Rock
This section gathers album stories, birthdays, and anniversaries tied to the artists and bands who shaped rock, along with notes on new vinyl reissues as they surface. Rock grew up alongside the LP: gatefold sleeves and a running order built around two sides of a record were part of how the genre presented itself from the start, and a large share of its catalog keeps coming back through official reissue programs. Expect the human side of the records here: the sessions, the lineup changes, the decisions that turned into landmark albums, and why particular pressings matter to collectors.
521 STORIES
How AC/DC Returned with Black Ice
After eight years without an original studio album, AC/DC returned in autumn 2008 with Black Ice. The band's fifteenth record became their biggest commercial moment.
· 4 min read
George Martin Revisits The Beatles on In My Life
George Martin's In My Life, released on 20 October 1998, hands Beatles songs to Sean Connery, Jim Carrey, Celine Dion and Jeff Beck.
· 4 min read
Why Did Donna Summer Bet Her Career on The Wanderer?
Donna Summer left disco behind in 1980 with The Wanderer, her first album for Geffen Records, where she was the label's first signed artist.
· 4 min read
How Peter Frampton Built a Harder Sound in Hendrix's Studio
Peter Frampton released Frampton's Camel on 20 October 1973, recorded at Electric Lady in New York and built around the band he had formed the year before.
· 3 min read
Why Did Europe Leave The Final Countdown Behind?
Europe recorded Walk the Earth at Abbey Road in about two weeks with producer Dave Cobb, arriving with ten songs and no finished album. The record came out on 20 October 2017.
· 4 min read
How David Bowie's Pin Ups Turned a Stopgap Into a No. 1
David Bowie's Pin Ups, a covers record of 1960s songs, was released on 19 October 1973 and became a number-one hit in Britain despite critics savaging it.
· 3 min read
How Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers Made Damn the Torpedoes
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers declared bankruptcy to escape MCA, then turned the fight into Damn the Torpedoes, released on 19 October 1979.
· 3 min read
How Rush Made Counterparts a Guitar Album Again
In 1993 Rush recorded Counterparts at Le Studio in Morin-Heights. Alex Lifeson pushed the guitar back to the front of the band's sound after a decade of synthesisers.
· 4 min read
Elvis Presley: The Second Album That Made It Look Easy
Elvis Presley cut almost an entire album in three days at Radio Recorders in Hollywood in September 1956. The result topped the Billboard chart for four weeks.
· 4 min read
Bob Dylan's New Morning and the Sound of a Voice Returned
Bob Dylan released New Morning on 19 October 1970, four months after Self Portrait, and it brought his familiar nasal voice back to an entire album.
· 4 min read
Styx Cornerstone: The Gift That Split the Band
Dennis DeYoung's ballad "Babe" became Styx's only number-one single and pushed Cornerstone to the top five. The pop turn it confirmed split the band's artistic vision.
· 3 min read
Coldplay's Mylo Xyloto: The Quiet Album That Exploded
Coldplay's fifth album Mylo Xyloto arrived on 24 October 2011 as a sci-fi concept record about the planet Silencia, topping charts in 34 countries.
· 4 min read
Bauhaus and The Sky's Gone Out
Bauhaus released The Sky's Gone Out on Beggars Banquet in October 1982. The third album was made with live sound engineer Derek Tompkins after the band abandoned plans to produce it alone.
· 3 min read
Greta Van Fleet's Anthem of the Peaceful Army at 8
Greta Van Fleet's debut album Anthem of the Peaceful Army arrived on October 19, 2018. Most of it was written in a two-week Nashville session after the band scrapped their original plan.
· 3 min read
How Chuck Berry Turned Prison into Rock and Roll
Chuck Berry left a Missouri reformatory at twenty-one and cut 'Maybellene' four years later. The single sold over a million copies and made him rock and roll's first great songwriter.
· 3 min read
Frank Zappa's Them or Us at 42
Frank Zappa released Them or Us on October 18, 1984. The seventy-three-minute album came out on his own Barking Pumpkin Records and mixed live tapes, studio overdubs and borrowed covers.
· 4 min read
How Paul McCartney Survived His First Quarry Men Gig
On 18 October 1957, Paul McCartney played his first public gig with John Lennon's Quarry Men at a Conservative Club social in Norris Green, Liverpool. He froze during the lead intro to 'Raunchy'.
· 3 min read
How Bryan Adams Turned a Rejected Riff into a Chart-Topping Hit
Bryan Adams wrote 'Run to You' on 10 January 1983, offered it to Blue Öyster Cult and .38 Special, and then recorded it himself as the lead single from Reckless.
· 4 min read
How Toto Lost Their Voice on Isolation
Toto released Isolation on October 18, 1984, with Fergie Frederiksen replacing Bobby Kimball on vocals. It became the band's only record with a single lead singer.
· 4 min read
How Cactus Made a Heavy Blues-Rock Stand with Restrictions
On October 18, 1971, Cactus released Restrictions, a third album of heavy blues rock recorded at Electric Lady Studios and produced by Geoffrey Haslam.
· 3 min read
Why Did The Bangles' Everything End Their First Era?
The Bangles released Everything on October 18, 1988, after more than a year of sessions, and the album became their last before a nine-year break.
· 4 min read
How The Beatles Turned a Day Off Into 'Kansas City'
On 18 October 1964, The Beatles used a day off from their British tour to record 'Kansas City' at EMI's London studio, nailing the song in one take.
· 4 min read
The Rolling Stones and the Album That Lost a Guitarist
The Rolling Stones released 'It's Only Rock 'n Roll' on 18 October 1974. It was the last album to feature guitarist Mick Taylor before his departure reshaped the band.
· 3 min read
The Doors Release Other Voices Without Morrison
The Doors released Other Voices on 18 October 1971, their first album after Jim Morrison's death. Ray Manzarek and Robby Krieger split the vocal duties.
· 4 min read