Sprung from the roots of 70s hard rock, Metallica defined the look and sound of 1980s heavy metal, just as Led Zeppelin had for hard rock and the Sex Pistols for punk before them. Inventors of thrash metal--Slayer, Anthrax and Megadeth followed--it was always Metallica who led the way, who pushed to another level, who became the last of the superstar rockers.

Though plagued by adversities, including the death of their bassist in a bus crash, infighting and substance abuse, they survived to became the biggest-selling band in the world. With 100 million records sold worldwide, their music has extended its reach beyond rock and metal, and into the pop mainstream, as they went from speed metal to MTV with their hit single Enter Sandman. Until now there hasn't been a critical, authoritative, in-depth portrait of the band. Mick Wall's thoroughly researched, insightful work is enriched by his interviews with band members, record company execs, roadies, and fellow musicians. He tells the story of how a tennis-playing, music-loving Danish immigrant named Lars Ulrich created a band with singer James Hetfield and made his dreams a reality. Enter Night delves into the various incarnations of the band, and the personalities of all key members, past and present--especially Ulrich and Hetfield--to produce the definitive word on the biggest metal band on the planet

From iconic rock journalist Mick Wall comes the definitive account of America's best-selling band of all time--who have sold more records than Led Zeppelin and the Rolling Stones combined--exploring the hedonistic days of the '70s music scene in LA, their ruthless, meteoric rise to fame, and the dark truths beneath their musical façade of peaceful, easy feelings.

Surely make you lose your mind...

So the Eagles warn us about the outrageous and ruthless lifestyle of the ambitious rock-n-roller. In fact, Don Henley could barely listen to the track Life in the Fast Lane when they were recording it. He was so high that it made him sick.

The band that embodied the American dream with globe-straddling success, impossibly luxurious lives, and almost supernatural talent also descended into nightmare with bloodletting betrayal, hate-filled hubris, the skeletons of perceived enemies, brutally discarded lovers and former band mates left unburied in the road behind them. The Eagles' story is a truly gothic American fable: one of ultimate power and rivers of money; of sex and drugs at a time when both were the lingua-franca of sophisticated So-Cal living; of a band who sang of peaceful easy feelings in public while threatening to kill each other in private.

Now, legendary rock journalist Mick Wall delivers definitive insight into America's best-selling band of all time, a band that has sold more records than Led Zeppelin and the Rolling Stones combined, exploring their meteoric rise to fame and the hedonistic days of the 70s music scene in LA, when American music was taking over the world.

Decades before reality television was invented, Ozzy Osbourne was subversive and dark. Ozzy was the singer in the heavy metal band Black Sabbath, and they meant business. In an era when rock bands were measured by how 'heavy' they were, no one was weightier than Black Sabbath. All four founding members of the original Black Sabbath grew up within half-a-mile of each other in a tiny Birmingham suburb. Though all shared a deep love of music--The Beatles for Ozzy, the Mothers of Invention for Geezer, the Shadows and Chet Atkins for Iommi, and Gene Kruppa for Ward-- they formed their group as the quickest way out of the slums. This is the story of how they made that dream come true--and how it then turned into a nightmare for all of them. At the height of their fame, Sabbath discovered they'd been so badly ripped off by their managers they didn't even own their own songs. They looked for salvation from Don Arden--an even more notorious gangster figure, who resurrected their career but still left them indebted to him, financially and personally. It finally came to a head when in 1979 they sacked Ozzy: For being too out of control--even for us, as Bill Ward put it. The next fifteen years were a war between the post-Ozzy Sabbath and Ozzy himself, whose solo career overshadowed Sabbath so much that a reunion was entirely on his terms. Or rather, those of his wife and manager--to add a further bitter twist for Sabbath, daughter of Don Arden --Sharon Osbourne.

A big, brash history of Guns n' Roses charismatic, talented and idiosyncratic leader

An archetypal rock biography that captures the runaway-train spirit of the singer and his band--You don't have to be a Guns N' Roses fanatic to dig this energetic, comprehensive, few-holds-barred portrait of modern metal's most charismatic figure.--Kirkus Reviews

Even in the rock world, a figure like Axl Rose doesn't come along very often. Mercurial and brilliant, deluded and imperious, Rose defies easy description. W.A.R. reveals Rose's childhood influences (and how he got his name), tracks the birth of G n' R and delves into the stories behind their monster albums Appetite for Destruction and Use Your Illusion. But with those successes came excesses--drugs, infighting and a lead singer who morphed from eccentric to seemingly unhinged.

Journalist Mick Wall had unprecedented access to Rose and G n' R during their heyday and gives a more richly detailed portrait of the band than you've ever read before. W.A.R. has fresh views on:

--the death of two fans at the Donington Park concert in England

--Rose's fallout with all the other original G n' R band members, including Slash

--fights with Kurt Cobain, Vince Neil and fashion designer Tommy Hilfiger

--Rose's no-shows at concerts throughout his career

--the lead singer's becoming a recluse at his Malibu mansion for most of the last fifteen years

--the much-gossiped-about and long-awaited album Chinese Democracy

Outside the Limelight with Britain's Famous Singer

Get to know Sir Elton John like never before with Mick Hall's all-new celebrity biography full of facts, popular songs, and inspirational stories.

