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October 2025

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65 articles

October 31
- “I was so thrilled. I mean, come on — John Lennon loved my song. It doesn’t get any better than that.” Alice Cooper on the 1972 hit that remade his image — and launched him to superstardom
- “I’d put this tape on and go into another world. It became my drug.” Eric Clapton on the group he wanted to join so badly that he broke up Cream
- “I realized, ‘You're a one-hit wonder. You've only got five minutes to do the next step or it'll be over for you.’” John Fogerty on the Creedence Clearwater Revival hit he wrote in 20 minutes to save his career
October 30
- “Each piece in the collection tells a story.” Jim Isray’s $1 billion guitar collection is headed to auction with instruments once owned by Eric Clapton, Bob Dylan, John Lennon and many others
- “I do not know what the eff he was doing at all.” Steve Vai on the one guitarist he considers more revolutionary than Jimi Hendrix
October 29
- “The Beatles had broken up and I was thinking, ‘What do I do now?’” What to expect from the “unprecedented” Paul McCartney documentary that's just been announced
- “The stuff he did on Bowie’s ‘Heroes’ — he got that tone for us.” Blondie’s “secret weapon” on Robert Fripp’s contributions to their breakthrough album, and playing with Joan Jett and Iggy Pop
October 28
- “It was more what Ritchie wanted to do. The rest of us grumbled and moaned. But we did it.” Ritchie Blackmore decapitated Deep Purple. With Rainbow, he had another tactic at his disposal
- “So they decide to get a guy to lay behind Bob’s amp.” Bob Dylan couldn’t understand one crucial thing about guitars and film making
October 27
- “Finally Mickie says, ‘Jeff, where's your guitar?’ Jeff looks around and says, ‘Yeah, where the eff is it!?” Donovan on his helter-skelter session with Jeff Beck — and the rumor it fueled about their future
- “Due to serious illness, I am unable to perform.” Health issues force Brian Setzer to cancel the Stray Cats’ fall cross-country tour
- “Those lyrics wound up costing me 1,500 bucks, but it was well worth it.” Joe Walsh on the iconic rock hit that got him into the Eagles and turned him into a TikTok star. And all because he mowed down his neighbor’s rose bushes
October 25
- "An unmarked van shows up at my house, and Bob gets out with an acoustic guitar in his hand.” The time Bob Dylan picked a fight with Kiss and ended up writing a song with Gene Simmons
- “I never heard from him.” Michael J. Fox calls out the rock legend who stayed silent about his ‘Back to the Future’ scene, and names the guitar stars that the movie inspired
October 24
- “I wanted it to be quite extreme — something that showed all the peaks of what we could do.” Jimmy Page on his plan to take Led Zeppelin to the next level — critics be damned
- “As soon as he did it, that was it — the place imploded.” Brian May on the time Freddie Mercury shocked Queen onstage — and stole the spotlight from the biggest show on Earth
October 23
- “I thought it was Paul’s answer to ‘How Do You Sleep.’” Did John Lennon really think Paul McCartney was talking to him in this 1976 chart-topping hit?
- “I said, ‘I grew up on your ass. How can you do this?’” Eddie Van Halen had a legion of copyists. But when one of his idols began to steal his solos, he put a stop to it
- “I can’t go across the strings fast enough. It’s very frustrating.” Steve Morse is adapting to playing with arthritis, but says “my time of doing the performance grind is closing"
- “I go, ‘I could teach you everything I know in 15 minutes.’” Joe Bonamassa made up a lesson on the spot. It became every guitar player’s must-see video on how to get the most out of the instrument
October 22
- “The medical examiner is now investigating.” The death of Kiss guitarist Ace Frehley is under official investigation
- “That’s not Ozzy, that’s jazz. Go back and write me something else!” Jake E. Lee said this was the most “frustrating” thing about his final chapter in Ozzy Osbourne’s band
- “That’s what gives it its potency. It’s a great challenge to fill that space.” Robin Trower on the secret behind every great power trio, from Cream to Rush
October 21
- “A lying, thieving, hypocritical, tax-avoiding, lip-synching, misogynistic, sick-with-envy megalomaniac.” David Gilmour and his wife have some choice words for Roger Waters and say a Pink Floyd reunion is out of the question
- “Duane Allman was sitting up on the top of the toilet, feet on the seat, and his little amp is right there.” Boz Scaggs on how Duane Allman and a spare hour of studio time led to one of the guitarist’s greatest recordings
October 20
- “Eric Clapton played it and was just fascinated. He said, ‘I haven’t seen this guitar since we made Layla.’” Warren Haynes on his 12-string Les Paul and playing the iconic guitars of Jeff Beck, Jimi Hendrix and Duane Allman
October 17
- “I'm gonna keep going until the wheels fall off.” Ace Frehley on plans for his unfinished final album — plus memories of Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, Kiss... and the hardest song to play
- “I’ve heard it’s responsible for a whole generation being conceived.” Paul Rodgers on Bad Company’s rock anthem that took years — and an entirely new band — to complete
- “He is and will always be a part of Kiss’s legacy.” Ace Frehley’s life and music are remembered in tributes from Kiss's Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley, among many friends and fellow musicians
October 16
- “We are completely devastated and heartbroken." Ace Frehley, Kiss cofounding guitarist, is dead at age 74
- “I got my guitar and smashed it to smithereens. I said, ‘Now will you get out of my effing life!?’” Pete Townshend on the first guitar he ever broke — at age 13 — and John Entwistle's hilarious response
- “He hated me because I didn’t practice his stuff enough.” Joe Satriani taught guitar wizards like Steve Vai, Kirk Hammett and Alex Skolnick. But one player didn't get along with his methods
