Mick Wall

Bob Ezrin, Vincent Price, a giant spider and The Muppets - how Alice Cooper made his epic 1975 rock opera Welcome To My Nightmare

The epic story of Gary Moore’s journey from 80s hard rock hero to the man who ushered in the 90s blues revival

Roxy's glam-era debut broke all the rules: no chorus, a fade intro and a stop-dead ending. So just what was Bryan Ferry's exercise in coolly-aloof style all about?

Musical genius, rock’n’roll outsider, sexual obsessive, the ‘original shock rocker’ – this is the epic story of how Frank Zappa became Frank Zappa

Metallica's James Hetfield has certainly lived a life. This is what the man himself has had to say about it

They sold 7000 tickets – and 30,000 people turned up. How The Bath Blues Festivals became the inspiration to a young Michael Eavis and Glastonbury.

Write some songs, get into studio, come out with an album. It worked before. But when it came to making the follow-up to Vol. 4, Black Sabbath couldn’t even get started

Jazz fusion drummer extraordinaire Billy Cobham recalls his time with Miles Davis, Mahavishnu Orchestra and beyond...

Hugh Cornwell tells the story of the Stranglers' summer-of-punk-classic second album No More Heroes: "We definitely couldn’t get away with that now"

Robert Plant reveals why Physical Graffiti highlight Kashmir really marks Led Zeppelin's most towering musical peak

In late August 1966, The Doors entered the studio to record their debut album. Released five months later, it laid down a singular marker that still resonates today

Iron Fist was the final album the Three Amigos line-up of Motörhead, and even Lemmy said it was "inferior to anything else we’ve ever done"

Pentangle's third album, 1968's Basket Of Light, propelled them towards the big time and even gave them a rare hit single!

The hard-rock classic that became the theme for a TV current affairs show, Nantucket Sleighride (to Owen Coffin) was based on a true story

Their last album had flopped, punk rock was on the rise and the press were calling them "prats". 45 years on: How Queen came out fighting till the end.

Exhausted and near breaking point, Black Sabbath were hardly ready to start a new album. But with Tony Iommi doing the heavy lifting and a mountain of narcotics fuelling the slog, they ended up with the classic Vol 4

Thirty years of hard-rocking, blues’n’funk alchemy has earned golden-throated bassist Glenn Hughes a place at the top table of British rock - and these are his best albums

With stalling sales and an unsupportive label, there was only one thing left for AC/DC to do: rock. Harder than ever before.

35 years ago this week, The Cult left behind the post-punk scene, and reappeared with straight-out rock album Electric. They helped spark a revolution in the process

Led Zeppelin were ready to begin another huge US tour – then disaster struck. But out of the chaos rose Presence, an album Jimmy Page considers one of their best

Thin Lizzy were on the road to nowhere when they recorded a dusty old folk tune titled Whiskey In The Jar, intended as a B-side. Result: a 70s classic

In 2021 Francis Rossi continued his marathon spoken-word tour around the UK, and Classic Rock's Mick Wall was alongside him every step of the way

AC/DC were at the top of their game, but their singer was heading down a dangerous path. His last show was on January 27, 1980, and just three weeks later he was dead

How did AC/DC follow the globe-conquering success of Back In Black? With For Those About To Rock, and great difficulty

Ginger Wildheart's story tells of growing up with violence, escaping into the redemptive arms of rock’n’roll, and going on to become a prolific and acclaimed songwriter