Rock News 2026-02-17

• “Of all the entertainment businesses, the music business is the worst of all them. It attracts the lowest form of life”: The maverick ‘mad scientist’ who created an entire genre in his basement – and stuck it to the music industry
  Louder
• Why Isn't 'Shot in the Dark' on Ozzy's Greatest Hits Albums?
  Ultimate Classic Rock
• "I've got to be careful about what I say about it. But I've got a lot to say." Superstar drummer Josh Freese on his enforced "mystery" exit from Foo Fighters
  Louder
• Megadeth Kicks Off Farewell Tour: Video, Set List
  Ultimate Classic Rock
• Jon Anderson Expands 2026 Tour With the Band Geeks
  Ultimate Classic Rock
• Dee Snider Explains Reunion Tour Cancelation: 'I'm Not Dying'
  Ultimate Classic Rock
• What To Expect From Sebastian Bach's 'The Party Never Ends' Tour
  Ultimate Classic Rock
• "It's as if overnight the world decided Deftones were the most culturally important band since Nirvana." Alternative metal's original baddies get hot and heavy as they kick off their UK tour in Birmingham
  Louder
• "I and so many others have experienced gaslighting, vilification, monitoring and covert manipulation." Sister Ghost shares raging punk single Not Your Toy, lines up special Valentine's Day show
  Louder
• Rock's Best Breakup Albums
  Ultimate Classic Rock
• Classic Rock's Tracks Of The Week: February 16, 2026
  Louder
• “The studio had a rancid swimming pool. We bet our drummer £50 that he wouldn’t jump in. He did”: Skin disease, an unhinged producer and weird bets around the swimming pool – the story of the one of British metal’s greatest albums
  Louder
• Eagles Add Two More 2026 Concert Dates
  Ultimate Classic Rock
• Black Keys Set World Tour Dates Ahead of New 'Peaches!' LP
  Ultimate Classic Rock
• Nobody Was More Surprised Than Carl Palmer When Bandmates Died
  Ultimate Classic Rock
• Nancy Wilson Wants One More Heart Album and 'Victory Lap'
  Ultimate Classic Rock
• "This is a much more insular record." Steven Wilson reveals details of his upcoming studio album
  Louder
• Robert Duvall, Hollywood Legend and ‘The Godfather’ Star, Dies
  Ultimate Classic Rock
• March 2026 New Music Releases
  Ultimate Classic Rock
• “There was a sweet side to him when he came out of one of these weeks of debauchery. There were some good times. But not many”: Fleetwood Mac made an album that sold five million copies but no one talks about it –not even the band
  Louder
• "I was intubated, put in a coma for seventeen days. I had to relearn how to walk and talk – and my voice was completely different." Elles Bailey talks fame, vanity, mental health and the childhood trauma behind her smoke’n’honey battle cry
  Louder
• Steven Wilson announces two Royal Albert Hall dates in October, his only live shows this year
  Louder
• "Under any authoritarian government, bad laws are there to be broken." Massive Attack react to High Court ruling that the UK government acted unlawfully when classifying Palestine Action as a terrorist organisation
  Louder
• Why Don Henley Never Listens to This One Eagles Classic
  Ultimate Classic Rock
• The Dillinger Escape Plan announce first UK show since 2017, alongside only European shows of 2026
  Louder
• "I get choked singing that one. I lose the rhythm, lose the riff, and I think to myself: 'Oh, don't do that.' It's stupid." The story of the pub rock classic that journeyed from paradise to paradise lost
  Louder
• "When it ended, I asked, “Do you hate it?” How an old rap-rock demo, a Chris Farley skit and an all-star jam helped turn one Canadian pop-punk band into megastars
  Louder
• The Beach Boys, 'We Gotta Groove': Album Review
  Ultimate Classic Rock
• Rush's 'Moving Pictures': 5 Facts About Their Biggest Album
  Ultimate Classic Rock
• “It was just weird. It wasn’t working, whatever we tried. I think it created a negative association”: Tom Sawyer started out as Rush’s least favourite track on Moving Pictures. It later made them big in Brazil
