Rock Archives - Page 25 of 26 - Vintage Rock Times

What was “The whole story”: The song that signalled the end of Led Zeppelin

As a music critic, I often find myself conflicted over the balance of evolutionary innovation and the mastery of one single craft. Take David Bowie, for example; his entire DNA is rooted in his mercuriality that shifted with every new album. By the time the campaign rollout for his third album came, we were used […]

“It’s too high”: The song Brian May thought would be too difficult for Freddie Mercury

Throughout every decade we had Queen, nothing seemed out of their grasp. Compared to most bands that follow one sound and stick with it throughout their career, the rock monarchs were absolutely fearless when it came time to challenge themselves, whether that meant going towards pop, making cheery show-tunes, or the greatest stadium-sized hard rock […]

Why ‘Babe I’m Gonna Leave You’: The Led Zeppelin song Jimmy Page called “trance music”

Surprisingly, Robert Plant was never a huge fan of the Led Zeppelin track ‘Babe I’m Gonna Leave You’. It was less the song as a whole that he had a problem with, and more his vocal performance that he hated. “Songs like ‘Babe I’m Gonna Leave You’… I find my vocals on there horrific now,” […]

Which one the album that changed the way Ringo Starr played: “Getting better”

Ringo Starr was never meant to play any song the same way twice whenever he got behind the drum kit. It’s easy to look at any drummer as the person who keeps time in a group, but whether it was with The Beatles or his All-Starr Band, Starr always approached his drumming style as an […]

Why The Beatles would never get back together even if John Lennon and George Harrison were still alive?

When The Beatles broke up, for many, it felt like the end of the world. For a band to do so much in such a short amount of time is truly monumental, as they changed the way that people wrote music, but also the way that they recorded, promoted and published it. They had become […]

“It was extraordinary”: The one person that led Jimmy Page away from Led Zeppelin

From day one, Led Zeppelin was always the brainchild of Jimmy Page. Sure, the band could have been a democracy when it wanted to, but there was nothing on any of their records that didn’t get Page’s approval or had his signature touch for production behind the scenes. Although most of the members were free […]

The recording session that saw John Lennon ‘accidentally’ take LSD

If I had to think about how John Lennon’s presence in the world was slowly introduced to me, it was first with the tightly fitting Windsor sunglasses, accompanied with a peace sign. Before I grew into the world, developed an understanding of The Beatles and realised exactly who he was, he symbolised the ultimate hippie. […]

The ‘Abbey Road’ medley: What is the meaning behind The Beatles’ final studio moments?

We all know the conspiracies behind Abbey Road: that The Beatles were all dead, that the album cover actually depicted a funeral procession, that the car registration in the background represented John Lennon’s age if he had supposedly lived to see the record’s release. These stories may all just be myths, but they did hold […]

The jam that made Robert Plant ditch Led Zeppelin: “I’m going home”

Any band getting back together must have a good reason to get back on that stage. It’s easy to figure out why some people either don’t want to speak to each other or are too past their prime to make the magic happen like they id in the early days, and it’s no surprise why […]

The Simpsons song that outsold ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’

When it was released in 1991, ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ was not just a gigantic breakthrough moment for Nirvana or the grunge movement, but a watershed moment in terms of rock music re-entering the mainstream with something that felt genuinely subversive. Mainstream rock music throughout the 1980s had felt watered-down to some, lacking in the […]