The most memorable concert I’ve seen was U2 at San Francisco’s Cow Palace on March 7, 1985. The Irish band opened with “11 O’Clock Tick Tock,” “I Will Follow,” and “Seconds,” and then plunged into their just-released masterwork, The Unforgettable Fire. They played magnificent versions of the title track, “MLK,” “Wire,” “A Sort of Homecoming,” “Bad,” and “Pride (In the Name of Love).” They interspersed earlier songs, bringing the audience to its feet time and again with “Sunday Bloody Sunday,” “The Electric Co.,” “October,” and “New Year’s Day.” Deafening cheers …

For blues-rock guitar playing during the late 1960s, England’s “big three” were Eric Clapton, Jimmy Page, and Jeff Beck. All three had come to prominence with the Yardbirds, with Beck making his first indelible imprint on pop music with the sitar-like hook of “Heart Full of Soul.” Clapton, who preceded him in the band, went on to play in Cream and have a stellar career as a solo artist. Page used his blues-rock savvy, sonic inventiveness, and uncanny sense of the riff to fuel Led Zeppelin. While Clapton and Page …

Ronnie Wood gained his initial acclaim as the bassist in the first lineup of the Jeff Beck Group. Then in the early 1970s he distinguished himself as the lead, slide, and pedal steel guitarist for The Faces and Rod Stewart, with whom he played on the classics Rod Stewart Album and Every Picture Tells a Story. In 1974, he replaced Mick Taylor in the Rolling Stones, a gig he holds to this day.  
Woods’ amplified lead guitar sound is one of the most distinctive in all of British rock and roll – sure-handed, heartfelt, and …

When Jimi Hendrix boarded a flight to London on September 23, 1966, he had no idea how dramatically his life was about to change. His luggage – pretty much everything he owned – showed how hard times had been for him in New York City. He carried with him just one Fender Stratocaster electric guitar and a small bag with a change of clothes, plastic hair curlers, and acne medicine. His pocket held $40 borrowed on his way to the airport. The 23-year-old was traveling first class, though, courtesy of …

Believe it or not, in the early 1960s British musicians helped save American blues and rock and roll.
In its earliest incarnation, rock and roll had brought the meteoric rise of Bill Haley & The Comets, Elvis Presley, Chuck Berry, Little Richard, Buddy Holly, and other movers and shakers. Their music was raucous, thrilling, and seemingly unstoppable, but the initial ride was short-lived. By the late 1950s, Haley was washed up. Elvis was in the army. Chuck Berry was in jail. Little Richard had abandoned rock to preach the gospel, and …

Rory Gallagher threw every fibre of his being into his music. Scrappy, unabashed, and bluesy to the core, he was a sublime guitarist and compelling singer. His live and studio recordings, especially during the 1970s, deliver strength, wisdom, and inspiration. Personally, I count him among my favorite guitarists. I seldom travel without his music and sometimes listen to him for weeks on end.
During my decades as an editor for Guitar Player magazine, Rory was high on my wish-list for interviews. The trouble was, after the 1970s, he only played the …

With Keith Richards’ nod, I was hired to put together a one-shot magazine, Inside the Voodoo Lounge, to be sold at venues and newsstands during the Rolling Stones’ 1994-1995 World Tour. The first part of my assignment was to fly to Toronto, where the Stones had taken over a boys’ prep school for their rehearsals, and interview each member of the band. I was thrilled to be talking to Charlie Watts, a favorite drummer ever since “Satisfaction” and “Get Off Of My Cloud” hit the airwaves.
My first glimpse of Charlie …

James Honeyman-Scott lived long enough to play on just three major releases with the group he co-founded – 1980’s The Pretenders, the Extended Play EP, and 1981’s Pretenders II – but he still holds his place among new wave’s most original guitarists.
In a 1999 Uncut interview, Chrissie Hynde called him her “musical right hand.” “He really was the Pretenders sound,” she explained. “I don’t sound like that. When I met him, I was this not-very-melodic punky angry guitar player and singer, and Jimmy was the melodic one. He brought out …