The accidental genesis of Billy Joel’s quirkiest single
How a throwaway comment relieved Billy Joel’s writer’s block and yielded one of his most iconic hits of the 80s. We put ourselves under pressure!
Artists
The accidental genesis of Billy Joel’s quirkiest single
How a throwaway comment relieved Billy Joel’s writer’s block and yielded one of his most iconic hits of the 80s. We put ourselves under pressure!
“I kept it a cappella, and this detail affected everything to come”: How Tom's Diner affected the way we listen to music
Song turns 45 years old this November
We catch up with synthwave figureheads The Midnight who exclusively reveal an eye-catching new collaboration
A dominant force in nostalgia-evoking synthwave, The Midnight have plunged even further down our cultural memory-hole with a new analogue foray…
“I said, ‘What does it matter?": Mick Jagger didn’t see the point in using tape on the new Stones album
Plus, he’s been sharing his thoughts on Olivia Rodrigo’s ability to make rock music
"I’m going to go out on a limb and say we don’t want this”: Lorde slams Spotify's About the Song feature
New feature was announced last year and is currently in beta
“Joni called Jaco Pastorius the bassist of her dreams and his playing helped liberate her music”
The song emerged from the hedonism and chaos of Bob Dylan’s Rolling Thunder Revue tour
The Battle of Clevermore: It's MusicRadar's Quiz of the Week #14!
Take our 10-question quiz of this week's hottest music news
Rogét Chahayed: “We signed away our rights to get some cash, then a year and a half later, the album came out and two of our songs were on there”
Having worked on Kendrick Lamar's 2015 magnum opus, only to go uncredited, Chahayed reflects on the lessons the experience taught him about the industry
Music Tech
Leading music industry bodies unite to create labelling program for generative AI in recorded music
Organisations like the RIAA, the IFPI and the Grammys are all involved in the project
This free browser-based sampler turns YouTube into an MPC
Producer Halfpast's retro-themed YPC chops up any YouTube video across the computer keyboard for instant finger-drumming fun
“I said, ‘What does it matter?": Mick Jagger didn’t see the point in using tape on the new Stones album
Plus, he’s been sharing his thoughts on Olivia Rodrigo’s ability to make rock music
SampleRadar: 493 free hardware drum machine samples
Looped beats and one-shots from a handful of beat-boxes, including the Alesis H16-B, Arturia DrumBrute, Nord Drum and Roland TR-8
Best DJ controllers 2026: killer controllers from Pioneer DJ, Rane and more, tested
These DJ controllers are the best in the biz, whether you’re a beginner or a mix master
Pink Floyd’s legendary Dark Side of the Moon officially returns to the cassette format
The latest co-branded cassette player release from We Are Rewind celebrates the totemic record that all-but demands playback on a physical format
AG Cook and Native Instruments team up for signature synth plugin Super*Saw
A supersaw on steroids, this new soft synth captures Cook’s signature sound, heard on records from Charli XCX, Caroline Polachek and Beyoncé
Suno scraped millions of songs from YouTube, Deezer and stock music libraries, according to hacked data
404 Media reports that in training its models, the AI music generation platform lifted at least "2,013,545 music clips" from YouTube Music alone
Best stage pianos 2026: Our pick of the finest keyboards for live performance
Our guide to the top stage pianos for gigging musicians, with options from Nord, Roland, Yamaha, Casio and more…
Beyerdynamic DT 30 IE review
In-ear monitoring is becoming more affordable, with many entry-level options on the market. The DT30 IE from Beyerdynamic could be the perfect beginner in-ears, or even a decent backup for more seasoned users
Guitars
“The final boss of the lost Dual Op-Amp circuit”: Electro-Harmonix unveils Deluxe Big Muff Pi 2
This alternate take on the Muff fuzz sound now comes supercharged with enough features to make you consider an upgrade
NPR just posted its most brutal Tiny Desk Concert ever as Napalm Death bring grind chaos to the office
Taylor Swift, U2, Dua Lipa... the UK grind pioneers join exalted company as they give NPR a performance for the ages
Now Fender hits Yamaha with a cease-and-desist as it widens legal campaign over Stratocaster copyright
The legal battle over the design of S-style guitars takes a Goliath vs Goliath turn...
