Latest articles by Geoff Barton
The 10 best NWOBHM bands, by the man who gave the movement its name
At the end of the 70s, the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal revitalised the genre in the UK and now bears a weighty influence on metal worldwide. Geoff Barton – who invented the phrase all those years ago – charts 10 of the best
Life And Death And Iron Maiden
Get set for tales of bullet trains, dead drummers and barbecue restaurant bust-ups as Classic Rock traverses Japan with Iron Maiden...
The 10 worst albums by 10 brilliant classic rock bands
Even the best can get it wrong sometimes: here's the worst albums by 10 of rock's greatest bands
How punk rock sparked the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal
Punk threw rock into the furnace, but the New Wave of British Heavy Metal rose out of the ashes – here we look back at how metallers embraced punk's spirit and came back fighting
In 1980, Iron Maiden hit the road supporting Kiss. We were there
The New Wave Of British Heavy Metal was the musical movement on everybody’s lips, so Iron Maiden went on the road in Europe to see if the NWOBHM could survive outside the UK
10 NWOBHM albums you should definitely own
Taking the spikiness of punk and welding it to hard rock tradition, the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal remains the stuff of legend
Metallica’s Death Magnetic: how the kings of metal reclaimed their throne
After a decade of controversy and near-implosion, Metallica seriously needed to right the ship. With Death Magnetic, they did just that
Alice Cooper: my stories of Lemmy, Raquel Welch, Pink Floyd and more
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
What happened when Saxon underwent reality TV's most surprising makeover
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: unfulfilled potential, on-stage brilliance, songwriting genius
Get that bus out, Pete Way’s in town
Why 1973 was the greatest year in rock history
1973's was rock's annus mirabilis, and we have all the proof you'll ever need
Journey's Freedom: a succession of songs that are the stuff of legend
The first Journey album in more than a decade ticks all the right boxes – eventually
"I looked at the cover and puked" - the bizarre story of Black Sabbath's Born Again
"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: the turbulent story of Stormbringer and Ritchie Blackmore's exit
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 still scintillates but the songs are overwrought
Rock bottom? Well, almost, as Michael Schenker goes a bit Eurovision on Universal
Quartz recall purer, simpler times on riotous but poignant On The Edge Of Tomorrow
Black Sabbath-connected metallers Quartz pay tribute to fallen comrade Geoff Nicholls on fifth studio album in 45 years, On The Edge Of Tomorrow
There's drama and passion aplenty on the Graham Bonnet Band's Day Out In Nowhere
Graham Bonnet shows he’s still got his Marbles on Day Out In Nowhere
Udo Dirkschneider pays enthusiastic tribute to his heroes and it's an unlikely success
Former Accept man Udo Dirkschneider pays tribute to Ol' Blue Eyes and more on unlikely covers album My Way
T.Rex's 1972: an essential, mind-bogglingly comprehensive box set
Marc Bolan's landmark year 1972 celebrated with solid-gold studio, live and soundtrack multimedia set
Bastard offspring: how blues rock gave birth to heavy metal
Blues rock spawned a monster at the end of the 60s, and heavy metal would become one of the most enduring, tribal and quintessentially British of all popular music genres
Deep Purple have an absolute blast on Turning To Crime
Deep Purple's Turning To Crime is a covers album that shows that covers albums don’t have to suck
Destroyer: an explosion of infernal imagination and Kiss's Sgt. Pepper
Kiss celebrate Destroyer's 45th birthday with a super-deluxe package that includes everything bar the cake
Yes start strongly on The Quest before fading and fizzling
The Quest is Yes’s first album without late bassist Chris Squire, and it's a mixed bag
