Relentless Beats
Phoenix New Times readers got hit with plenty of bad news from the Valley’s music scene in 2025. This year, they said goodbye to a beloved record store, a longtime rock radio DJ and a respected local rocker.
Stories about each of these topics were among the most-read music content this year on the New Times site.
It wasn’t all down notes. New Times readers also dove into coverage of hometown legends like Alice Cooper and Stevie Nicks hitting the stage. Plus, they chased nostalgia, revisiting the glory days of The Mason Jar and diving into classic psychedelic albums of the ’60s.
Here are the most-read Phoenix New Times music stories of 2025.
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10. Local Phoenix music legend dies after battle with cancer
Kevin Daly was a Valley treasure. After the affable guitarist, hot-rodder and local scene fixture died from brain cancer on Thanksgiving Eve, local musicians mourned his passing and remembered his influence. Longtime Phoenix New Times contributor Tom Reardon, himself a Phoenix rock lifer, honored Daly in November with his own piece paying tribute to his friend and fellow musician. “Everything Daly did was good,” Reardon stated. “He wrote great songs, ripped on guitar, sang with soul and was a genuine dude.”
9. Mesa record store is moving to a new location on Main Street
Over the summer, Desi Scarpone’s kitschy shop, Uncle Aldo’s Attic, and its collection of used and vintage records found a new home near The Nile Theater in downtown Mesa. The move was an upgrade for the crate-digger destination, tripling the store’s footprint. As Scarpone told New Times in June, he wasn’t going to have any trouble filling the new space. “We are already using all of it, including the wall space. We’ve been able to add a ton more records,” he stated. “It’s nice because there’s just more room to work with and to move around.”
8. Phoenix-based rock legends co-headline North American tour
Arizona’s shock rock royalty turned up the volume this year. In the fall, Phoenix residents Alice Cooper and Judas Priest frontman Rob Halford teamed up for a thunderous tour across North America. The pairing wasn’t just nostalgia bait. Both Halford and Cooper leaned into their respective theatrical menace and classic swagger. The tour, which hit Talking Stick Resort Amphitheatre in October, was both a victory lap for their iconic careers and a middle finger to Father Time. It also proved that metal gods don’t retire. They just get louder, sharper and more defiant.
7. Massive Phoenix EDM festival has been canceled. Here’s why
Local ravers took a hit in November when Phoenix’s Better Together EDM festival was canceled at the last minute. Superstar DJs like Headliners Dom Dolla and ODESZA were scheduled to headline the two-day rager before heavy rain soaked the grounds of Steele Indian School Park. Festival promoter Relentless Beats pulled the plug after city officials flagged safety risks and unusable turf. The event is set to return in 2026, according to the company.
6. The Mason Jar: An oral history of Phoenix’s landmark rock club
When it comes to iconic Phoenix rock joints, few loom larger in local lore than The Mason Jar. The sweaty, gloriously cramped club at Indian School Road and 23rd Street rattled amps and neighbors for 26 loud years from 1979 to 2005. Local heroes cut their teeth there. Touring acts like Tool, Nirvana and Red Hot Chili Peppers blew minds before they blew up. The club’s colorful chaos matched longtime owner Franco Gagliano’s larger-than-life energy. In March, we captured the sweat, excess and legendary stories of the place in a vivid oral history.
5. Why did Phoenix rock DJ Fitz Madrid leave KUPD?
After more than two decades on the FM dial, longtime KUPD afternoon deejay Fitz Madrid parted ways with the rock station earlier this month. Madrid broke the news in a Facebook post on Dec. 12, stating he was laid off by KUPD’s parent company, Hubbard Radio. “My time at KUPD has come to a close,” he wrote. Madrid, who joined KUPD in March 2005, struck a calm, clear-eyed tone on social media. “There is no crash out. There is no bad blood,” he stated, calling the move part of life in the radio industry.
4. Phoenix-born Stevie Nicks dazzles crowd at hometown show
Stevie Nicks is one of those iconic, once-in-a-lifetime artists you owe it to yourself to see live. In October, the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee and Phoenix native came home for a packed, emotion-filled performance at PHX Arena (now Mortgage Matchup Center). Nicks radiated a presence we described as an “interesting mix of upbeat femininity, hippie vibes and dark energy.” The set traced her 58-year career, weaving solo classics with highlights from her time in Fleetwood Mac, and proved her spell still hits just as hard in her hometown.
Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images
3. 10 great psychedelic ’60s albums you probably haven’t heard
Back in August, New Times contributor Jason LeValley took readers through a far-out time warp through psychedelic rock’s deep cuts. His list spotlighted overlooked 1960s albums hiding beyond the obvious canon. LeValley skipped greatest-hits nostalgia and chased stranger vibrations in his list with records like “Tomorrow” and Love’s “Forever Changes” anchoring the journey. The picks leaned trippy, fearless and fuzz-soaked. It was a reminder the psych era ran wider, weirder and deeper than radio ever allowed.
Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images
2. When the music’s over: Saying goodbye to ’60s legends
Over the summer, LeValley also wrote a gut-punch farewell to the iconic architects of 1960s rock ‘n’ roll. The piece reckoned with the deaths of towering figures who shaped an era and rewired popular music. It framed the moment as a slow closing of the curtain, lingering on loss, legacy and time’s cruel math. The message hit hard: the generation that changed everything is slipping away.
1. Phoenix record store to close after 13 years
Back in May, the owners of The Record Room hit Phoenix vinyl fans with a record scratch. The beloved store near Dunlap Avenue and I-17 announced its closure after more than a decade. The Record Room first opened in Scottsdale in 2012 before spinning its way across the Valley. Owners John and Holly Rose relocated to Carlsbad, California, three years ago and chose to move their store closer to home. Local vinyl junkies scored discounts before the final fade-out, giving the story a bittersweet ending.