Paul Elliott

Metallica's Lars Ulrich reveals the album that's soundtracked his lockdown, explains why Bon Scott was great, and speaks of the brilliant unpredictability of Ritchie Blackmore

From the late 60s through to the late 80s, some of the greatest and most influential albums ever made were doubles

As the man who replaced Bruce Dickinson in Iron Maiden, Blaze Bayley went from obscurity to stardom and back again. But these days he’s anything but bitter

With the Black Album, Metallica changed the game for everyone... including themselves

From Led Zeppelin and Mother’s Finest to Lenny Kravitz and Red Hot Chili Peppers, these are the songs that built funk rock

The booze was starting to kill Alice Cooper, so his wife and manager checked him into an asylum – little knowing it would inspire his most personal work

Rush guitarist Alex Lifeson explains why even Rush's worst songs might have sounded brilliant on ecstasy

The Darkness frontman Justin Hawkins on the records, artists and gigs that are of lasting significance to him, and which song he'd have played at his funeral

The setbacks Def Leppard have faced over the past 45 years would have finished off many lesser bands, but now they’re very much on the up again

Five young hopefuls called Guns N’ Roses walked into a recording studio. They walked out with one of the best debut albums ever, but Appetite For Destruction could have turned out very differently

Joe Elliott looks back on a long and successful past with Def Leppard and Down ‘N’ Outz, but it hasn't all been plain sailing

Ireland’s greatest, man-of-the-people guitar hero Rory Gallagher left a tremendous legacy of albums studded with real gems

Lynyrd Skynyrd's 1975 hit Saturday Night Special belied the band's pistol-packin’ image, but things were never quite that black and white

God of Thunder Gene Simmons ponders the meaning of life, love and loss, and the end of the road for Kiss

With Highway To Hell, AC/DC raced ahead of the rest by making a record that finally helped them break America... but such success came with a huge cost

Toto's catalogue dissected for the biggest of hits and deepest of cuts from the official masters of melodic rock

Proof that there's much more to Boston, the godfathers of melodic rock – and the man who almost single-handedly created their sound – than More Than A Feeling

Guns N' Roses guitarist Slash talks about his career: Guns N' Roses, Axl Rose, Izzy Stradlin, Scott Weiland, Myles Kennnedy, and the good, the bad and the ugly that came with all of them

For Rush and Envy Of None guitarist Alex Lifeson, 1977 was all about touring, punk and Panama hats – just don’t mention the sheep

Van Halen lost a superstar singer when Dave Lee Roth quit the band, but new frontman Sammy Hagar and Foreigner's Mick Jones ensured the loss was short-lived

The Bon Jovi albums essential to any record collection

On April 30, 1978, AC/DC took to the stage of Glasgow Apollo and played one of the best shows of their career, resulting in If You Want Blood You Got It, one of rock’s greatest live albums

The second Guns N' Roses album wasn't really an album at all, but it remains a remarkable one-off, and includes Axl Rose's most controversial song