Geoff Barton

Geoff Barton

Geoff Barton is a British journalist who founded the heavy metal magazine Kerrang! and was an editor of Sounds music magazine. He specialised in covering rock music and helped popularise the new wave of British heavy metal (NWOBHM) after using the term for the first time (after editor Alan Lewis coined it) in the May 1979 issue of Sounds.

Articles by: Geoff Barton

T.Rex: Whatever Happened To The Teenage Dream? cover art

Marc Bolan loses the plot on T.Rex's Whatever Happened To The Teenage Dream?

By Geoff Barton published

After a stellar 1972, Marc Bolan had a less successful 1973. Whatever Happened To The Teenage Dream? documents the decline

Neal Schon: Journey Through Time cover art

Neal Schon's live celebration of Journey: supremely musicianly and surprisingly rough-and-ready

By Geoff Barton published

A live recording from the Journey alumni show to raise money for victims of the fires that ravaged the North Bay area of San Francisco in 2017

Tygers Of Pan Tang - Bloodlines cover art

Tygers Of Pan Tang's new album is the bog-average sound of a band dithering

By Geoff Barton published

Bloodlines is the unlucky 13th album from the band formerly known as "NWOBHM legends" Tygers Of Pan Tang

Wishbone Ash: Argus 50th Anniversary artwork

Argus by Wishbone Ash: the return of the greatest least-known million-selling rock album ever made

By Geoff Barton published

The fiftieth anniversary edition of Wishbone Ash's Argus is a class act, with an ear-opening remix and a brilliant half-minute of silence

Rush pose next to a flight case backstage in Springfield, Massachusetts, 9th December 1976 during their All The World's a Stage tour.

Losing my way: how I fell out of love with my favourite band, Rush

By Geoff Barton published

Some fans never forgave Rush for moving past their swords n' sorcery phase: Classic Rock's Geoff Barton was one

Trapeze: Don’t Stop The Music cover art

Trapeze's new box set transports the listener back to a time of wide-eyed rock’n’roll wonder

By Geoff Barton published

Trapeze: Don’t Stop The Music – Complete Recordings Vol. 1 – 1970-1992 is a six-CD set of studio albums and live recordings

The Vertigo swirl design superimposed from the labels from various vinyl records

10 insanely collectable Vertigo swirl albums you should always buy if found in junk shops

By Geoff Barton published

Vertigo Records' early albums came with the iconic "swirl" label, a treasure trove of unique and essential albums that can fetch crazily high prices

Crücial Crüe - The Studio Albums 1981-1989 packshot

Warning: Mötley Crüe's Crücial Crüe collection is by no means crucial

By Geoff Barton published

Another opportunity has arrived to buy those first five Mötley Crüe albums, this time in a variety of exciting hues

Justin Hawkins holding a guitar

Justin Hawkins on songwriting: "There’s always got to be an intangible ingredient"

By Geoff Barton published

The Darkness frontman Justin Hawkins names the perfect rock song, reveals what 'permission to land' really means, and admits he once wrote a song about a royal princess

Gandalf's Fist

Introducing Gandalf's Fist...

By Geoff Barton published

Hot on the heels of their 2011 debut album, Prog introduced Cumbrian prog dup Gandalf's Fist to the world

Lone Star backstage in 1976

Lone Star were tipped for stardom: then came booze, bongs and Scientology

By Geoff Barton published

Welsh wizards Lone Star were loved by Jimmy Page and had connections to Queen and Elton John... but wherever it could go wrong, it did

Kiss: Creatures Of The Night (40th Anniversary Super Deluxe) packshot

Kiss celebrate Creatures Of The Night's 40th birthday with kountless kollektibles

By Geoff Barton published

The 40th Anniversary Super Deluxe edition of Kiss's Creatures Of The Night boasts 103 total tracks and your choice of new doorbell ring

Joe Lynn Turner: Belly Of The Beast cover art

Against expectations, Joe Lynn Turner has made an intense and thrilling heavy metal album

By Geoff Barton published

Produced by Peter Tägtgren, Joe Lynn Turner's Belly Of The Beast is compelling proof that he's anything but a journeyman

Ugly Kid Joe: Rad Wings Of Destiny cover art

Ugly Kid Joe do everything and do it well on fifth album Rad Wings Of Destiny

By Geoff Barton published

Are Ugly Kid Joe metallers, hard rockers, country balladeers or a covers band, or all of the above?

Kansas

Keyboards and guitars engaged in mortal kombat: the story of Pomp Rock

By Geoff Barton published

Kansas, Styx, Starcastle, Queen, Magnum... Pomp rock lives - run for the hills...

Stray Dog seated at a table

Why the failure of Stray Dog is one of the rock world’s biggest conundrums

By Geoff Barton published

Greg Lake loved them. They had one of the greatest opening tracks on any album, ever. Their guitarist is a hugely successful TV composer. So why did Stray Dog fail?

In Through The Out Door sleeve art

Exit Through The Out Door: the last days of Led Zeppelin

By Geoff Barton published

Led Zeppelin's In Through The Out Door failed to light the blue touch-paper, and their sign-off was more like a match burning out in an ashtray

Alice Cooper brandishing a trident

Alice Cooper: my stories of Lemmy, Raquel Welch, Pink Floyd and more

By Geoff Barton published

Alice Cooper got drunk with Jim Morrison, auditioned for Frank Zappa, made a movie with Mae West and pointed a loaded gun at Elvis Presley. These are his stories

Biff Byford onstage

What happened when Saxon underwent reality TV's most surprising makeover

By Geoff Barton last updated

When showbiz entrepreneur Harvey Goldsmith tried to reinvent the mighty Saxon for his new TV make-over show, the sparks flew from day one

Waysted: Heroes Die Young – Waysted Volume Two: 2000-2007 cover art

Waysted: unfulfilled potential, on-stage brilliance, songwriting genius

By Geoff Barton published

Get that bus out, Pete Way’s in town

1973: the Greatest Year In Rock - text against a plain background

Why 1973 was the greatest year in rock history

By Geoff Barton published

1973's was rock's annus mirabilis, and we have all the proof you'll ever need

Journey - Freedom album art

Journey's Freedom: a succession of songs that are the stuff of legend

By Geoff Barton published

The first Journey album in more than a decade ticks all the right boxes – eventually

Black Sabbath in Spain, 1983

"I looked at the cover and puked" - the bizarre story of Black Sabbath's Born Again

By Geoff Barton published

"I put the LP on the turntable and was disgusted by it. It was just garbage. In a rage, I smashed all of the 20 albums to pieces” - Ian Gillan remembers Born Again

Deep Purple standing in front of a statue in the gardens Clearwell Castle in Gloucestershire

Deep Purple: the turbulent story of Stormbringer and Ritchie Blackmore's exit

By Geoff Barton published

In 1974 Deep Purple were flying high, buoyed by the success of Burn and a fiery new line-up – but it soon started to disintegrate

Michael Schenker Group: Universal cover art

Michael Schenker still scintillates but the songs are overwrought

By Geoff Barton published

Rock bottom? Well, almost, as Michael Schenker goes a bit Eurovision on Universal

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