  Louder
• W.A.S.P. Announces '1984 to Headless' Tour With KK's Priest
  Ultimate Classic Rock
• "He locked himself in the studio and threatened to burn the tapes. It was a stand-off for almost a day." How Sammy Hagar helped Van Halen win the war against David Lee Roth
  Louder
• 25 Platonic Love Songs
  Ultimate Classic Rock
• Cool new proggy sounds you need to hear from Crown Lands, System 7, Major Parkinson in Prog's Tracks Of The Week
  Louder
• Micky Dolenz Kicks Off '60 Years of the Monkees' Tour: Set List
  Ultimate Classic Rock
• “We have an identity crisis. People say, ‘I knew every one of those songs, but I had no idea they were yours’”: Mike + The Mechanics’ history is a bit more rock’n’roll than Genesis’
  Louder
• “I would’ve loved to sing like Ozzy. But these horrible noises came out of my throat instead!”: The trailblazing German thrash queen who inspired a generation of female metal singers
  Louder
• "It's not me! But thank you for all the love!" Angela Gossow shoots down rumour that she's rejoining Arch Enemy
  Louder
• “We’re selling out shows, we’re climbing the bills, but there’s so much pressure to reach more success”: As one of the UK’s leading bands stop touring, we need to talk about the toxic effect a ruined music industry is having on heavy metal
  Louder
• “I was talking to Kerry King, and that Slayer album – Jesus Christ, did you see that cover?! That stuff is pretty vivid”: The classic metal album wrestling legend Stone Cold Steve Austin wishes he’d made – and the band he thinks should have been huge
  Louder
• “He said, ‘It’s not going to happen.’ He gave me that tough-guy New York thing. I said, ‘How about something that is going to happen?’ It was career suicide, but it felt really good”: How Steve Morse took on a media mogul and got away with it
  Louder
• “Who else other than Mortiis can make sense of the lyrics? I still can’t, but there’s an energy behind them that just fits”: The enigmatic Norwegian anthem that became black metal’s first ‘hit’ – and even the band that made it don’t understand
  Louder
• "This is going to be a long tour, and at the end of it, I want some time to live life.” Heavy metal legend and ever-controversial icon Dave Mustaine on the end of Megadeth, making peace with Metallica and what's next
  Louder
• I didn't expect the Presidents' Day sales to be this good for rock music fans, but these deals on hoodies, collectables, vinyl, headphones & more have proven me wrong
  Louder
• Gene Simmons Doubles Down on Controversial Rap 'Ghetto' Comments
  Ultimate Classic Rock
• "I wish that people’s lives weren’t political. I wish that our rights over our bodies weren’t political. I wish that feeding children wasn’t political. But it is." Texan doom punks Die Spitz are fighting for their rights
  Louder
• "The tribe explained to us that the only way they wrote music was if someone dreamed of it." How a cult band headed deep into the Brazilian jungle, got help from an indigenous tribe and emerged with one of the 90s' defining metal songs
  Louder
• "Fuelled by booze and pills, they cut their teeth delivering approximations of Gene Vincent and Eddie Cochran." Jethro Tull's Ian Anderson on why the early Beatles were so dangerous
  Louder
• “Pretentious, perhaps. But let’s call it pioneering instead”: Peter Gabriel called it “knock and knowall” – but five decades on, here’s why we still like Genesis’ The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway
  Louder
• Jon Anderson announces September UK tour dates
  Louder
• Jefferson Starship Extends 2026's Runaway Again World Tour
  Ultimate Classic Rock
• "The stage became electrified. It severely shocked two guys in our crew." Avatar cut short London Valentine's show after deeming venue unsafe
  Louder
• Why Are Mick Jagger, Bono and Other Rockers in the Epstein Files?
