The famous Abbey Road studios has been given listed building status by English Heritage for it’s contribution to music history – The Beatles recorded many albums there.

The venue has been given Grade II status – the third-highest category – for its role in shaping British music.

Culture Minister Margaret Hodge listed the studios on the advice of English Heritage saying it had “produced some of the very best music in the world”.

Its owners EMI recently denied reports it was to be sold off to ease debts.

Listing for the property, whose official address is 3 Abbey Road, was granted due to its historic, rather than architectural, merit.

It means any future owners must be careful to make sure the character of the property is treated with respect, but it does not prohibit internal changes.

The Beatles used Abbey Road for 90% of their recordings, naming an album after the studios in 1969.

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A piano which survived the Hiroshima blast in 1945 is set to take centre stage at a peace concert in New York.

The instrument was in the Hiroshima home of Matsuba when United States aircraft dropped the first atomic bomb over the city on 6 August, 1945.

Around 140,000 people were estimated to have been killed and 60 per cent of buildings in the city were destroyed, but both the piano and its owner managed to survive.

The piano, bought by Matsuba’s mother in 1933, and sustained only slight damage after being toppled over by the explosion, despite its location only 1.3 km from ground zero.

Matsuba, who now lives in Sendai, north Japan, agreed to rent the piano to the group for one year, describing such a use as an “honour”, according to Kyodo News.

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Newly released photographs reveal that Sean Dempsey, a famous Irish musician, played for Adolf Hitler in 1936.

Dempsey, an uileann piper, was invited to play for Hitler and propaganda chief Joseph Goebbels during a visit to Berlin in 1936 after being told that Hitler was an Irish folk music fan.

When he arrived to play however, there was no room for him to sit, which he needed to do to play, and it looked like it would be canceled.

however, Hitler jumped up and demanded that an S.S. member get down on his hands and knees and that Dempsey sit astride him while he played.

Dempsey played what was described as a ‘haunting air’ as Hitler listened with rapt attention. After he performed, Hitler presented him with a gold fountain pen while Goebbels clapped wildly.

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The Slate answers the question “Why Do Rappers Hold Their Guns Sideways?”

During the first half of the 20th century, soldiers used the side grip for the express purpose of endangering throngs of people. Some automatic weapons from this era—like the Mauser C96 or the grease gun—fired so quickly or with such dramatic recoil that soldiers found it impossible to aim anything but the first shot. Soldiers began tilting the weapons, so that the recoil sent the gun reeling in a horizontal rather than vertical arc, enabling them to spray bullets into an onrushing enemy battalion instead of over their heads.

Nowadays, the only time professionals use the side grip is while holding riot shields, which limit their field of vision. Turning the gun and raising it up make the sight slightly more visible.

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I’ve watched this short documentary a few times in the last couple years, and thought I would share it with you to highlight an important piece of musical history.

This fascinating, brilliant 20-minute video narrates the history of the “Amen Break,” a six-second drum sample from the b-side of a chart-topping single from 1969. This sample was used extensively in early hiphop and sample-based music, and became the basis for drum-and-bass and jungle music — a six-second clip that spawned several entire subcultures. Nate Harrison’s 2004 video is a meditation on the ownership of culture, the nature of art and creativity, and the history of a remarkable music clip.