Features archive

July 2026

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19 articles

July 31
- “The console had quit. They didn't like that at all.” How Grady Martin, Nancy Sinatra and Ann-Margret helped fuzz become every guitarist's favorite effect
- How the Beatles reinvented the recording studio with Rubber Soul. “EMI had very firm rules,” Paul McCartney recalled, “which we always had to break”
July 30
- “He said, ‘God, when I asked for a song, I didn’t expect this!’” Tom Petty and Mike Campbell on the song they couldn’t give Stevie Nicks — and the one they did that became a hit
- “It’s my least favorite Beatles song.” Elvis Presley inspired it. John Lennon hated it. Behind the Rubber Soul track he wished he'd never written
July 29
- “I just want it known I'm allowed to put four songs on the album, whatever happens.” John Lennon had a plan to keep the Beatles going into the 1970s. Paul McCartney rejected it. The rest is history
July 27
- “I’m up there like the folk singer I always hoped I would be — before I saw the Beatles.” Lenny Kaye on finally making his first solo album
- “If the answer is yes, you’re doing all right. That’s your dream guitar.” Joe Bonamassa explains his trick for finding the guitars you’ll want to keep forever
- “I was the drummer!” Bon Scott had never played bagpipes before AC/DC used them on “It’s a Long Way to the Top (If You Wanna Rock ’n’ Roll)” — so he had to learn them fast
July 26
- “He says to me, ‘Keep vamping, just jam,’ while he’s having a heart attack. Then he started grabbing his chest.” The show that ended David Bowie’s touring career — and the song that became his last hit
July 25
- “It was chaotic.” Inside the secret recording session that turned Simon & Garfunkel’s flop into a number-one hit — without Paul Simon knowing
July 23
- “He asked, ‘Can I have it back?’ I said, ‘No way. This is a real good ’un.’” Duane Allman wanted his first electric guitar back. Delaney Bramlett refused to hand it over
July 22
- “I had been walking around with the melody in my head for a couple of years.” Ozzy Osbourne’s biggest solo hit was years in the making. It took a touch of southern rock to make it the anthem of his lifetime
July 20
- “If I had thought, ‘This is going to be discussed a half century later,’ I would’ve screwed it up. Simple as that.” Lenny Kaye on Nuggets, his 1972 grab bag of lost rock tracks that unintentionally predicted the future of punk
July 18
- “I’m just standing there strumming a chord. And the audience looks at me and goes, ‘How does he produce that noise?’” Pete Townshend on the Who's real lead guitar player
July 17
- “I didn’t like the band when I met them. They didn’t seem particularly eager to welcome me.” Jeff Beck on the day he replaced Eric Clapton in the Yardbirds
July 12
- “When Bob sensed I might refuse to appear, he took the gloves off." For Pete Townshend, Jimmy Page and Bob Dylan, Live Aid was a case of bad vibes for a good cause
July 10
- Danny Cedrone recorded possibly “the best rock and roll solo of all time” – twice! – but a cruel tragedy meant that he never got to perform it
- “I immediately picked up the guitar and went, ‘Why didn’t I write that?’” Noel Gallagher on the Coldplay song he wishes he’d written
- “These are the notes that comprise that marvelous chord.” How one man used math to solve the Beatles’ greatest guitar mystery