Latest articles by Ian Fortnam
Clem Burke's stories of Debbie Harry, Bob Dylan, Iggy Pop and more
He was a Ramone, been treated like royalty when touring with Nancy Sinatra, got hot dogs from Jerry Nolan and played with Pete Townshend: He's Blondie drummer and more Clem Burke
Glam icon Suzi Quatro is not resting on her laurels
Suzi Quatro on paving the way for other women in rock, social media, age and working hard
The low-key, hit-free career-in-reverse of Cock Sparrer
Too punk for punk in the late 70s, Oi! elder statesmen in the early 80s, living-legend role models in the early 90s, Cock Sparrer never got credit for what they started
How a retail assistant at Dorothy Perkins got to sing with David Bowie
Originally written at a clandestine recording session, Absolute Beginners was the start of a 10-year musical relationship
“Extensive improvisations just don’t work”: Frank Zappa’s Live At The Whisky A Go Go, 1968
Seems like there’s a reason this live recording remained unreleased in his lifetime
Joan Jett on the first girl rock band, her love of leather and nearly joining the army
Punk-loving former Runaways hellraiser Joan Jett talks about being a threat and inspiring the riot grrrl movement
Dion may be 84, but that hasn't stopped him recording a duet that reminds him of *that* scene in When Harry Met Sally
More than 60 years after his first hit single, Dion has returned with an album of collaborations with female artists
William Shatner, progressive rock icon
Everyone's favourite nonagenarian starship captain continues to boldly go where no man has gone before
"I woke up singing this song about being in jail waiting for the electric chair": Medicine Head's John Fiddler on inspiration, love, and the perils of getting older
A duo back in the 60s, Medicine Head is now effectively just John Fiddler, whose new album Heartworks is filled with love
"It pays all the bills, it's paid for everything we've ever done since": Modern English didn't set out to write commercial songs, but they're not complaining
Modern English on getting older, the trouble with politics, and the financial heft of Burger King
“He didn’t think the concerts would work… the fluidity, precision and phrasing is simply dazzling”: Rick Wakeman’s Live At The London Palladium 2023
Performed over two nights, box set featuring The Six Wives Of Henry VIII, The Myths And Legends Of King Arthur, Yes Classics and Journey To The Centre Of The Earth is an essential package
"Transcending both hype and generic pigeon-holing, it is arguably one of the finest recordings of all time": the miracle of Television's Marquee Moon
With poetic concision and angular symphonics, guitarists Richard Lloyd and Tom Verlaine always took the most unorthodox route from one guitar chord to another
Your essential guide to every studio album by The Velvet Underground
The Velvet Underground reshaped the sound of rock'n'roll with four albums that continue to have an incalculable influence on the musical zeitgeist. The less said about their fifth, the better
“Their run of mid-70s hits were bona fide, pop-literate, soft-prog gold… but warming to their deeper cuts is a far tougher task”: 10cc’s 20 Years Box Set
Exhaustive 145-track collection highlights the infuriating, imperfect magic of the preposterously ambitious original four-piece
"Abbey Road was really unfinished songs all stuck together. None of the songs had anything to do with each other, no thread at all": A track-by-track guide to the final album recorded by The Beatles
After the fractious Let It Be sessions, Paul McCartney urged his bandmates back into the studio to make an album “like the old days, like we used to"
"I don't think that song has any semblance of meaning - it's one of those rambling songs": Mick Jagger on the Exile On Main St classic that's the sound of a band at their peak
"I would never take Mick's recollection of anything seriously" - Keith Richards
32 of the greatest onstage moments in the entire history of the rock guitar
Celebrating the pioneering, the spectacular, the unexpected and the unrepeatable
The 50 best rock albums of 2023
The past 12 months may go down in history as a period of tumult and turmoil, but on the positive side, rock'n'roll is very much alive and well – as the best 50 albums of 2023 reflect
"The music and the band matters so much to us that it is do-or-die": Six things you need to know about Saint Agnes
Saint Agnes's metal-meets-punk debut album is angry – very angry. They live for the stage, and that’s where they come alive
"Not being able to play gigs probably saved us": Meet Geese, the New York noiseniks who found themselves at the centre of a bidding war just as they were about to break up
For prodigious Brooklynite post-post-punks Geese, it all began just as they were about to call it a day
“Poor Iggy became a guinea pig for what I wanted to do with sound”: in 1977, David Bowie moved to Berlin to kick drugs. He emerged with five albums that changed music forever
Two Iggy Pop albums and the ‘Berlin Trilogy’ – the second half of the 1970s was David Bowie’s most groundbreaking period
“We set up outside Frank Zappa’s bedroom door and played so loud the pictures on the wall ended up crooked. I thought he’d shoot us”: the forgotten psychedelic beginnings of Alice Cooper
How five psychedelic freaks from Detroit became rock’n’roll’s first great bogeymen – this is the story of Alice Cooper’s early years
"Guitar subtleties astound and vocal harmonies soar in surprisingly spacious mixes leaving 2009's stereo remasters sounding weedy and gutless": The Beatles' Red and Blue albums
A Yule-targeted Giles Martin makeover for The Beatles' iconic ’73 compilation sets 1962-1966 and 1967-1970
Every Rolling Stones album ranked from worst to best
Half a century of recordings from ‘the greatest rock‘n’roll band in the world’, ranked from worst to brilliant, belligerent best
"As unmistakable contemporary backing vocals from McCartney intertwine with Lennon, an involuntary emotional response is utterly inevitable." Classic Rock's Reviews Editor and biggest Beatles fan gives his verdict on Now And Then
Classic Rock Reviews Editor Ian Fortnam gives his take on the song everyone is talking about
