Articles by Mick Wall

Mick Wall is the UK's best-known rock writer, author and TV and radio programme maker, and is the author of numerous critically-acclaimed books, including definitive, bestselling titles on Led Zeppelin (When Giants Walked the Earth), Metallica (Enter Night), AC/DC (Hell Ain't a Bad Place To Be), Black Sabbath (Symptom of the Universe), Lou Reed, The Doors (Love Becomes a Funeral Pyre), Guns N' Roses and Lemmy. He lives in England.

Articles by: Mick Wall

"I run this business like an iron fist and nobody can get in and f*** with our band": Nikki Sixx on making new music, replacing Mick Mars, work-life balance and learning when to say no

By Mick Wall published 19 November 24

We catch up with Mötley Crüe legend Nikki Sixx

The Doors posing for a photograph under a pier in 1969

“Jim’s attitude was always: ‘Look out, man, I’m hell-bent on destruction.’ We couldn’t moralise”: How The Doors snatched victory from the jaws of chaos to make the classic Morrison Hotel album

By Mick Wall published 16 November 24

By 1970, Jim Morrison was in an alcoholic spiral and facing jail time – but The Doors still managed to make one of their greatest albums in Morrison Hotel

"We'd get to America, and bang! Something happens. Got to get back on the plane and go home": Scott Gorham on Thin Lizzy's breakthrough, Phil Lynott, and why they always screwed up their US tours

By Mick Wall published 31 October 24

1976 was a pivotal year for Thin Lizzy. Guitarist Scott Gorham, one half of the band’s classic twin-guitar sound, takes a trip down memory lane

"Phil started going mental cos he's got these two bass drums and he doesn't know what to do with them!" How the delivery of a new drum kit gave Motörhead's Overkill to the world

By Mick Wall published 16 October 24

'Fast' Eddie Clarke: "Once we'd cracked the formula of how to work together on Overkill, that's when we really started to take off"

The photo of Aerosmith that adorned the cover of Get Your Wings

"If you were playing with two other rock bands, you wanted to be the band that people remembered when they walked out": How Aerosmith got their wings and flew

By Mick Wall published 15 October 24

With their label ready to drop them after a so-so first album, Aerosmith clung on, dreamed on, and recorded a second that gave them lift-off: Get Your Wings

A portrait of Bad Company’s Boz Burrell in the 1970s

“Boz would always have a bottle of Smirnoff in his bass case”: The epic life and high times of Bad Company bassist Boz Burrell, rock’n’roll’s ultimate cool dude

By Mick Wall published 29 September 24

Boz Burrell bought effortless cool to King Crimson and Bad Company and died the way he lived – on his own terms

"I went over to John's house, and he just started sobbing and said he wanted to do it": The story of the Red Hot Chili Peppers album Flea thinks is the best they ever made

By Mick Wall published 27 September 24

The Red Hot Chili Peppers were unravelling, but they pulled together, kept it together, and recorded their masterpiece album: Californication

“The original idea was to sell my songs to a publisher, not that I should be a singer or a performer”: An unexpected interview with Kate Bush while she was writing Hounds Of Love

By Mick Wall published 16 September 24

In 1984 Mick Wall was surprised when he rattled off a hopeless request for a chat – and received an invitation to visit the Def Leppard fan at her home-from-home

"I've not done Taylor Swift's numbers, but I don't give a sh*t because I'm proud of the songs I did": As Fish prepares to leave the business behind, he reflects on Marillion, going solo and life after music

By Mick Wall published 9 September 24

After next year's farewell tour Fish is leaving music and the bright lights behind to live with his wife (and 13 sheep) on a Scottish island

"A new heavy metal classic for the ages": The song Ronnie James Dio called one of the "proudest things I've ever done"

By Mick Wall published 20 August 24

Begun by Dio when he was fronting Black Sabbath, it transformed his career and became one of the classic metal tracks of the 80s

Queen sitting in a garden in September 1976

"The thought of being in jail in tights didn't appeal to Freddie at all": Queen and the struggle to make Day At The Races

By Mick Wall published 15 August 24

After A Night At The Opera, Queen had the world at their feet. But how on Earth do you follow such an album?

