In 2001, the suicide of Big Country ’s Stuart Adamson shocked music fans all over the world. How had the man once lauded by DJ John Peel as ‘Scotland’s answer to Jimi Hendrix’ ended up taking his own life? In an exclusive extract from a new book, we look at the inside story of their debut album The Crossing .

Following Richey Edwards’ disappearance and the “commercial disaster” of The Holy Bible , the MANIC STREET PREACHERS were told that this is the end. Instead, they roared back with an unassailable anthem heralding one of the biggest British albums of the ’90s. Sam Richards celebrates 30 years of Everything Must Go : “It was the most spectacular feeling,” says Nicky Wire. “That period when you go over the top...”

By the time I’m 16, I am starting to develop a certain aesthetic revolving around beat literature and beat poetry. I’m starting to like Baudelaire, Rimbaud, so there’s a certain whiff of decadence in

I went to art school to be a painter. Mick Jones went to art school to put a band together. My friend was invited to try out as drummer for Mick’s band, London SS, and I went to support him. They drag

Fondly remembered this month...

Simon Neil leads a back on top Biffy ...