Latest articles by Jon Hotten
Dee Snider created a Twitterstorm by suggesting that Ronnie James Dio was a great singer but not a great performer – and rock history is filled with other examples
In the years that followed their Live Aid resurrection, Status Quo found themselves more popular than ever, and in 1990 the band held a special event to celebrate. People are still talking about it
By the time they recorded Master Of Puppets, Metallica had outgrown the scene they had single-handedly inspired... but two decades later they would embrace thrash again
Overdoses. Drug smuggling. Doppelgängers. Marriage. Divorce. Fights. Russians. Bryan Adams. Baywatch. Welcome to a year in the life of Mötley Crüe
30 million people can’t be wrong: how the Black Album transformed Metallica into metal’s biggest band
Even the best can get it wrong sometimes: here's the worst albums by 10 of rock's greatest bands
Rock is often about more than just the music: it's about The Big Idea, and ambition manifesting itself as The Concept Album
It launched Meat Loaf onto an unsuspecting world. It stayed in the UK charts for eight years and became the biggest selling debut album of all time. It also nearly finished off the singer for good. This is the story of Bat Out Of Hell
The most eagerly awaited album of 2004 - Velvet Revolver's Contraband – came from a grizzled gaggle of rusty Gunners and a frontman with toxicology trouble
Everybody's got to start somewhere, and some of our very best bands started slowly. Here's 10 great bands whose debut albums weren't actually great
Nirvana’s Nevermind album introduced 90s grunge to the mainstream and sounded the death knell for the 80s
Buying guide Equal parts hooks and hairspray, glam metal's brief moment in the Hollywood limelight was both brash and brilliant. These are the best albums
In 1974 Queen released the album that would define their sound, capture their grand ambition and vindicate their unshakeable self-belief. This is the story of Queen II and the real birth of the legend
Rehearsal no-shows? Lingering bad blood? Fragile egos? A $3 million-per-night pay day? And where's Izzy?
Power pop is the cheeky little cousin of pop-rock. It’s one of rock’s most accessible genres, and it’s not so easy to define, but these are its best albums
In 1971, Led Zeppelin released their untitled fourth album and changed the face of rock forever. This is the story of the album known variously as Led Zeppelin IV, Runes, Four Symbols or simply Untitled
From the ashes of 60s blues rock, Led Zeppelin took off and wrote the template for all hard rock that followed. But it was all just an extension of the blues tradition itself
We rank every song on Def Leppard's multi-platinum classic Hysteria – in order of greatness
In the late 80s, unknown musician Matthew Trippe claimed to have replaced Nikki Sixx in Motley Crue. Now the true story of Trippe’s strange life can finally be told
Poison's debut album was recorded on a tight budget and in eight days, it would go triple platinum and turn the band into hair metal heroes
In 2003 Classic Rock spoke to Nikki Sixx about Motley Crue's upcoming movie The Dirt. It wouldn't see the light of day for another sixteen years
In 2009, the sobered-up Guns N' Roses veteran spoke to Classic Rock from a position of domestic bliss and reduced drama, while promoting a new Loaded album
Legendary rock journalist Mick Wall was famously called out by Axl Rose on Guns N' Roses' furious Get In The Ring. Is his new book about the band the chance to settle old scores?
