Guides

  1. How the Rock Ballad Became the Sound of Prom NightsThe slow dance has long belonged to the rock ballad. From leather-jacketed crooners in the late seventies to the polished arena acts of today, the genre has…
  2. How the 1990s saw women storm the drum kit in rockThe early 1990s felt like a charged moment for anyone paying attention to alternative music. Subgenres collided, zines circulated hand to hand, and a…
  3. When leather jackets met Marshall stacksThe rumble of a V-twin has always carried its own soundtrack, a mechanical growl that drifts naturally into the world of rock and roll. Motorcycle clubs, with…
  4. The Best Rock Songs About Getting Lost and Finding Your WayGetting lost is one of rock’s oldest emotional engines. Sometimes it means missing the turn, leaving town with no plan, or staring through a windscreen while…
  5. Hammered strings and howling wind: an ambitious EP reviewedFrom the first distorted chord, Field Voltage's new EP announces its intentions with the subtlety of a lightning strike. Across six tracks and just under…
  6. Why Some Rock Bands Refuse to Play Their Greatest Hits LiveA quiet rebellion is happening on stages from Sydney's Hordern Pavilion to Melbourne's Forum, with nothing to do with pyrotechnics or encore rituals. Some of…
  7. Bonham's Drum Break That Echoed Across Music HistorySome sounds are so powerful that they escape their original context entirely. Six seconds of a drum solo, captured in an English country house in late 1970,…
  8. When The Slide Found Its Blues-Rock VoiceFew sounds in guitar music are as instantly recognisable as a metal or glass slide gliding across the strings. It can sound mournful, dangerous, celebratory or…
  9. Soundtracks for Late-Night Drives Through Australian National ParksThere's a particular silence you only find past midnight on a stretch of road cutting through the Australian bush. Crickets and wind replace city noise, and…
  10. The Rock Punchline That Turns Regret Into RevoltRock music has always understood that regret rarely arrives as a polite apology. It comes after the encore, when the crowd has gone home and the big promise…