Gibson unveils Custom Shop reissue of a Michael Schenker and Kirk Hammett favourite
They only made 350 of them back in the day but the 1971 Flying Medallion takes flight once more with a stunning VOS reissue
Queens Of The Stone Age drop a brand new single out of nowhere and it features Nikki Lane on vocals
Easy Street is the band's first new track since 2023's Times New Roman
"We are devastated”: L7 bassist Jennifer Finch diagnosed with brain cancer
Band have set up a GoFundMe page for her care
Blackstar shrinks Doug Aldrich’s fire-breathing tube head into a compact 5-watt combo
Meet the DA5 Ruby, the house-trained version of Aldrich's 100-watter, with the same super-hot tone
Guitar Lessons & Tutorials
Get almost $1k of guitar tuition from our number one online platform for only $99 with this epic Summer Black Friday deal – over 11,000 lessons, plus bonus gifts
And if you’re a beginner, the bundled beginner’s guide will get you off on the right foot
Confused by guitar tabs and notation? Use this complete guide to reading music for guitar
Learn to play acoustic and electric guitar in record time with our guide to easy-to-read notation
"Don't play scales just to get faster. Speed is a happy by-product of playing more accurately": Beginner Guitar Lessons - nailing scales
The A major pentatonic, A minor pentatonic and Mixolydian are great places to start and we'll show you how
"There isn't one correct answer": 6 things you need you need know about how to clean and condition your guitar fretboard
A string change is the ideal opportunity to get your 'board back to its best
What are the best online guitar lessons in 2026? I’m a professional guitar gear reviewer and these are my highest-rated lessons platforms
My expert pick of the best online guitar courses will supercharge your playing wherever you are, and whether you're a beginner, intermediate, or advanced player
How Tom Morello used his guitar to drill into the off-limits domain of the turntablist
The Rage Against the Machine axe-man’s most memorable moment saw him emulate a DJ scratch breakdown using a trick that few have fully mastered
With a massive 89% discount, $99 for a year's worth of Guitar Tricks online lessons is the best way to upgrade your guitar playing this Black Friday
Guitar Tricks is our number one online tuition platform for guitar players
Ignite your inner guitar god for just 27 cents a day with TrueFire’s July 4th sale - save 60% on online lessons
With over 84,000 lessons at your disposal, this is one of the best value guitar tuition subscriptions online right now
Can you fix your guitar's frets yourself? We try three innovative approaches from MusicNomad to investigate how they might conquer a major cause of fret buzz
Uneven frets are a common issue with our guitars, but MusicNomad has come up with different ways to empower players to deal with it themselves
Latest Tuition
The difference between distortion and saturation and how to effectively get a gnarly sound
Adding small or even large amounts of saturation doesn’t have to be bad for you, as we explore how to singe your sonics
How to use reverb to build impressive-sounding filters, reverses, risers and pads
Create your own reverb effects with our step-by-step tutorial
How to get Radiohead’s resonant National Anthem vocal effect in software
On Kid A, Radiohead went resonant with some severe vocal processing - although complex at the time, the incredible results can now be easily achieved in software
Build your own expressive talkbox with plugins
If you love the sound of the talkbox, but grapple with the practicality of the hardware, we have some top tips for recreating the classic sound with plugins
How to get recognisable pop sounds and effects using only Logic’s stock plugins
If you’ve got Logic, you’re already more than capable of recreating Skrillex’s manipulated reverb, Billie Eilish’s formant shifting and much more…
How to emulate one of Jon Hopkins' signature sonic techniques with plugins
We get creative with an effects chain inspired by Jon Hopkins, and a heavy dose of felt piano
Exploring how Harry Styles brought the sounds of minimal techno to pop with Aperture
Aperture heralded a new approach for Styles, but its sounds clearly cribbed from the minimal techno playbook
Do you want to remix faster and better? Here's 6 essential remix skills every producer should know
Get the technical know-how required to make great remixes with these essential techniques
Confused by guitar tabs and notation? Use this complete guide to reading music for guitar
Learn to play acoustic and electric guitar in record time with our guide to easy-to-read notation
I’m so obsessed with Olivia Rodrigo’s Drop Dead trance bass sound that I remade it in my DAW
We create our own transient-heavy synth bass with leanings towards the trance-heavy sounds of the 90s. ‘Drop Dead’ you exclaim? No way! We were Born Slippy!
