Articles by Gary Graff

Gary Graff is an award-winning veteran music journalist based in metro Detroit, writing regularly for Billboard, Ultimate Classic Rock, Media News Group, Music Connection, United Stations Radio Networks and others. Graff’s work has also appeared in Rolling Stone, Guitar World, Classic Rock, Revolver, the San Francisco Chronicle, AARP magazine, the Detroit Jewish News, The Forward and others. Graff has co-written and edited books about Bob Seger, Neil Young and Bruce Springsteen. A professional voter for the Grammy Awards and the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, Graff co-founded the Detroit Music Awards in 1989 and continues as the organisation’s chief producer.

Articles by: Gary Graff

Ozzy Osbourne and Billy Idol, pictured together in 2005

"I saw Black Sabbath one month before their first album came out – and I was right in the front row": Billy Idol on his love for Black Sabbath and Ozzy Osbourne

By Gary Graff published 22 October 24

Billy Idol was part of the celebration that saw Ozzy Osbourne inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame at the weekend

Sammy Hagar with original Foreigner members Al Greenwood, Lou Gramm and Rick Wills, and Mick Jones' daughter Annabelle Dexter-Jones

"Yeah man, we blew 'em off the stage": Sammy Hagar on the time he trash-talked Foreigner, the band he's just inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame

By Gary Graff published 22 October 24

The Red Rocker also reveals he wanted to audition for Foreigner, but Mick Jones couldn't afford it

"This renaissance of heavy metal is worldwide": From Gojira at the Olympics to crazed teenage fans, Rob Halford is incredibly excited about the state of heavy metal

By Gary Graff published 12 September 24

As Judas Priest gear up for their US tour, Rob Halford enthuses about the state of metal and reflects on debut album Rocka Rolla

"It was important for us to press the reset button": Joe Perry on touring with Kiss and the making of Aerosmith's Honkin' On Bobo

By Gary Graff published 9 September 24

With a back-to-basics blues-oriented just recorded, Aerosmith in 2003 were more determined than ever to let the music do the talking

"We were able to capture the spirit of Detroit": Suzi Quatro and Alice Cooper have recorded a version of the MC5's Kick Out The Jams

By Gary Graff published 1 September 24

Video: Suzi Quatro guests with Alice Cooper during a riotous School's Out in Detroit

Steven Tyler and James Hetfield onstage at Woodstock 1994

"It was an unfortunate incident which has been exaggerated and turned into folklore": How contractual differences between Aerosmith and Metallica at Woodstock 1994 came to blows

By Gary Graff published 17 August 24

Three More Days of Peace & Music? Not quite

Two bathers in a pond at Woodstock with (inset) Steven Tyler in 1994

"People were walking around with water guns full of acid, squirting them in your face": What Aerosmith's Steven Tyler saw at Woodstock

By Gary Graff published 16 August 24

As Aerosmith prepared to play at Woodstock 1994, Steven Tyler looked back on his experience at the original festival

"It's crazy how disposable artists are in America. In Europe they treat artists with a ton more respect": Mitch Ryder on his long, schizophrenic career

By Gary Graff published 24 July 24

Mitch Ryder had hits in the 60s and has been making music since, but if he had a hit now it would ruin his day

"A lot of people are going, 'Joe, he doesn't play like Eddie.' I know that – but he can": Sammy Hagar on why Joe Satriani was the only man for his Eddie Van Halen job

By Gary Graff published 15 July 24

Exclusive: Sammy Hagar on why Joe Satriani is a guitarist in a million

Sammy Hagar onstage, raising a drink in salute

"I think that was his statement to me": Sammy Hagar took Alex Van Halen's recent sale of his musical equipment personally

By Gary Graff published 10 July 24

Sammy Hagar has detailed his fruitless attempts to reach out to Alex Van Halen

Songwriter and guitarist Bobby Whitlock poses for a portrait in front of an old car next to a bottle of Dom Perignon champagne holding an acoustic guitar in circa 1975

"I don't read no charts and I don't do no numbers": As Bobby Whitlock prepares to be honoured in Memphis, he looks back at Derek and the Dominos and his impact on UK music

By Gary Graff published 19 May 24

Bobby Whitlock will be honoured today on the Beale Street Walk of Fame in Memphis

"It was like a spy movie; I was in a room, this light shining in my face": A true crime story of Roger Glover, a new Rickenbacker, and Smoke On The Water

By Gary Graff published 15 May 24

Roger Glover bought a new bass guitar for the recording of Machine Head, but things did not go according to plan

We asked Jon Bon Jovi: If you could choose one final song to perform in front of an audience, what would it be?

