Metallica's Master Of Puppets took the band to the cusp of real success, but as their last with bassist Cliff Burton it's forever stained with the sadness and tragedy of his death

How many of the great Seattle rock bands of the early ’90s are still around? Not too many. Tragedy has claimed most of them, but we’ve still got Pearl Jam, and we’ve still got Mudhoney. Don’t take either band for granted. While Pearl Jam have matured into an arena-level jam-band institution, Mudhoney conti...

Forty years ago today, on February 22, 1983, the Flaming Lips performed their very first show at Oklahoma City’s Blue Note Lounge. But if you could take a time machine back to that moment, chances are, you wouldn’t recognize the band onstage. None of the qualities we now associate with this band — the kaleidoscopic pop anth...

The day after tomorrow, Los Angeles rockers Death Valley Girls will release their new LP Islands In The Sky. That album rules. It’s seriously so good. Death Valley Girls don’t fit into any easy subgenre categories. Sometimes, they sound like spaced-out psychedelic rock wizards. Sometimes, they make tough and direct and extrem...

"I am not saying I'm Robert Plant," says Dee Snider, "nor am I saying I'm even in his league. Having said that, I do something at a level that he doesn't do..."