50 years of making music history. As one of the most prolific singers and songwriters in recent history, Elton John has inspired generations of music lovers with his upbeat yet soulful creations. That is why music journalist Mick Hall shares all in Hercules!, a collection of the music legend's greatest hits. Each chapter goes behind the scenes of your favorite songs, as well as the most compelling moments throughout Elton's career. With each new discovery, you'll uncover how one man's triumphs and challenges have shaped him into one of the most famous and beloved singers of all time.

The highs and lows of the Yellow Brick Road. Not only has Elton John moved millions of fans through his award-winning records, but he's also inspired them with his life story. Hercules! steps outside of the limelight and highlights the famous singer throughout the years from childhood to his farewell tour. Charting Elton's personal and professional relationships, his struggles with addiction, and how success and creativity come in many forms, this book will make you see that brilliance isn't born, but made.

Uncover true stories from both the famous singer himself and those around him over the years, such as how he:

• started his famous art collection
• became one of the most iconic LGBTQ celebrities in the world
• faced highs and lows on his journey to sobriety
• worked behind the scenes on his songwriting process

If you enjoyed musician biographies such as Brat, The Lyrics, or Fingers Crossed, then you'll love Hercules!

A revised edition of the classic Led Zeppelin biography, featuring rich and substantial new material

Rock writer Mick Wall draws on insider access, as former confidante to both Plant and Page, to craft the definitive biography of the world's most legendary rock band--Led Zeppelin. In When Giants Walked the Earth, Wall audaciously tells the story of the band known not just as one of the biggest-selling bands of all-time, but also as the one that set the mark for on-the-road excess.

Detailed and revealing, When Giants Walked the Earth bores into not only the disaster, addiction and death that haunted the band but also into the real relationship between Page and Plant, including how it was influenced by Page's interest in the occult. Comprehensive and yet intimately detailed, When Giants Walked the Earth literally gets into the principals' heads to bring to life both an unforgettable band and an unrepeatable slice of rock history.

This edition includes approximately 35,000 words of new material about the band and the last decade, featuring fresh interviews and newly unearthed content.

Spanning the entire history of the Doors, this book will long remain the definitive biography of a band that forever changed popular music. But it's not the story you think you know.

Yes, Jim Morrison died in Paris in 1971--but not in a bathtub. The other Doors were saddened and shocked but had already fired him anyway. It wasn't Jim who wrote the hits; it was guitarist Robby Krieger. It wasn't Jim who saw a bright, acid-flared future for the band but keyboardist Ray Manzarek.

And so, the band that started out as the American Rolling Stones, noted for their wildly unpredictable performances, their jazzy vibe, and the crazed monologues of their front man, ended as badly as did the sixties: abruptly, bloodily, cripplingly.

Along with evoking the cultural milieu of Los Angeles in the sixties, in Love Becomes a Funeral Pyre bestselling writer Mick Wall captures the true spirit of that tarnished age with a brilliantly penetrating and contemporary investigation into the real story of the Doors.

'Unflinching, forthright and full of wry humour as the man himself, and there's little praise greater than that' CLASSIC ROCK

'Wall's vision of Lemmy as a Rock'n'Roll stalwart who made no concessions is vivid to the last' GUARDIAN

In 'The Ace of Spades', Motörhead's most famous song, Lemmy, the born-to-lose, live-to-win frontman of the band sang, 'I don't want to live forever'. Yet as he told his friend of 35 years, former PR and biographer Mick Wall, 'Actually, I want to go the day before forever. To avoid the rush...'. This is his strange but true story.

Brutally frank, painfully funny, wincingly sad, and always beautifully told, LEMMY: THE DEFINITIVE BIOGRAPHY is the story of the only rock'n'roller never to sell his soul for silver and gold, while keeping the devil, as he put it, 'very close to my side'. From school days growing up in North Wales, to first finding fame in the mid-60s with the Rockin' Vicars; from being Jimi Hendrix's personal roadie ('I would score acid for him'), to leading Hawkwind to the top of the charts in 1972 with 'Silver Machine' ('I was fired for taking the wrong drugs'); from forming Motörhead ('I wanted to call the band Bastard but my manager wouldn't let me'), whose iconoclastic album NO SLEEP 'TIL HAMMERSMITH entered the UK charts at No. 1.

Based on Mick's original interviews with Lemmy conducted over numerous years, along with the insights of those who knew him best - former band mates, friends, managers, fellow artists and record business insiders - this is an unputdownable story of one of Britain's greatest characters. As Lemmy once said of Wall, 'Mick Wall is one of the few rock writers in the world who can actually write and seems to know anything about rock music. I can and do talk to him for hours - poor bastard.'

