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  • Lant gives a grimacing smile as he plays the bass

    News
    Conrad ‘Cronos’ Lant, frontman of UK heavy metal band Venom, dies aged 63

    Singer and bassist helped turn Newcastle band into hugely influential force on thrash and black metal subgenres
  • The huddle around a staircase at the venue, posing for the camera

    The reader interview
    ‘Shane was rascality personified’: the Pogues on their late frontman, anti-Irish prejudice and the feud over Fairytale of New York

  • Man on stage sings into microphone with one hand in pocket

    News
    Rick Ross arrested on domestic battery and strangulation charges

  • Meshell Ndegeocello rests her chin on her hand, wearing rings, in a dark jacket indoors

    Alexis Petridis's album of the week
    Meshell Ndegeocello: Synonym – vivid all-star reinventions of everyone from Bob Dylan to J-Lo

  • taken at Mixing Lab during a session for Fruits Records, it shows Jackie Jackson with the guitarist Bopee Bowen. by Liza Mazur

    Obituary
    Toots and the Maytals bassist Jackie Jackson

  • Marilyn Manson.

    Heavy metal is about uplifting the downtrodden. So why is alleged abuse by Marilyn Manson so easily forgotten?

    Matt Mills
  • Pussycat Dolls perform at Utilita Arena, Birmingham, in multilayered pink costumes

    Live review
    The Pussycat Dolls – Nicole Scherzinger’s star power dominates fraught reunion

  • Eve in 2000 wearing a red sleeveless top, red trousers and belt, and red heels, reclining on some white stairs with her thumbs in her pockets

    Flashback
    Rapper and actor Eve looks back: ‘I was the only girl in the boardroom in major label meetings – that Philly girl had to come out’

  • Singer Saffron of Republica sings passionately into a microphone on stage

    How we made
    ‘We wanted it to be a battlecry’: how Republica made 90s anthem Ready to Go

  • Black and white photo of Michael Kiwanuka, with afro and beard, wearing a dark jacket

    ‘Everyone can relate to pain and struggle. So I’m sharing mine’: Michael Kiwanuka on life after his devastating stroke

  • The four members of Gilla Band arranged against a backdrop of exposed poles and plastic sheeting

    Alexis Petridis's album of the week
    Gilla Band: Pugnello – furious originality fuelled by cathartic aggression and absurdist confessions

  • Taylor Swift rests her chin on her hand, showing a ring, in profile view

    Pop
    Taylor Swift: The Life of a Showgirl: The Encore – flashes of humanity and bafflingly vindictive love songs

  • Norma Tanega and Aida Pavletich stand together against a graffiti-marked wall

    Experimental album of the month
    Norma Tanega and Aida Pavletich: Saturday Dancer – cult pop songwriter’s wonky collaborations

  • The musician Jae Stephens reclining on a bar, wearing denim jeans and a sparkly bra

    Pop
    Jae Stephens: Audacity – a thrilling lesson in why more debut albums should go for broke

  • Charli xcx performing in new York

    Pop
    Charli xcx: Music, Fashion, Film tour – an electrifying and deafening pop evolution

  • First concert of Canadian singer Celine Dion at the Plenitude Arena in the La Defense district of NanterreCanadian singer Celine Dion performs on stage at the Plenitude Arena in the La Defense district of Nanterre, near Paris, France, September 12, 2026. REUTERS/Sarah Meyssonnier

    Pop
    Céline Dion – singer’s first live show in years marks a triumphant, emotional return

  • Musician wearing strange mask

    Rock
    Angine de Poitrine – mind-boggling math rock mastery from freaky Québécois duo

  • Todd Rundgren singing next to a microphone, wearing a blue bomber jacket

    Pop
    Todd Rundgren – try-anything veteran doesn’t let his freak flag fully fly

Add to playlist

  • Kimberley Wyatt cross legged in a grey suit

    Honest playlist
    ‘Eminem’s Lose Yourself is my anthem for getting the kids out of the house’: Kimberly Wyatt’s honest playlist

  • Destin Conrad leans against a yellow and red wall wearing gold chains and a white t-shirt

    Add to playlist
    The defiant queer dancehall of Destin Conrad and the week’s best new tracks

  • The Dixie Chicks all with blond hair, black dresses and wide smiles in a studio shoot

    Ranked!
    George Bush, murder and nautical infidelity: the Chicks’ 20 greatest songs

From the archive

  • Audrey Hobert sits on a stage reading a magazine next to an antique table with a turned off computer screen. In the background is a propped up guitar

    Interview
    ‘The beast inside me wants to move!’ The smart, slapstick world of Audrey Hobert, the Steve Martin of pop

    She co-wrote Gracie Abrams’ hit album then struck out solo, winning a fervent cult for her funny, wordy songs. As she's climbing the UK charts, revisit our interview

Obituaries

  • the Mighty Sparow 1989The Mighty Sparrow, vocal, performs at the Melkweg on 12th December 1989 in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. (Photo by Frans Schellekens/Redferns)

    Mighty Sparrow, legend of Trinidadian calypso

  • Pete Byrne performing in 2014.

    Pete Byrne, frontman of British new wave band Naked Eyes, dies aged 74

  • William Orbit standing on a ladder and waving an object

    Tribute
    Prince to Madonna, Blur to Beth Orton: William Orbit’s 12 greatest recordings

  • Bonnie Tyler performing in 2021.

    Bonnie Tyler totally eclipsed her power-ballad peers, and created an astonishingly wide variety of pop

    Alexis Petridis
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  • Prince in 1987.

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  • Raye sings passionately into a microphone, surrounded by colorful graphic hearts, flames, and musical notes

    My cultural awakening
    Raye’s I Know You’re Hurting urged me to confront a lifetime of depression

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