Jaan Uhelszki

Jaan Uhelszki

One of the first women to work in rock journalism, Jaan Uhelszki got her start alongside Lester Bangs, Ben Edmonds and Dave Marsh — considered the “dream team” of rock writing at Creem Magazine in the mid-1970s. Currently an Editor at Large at Relix, Uhelszki has published articles in NME, Mojo, Rolling Stone, USA Today, Classic Rock, Uncut and the San Francisco Chronicle. Her awards include Online Journalist of the Year and the National Feature Writer Award from the Music Journalist’s Association, and three Deems Taylor Awards. She is listed in Flavorwire’s 33 Women Music Critics You Need to Read and holds the dubious honour of being the only rock journalist who has ever performed in full costume and makeup with Kiss.


Articles by: Jaan Uhelszki

Patti Smith smoking a cigarette

How Patti Smith twisted a slice of 60s garage rock and announced herself to the world

By Jaan Uhelszki published

More a rewrite than a cover, Patti Smith’s powerful version of Gloria retained little of Them's original

Tom Petty onstage in 1979

The story behind Refugee by Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers

By Jaan Uhelszki published

Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers' Refugee was a true band collaboration, and took a hundred takes to get right

Kiss onstage

Kiss: private planes, accidental hashcakes, and one final spin around the globe

By Jaan Uhelszki published

Kiss are on their farewell tour, so we joined the Gods Of Thunder on their private jet to look back over an explosive career

Lynyrd Skynyrd backstage in October 1976

Lynyrd Skynyrd: A southern ghost story

By Jaan Uhelszki last updated

Fist fights, premonitions and a plane that fell from the sky. This is the tale of Ronnie Van Zant and Lynyrd Skynyrd

a portrait of a young joan jett

Joan Jett: Rebel with a cause

By Jaan Uhelszki published

How a teenage Runaway turned into a grown-up luminary for music with attitude, humanist politics and gender equality

a portrait shot of tom petty

Tom Petty: October 20, 1950 – October 2, 2017

By Jaan Uhelszki published

Classic Rock’s Jaan Uhelszki takes a personal look back at the life and times of one of the great American songwriters of the past 40 years

A photograph of Paul Stanley in his home

Who is the real Paul Stanley?

By Jaan Uhelszki published

On stage he’s the sex-crazed Starchild, the Kiss icon who rock’n’rolls all night. Off stage he’s a home-builder, chef, and family man who has finally grown to accept himself...

Iggy Pop at Crosley Field, Cincinnati on June 23, 1970

Cult Heroes: The Stooges - the chaotic tale of America's first punk band

By Jaan Uhelszki published

“We wrote the first rock opera. About a mouse. We beat The Who by a couple of years” - Iggy Pop and others tell the gonzoid story of The Stooges' early years

Lez Zeppelin at the LA Forum in 1970

How Led Zeppelin III was their most misunderstood album

By Jaan Uhelszki last updated

Inspired by Welsh countryside, suffused with folk, acoustic and pastoral music, it was the Zeppelin album that confounded critics but truly brokered their legend

Live preview: Wolfmother

By Jaan Uhelszki published

Andrew Stockdale previews a 10-date tour of the UK and Ireland.

Bonnie Raitt: She Writes The Songs

By Jaan Uhelszki published

You don't win 10 Grammys without knowing how to put a top tune or two together.

Bonnie Raitt: Lady Talks The Blues

By Jaan Uhelszki published

Twenty albums, 10 Grammys and three comebacks in, Bonnie Raitt could be taking it easy. But the blues megastar still has a lot to do and say.

2016 Preview: Wolfmother

By Jaan Uhelszki published

Oz’s lupine loner is out to conquer again.

Gregg Allman: Natural Born Survivor

By Jaan Uhelszki published

After bidding farewell to The Allman Brothers Band, Gregg Allman back over a troubled, tumultuous past - and forward to a bright future.

Sex: Ann Wilson

By Jaan Uhelszki published

Sheer Heart attack.

My First Love: Heart's Ann Wilson on Led Zeppelin IV

By Jaan Uhelszki published

Heart's singer on learning along with Zeppelin

Steve Earle: "My latest marriage is the only one I was sober for"

By Jaan Uhelszki published

Singer. Songwriter. Guitarist. Actor. Novelist. Playwright. Activist. Grammy winner. He’s a man of many talents, but it’s Harry Potter that’s Steve Earle’s latest addiction

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