Latest articles by Neil Crossley
“I have never heard a better ‘rock’ piano”: The famous Trident Studios piano used by The Beatles, Bowie, Queen and more
It’s what Macca played on Hey Jude
"They convinced him to turn it into a grand, crashing, theatrical monster-ballad, complete with orchestra”: The story of Nilsson's Without You
How the singer transformed an album track into one of the most abiding love songs of all time
"When Elvis heard the second one, he brightened. ‘Let me hear that again. Something I like about that one’... "
Otis Blackwell wrote over 1,000 R&B and rock ‘n’ roll hits, including some of Elvis's most iconic tracks, but "never wanted to meet him… We had something I felt that was going pretty good"
The story of The Cult's She Sells Sanctuary
Almost 40 years since its release, The Cult’s She Sells Sanctuary stands the test of time as a soaring and majestic pop-rock anthem – including some happy accidents
Love Will Tear Us Apart: The story of Joy Division's swan song
"He was obsessed. Martin sensed it was a song that was going to last forever and wanted to make it really special"
The great Oasis Be Here Now album debate
"Be Here Now was reframed first as a disappointment and then as a disaster” – but is it really that straightforward?
The 5 essential Elliott Smith songs to start with
A musical legacy that continues to inspire
How Joni Mitchell embraced the formidable personality and talent of bass virtuoso Jaco Pastorius
“He pointed to his rental amp and said, ‘I'm not playing through that piece of shit’. So he took mine”
How Mick Taylor joined the Rolling Stones and brought a level of virtuosity to the band not seen before or since
"We used to fight and argue all the time"
Did George Harrison contribute to more Beatles songs than he is given credit for?
"I think in the balance I would have had more things to be niggled with him about than he would have with me"
How Lindsey Buckingham took Fleetwood Mac on a creative left-turn on Tusk
“A noisy, bouncing fuzz-monster that makes no kind of sense in the universe of mainstream 70s radio pop” – but is Fleetwood Mac's flop a misunderstood masterpiece?
The Bob Dylan album that helped change country music
On his last studio album of the '60s, Bob Dylan embraced country music and unveiled a surprising new vocal style
The Carpenters' Goodbye To Love and the magic of Tony Peluso's guitar solo
"Ninety-nine percent of that solo was done on the first take"
“By far, the most stressful day of my entire life": The unexpected story of This Guy's in Love With You, the Bacharach and David classic that reduced Noel Gallagher to a nervous wreck
How a sublimely dreamy, easy-listening love song captured the collective minds of middle America during one of the nation’s most turbulent years
"Songwriting for me, at the time of Rubber Soul, was a bit frightening because John and Paul had been writing since they were three years old": How The Beatles raised their game in 1965 to create a masterpiece that "broke everything open"
The Beatles' sixth album Rubber Soul was a colossal creative leap and marked the point at which albums began to be viewed as works of real artistic merit
“Every time I opened a music paper it said, ‘Johnny Marr – jingle jangle’. I'd just had enough”: How The Smiths defied expectations on their final album, Strangeways, Here We Come
Johnny Marr and Morrissey’s relationship may have crumbled during its creation, but The Smiths’ final album is regarded by many as their best
“We did turn a corner. But it must have been the biggest corner in the universe, ‘cos it took ages to turn it”: Inside the protracted creation and glorious guitar work of The Stone Roses' Second Coming
It took the band 347 ten-hour days in the studio to produce 75 minutes of music, but the definition of difficult second album saw a darker Zeppelin-esque Les Paul-toting John Squire emerge
“My God, it’s hard to get in tune when they’re booing": when Bob Dylan faced down his detractors with a Strat and made rock n' roll history
In 1965, Bob Dylan strapped on a Stratocaster, then a Telecaster, and ushered in a bold new folk-rock sound. But he'd actually gone electric six months earlier…
"If you absolutely hated Stairway to Heaven, nobody can blame you for that because it was so… pompous": The glory and burden of Led Zeppelin's Stairway To Heaven, over half a century on
In early 1970 Jimmy Page had a concept for an epic song that “would unravel in layers as it progressed”. More than five decades on, Stairway To Heaven still has a hold on its writers and the world
How Radiohead redefined the role of guitar on their landmark album Kid A: "It's scary – everyone feels insecure. I'm a guitarist and suddenly it's like, well, there are no guitars on this track, or drums"
Disillusioned with rock music, Radiohead turned to electronica and ambience as Ed O’Brien forged a whole new six-string sound
The making of Tom Petty's Full Moon Fever: "George Harrison went to the store and bought a ginger root, boiled it and had me stick my head in the pot to get the ginger steam to open up my sinuses. Then I ran in and did the take"
More than 33 years after its release, Tom Petty's solo debut is still making headlines thanks to Grand Theft Autio 6. We dig into the creation of a classic album
The story of Fairytale Of New York: “I sat down, opened the sherry, got the peanuts out and pretended it was Christmas…"
At this time when the music world is mourning the loss of Shane MacGowan, MusicRadar looks back on one of his most enduring and beloved achievements
"Even before we got to the day of the show, there was a ‘concern’… a concern with Liam" – the story behind the farce and the glory of Oasis’s infamous 1996 MTV Unplugged performance
Riding high after playing to 250,000 people at Knebworth, Oasis set about rehearsing for a very different kind of show – an intimate MTV Unplugged performance from the Royal Festival Hall. But within days, it was clear all was not going to plan…
The story of Rory Gallagher's Rolling Stones audition: "All of the music papers were full of speculation. It's a bit like when the Pope dies and you get pictures of all these people who might succeed him"
Stunned by the sudden departure of Mick Taylor, The Rolling Stones spread the net far and wide in their search for a suitable replacement. One of the players high up on their list of possibles was Rory Gallagher
An introduction to Jeff Buckley: "I would listen to anything: The Beatles, Bob Dylan, Jimi Hendrix, Joni Mitchell, Judy Garland, Robert Johnson, Thelonious Monk, Bartok, Mahler. And I asked a lot of questions"
From his soaring, unbridled falsetto to his sonic artistry, Jeff Buckley defied conventions and left a catalogue of songs that is timeless and unique