Curated playlist

Kerrang! Awards winners

MetallicaIn 1986, a tour bus overturned in Sweden and killed Metallica bassist Cliff Burton.
Queen (band)A DJ was told not to play Queen's song "Bohemian Rhapsody", then played it fourteen times in one weekend.
Deep PurpleDeep Purple began as a plan for a band that rotated like a carnival roundabout.
Green DayGreen Day is an American rock band whose own lead singer once called its name "the worst band name in the world." Billie Joe Armstrong said so in 2001. The name came from Bay Area slang for an entire day given over to smoking marijuana.…
Blink-182Blink-182, the American rock band formed in Poway, California, in 1992, owes the number in its name to a deadline it nearly ignored. When the debut album Cheshire Cat caught the attention of an Irish band also called Blink, the trio chose…
Black SabbathThe band Black Sabbath took its name from a horror film showing across from its rehearsal room.
Nine Inch NailsNine Inch Nails began as the after-hours project of a janitor in Cleveland, Ohio. In 1987, Trent Reznor worked at Right Track Studios as an assistant engineer and cleaner. The studio's owner, Bart Koster, let him record demos for free…
KornKorn's backward R comes from the Toys R Us logo, a store where several members once worked.
Red Hot Chili PeppersThe Red Hot Chili Peppers played their first show on the 16th of December 1982, at the Grandia Room, a club on Hollywood Boulevard, in front of roughly 30 people. They did not yet have that name. The poster billed them as Tony Flow and the…
Slipknot (band)Slipknot, an American heavy metal band from Des Moines, Iowa, once played the Download Festival to roughly 90,000 people and had to stop its set twice. The date was the 14th of June 2013. The front barricade had split open under pressure…
Ozzy OsbourneOn the 5th of July 2025, Ozzy Osbourne sat on a black throne at Villa Park in Birmingham, because Parkinson's disease had left him unable to stand. More than 40,000 people filled the ground. At its peak, the livestream drew 5.8 million…
Linkin ParkLinkin Park formed in 1996 in Agoura Hills, California, a suburb of Los Angeles, and went on to sell more than 100 million records worldwide. Its founders were high school friends with a bedroom studio and no record deal. Years of…
Foo FightersThe Foo Fighters began in October 1994, when Dave Grohl walked into Robert Lang Studios with 15 songs of his own. He played every instrument and sang every vocal. The single exception was a guitar part on "X-Static," played by Greg Dulli…
Jimmy PageJimmy Page was thirteen when a television host asked what he planned to do with his life. His answer had nothing to do with music. The year was 1957, and the programme was All Your Own, a talent show on BBC1 hosted by Huw Wheldon. Page had…
Iggy PopIggy Pop, born James Newell Osterberg Jr., built a reputation on rolling around in broken glass while a crowd watched. Admirers eventually called him the "Godfather of Punk". His first band sold few records, yet its songs outlasted much of…
Rage Against the MachineRage Against the Machine, a rock band formed in Los Angeles in 1991, had sold more than 16 million records worldwide by 2010. On the 3rd of November 2023, Ice-T inducted the group into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame at Barclays Center in…
Alice in ChainsAlice in Chains formed in Seattle in 1987 around four musicians: guitarist Jerry Cantrell, drummer Sean Kinney, singer Layne Staley and bassist Mike Starr. They rose alongside Nirvana, Pearl Jam and Soundgarden, and the world filed them…
Trent ReznorTrent Reznor once worked at Right Track Studio in Cleveland as an assistant engineer and janitor. Studio owner Bart Koster remembered his employee this way: "He is so focused in everything he does. When that guy waxed the floor, it looked…
ParamoreParamore is an American rock band from Franklin, Tennessee, and its story begins with a doubtful bass player. When Jeremy Davis arrived for the first practice, he was stunned to learn that the drummer, Zac Farro, was only fourteen years…
Slash (musician)Slash, the guitarist born Saul Hudson in Hampstead, London, on the 23rd of July 1965, owes his famous name to a restless child. The actor Seymour Cassel gave him the nickname because the boy was "always in a hurry, zipping around from one…
Limp BizkitLimp Bizkit chose its name to chase certain listeners away. Singer Fred Durst said as much: "The name is there to turn people's heads away." He pictured shoppers picking up the disc and muttering, "Limp Bizkit. Oh, they must suck." Those,…
Amy LeeAmy Lee was thirteen in 1994 when she sat down at a piano at a Christian youth camp while the other campers played sports. Nearby, a guitarist named Ben Moody picked up an acoustic guitar, and Lee thought the two of them could make music…
Alice CooperAlice Cooper summed up his early band with one boast: "We were into fun, sex, death and money when everybody was into peace and love." Alice Cooper is both the name of a rock band that began in Phoenix, Arizona, and the legal name of its…
Taylor MomsenTaylor Momsen was on stage in Seville, Spain, on the 31st of May 2024 when a bat bit her. She was performing with her band, the Pretty Reckless, at the time. The bite meant she had to take vaccinations for rabies. Momsen is an American…