keith richards

There is no doubt that Green Day leader Billie Joe Armstrong is a great guitarist, punk rock or not. He gets great tone and comes up with solid, catchy riffs and tight, tuneful leads. His most iconic guitar is “Blue,” the heavily stickered Fernandes Stratocaster copy his mother bought him for his 11th birthday. It was use...

The Rolling Stones invented the very notion of the modern rock ‘n’ roll band. Which means, in turn, their impact on punk rock and alternative music was total. This is the point where there’ll be a loud and noisy exit from our tale. “Aw, c’mon maaaa...

September 1963: A young R&B combo called the Rolling Stones are rehearsing, preparing for a recording session. Their manager, former Beatles publicist Andrew Loog Oldham, was tearing his hair out. They were about to record their second single, a follow-up to their modestly successful remake of Chuck Berry’s “Come On.” But they had ...

When the ball dropped in New York City’s Times Square at the stroke of midnight Dec. 31, 2009, punk rock had been around 35 years. (Or 33, depending on if you date the subculture from when the Ramones began playing gigs or from the mythic Punk Year Zero of 1977.) It ...

When searching a bookstore for music memoirs, it’s likely that the shelves are packed with men such as Kurt Cobain, Johnny Cash and Keith Richards. While it may seem that there are fewer books written by or about women musicians, they are growing in numbers. Wome...

Post-punk had to happen. Punk rock opened all this space for people to make exactly the kind of art or culture that the disenfranchised had been imagining in their heads, and maybe had limited means or skills by which to make it. But what if you didn’t want to crank out recharged three-chord rock ’n’ roll with modern street poetry for lyrics? What if you want...

“Joan Jett doesn’t play rock ’n’ roll,” I wrote two years back, reviewing her SXSW showcase for The Austin Chronicle. “She is rock ’n’ roll.” It’s true. The individual born Joan Marie Larkin in Wynnewood, Pennsylvania, embodies the music and spirit better than anyone this side of Keith Richards. As Green Day’s Billie Joe Armstrong put it in Magnolia Pic...

Since 1978, the Pretenders’ outspoken singer/songwriter/rhythm guitarist Chrissie Hynde and her band have brought sophisticated compositional smarts and instrumental chops to punk rock. They took the music to radio and MTV in the early ’80s, subversively selling it to people who thought they were just listening to exciting rock ’n’ roll. Hynde spoke exclusi...

Many artists have changed both the lives of individual fans and the entirety of music history as it stands. Each musical contribution is immeasurable, but some bands, singers, instrumentalists, producers and more have changed the scope of our understanding of what music even is...

Welcome to Alternative Press’ pick of the 15 best punk guitarists of the ’90s. One notable difference between this list and the other two we’ve compiled is the inclusion of several women. Punk did much to democratize rock ’n’ roll in the ’70s, with many pioneering all-female (the Runaways, the Slits) or mixed-gender lineups (X-Ray Spex, Talking Heads). But only one ’70s female punk guit... Read Mo

Musicians have been making cameos in popular films and franchises for decades. Most of the time they’re small roles that aren’t out of the ordinary, such as Halsey’s appearance in the latest adaptation of A Star Is Born.  From Fall Out Boy landing in Amish country to Billie Joe Armstrong yelling “Shut the fuck up,” we’ve gathered some of our favorite yet weird cameos featuring musicians. Check out

The Rolling Stones, arguably the greatest band of all time, definitely cares about keeping it going. Guitarist Keith Richards and vocalist Mick Jagger have been a power partnership for over 50 years and they maintain a certain courtesy to one another to fuel that...