By Gary Graff published 22 April 24

With a four-part documentary set to stream this week, Jon Bon Jovi says he's optimistic about singing again, but it's in the lap of the gods

Heart's Ann and Nancy Wilson in 1977, and (inset) a turkey

"We would go in there and eat the turkeys and whatever else we found": Heart kept themselves from starving in their early days by stealing Bachman Turner Overdrive's food

By Gary Graff published 21 April 24

As Heart begin their Royal Flush tour, Ann and Nancy Wilson say that live shows are worth all the "pain, exhaustion and drama"

"Y'know, I never realised how much I really love my band": Steven Tyler talks American Idol, dysfunctional behaviour, Johnny Depp and the history of Aerosmith

By Gary Graff published 12 April 24

Somehow, Steven Tyler became a bigger star when he stepped away from Aerosmith

Jon Anderson singing onstage with (inset) Ray Davies

"We get halfway through, just before the solo, and all the power goes off on stage": The night a furious Ray Davies cut a Yes set short before aiming blows and kicks at Rick Wakeman

By Gary Graff published 3 April 24

In late 1971, Yes and The Kinks hooked up for a short run of shows in New York, but brotherly love between the bands was in short supply

Studio portraits of Joe Satriani and Eddie Van Halen

"I can't think of a Van Halen song that doesn't put a smile on my face – it's just a question of figuring out how to play them": How Joe Satriani is preparing to pay tribute to Eddie Van Halen

By Gary Graff published 29 March 24

Exclusive: we talk to Joe Satriani as the setlist for Sammy Hagar's upcoming The Best of All Worlds tour begins to take shape

"It has a kind of sense of revolutionary message but also a good sense of humour": Producer Bob Ezrin gives update on eagerly anticipated MC5 album

By Gary Graff published 9 February 24

The MC5's fourth album Heavy Lifting was originally due in 2022, and those involved are determined to see it released in the wake of Wayne Kramer's death

"Wayne was a force of nature. A soul man in a rock'n'roll body": Bob Ezrin pays tribute to late MC5 guitarist Wayne Kramer

By Bob Ezrin published 8 February 24

Exclusive: Bob Ezrin, who produced the upcoming MC5 album Heavy Lifting, pays tribute to "one of the best guitar players any of us had ever heard"

Bruce Spingsteen onstage in 1995 with an acoustic guitar

"I want to make a record where I don’t have to play by the rules or have any hit singles": Bruce Springsteen on his acoustic masterpiece The Ghost Of Tom Joad

By Gary Graff published 8 November 23

Inspired by the classic novel The Grapes Of Wrath, The Ghost Of Tom Joad became a staple of Bruce Springsteen’s live shows, and led to The Boss teaming up with RATM’s Tom Morello

Bob Seger interview: "I really hope I'm not done"

By Gary Graff published 20 February 18

Bob Seger talks about the back pain that could end his career, Donald Trump, and paying tribute to departed friends

Stevie Nicks: if this band hadn't made it big, we’d still be playing the clubs

By Gary Graff published 15 February 18

Interview: Fleetwood Mac legend Stevie Nicks on stepping away from the spotlight, juggling careers, and being born to entertain

Bob Seger: the legend of the Ramblin' Gamblin' Man

By Gary Graff published 31 October 17

Detroit rock veteran Bob Seger bites the silver bullet and looks back on his early career...

A photograph of Iggy Pop on stage with Josh Homme

Post-Pop progression: What's next for Iggy Pop?

By Gary Graff published 17 November 16

With his career-high album Post Pop Depression, a hugely successful tour, and film, book and exhibition projects on the go, Iggy Pop packed more into 2016 than most. What now?

Tom Petty: "I Was Thinking, If This Goes For Five Years, That'd Be Quite A Run"

By Gary Graff published 9 November 16

The original heartbreaker on the enduring power of music, keeping things fresh for him and his audience and how his songs will go on...

Gary Graff

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