Exploring Rock's Hidden Gems - The power of B-Side tracks

  HA, HA, HALLOWEEN: THE HAUNTED SIDE OF ROCK & ROLL Cursed recordings, ghostly encounters and things that go bump in the night Somewhere between the last guitar riff and the final flicker of the studio lights, the music stops being the scariest thing in the room. Forget the plastic skeletons, the cheap cobwebs and the same old Halloween hits played until the neighbours threaten to call the police. We're going somewhere darker this year. Somewhere the corridors are cold, the recording equipment has a mind of its own, and the dead might just have something to say. Rock and roll has always had a complicated relationship with the dark side. Musicians have flirted with the occult, recorded in supposedly haunted buildings, and told stories of encounters that would make even the most hardened horror fan think twice about switching off the lights. Some of these tales come from the musicians themselves. Others have grown through decades of retelling, somewhere between genuine recollect...

  🎸 Hidden Gems: The October Mixed Bag 20 questions • 5 formats • One seriously eclectic playlist Welcome to the musical lucky dip! We've thrown out the rulebook, tipped the record crate upside down, and let twenty tracks escape into the wild. This month, there's no ridiculously long sentence to decipher. No single format to master. Instead, we're mixing picture clues, multiple choice, missing song titles, lyrical detective work and a few wild cards designed to test just how far your musical knowledge stretches. We've got psychedelic rock, Indonesian metal, British legends, South African talent, alternative heavyweights, garage-punk weirdness and a few unexpected detours along the way. Some answers might jump straight into your head. Others may require a little digging around the dusty corners of your memory. And remember, this is Hidden Gems. Knowing the biggest hit from a band won't necessarily save you here. Twenty questions. Twenty tracks. How deep does your cr...

  League of Legends: When Rock Icons Went Solo Eight legends. Eight musical departures. And a few records that slipped beneath the radar. There comes a moment in every great band's life when somebody wants to take a different road. Sometimes it's creative differences. Sometimes it's ego. Sometimes the songs simply refuse to fit inside the box that made the band famous in the first place. And sometimes, a musician who's spent decades playing to packed stadiums wants nothing more than to disappear into a studio, turn a few knobs, plug in a guitar and see what happens when nobody else is calling the shots. Going solo isn't necessarily about escaping a band. It can be about discovering what you've been holding back. Think about it. Remove the familiar bandmates, the established sound, the expectations of millions of fans and the record company asking where the next hit is coming from. What's left? That's where things get interesting. We're not here to re...

  Rocktober After Dark: Eight Songs from the Wrong Side of the Grave The needle drops on a cracked vinyl record, and the static sounds like dry leaves scraping across a fresh grave. Welcome to Rocktober’s dark side. Forget Thriller. Turn off Ghostbusters. Bury Monster Mash in a shallow ditch and hope nobody comes looking for it. If you're here for the radio-friendly corporate hits and the same old Halloween party playlist, you've wandered into the wrong cemetery. Tonight, Hidden Gems is taking you on a midnight tour through the forgotten, the obscure, and the deeply unsettling corners of rock history. We're talking zombies, ghouls, vampires, psycho killers, and monsters that should never have been brought to life. Some of these creatures are fictional. Some are disturbingly human. And some have been lurking in the record collection for decades, waiting for somebody to lift the lid. So, grab your torch, check the batteries, and keep your hands inside the hearse. Let's tu...