Max Bell

Max Bell

Max Bell worked for the NME during the golden 70s era before running up and down London’s Fleet Street for The Times and all the other hot-metal dailies. A long stint at the Standard and mags like The Face and GQ kept him honest. Later, Record Collector and Classic Rock called.

Articles by: Max Bell

Canned Heat in 1969

"We were always badass, if by that you mean sex, drugs and rock'n'roll... we were very bad": The wild story of Canned Heat, the badass blues band that death couldn’t kill

By Max Bell published

Booze, barbiturates, suicide and overdoses – the twisted tale of America's first great boogie-rock band

The Beach Boys’ Dennis Wilson posing for a photograph in 1977

“He came up three times gasping for help. The others thought he was goofing around. He wasn’t”: How doomed Beach Boy Dennis Wilson made his solo masterpiece Pacific Ocean Blue

By Max Bell published

Beach Boys drummer and singer Dennis Wilson made a cult classic with 1977’s Pacific Ocean Blue – a few years later he was dead

Ginger Baker posing for a photograph in the 1960s

“Mitch Mitchell was a journeyman. He was hopeless. John Bonham, Ringo Starr, Charlie Watts… they’re a three or four out of 10”: An audience with Ginger Baker, rock’s most cantankerous drummer

By Max Bell published

From Cream to Blind Faith and beyond, this is how Ginger Baker revolutionised music

Mick Fleetwood sitting cross legged by a swimming pool in 1980

“We were just boozers and mounds of cocaine. Cocaine eventually is bad, but we were young kids. It didn’t hamper us”: The epic life and crazy times of Mick Fleetwood, the heartbeat of Fleetwood Mac

By Max Bell published

Mick Fleetwood was a member of Fleetwood Mac from the start – and lived to tell the tale

Marianne Faithful posing for a photograph in 1979

“That’s what he said: ‘I’ve killed Jim Morrison.’ He provided the gear”: Marianne Faithfull saw the best and worst of the late 60s and early 70s music scene

By Max Bell published

The late, great Marianne Faithfull had a life like no other

Love posing for a photograph in tall grass in the late 1960s

“Hendrix took a look at my first album and said: ‘I’ll try it this way’. I don’t appreciate that. But then I can’t play the guitar like him”: The chaotic story of Arthur Lee and Love, the 60s renegades who helped invent the LA scene

By Max Bell published

The Doors were stars but their Sunset Strip peers Love deserved to be equally famous

Jeff Beck studio portrait

"Lady Gaga was swinging about on a JCB; it was a bit of a circus": Jeff Beck on awards shows, the end of Ziggy Stardust, and refusing to audition for the Rolling Stones

By Max Bell published

Late guitar innovator Jeff Beck lived rock'n'roll history - but was much more interested in the future

Tom Petty posing for a photograph smoking a cigarette

“They’re starting to call us punks. It was absurd, these stupid labels. One day I said to a guy, ‘If you call me a punk again, I’m gonna cut ya’”: How Tom Petty took on the record industry and won with Damn The Torpedoes

By Max Bell published

The story behind Tom Petty’s classic 1979 album Damn The Torpedoes and its follow-up Hard Promises

Rod Stewart in a garden, seated in a deckchair with his feet up on a table

"The looseness that the Faces were known for just became too loose. It was such an unprofessional band": How Rod Stewart corralled chaos to make his solo classic Every Picture Tells A Story

By Max Bell published

Rod Stewart's Every Picture Tells A Story arrived by accident, was rescued by some last-minute songs, a fat slice of luck and a dozen hard-drinking hombres – and helped launch Rod Stewart’s solo career

Rod de'Ath in 2012

"I couldn't go to the funeral itself": The strange tale of Rod de'Ath, the drummer who came back from the dead

By Max Bell last updated

When Rory Gallagher passed away it was widely reported that his former drummer, Rod de'Ath, had died years earlier. Only thing was, he hadn't

The Grateful Dead performing onstage in 1978

“We’re trying to uphold a delicate state of anarchy. Anarchy in Egypt”: The incredible story of The Grateful Dead’s legendary gigs at the Pyramids Of Giza

By Max Bell published

In 1978, The Grateful Dead and their entourage landed in Egypt for three gigs at the Pyramids of Giza. This is what happened

Joe Cocker posing for a photograph in 1970

“They put me in a cell with a bank robber and a murderer. The bank robber seemed like a nice bloke. Said he had all my albums”: The wild life and crazy times of Joe Cocker

