Jimi Hendrix: the life and times of a genius By Max Bell, Johnny Black, Rob Hughes, Hugh Fielder, Ken Sharp, Mick Wall, Henry Yates Classic Rock talks to Jimi Hendrix's friends, admirers and other musicians about his life and importance
The Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert: Behind The Scenes By Johnny Black As big as Live Aid, with an unfeasibly broad bill of rock, pop and showbiz stars, the Wembley fest commemorated Queen’s late flamboyant frontman and made a little history of its own
What happened at the Heavy Metal Band Aid By Johnny Black Hear ’n Aid saw the hard-rock community muscling in on the charity single bandwagon. Cue a heavyweight cast, guitar battles and big hair contests
The night The Who’s Keith Moon drove his car into a swimming pool By Johnny Black The Who drummer Keith Moon celebrated his 21st birthday by taking a Rolls Royce for a swim – or did he? Eyewitnesses explain what they saw...
Killers: The irresistible rise Of NWOBHM and Iron Maiden By Johnny Black From London's east end to some of the biggest stages in the world, Iron Maiden's story started with a three track demo and a sweaty pub gig decked out like an old Western movie...
Jimi Hendrix and the birth of heavy – by the people who were there… By Johnny Black When Jimi Hendrix arrived in London in 1966 he blew the minds of Clapton, Beck and Page. They'd soon follow his lead and develop an explosive new form of electric blues...
How I Stole Gram Parsons’ Body By Johnny Black The strange theft of Gram Parson’s corpse – told by the people who were there.
What happened the night Brian Robertson got glassed at The Speakeasy By Johnny Black “The glass went straight through my fingers then sliced down and cut the tendons and nerves. It cut an artery as well...”
The story of Hear 'n Aid, the heavy metal Band Aid By Johnny Black Eat your heart out, Bob Geldof – Hear ’n Aid saw the hard-rock community muscling in on the charity single bandwagon. Cue a heavyweight cast, guitar battles and big hair contests
Brinsley Schwarz and the press trip from hell By Johnny Black It was supposed to be the New York adventure that would make the Tunbridge Wells pub rockers worldwide superstars. But what seemed like a great idea turned into a PR disaster
The story of Axl Rose and Kurt Cobain's MTV bust-up, by the people who were there By Johnny Black In the blue corner, grunge’s brand new poster boy and his motormouthed wife. In the red corner, Gn’R’s short-tempered frontman and six huge bodyguards. Gentleman, handbags at the ready…
What happened the day The Fugs attempted to levitate the Pentagon By Johnny Black Film-maker Kenneth Anger was “hissing like a snake”, hipster Abbie Hoffman was threatening troops with a water pistol filled with LSD, and the freaks were chanting: “Out, demons, out!”
What happened the night Jethro Tull beat Metallica to a Grammy Award By Johnny Black When prog rockers Jethro Tull pipped Metallica to win Best Hard Rock/Heavy Metal Recording award in 1989, most in the audience started laughing. Some of them haven’t stopped
The Day Twisted Sister Went To War With The PMRC By Johnny Black It was the biggest music battle of the 80s. In the blue corner: Dee Snider, Frank Zappa and John Denver. In the red corner: the US government. Seconds out…
Black Sabbath: the madness behind Master Of Reality By Johnny Black In 1971, Black Sabbath released the monumental Master Of Reality album, inventing heavy metal’s future… and opening the door on an era of cocaine, Quaaludes and dagger-wielding Satanists
Tape decks, drugs and Abbey Road: how The Beatles’ Revolver revolutionised rock By Johnny Black Revolver is a feat of The Beatles' sonic experimentation and songwriting genius – we bring you the story behind how the album was made
Johnny Cash: the unplugged album that saved a country legend’s life By Johnny Black Johnny Cash had given up on life by the early 90s. Then he met Rick Rubin – the producer who would reawaken his career with the acoustic American Recordings
50 Years Of Pink Floyd: A Most Unlikely Reunion By Johnny Black 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
Whatever Happened To The Stars Of The Decline Of Western Civilization Pt 2? By Johnny Black We track down the stars of classic car crash metal documentary The Decline Of Western Civilization Pt 2: The Metal Years. But where are they now?
When BB King came to London… By Johnny Black As the 70s kicked in BB King was playing to a whole new audience of white kids. Then he decided to leap across the Atlantic to cut the classic In London with the British rock elite...
Bruce Springsteen: "I Saw Rock’N’Roll Future!” By Johnny Black On May 9, 1974, Bruce Springsteen played the gig that saved his career and made him a star. This is the story of what happened, by the people who were there.
The Doors: Roundhouse Blues By Johnny Black 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.
What happened at Eric Clapton’s all-star comeback concert By Johnny Black By mid-1971, the man once known as ‘God’ was a recluse with a heroin habit – and a shotgun barrel in his mouth. Friends including Pete Townshend and George Harrison intervened to save his life
Buzzards, snakes and a live buffalo: inside ZZ Top’s World World Wide Texas tour By Johnny Black In 1976, ZZ Top took their World Wide Texas show on the road complete with an entire menagerie. The result was the craziest tour of the 70s
Fly On The Wall: Beck, Page, Moon And The Birth Of Led Zeppelin By Johnny Black 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.