- “A holy grail for Zappa fanatics and guitar nerds.” Frank Zappa’s famous Baby Snakes SG is heading to auction. Here’s why it matters
October 15
- “I never liked all those Les Paul guitars screaming and distorting.” George Harrison on the guitarist who changed music's landscape in the 1960s — and why he wasn't a fan of what followed
- “He played it to death. I don't think he would have swapped it for anything in the world.” Rory Gallagher's iconic 1961 Strat is finally headed to the National Museum in Ireland
- “Perhaps they’re waiting for the statute of limitations on vintage guitar theft to expire.” Michael J. Fox thinks he knows what happened to the ‘Back to the Future’ Gibson ES-345
- “It brings everything musicians love about classic Gibson acoustics to a new generation of players.” Gibson and Guitar Center resurrect one of the guitar maker’s most beloved acoustic guitars for modern players
October 14
- “It’s a bit mad, but it’s got everything in it” Brian May says Queen's biggest hit seemed like nothing out of the ordinary to him — until the fans went crazy for it
October 13
- “He was a very moody sort of guy. We’d be traveling in a van, going to the shows, and he would sit in the corner and not talk to anybody.” Jim McCarty recalls Eric Clapton’s “quite unhappy” time with the Yardbirds
- “About a quarter mile out, some guy is flicking his lighter.” John Fogerty on the band that nearly ruined Creedence Clearwater Revival’s Woodstock set — and the audience member who saved the show
October 11
- “They came into the room with a screwdriver and pointed to my Les Paul.” Inside Paul McCartney’s drug bust and the former Beatles’ decision to stop touring
October 10
- "We were in a very strange place.” David Gilmour on Pink Floyd’s difficult years trying to follow up The Dark Side of the Moon — and how Wish You Were Here was a statement from Roger Waters to his absent band members
- “It was a dogfight. And then all the special effects came in.” Buddy Guy on the warning he gave Jimi Hendrix before he went into the British blues clubs
October 9
- “Those days are long gone. It is so unappealing to watch that go down.” Joe Bonamassa says this crowd-pleasing guitar trick is over and done — with one exception
- “He’s one of the greatest there is, not just in blues but anything. He’s an alien.” Samantha Fish names the five guitar players she says will keep the blues alive
- “He said, ‘How do you record an 11-minute song in one take? It's perfect!’” As Rush prepare for their 2026 tour, Alex Lifeson recalls the group’s most complicated song — and the bizarre dreams that inspired their music
October 8
- "It's a slowed-down way of doing it. But I'd rather take something than nothing at all." Ritchie Blackmore is heading out on tour after his health scares. Here's how he plans to do it
- Hurry! When they're gone, they're gone. These dirt-cheap Prime Day pedal deals end today – build a killer budget pedalboard with stomps starting from just $27.99!
- “Is it possible that this anticipated heavy metal?” Donovan says he, Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones sowed the seeds for Led Zeppelin and the future of hard rock with this 1968 hit song
October 7
- “Ken Parker eliminated all the things that normally go wrong with Fenders and Gibsons.” Adrian Belew leads the tributes to master luthier Ken Parker, who has died aged 73
- “The last thing I wanted to be was a stand-in for Eric Clapton.” Peter Frampton says George Harrison failed to tell him one crucial detail about playing at this groundbreaking 1971 concert
- Forget Amazon Prime Day, the Musician's Friend Rocktober sale is the place to go for seriously discounted guitar gear – including $800 off this Steve Lukather-approved Ernie Ball Music Man
- There's only one day left to shop Guitar Center's massive Guitar-A-Thon, and honestly, it's better than anything you'll find in the final day of Amazon's Prime Day sale
October 6
- "It's time for a celebration of 50-something years of RUSH music!" Alex Lifeson and Geddy Lee announce Rush will tour in 2026
- “We played it over and over — it was just this great hypnotic beast.” Jimmy Page on the Led Zeppelin riff he couldn’t stop playing
- “He was hitting me with a guitar at the time.” Roger Daltrey on the day he knocked out Pete Townshend — and how the Who battled on after the sudden death of bass guitarist John Entwistle
October 5
- “That’s a terrible idea for a song!” “Margaritaville” writer Jimmy Buffett didn’t listen to his critics. Here’s how a bad day, a traffic jam and a rejection from Elvis Presley turned out just fine for him
October 3
- “I said, ‘That really f**ked my head up.’ He goes, ‘I don’t need to be reminded of my failings.’” Elliot Easton opens up about the Cars’ Ric Ocasek and says new music is coming featuring the group’s five original members
- “Death’s been knocking at my door for the last six years. At some point I’m gonna have to let him in.” Ozzy Osbourne reflected on his imminent demise weeks before his passing
- “Even when he was drunk, his guitar playing was unbeatable.” How Eric Clapton trounced George Harrison in a guitar duel. The prize was like no other
- “I hadn’t seen him in a while, and I wish I had.” Jimmy Page remembers original Yardbirds guitarist Chris Dreja, who has died at age 79
October 2
- “When we broke up, I went into that dark place. I didn’t give a s**t about the music anymore.” The breakup that nearly made Eric Clapton quit music
October 1
- “I’ll have Frankenstein, my wife, and we’re good.” Wolfgang Van Halen says he kept Eddie Van Halen's Frankenstein in his car and ready to go at a moment's notice during the “doomsday” L.A. wildfires
- “I’ll be your guitar player!” As Keith Urban announces his divorce from Nicole Kidman, he calls out guitarist Maggie Baugh with a suggestive lyric change to his chart-topping hit
- “I said, ‘Why’d you buy my cottage?’ He said ‘You wrote all those bloody songs there!’” Donovan says David Gilmour bought his former home to channel his songwriting magic