By Max Bell published

Joe Cocker was the unlikely Sheffield superstar loved by The Beatles – but drink, drugs and debauchery almost sent him over the edge

Robert Plant onstage

"He proceeded to take his trousers off between songs. The police got very twitchy": The chaotic night Led Zeppelin jammed with Ten Years After and the Jeff Beck Group

By Max Bell published

"My last memory was of Bonham’s hairy backside disappearing, illuminated by a spotlight"

The Rolling Stones out for a stroll in Green Park, London

"London was implicated in the collusion of a fat music industry bloated on cocaine and bereft of direction": How London lost its lustre

By Max Bell published

There was a time when all rock and pop roads led to London; you couldn't move without tripping over an icon or a star. Those days are long gone

A photograph of Jason And The Scorchers in 1983

“We peaked too early. Bad commercial decisions and far too much drink and drug excess”: how 80s cowpunk legends Jason And The Scorchers snatched defeat from the jaws of victory

By Max Bell published

Country, rock’n’roll, a whole lot of attitude – Jason And The Scorchers were destined to be huge, but they were their own worst enemies

Dr John studio portrait

"I got my left ring finger shot off. So that was the end of my guitar career pretty much": The incomparable tales of Dr John

By Max Bell published

Late New Orleans legend Dr John on that time he drank a case of Blue Nun with Frankie Miller, and other stories

Steve Miller leaning on a fence holding a guitar, with an amplifier at his feet

"Kids tell me: 'I wanna be a rock star.' I say: 'Nah, get a job in a clothing store instead'": Steve Miller on LSD, boredom and salvation

By Max Bell published

Rock's grumpy old man Steve Miller on fame, the Grateful Dead, and why kids should think twice about becoming rock stars

Stephen Stills in 1971

"If I was young now, I'd probably be stalking Taylor Swift. We have affairs, we make it dramatic and write hit songs about it" - Stephen Stills on the romance that drove a classic and the making of his first solo album

By Max Bell published

Growing tired of the tensions in CSN&Y, Stephen Stills moved to the UK to record his debut album, with a little help from Jimi, Ringo and Eric

Tommy James

For a year Tommy James was bigger than The Beatles. Then the mafia ruined everything

By Max Bell published

With hits like Mony Mony and Crimson And Clover, Tommy James should have had the time of his life. Instead, he found himself robbed and threatened by the Mafia

JJ Cale onstage at London’s Hammersmith Odeon in 1976

“I have to thank Eric Clapton for boosting my bank balance by recording After Midnight then cutting Cocaine”: the life and times of JJ Cale, American music’s best kept secret

By Max Bell published

Eric Clapton loved him and Mark Knopfler borrowed his style, but singer and guitarist JJ Cale never had the success to match his massive influence

Dan Hicks being interviewed at home, 1974

"You probably think it's easy being up here. Singing and everything, and playing. It's not. It's not easy": Acid days and ragtime jazz with Dan Hicks, an American eccentric

By Max Bell published

The unlikely story of psychedelic pioneer and folk swing vaudevillian Dan Hicks

Traffic studio portrait

In the spring of 1967, the newly formed Traffic retreated to a haunted cottage to write their debut album, Mr. Fantasy. Cue in-fighting, an unhappy local with a shotgun, and incredibly strong acid

By Max Bell published

"We were like four students living on top of one another, surrounded by filthy crockery and unmade beds" - Steve Winwood on Traffic's early experiments with communal living

The Doors circa 1970

"When I first heard it, driving round LA, it sounded great, it leapt out of the speakers": the story of The Doors' Love Her Madly

By Max Bell published

The Doors' Robby Krieger reveals how he came to write Love Her Madly, how Jim Morrison loved it, and how their producer didn't

James Gang circa 1970

"We did seven encores. We ran out of material and were forced to play Jimi Hendrix tunes. Imagine that, opening for Cream and finishing with Hendrix tunes?": The story of the legendary James Gang

By Max Bell published

With a classic funk-rock sound, the rise of rock'n'roll cowboys the James Gang looked unstoppable, inspired by a real kick-ass guitarist who would both make and break the band

Tom Waits smoking a cigarette and smiling

The Tom Waits' albums you should definitely own

By Max Bell published

From boozy beat poet to avant garde conductor of the 'Junkyard Orchestra', a guide to Tom Waits' best albums and the work of a musical maverick