With the hard part of his journey now over, Lemmy is set to become a legend. LEMMY: THE DEFINITIVE BIOGRAPHY explains exactly how that came to be.

Prince was an icon. A man who defined an era of music and changed the shape of popular culture forever. There is no doubt that he was one of the most talented and influential artists of all time, and also one of the most mysterious. On April 21, 2016 the world lost its Prince.
This book will open a door to Prince's world like never before - from his traumatic childhood and demonic pursuit of music as a means of escape, to his rise to super stardom, professional rivalries and marriages shrouded in tragedy, internationally bestselling music writer Mick Wall explores the historical, cultural and personal backdrop that gave rise to an artist the likes of which the world has never seen - and never will again.
Mick, a lifelong Prince fan, was one of the first UK journalists to ever write about this enigmatic star, and it was his story that put Prince on the cover of Kerrang magazine in 1984 and inspired the biggest mailbag of letters the magazine has ever had. As Prince sang in '7', 'no one in the whole universe will ever compare', and this book is a shining tribute to the forever incomparable Prince.

'A passionate, pacey tome you should do anything for a copy of' - Kerrang!

I never wanted to be a big star. I just wanted to be the biggest at what I do! Powerful, unstoppable, heavy - when that word still meant something good! - Meat Loaf, as told to Mick Wall

Everything in the story of Meat Loaf is big. From the place he was born (Texas); to the family he was born into (his father weighed 22 stone, his uncle weighed over 40 stone, while Meat Loaf himself weighed 17 stone before he was even in his teens); to the sound he made (a colossal collision between Richard Wagner, Phil Spector and Bruce Springsteen); and of course the records he sold - nearly 50 million in Britain and America alone.

From a tumultuous childhood with an alcoholic father to the relentless abusive bullying he endured, nobody could have predicted Meat Loaf's meteoric rise to fame.

But when the messianic rock opera Bat Out of Hell was released in 1977, it became one of the biggest albums of all time, selling over 45 million copies worldwide to date. Its release marked the start of a rollercoaster ride of incredible highs and seemingly career-ending lows. By the 80s, Meat Loaf was battling with drug and alcohol addiction and escalating money problems. But just when it seemed like it was all over, the astonishing success of Bat Out of Hell II and the mega-hit 'I'd Do Anything For Love (But I Won't Do That)' marked an extraordinary new wave of success.

Now, Mick Wall will bring this extraordinary story up to date, drawing on the hours he spent with Meat Loaf, both in interviews and on tour, as well as offering up a unique insight from those who have known him best.

From his childhood in Dublin, to his superstardom, to his emergence as one of the world's great philanthropists: here is the story of Bono. Not only is Bono a crucial element in the most dazzlingly inventive band since the Beatles, he is also the most overtly politicized rock superstar since John Lennon, and the biggest espouser of interracial harmony and spiritual ''one love'' since Bob Marley. He is also one of the very few major rock artists to open up about his deepest spiritual beliefs, his religion, both in interview and in song, and not be despised for it, or thought less of. As a result, though it was for U2's music, pure and simple, that the name Bono first became famous, the vast international reach he now enjoys has to do with more than mere rock stardom. It's to do with the huge social responsibility he has decided comes with it. With a long history of campaigning behind him - from the movingly rousing ''Sunday Bloody Sunday'' to the moment he phoned Bill Clinton live on - stage as images of war - ravaged Sarajevo flashed across giant screens behind him - politics and rock 'n' roll have always been linked in Bono's mind.

Here is the ultimate illustrated discography of the world's greatest metal band, Metallica, covering everything from 1983's Kill 'Em All through all their multi-million selling albums and bringing the story right up-to-date with their video game Metallica: Guitar Hero.

'This sincere speed-written, blood-spattered tribute strings together the raciest anecdotes...and does it rather well' SUNDAY TIMES

'Mick Wall has written in a rough and unsentimental style that suits his subject' THE TIMES

Lou Reed died in 2013. This is the critically acclaimed biography of the songwriter, Velvet Underground member and musician.

Rock 'n' roll was Lou Reed's life. From recording one of the most critically acclaimed albums of all time with THE VELVET UNDERGROUND & NICO (1967), to heavy drug abuse and performing in front of the Pope, Lou Reed's story is one of great peaks and deep lows. Forever dedicated to his art, he became one of modern music's most legendary and seismic figures.

Although a controversial, outspoken and undoubtedly misunderstood musician, Lou Reed's influence on popular culture cannot be overstated. He brought avant-garde to the mainstream with the Velvet Underground and his solo work was pronounced a revelation. Hit albums such as TRANSFORMER, SALLY CAN'T DANCE and BERLIN have cemented his name in the rock pantheon.

A testament to his strength of character and true spirit, he was a creative and performer until the end, playing benefit gigs, featuring on new releases and, most poignantly, declaring that he was looking forward to 'being on stage performing, and writing more songs to connect with your hearts and spirits and the universe well into the future.' A true icon of rock 'n' roll - his legacy will live on in this book.