Latest articles by Paul Elliott
“I was fearless. I could write a song immediately in front of the audience”: How Neil Diamond flew by the seat of his pants in the ’70s
“It was exciting, and I was so confident in my powers then”
“I don't think Kurt really dug me”: Smashing Pumpkins drummer Jimmy Chamberlin recalls the heady days of the early ’90s
“I had a huge respect for him as a musician”
“Jimi and I sat down facing each other, with Jimi on six-string acoustic and me on 12-string”: The life and times of Dave Mason
“If you're going to learn something, you may as well try and put yourself around the best”
“That album was all the songs that were turned down by Fleetwood Mac”: Why Stevie Nicks decided to fly solo in 1981
Her journey from Bella Donna to Trouble In Shangri-La
“Prince is playing guitar and piano at the same time! You can’t compete with that”: When No Doubt met The Purple One
“You don’t walk away going, ‘He’s a normal guy’”
“In my mind I had to write that song. But oh, it was terrible! It was laughed at”: The crazy song that Neil Diamond wishes he hadn’t written
“Up till that point I’d never smoked pot”
“Before I even buttoned my pants, it hit me”: How a classic Stax soul anthem was written on the fly
“Sam & Dave had great chemistry together – there was no denying that”
“Joni hates the word ‘confessional’ as it implies you’ve done something wrong”: Brandi Carlile names her favourite Joni Mitchell album
Carlile and Mitchell have formed a strong bond in recent years
“We were very secretive about the song title. For a long time we called it Burger King!”: The story of ’90s pop banger Barbie Girl
“We never had the urge to be credible – it’s just not us!”
“A&M Records didn’t know we were signed to them – even though we’d done two albums for them!”: Supertramp's rise and fall
“Breakfast In America took eight months to finish – some people would call us anal!”
“John Lennon said that it’s the one song he wished he would have written”: The disco classic that influenced songs by Lennon and ABBA
How the leader of KC And The Sunshine Band created a perfect floor-filler
“It’s essentially a ballad, but we put a pounding beat to it”: The classic ’80s No 1 by A-ha that inspired a U2 anthem
“The melody line must have been lying in Bono’s subconsciousness”
“Bon liked a drink, but he wasn’t just a wild man”: The life and times of legendary AC/DC singer Bon Scott
As Angus Young said: “Bon joined us pretty late in his life. But that guy had more youth in him than people half his age”
“Brian Jones was the first steel slide player I heard”: Keith Richards pays tribute to Stones guitarists past and present
“Once I heard Brian playing Elmore James, I thought, ‘I’ve found a guy here who I can mess with’”
“Simon said to Rodgers, ‘If you want to hit anyone, hit me’ – so he did”: The supergroup who split after a punch-up
Bad Company made some of the greatest rock music of the 1970s
“People told me they heard it at weddings – with a guy singing it at the organ. Oh God!”: Bryan Adams and the ballad that ate the world
The Groover from Vancouver’s record-breaking hit
“He wrote some of the best parts of Hotel California and Desperado”: Don Henley’s praise for his Eagles bandmate Glenn Frey
“We wrote the soundtrack to a lot of people’s lives”
“When Tarantino first sent me the script I hated it”: Why Neil Diamond refused to have his song used in Pulp Fiction
The legendary singer-songwriter also turned down Jay-Z
“The first Velvet Underground album only sold 10,000 copies, but everyone who bought it formed a band”: The story of a cult classic
“A savage series of atonal thrusts and electronic feedback”
“We were labelled ‘the new Led Zeppelin’. But it was a blessing and a curse”: A great rock band that had it all – and then blew it
As one critic said, this band had “more good riffs in one song than there are in the first four Black Sabbath albums”
“Black Sabbath and Judas Priest invented true heavy metal music”: How Priest singer Rob Halford remembers their breakthrough moment
And how they triumphed amid the ‘mudbath’ of the first Monsters Of Rock festival
“In terms of the guitar solo, he just keeps going!”: The genius of David Gilmour – by Matt Bellamy, Kirk Hammett and more
Plus! Comfortably Numb or comfortably dumb? Find out with our Pink Floyd quiz challenge
“That was a big mistake. I underestimated just how difficult it would be”: When Phil Collins played drums with a Genesis tribute act
Plus: the Collins solo record that Charlie Watts bought
