Guides

The Most Underrated Rock Drummers of All Time
Rock history is crowded with frontmen, guitar heroes and bass players whose riffs became cultural landmarks. Drummers often receive less attention, even though…
How rock fans learned to live with digital recording
When digital recording entered professional studios in the late 1970s and 1980s, it arrived with a promise that sounded almost revolutionary: cleaner sound,…
Blackwater Saints Bring Back the Heat of Hard Rock
Blackwater Saints arrive with Iron Highway, a debut album steeped in the muscular, swaggering language of vintage hard rock. The Melbourne four-piece do not…
The best rock playlist for a firepit night under the stars
A great firepit soundtrack should feel bigger than the speakers: warm enough for conversation, loud enough for a chorus, and varied enough to carry the evening…
Why Dylan’s 1974 Tour Still Feels Like Rock’s Toughest Road Test
Bob Dylan’s 1974 reunion tour with The Band was a short, punishing blast through American arenas. It lasted roughly six weeks, packed in 40 concerts, and…
The Forgotten Art of the Rock Album’s B-Side
For decades, the B-side was rock’s secret handshake. It sat behind the single, away from radio programmers and casual listeners, waiting for the fan willing to…
When Rock Music Challenged Racial Barriers
Rock music emerged from a collision of Black rhythm and blues, gospel, boogie-woogie, country and swing. In the 1950s, that mixture travelled through…
The Stratocaster And The Guitar That Changed Rock History
Few electric guitars have become as recognisable as the Fender Stratocaster. Its sculpted body, three-pickup layout and sharp, glassy tone helped define the…
The best rock songs about ghost towns and abandoned places
Few rock images carry as much emotional weight as the empty settlement: rusted signs, boarded windows, a pub with no customers, and a road disappearing into…
Why Pacific Northwest Rock Has a Pulse All Its Own
The Pacific Northwest has always sounded like a place rather than a genre. Seattle’s rain, Portland’s restless creativity, Vancouver’s coastal isolation and…