Hotrats

WELCOME

There’s usually something that I have vaguely planned to write

LITTLE RICHARD

Ian Fortnam looks back at the life and music of the self-acclaimed “architect of rock’n’roll”, who changed the face of popular music

THE 100 GRAEATEST SONGS OF THE CENTURY

Many (so many) were longlisted, but this is the final selection - the best rock songs of the 21st century thus far, as voted for by you! Some are from returning classic rock icons, while others are the work of new faces. Some of the artists in this list are no more, but plenty are still going strong. So what are you waiting for? Dive in…

THEY DON’T BITE… DO THEY?

No, they don’t. But plenty of punters did, snapping up their records and swiftly catapulting Halestorm into the big time

BACK FROM THE BRINK

Green Day’s great ‘resurrection’ track, American Idiot brought old fans back on board and pulled in millions of new ones

WHAM BAM THANK YOU MA’AM!

It’s hard to single out one great song from a band who have so many classics. Thankfully this one picks itself

THE POWER OF LOVE

Some songs are so unique that they occupy their own space, outside of time and place. The Darkness’s I Believe In A Thing Called Love is one of them

Peter Gabriel

Peter Gabriel is singing to a pig. Given that he

Phil May

PHIL MAY, FRONTMAN with The Pretty Things, has died at

Rip

Thank you and good night

Brian Howe

Former Bad Company and Ted Nugent band frontman Brian Howe

Bob Kulick

A “heartbroken” former Kiss guitarist Bruce Kulick has revealed the

Florian Schneider

Kraftwerk co-founder and electronic music pioneer Florian Schneider has died

Moon Martin

Oklahoma-born singer-songwriter John David Martin was awarded his nickname ‘Moon’

#TheShowMustBePaused

Music industry shuts down for a day in racism protest

NEWS

Roger Waters has voiced frustration that the official Pink Floyd

Alcatrazz

Singer Graham Bonnett revives the band he now says “should have kept going” instead of splitting in ’87

1000mods

Introducing the Greek band born of 90s grunge, 70s rock and some “really f**ked-up shit”

MY FIRST LOVE Kiss ALIVE!

The Bill & Ted actor on one of rock’s great live double albums

Chuck Prophet

The former Green On Red man worries about the world, and also about his mum reading his biography

These Wicked Rivers

A southern rock band from Derby, with a Floyd influence thrown in, they’re ready to flow

Mungo Jerry In The Summertime

A song that the band didn’t consider to have potential as a single, it was a worldwide hit that soundtracked the summer of 1970

Q & A Mick Box

The Uriah Heep founder on domestic duties, dog woes, ’appiness and half a century of staying ’umble

6 THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT... Ashley McBryde

The ‘kindness first, but take no crap’ country rocker might be shy, but you’d best not piss her off - especially if there’s a shovel around

Vega

That difficult sixth album - sometimes very different, sometimes the same, always good

Orange Goblin

Is it really 25 years since Orange Goblin burst on

Liar, Flower

You’ll remember KatieJane Garside. Although it’s been 28 years since

Wino

Despite generally singing about the crushing futility of things, Scott

X

This is the sound of lost Los Angeles; of excitement;

Danzig

There is a refreshing lack of ironic cabaret kitsch in

Jason Simon

With Washington stoners Dead Meadow’s career set to ‘intermittent’, singer/guitarist

Gold Key

If it’s instant gratification you’re looking for, move along, because

999

Forty-three years ago, ex-Kilburn And The High Roads guitarist Keith

Nick D’Virgilio

Spock’s Beard, Genesis, Big Big Train, Mirage, Cirque Du Soleil

ROUND-UP: MELODIC ROCK

Due largely to Joseph Williams’s commitments as lead singer of

Iron Maiden

The Irons’ two best live albums, now polished and repackaged

Whitesnake

It might seem like a strange title, given that all

Alternative TV

Originally released as Revolution in 2001, the ninth studio album

Brant Bjork

Stoner rock tends to rely on the kind of fuzzy-sideburned,

Keel

The buzz about Keel in the 80s owed as much

Depeche Mode

Boxing up the remixes from the Mode’s finest hour

Neil Young

Legendary lost album resurfaces 45 years later

London’s Lost Music Venues

Fascinating and depressing procession of vanished seminal niteries

The Clash: London Calling From The Museum Of London

A short film released as part of the BBC’s Culture

The Songs Of Genesis

Subtitled A Complete Guide To The Studio Recordings, this intensely

Bush

In August 2019, Bush hit Tampa, Florida with fellow Bill

Murder In The Front Row

In the early 80s, thrash turned the metal scene upside

White Riot

A love letter to political idealism in punk-era London, debut

Small Hours: The Long Night Of John Martyn

“If anyone else had inflicted the damage,” Graeme Thomson writes

A Platinum Producer’s Life In Music

Ted Templeman helped shape rock in the 1970s and 80s

Humble Pie

Never able to capture on record the punch and power of their live shows, their catalogue nevertheless includes some real gems

Tour Dates

A Night To Remember

With the continued absence of proper gigs during lockdown, we asked Classic Rock writers to reminisce about some of their most memorable gig-going experiences. Cue vivid, nostalgia-soaked memories of Iron Maiden, Nirvana, The Beatles, Rammstein, The Doors and more…

The Soundtrack Of My Life

Voice Of Rock Glenn Hughes on the records, artists and gigs that are of lasting significance to him

Dion

The Wanderer returns in some style on Joe Bonamassa’s label, with all-star backing

Wolftooth

Indiana’s Wolftooth return with their second dose of majestic late-70s

Kip Moore

After making his name with a few on-trend nods to

RRRags

A power trio in the classic style, RRRags sound lean

Kansas

Like the poor, Kansas have, in some way, always been

Thee MVPs

Although they relocated from London to Leeds to save on

Geezer

As implied by the album title, for these beardo New

The Vacant Lots

When the first 45s by Vermont industrial postpunk duo The

Fiona Apple

Already tipped as an album of the year frontrunner, critical

Neon Animal

London’s Neon Animal love rock’n’roll and they hate everything else

ROUND-UP: BLUES

Victor Wainwright’s second album plays like 12 postcards thrown from

Paul Weller

Songs from the Twilight Zone

Haken

One of Britain’s most enlightened prog bands, Haken always combine

The Warner E Hodges Band

As the guitarist and livewire on-stage foil in pioneering 80s

The Shrieks

Stick with The Shrieks. Fronted by CBGB-loitering veteran Luis Accorsi,

Hank Von Hell

It’s two years since former Turbonegro force of nature Hank

Bad Touch

Album number four, and Bad Touch have got this feel-good

DeadBlondeStars

“Tonight, Matthew, we’re going to be Soundgarden, Alice In Chains

King Buzzo With Trevor Dunn

Housing, Luxury, Energy, the second track on the second solo

Tokyo Blade

They could have been the West Country’s answer to Iron

The Magnetic Fields

Over the course of several landmark works of weighty conceptual

BEST OF THE REST

Other new releases out this month