How to emulate the sound of Gary Numan’s synth-pop classic Cars
We lift the bonnet on a foundational piece of synth genius, and demonstrate how you can achieve its distinctive sound yourself in your DAW
How to master virtually any software synth
Don't let your software arsenal overwhelm you - sometimes the best route to creative success is to mine just one instrument
"Don't play scales just to get faster. Speed is a happy by-product of playing more accurately": Beginner Guitar Lessons - nailing scales
The A major pentatonic, A minor pentatonic and Mixolydian are great places to start and we'll show you how
"Record everything all the time – and keep it all": 8 pro techno producers explain how they create their tracks
We delve into our In The Studio archive to compile the techno secrets behind releases on esteemed labels including Drumcode, Cocoon, Dekmantel, Second State and more
"There isn't one correct answer": 6 things you need you need know about how to clean and condition your guitar fretboard
A string change is the ideal opportunity to get your 'board back to its best
How to pan like a pro and spread your mix across the stereo image
We help you broaden your mixing horizons with some useful tips for panning perfection
The difference between distortion and saturation and how to effectively get a gnarly sound
Adding small or even large amounts of saturation doesn’t have to be bad for you, as we explore how to singe your sonics
How to conjure the spirit of early techno and trigger your own retro zaps in software
How a sound design approach originally deployed for television effects became an electronic music staple - and how to make it yourself
Latest Reviews
Beyerdynamic DT 30 IE review
In-ear monitoring is becoming more affordable, with many entry-level options on the market. The DT30 IE from Beyerdynamic could be the perfect beginner in-ears, or even a decent backup for more seasoned users
“It's extremely easy to use, but only once you’ve got to grips with what is quite an esoteric control interface”: Donner DBM-100 metronome review
The Donner DBM-100 looks and feels like a handheld games console - but is it just as much fun to use as it looks?
"Transcription Studio promises to turn audio into notated transcriptions, lead sheets and guitar tabs – but does it actually work?": Klang.io Transcription Studio review
AI-powered transcription tools like Klang.io's Transcription Studio are rapidly advancing in sophistication, but they won't be replacing humans anytime soon
Electro-Harmonix Big Muff Pi 2 Dual Op-Amp Fuzz review
Long-lost circuitry featuring two op-amps is resurrected for the latest iteration of the classic Electro-Harmonix pedal
“A strong update overall that introduces many features to boost your creativity and streamline your workflow”: Steinberg Cubase 15 review
Steinberg brings a host of tweaks and additions to Cubase 15, but will they satisfy new and existing users alike?
Baum Guitars Verve review
Distinctive looks and a buttery-smooth neck profile with this T-style, but some QC issues hold it back
"A compelling and well-rounded entry-level piano that prioritises accessibility and sound quality over features": Kawai CX102 digital piano review
I find out if the new replacement for Kawai’s KDP-75 is a simple rebrand or a step forward
Orange Outlowd ES3 Ed Sheeran signature amp review
Orange teams up with Ed Sheeran to create the Outlowd series of acoustic amplifiers. The diminutive ES3 is the home tool that could add an extra level of lush tone to our home sessions.
