Out Against 'Insidious' AI Fakery
  Ultimate Classic Rock
• Geezer Butler Using AI Voice for Solo Album, but Tony Iommi Isn't
  Ultimate Classic Rock
• The Best Rock Films From Every Year: 1955-2025
  Ultimate Classic Rock
• The Album That Helped Aerosmith Find Their Real Sound
  Ultimate Classic Rock
• Peter Wolf Adds More New 2026 Concerts
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• Five Famous '70s Acts That Have Been Snubbed by the Hall of Fame
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• Two Prince Songs Surge in Streams After 'Stranger Things' Finale
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• “If you lived in LA, in the trenches, you could relate to it. And knowing Axl, I could relate to exactly where it was coming from”: The electrifying early Guns N’ Roses song written in a basement that signposted how huge they would become
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• “An immersive emotional ride, showing that music makes us feel whole again”: Airbag’s Dysphoria Live
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• “I hope they get sued. It’s a shameless ripoff. They should be slapped on the wrist for that”: How Tool attracted mainstream attention – and the ire of one of rock’s greatest frontmen
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• The 40 Most-Played Songs on Classic Rock Radio in 2025
  Ultimate Classic Rock
• "We set out to make the ultimate Priest album. It could be the most successful failure we'll ever have!" A classic encounter with Judas Priest as they prepare to unleash the album that saves them
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• “We started each day by doing yoga and breathing exercises. Then we took mushrooms and it got a little too psychedelic!” The prog duo who lost their label for being too weird, and decided to get even weirder
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