  Ultimate Classic Rock
• Nancy Wilson Recalls the Album Cover That Splintered Heart
  Ultimate Classic Rock
• "My main memory is thinking if I stood still for too long, I’d get hit with a beer can." R&B superstar Thundercat looks back on his nine years in hardcore punk legends Suicidal Tendencies
  Louder
• Lamb of God changed their logo because the old one looked like "a falafel restaurant menu"
  Louder
• Why Counting Crows Were Banned From 'Saturday Night Live'
  Ultimate Classic Rock
• The 12 best new metal songs you need to hear right now
  Louder
• "It's not big, it's not clever, but it is a lot of twelve-bar fun with that Keith Richards' twist": Faster Pussycat's debut is a middle-finger-in-the-air collection of songs about sex, drugs and rock'n'roll
  Louder
• "Breaking the Law is a revolution song." Watch Rob Halford discuss conflict, rioting and rage in trailer for forthcoming documentary The Ballad of Judas Priest, starring Ozzy Osbourne, Dave Grohl, Billy Corgan, Kirk Hammett and more
  Louder
• What To Expect From Stewart Copeland's 2026 Summer Tour
  Ultimate Classic Rock
• The Best Solo Album From Every Classic-Era Guns N' Roses Member
  Ultimate Classic Rock
• “I’m not in any way afraid of death." The triumph and tragedy of Nirvana's final album
  Louder
• "The pursuit of immortality? I'll chase that as hard and fast as the next guy": Why the world is seeing a lot of Bruce Springsteen
  Louder
• The 25 Biggest Rock Stars Who Never Issued a Solo Album
  Ultimate Classic Rock
• "We’re in the lab, we’re woodshedding, excited." Eddie Vedder says that Pearl Jam are preparing for a new era
  Louder
• "The very first thought that came into my head was, ‘This band are going to get ripped off’." Corrupt police, crumbling dictatorships and amateur translators: The 80s metal classic that smashed borders and helped launch one of metal's most iconic labels
  Louder
• "He would blow a fuse and get p**sed off at us and scream!" How an irate producer and 'Chris Rock' convinced Beastie Boys to finish what would be their biggest-ever song
  Louder
• The Top 30 Albums of 1986
  Ultimate Classic Rock
• “Whenever someone’s said to me, ‘Oh, didn’t you write this about the superhero?’, I’d just say: ‘Sorry, never heard of him’”: The misunderstood metal classic that gave an iconic Marvel movie character his theme song
  Louder
• "I was so shocked I just fell on the floor, gasping for air." Red Hot Chili Peppers' bassist Flea pays tribute to the "beautiful boy" who changed his life and broke his heart
  Louder
• What Everyday Life Looked Like in the 1990s
  Ultimate Classic Rock
• The Best (and Worst) Pink Floyd Solo Albums
  Ultimate Classic Rock
• Alanis Morissette and Skunk Anansie added to inaugural State Fayre Festival line-up following the cancellation of Neil Young's European tour
  Louder
• Who Are the 'Big 4' of '60s New York City Artists?
  Ultimate Classic Rock
• Buddy Guy Shares 2026 Tour Dates Celebrating His 90th Birthday
  Ultimate Classic Rock
• Slade Drummer Recalls Life-Changing Car Accident: 'I Died Twice'
  Ultimate Classic Rock
• "Hey, everybody. It's me, Dee Snider, and I'm not dying!" Twisted Sister frontman "still rocking, ain't stopping", despite reunion tour cancellation
  Louder
• "From the light to the dark, the sacred to the profane, Cash's songbook is all-embracing." Nine Johnny Cash albums you should listen to and one to avoid
  Louder
• C.O.C. Announce New 'Good God / Baad Man' Double Album
  Ultimate Classic Rock
• “It would be interesting to revisit some of the songs, but it’s never going to happen. I don’t know who isn’t talking to who these days”: Judy Dyble was always amazed at the quality of her collaborators
  Louder
• “I was surprised that it was the one everybody knows about. Metallica must have thought it was a decent song. We got some street cred from that”: The cult 70s anthem that Metallica turned into one of metal’s most famous cover songs
  Louder
• Winger Books 2026 Shows After Supposedly Retiring From Touring
  Ultimate Classic Rock
• The Australian Pink Floyd Show Announces 2026 Summer Tour
  Ultimate Classic Rock
• "His spirit will be around." A beloved, long-lost cult prog metal band have announced their first shows in 16 years - and you can hear their first rehearsals together
  Louder