"God is punishing me for my past wickedness by keeping me alive and in as much pain as he can": The tortured and tumultuous life of the late Ginger Baker

By Mick Wall published 14 August 24

Driving across deserts, owning polo ponies, making and losing fortunes, influencing generations of musicians… Ginger Baker‘s story nothing was like no one else's

A solo portrait of Pink Floyd’s Syd Barrett

“Syd was always experimenting. He had a very open sort of mind, to an almost dangerous degree”: the truth behind the myth of Syd Barrett, Pink Floyd’s original singer and psychedelic icon

By Mick Wall published 7 July 24

Original Pink Floyd frontman Syd Barrett died on July 7, 2006. This is the story of the rise and decline of a psychedelic icon

"We knew how good we were. That on our day we needn't be afraid of anybody": In 1970 Free had the world in the palm of their hands... and they let it blow away

By Mick Wall published 2 July 24

How Free made their masterpiece, Fire And Water

Humble Pie in a New York street circa 1970

One of the greatest live acts the world has ever seen: The Humble Pie albums you should definitely listen to

By Mick Wall published 12 June 24

Humble Pie were unable to capture the power of their live shows in the studio, but their best albums still include some absolute gems

"I could hardly listen to that song when we were recording it - it made me ill": the Eagles song that was written as a warning but heard as a celebration

By Mick Wall published 6 June 24

Life In The Fast Lane was built on a swaggering riff from Joe Walsh, with a title that reflected the craziness of the Eagles

“There’d be three numbers in the set; Dave Swarbrick would go berserk with his Echoplex and wah-wah. Especially in America, with substances being consumed”: The origins of Fairport Convention

By Mick Wall published 3 June 24

The folk-rock pioneers’ 80s resurgence was no less unlikely than their earlier years, as they meandered towards success and influence

"Everything up to then had been about climbing the mountain. With Powerslave it felt like we were looking out over the rest of the world": How Iron Maiden grew up

By Mick Wall published 17 April 24

When it came to making the follow-up to 1983’s Piece Of Mind album, Iron Maiden knew they needed to come up with something a bit special. That was Powerslave

John Bonham onstage in Los Angeles, 1973

Moby Dick began life as a modest instrumental showcase for John Bonham: Played live, it took on an epic, often drug-fuelled life of its own

By Mick Wall published 6 April 24

The epic story of Led Zeppelin's ever-expanding instrumental tour-de-force, Moby Dick

"Everybody wanted to get in on the action. I wasn't letting that happen": Dio's first platinum album could have been very different

By Mick Wall published 1 April 24

Unencumbered by the curse of the second album, The Last In Line became one of the most momentous metal albums of the 80s

New vocalists lasted five minutes and founder members quit amid the chaos: 1984 was an awful year for Black Sabbath, and by its end they were almost obliterated

By Mick Wall published 28 March 24

Molotov cocktails and member mayhem: The chaotic story of Black Sabbabth's worst year

The original line-up of Motorhead featuring Larry Wallis, Lemmy and Lucas Fox in the studio in 1975

“Lemmy was standing at the door. He gave me a bullet belt and a leather jacket and said, ‘You’re in!’”: the riotous story of Motörhead’s early years and the birth of “the worst band in the world“

By Mick Wall published 23 March 24

How Lemmy bounced back from being fired from Hawkwind and defied the detractors to launch Motörhead into orbit

Light My Fire turned The Doors into superstars: For a moment, it also turned Jim Morrison into a target for the Mob

By Mick Wall published 8 February 24

The Doors experienced their first taste of big success with Light My Fire, but it infuriated a certain Frank Sinatra

Elton John in a flamboyant stage outfit of white suit with feather trim and rhinestone encrusted glasses, circa 1973.

"Those were crazy times. I wouldn’t change it for the world": how Goodbye Yellow Brick Road reinforced Elton John's status as a global superstar

By Mick Wall published 13 December 23

Goodbye Yellow Brick Road is the second-biggest-selling album released in 1973, with more than 32 million sales worldwide

"I'm like... You sure that's what you want me to sing, honey?": How the Rolling Stones' Gimme Shelter represented the death of the 1960s spirit

By Mick Wall published 5 December 23

Written by Keith Richards as he brooded over Anita Pallenberg's dalliance with Mick Jagger, Gimme Shelter represented something truly dark

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