Latest articles by Johnny Black
The real story of the show that brought Eric Clapton back from the brink
By mid-1971 Eric Clapton was a recluse with a heroin habit, until friends including Pete Townshend and George Harrison intervened to save his life
Jimmy Page, Keith Moon, Jeff Beck and the chaotic session that sowed the seeds for Led Zeppelin
In a small London studio, two Yardbirds, one member of The Who and a pair of passing session maestros united to record a spontaneous instrumental track. Things would never be the same again.
What happened when Howlin' Wolf hooked up with English rock royalty to make an album
Now revered as a linchpin moment in the history of the blues, Howlin’ Wolf’s 1970 London Sessions were recorded with Eric Clapton and various Stones and Beatles. This is the story, told by those who were there
What happened when Jello Biafra ran for Mayor of San Francisco
Dead Kennedys frontman Jello Biafra's vision for San Francisco was both a great prank and barbed social commentary
How The Beatles made Abbey Road, told by those who were there
Making it was by no means all love, peace and understanding, but 50 years on, Abbey Road is now considered by many to be the greatest of all the The Beatles’ albums
The chaotic story of the day Pink Floyd hired an oil rig to play Venice and the mayor lost his job
It was supposed to be just another Pink Floyd extravaganza. Nobody expected blackmail and a scandal that forced a city's mayor to resign
The story of the Bruce Springsteen show that saved his career and made him a star
On May 9, 1974, Bruce Springsteen played the famous gig that saw him proclaimed as "rock'n'roll future". This is the story of what happened, by the people who were there
The story of AC/DC's live debut, told by those who were there
On December 31, 1973, the fledgling AC/DC saw in the New Year by playing their very first gig at a bar in Sydney
"There were guitar players weeping. They had to mop the floor up": How Jimi Hendrix invented everything we love
When Jimi Hendrix arrived in London he blew the minds of the British rock elite. Soon they would follow his lead and develop and explosive new form of electric blues
"There was a two-minute pause, then everybody broke out laughing. They thought I was doing a joke": What happened the night Jethro Tull beat Metallica to a Grammy Award
Prog rockers Jethro Tull pipped Metallica to win Best Hard Rock/Heavy Metal Recording award in 1989, and people are still talking about it
"Kids came in their thousands, and the first two rows looked like Attila The Hun’s frontline troops – frothing at the mouth": four years on the road with America's ultimate party band, Van Halen
At the tag end of the 70s, Van Halen were poised to become one of the biggest-grossing acts on the planet... but the cracks were beginning to show
"They couldn't transport the snakes in the cattle trailer because it upset the Longhorn and the buffalo": How ZZ Top took Texas on the road in the most sanity-defying tour ever staged
ZZ Top's Worldwide Texas Tour featured a plexiglass pyramid filled with rattlesnakes, trained buzzards, a fake wolf, and a night in Pittsburgh one doctor called "the most horrible thing I have seen since World War II"
“All I could do to accommodate requests for new sounds for them was just to abuse the equipment": How The Beatles' Revolver revolutionised music
Revolver is a feat of The Beatles' sonic experimentation and songwriting genius, and this is the story behind how the album was made
"Dwarves with trays of cocaine on their heads? It never happened. Well, I never saw it. Actually, it could have been true...": What really happened at Queen's most outrageous party
In 1978, Queen launched their Jazz album with a huge Halloween party at the Fairmont Hotel in New Orleans. People are still talking about it
“Steve invited me round to his nan’s house to jam”: the story of Steve Harris’s pre-Iron Maiden bands Gypsy’s Kiss and Smiler and the birth of a legend
How future Iron Maiden founder Steve Harris went from trainee draughtsman to superstar in waiting, as remembered by the people who knew him
"We had heard about fans in Russia being sent to prison just for owning our records": a story of Uriah Heep, KGB agents, guns, girls and gallons of vodka
Moscow at the height of East-West tensions was a grim, alien city. What better place for fading British rockers Uriah Heep to raise their profile?
"If there was a day in my life I could take back, it would be that day": The death of Gram Parsons - a story of drugs, theft, and a burning corpse
The strange and tragic story of the death of Gram Parsons, told by the people who were there
"We knew within forty-five minutes that we had a superstar. It was electrifying": The Elton John show that launched his career into the stratosphere
In August 1970, Elton John played his first US gig at the 300-capacity Troubadour club in Los Angeles. It would change everything
"So there I was, sitting in the driver's seat of a Lincoln Continental, underwater": The night The Who’s Keith Moon drove his car into a swimming pool
Keith Moon celebrated his 21st birthday by taking one of his cars for a swim – or did he? Eyewitnesses explain what they saw – or think they saw
What happened the night Stevie Ray Vaughan died - by those who were there
On August 27, 1990, Stevie Ray Vaughan played the gig of his life. Just hours later he was killed when his helicopter crashed in thick fog. This is the inside story of that tragic day
Drugs, guns, and the tragic death of Mountain's Felix Pappalardi
The combination of drugs, guns and a troubled wife meant things wouldn’t end well for the Mountain bassist. Here, insiders and eye-witnesses remember his murder trial
The Doors in London: "Jim was enigmatic and almost unbelievably beautiful"
The Doors brought controversy with them when they arrived to play their debut UK gigs, but over two nights at London’s Roundhouse it was their incendiary music that did the talking.
When Pink Floyd reunited for Live 8: "It was like sleeping with your ex-wife"
Pink Floyd’s classic line-up reunited only once, to play the historic Live 8 charity concert in 2005. Just don’t ask them to do it again
"Everybody was dumbstruck" - how Jimi Hendrix's arrival in London changed everything, as told by Mick Jagger, Jimmy Page, Jeff Beck and more
Jimi at 80 When Jimi Hendrix arrived in London in 1966, he not only blew the minds of fellow rock legends-in-making: he'd help spark a whole new form of electric blues
