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"

Houses Of The Holy was the sound of Led Zeppelin at the top of their game. Producer Eddie Kramer was at the helm, and these are his memories of those eight landmark songs

Elton John: So much more than just a showman, the master singer-songwriter created some of the 70s’ most important and enduring albums

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

Mad time changes, dark imagery and oblique lyrical references – but was it inspired by a bad drug trip?

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

Megadeth's Peace Sells... is a cast-iron classic three decades on. Hammer goes back in time get a startling vision of the man behind the madness and music...

Metallica's One single cemented their status as one of the greatest metal bands in the world – here's the story of how it came to life

Settle in for an epic tale in Rio De Janeiro as Iron Maiden, Ozzy and Queen and more play the first ever Rock In Rio festival - as MIck Wall tries to drink their rider

Just your everyday tale of the first (and probably last) anti-drug festival behind the Iron Curtain, with Bon Jovi, Scorpions, Ozzy Osbourne, Cinderalla and Skid Row

Almost every obituary of Syd Barrett claimed he was a ‘mad genius’. But the truth is far more complex. Classic Rock looks behind the clichés for a glimpse of the real Syd...