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Steven Rosen

Steven Rosen

Steven Rosen has been writing about the denizens of rock ‘n’ roll for the past 25 years. During this period, his work has appeared in dozens of publications including Guitar Player, Guitar World, Rolling Stone, Playboy, Creem, Circus, Musician, and a host of others. Long recognized as an authority in the field of electric rock guitar journalism, Rosen has written seminal pieces on a number of musicians. Among them Edward Van Halen, Jeff Beck, Jimmy Page, Frank Zappa, Billy Gibbons, Zakk Wylde, and others. Further, Rosen is the author of five books: The Artist Formerly Known As Prince; Bruce Springsteen; The Beck Book (Jeff Beck); Free At Last; and Wheels of Confusion: The Story of Black Sabbath [this final title is currently in its third printing].

When not pursuing his journalism, Steven is a fulltime songwriter. He has had over a dozen tracks on various rock albums. Along with writing partner Jimmy Waldo (former keyboardist/founder of Alcatrazz, the group that spawned Yngwie Malmsteen and Steve Vai), he created the world music project Spirit Nation, a dark and passionate blend of indigenous Native American music elements with contemporary elements like dance, ambience, and loops. There are currently two albums in stores: Spirit Nation and Winter Moons. This music has been used in film and in major media campaigns (Apple Computers).

At the moment, he acts as west coast editor for the prestigious Japanese music magazine, Player, and is about to produce/write a series of DVD documentaries based on his private archives of recorded interviews.

Steven Rosen is a regular contributor to Ultimate-Guitar.com. He also writes for Roadie Crew (Brazil), Guitar Club (Italy) and This Is Rock (Spain). The Story of Rock Music, a book for children on the history of rock music, was published in February 2009 by ticktock Entertainment Ltd.

Steven Rosen on MySpace

132 articles

List of articles in the library

By date | By artist | Most recently added

Dr. Hook and the Medicine Show, Jesse Colin Young, Quicksilver Messenger Service: Woodstock Remembered: KGB stages a rock festival

Report by Steven Rosen, Los Angeles Free Press, November 1972

SUNDAY’S KGB "Charity Ball" was important for one reason: the concert proved that people in large numbers can still come together for an event and ...

Joni Mitchell: The Troubadour, Los Angeles

Live Review by Steven Rosen, Sounds, 9 December 1972

Steve Rosen reports from the West Coast ...

The Beach Boys: Hollywood Palladium, Los Angeles

Live Review by Steven Rosen, Sounds, 1973

THE HOLLYWOOD Palladium had its chandeliers rattled Friday evening when the legendary Beach Boys performed before a sold-out audience of full-fledged, out-and-out surfers. A long ...

The Hollies’ Cloud

Report and Interview by Steven Rosen, Los Angeles Free Press, February 1973

FOR THE PAST five years it seems that the Hollies have been laboring under a Sisyphean curse. Every time they latched on to a silver ...

Bobby Womack: Understanding Bobby Womack

Interview by Steven Rosen, Los Angeles Free Press, February 1973

TWELVE YEARS AGO Bobby Womack migrated to California, looking for the riches that he thought were there. "I came out here like the pioneers searching ...

The Beatles, Hurricane Smith: Hurricane Smith: The Sixth Beatle

Profile and Interview by Steven Rosen, Los Angeles Free Press, March 1973

HURRICANE SMITH is not your ordinary pop star. At 49, he hardly exudes the virility and youthfulness of a Rod Stewart. His music is neither ...

Bobby Womack: Gettin' To It

Profile and Interview by Steven Rosen, Music World, April 1973

BOBBY WOMACK HAS been making music for twenty long years, an odyssey that carried him from the working quarters of Cleveland to the rocking corners ...

Led Zeppelin: Houses of the Holy (Atlantic)

Review by Steven Rosen, Music World, June 1973

WHO WOULD have thought that Led Zeppelin would have followed up their rocking fourth album with a clunker like Houses Of The Holy? The fourth album ...

Jesse Ed Davis: Rock And Roll’s First Indian Superstar: Jesse ‘Ed’ Davis

Interview by Steven Rosen, Los Angeles Free Press, June 1973

JESSE "ED" DAVIS is a "musician’s musician." For all those hard-nosed cynics who grimace at the overworked phrase, one glance at his list of credentials ...

Colin Blunstone, The Zombies: Whatever Happened To The Zombies?

Report and Interview by Steven Rosen, Los Angeles Free Press, June 1973

REMEMBER THOSE wispy vocals that adorned those Zombies’ classics like 'She’s Not There', 'Tell Her No', and 'Time Of the Season'? The voice drifted from ...

Led Zeppelin: Steel Driven Led

Live Review by Steven Rosen, Sounds, 23 June 1973

LED ZEPPELIN recently flew into town and within a matter of hours after the Forum box office opened, had sold close to 36,000 tickets for ...

Steely Dan: Counting Down to Headline Status: Steely Dan

Interview by Steven Rosen, Los Angeles Free Press, August 1973

ON SEPT. 2, Steely Dan perform their first concert as headliners, that status which lifts the working-class band from the ranks of the bourgeois and ...

Humble Pie: Mooshi Mooshi Humble Pie Rock Me In Osaka

Report by Steven Rosen, Zoo World, 30 August 1973

TOKYO – Tokyo Airport lay hidden beneath gray layers of rain as the specially-chartered "Pie In The Sky" aircraft landed after hours of delays, near-missed ...

Manfred Mann: Get Your Rocks Off

Review by Steven Rosen, Music World, November 1973

IT WOULDN'T be unfair to say that Manfred Mann's role in music has been similar to that of John Mayall's; that is, both musicians have ...

Steeleye Span: Pleased To See The Span: Steeleye Stateside

Report and Interview by Steven Rosen, Los Angeles Free Press, November 1973

THE EXPLOSIVE SUCCESS of Steeleye Span during the past year is in direct relationship to the in-herent malleability of its music. Fresh out of the ...

Spooky Tooth: The Return Of Spooky Tooth

Interview by Steven Rosen, Music World, November 1973

MIKE KELLIE walked into the A&M interview room with eyes bulging, mouth agape, and cheek bones drawn high; his answer to the oh-so-ordinary American handshake. ...

Robin Trower: Twice Removed From Procol: Robin Trower

Report and Interview by Steven Rosen, Los Angeles Free Press, November 1973

IT TAKES A LOT of gumption to leave a baseball team right after you’ve clinched the pennant, or to walk off the playing field dur-ing ...

Bonnie Raitt: The Troubadour, Los Angeles

Live Review by Steven Rosen, Sounds, 17 November 1973

IT WAS a unique week in Hollywood recently when female performers simultaneously headlined three clubs. The Ash Grove hosted Tret Fure, The Roxy offered Linda ...

Jackson Browne: The Roxy, Los Angeles

Live Review by Steven Rosen, Sounds, 17 November 1973

JACKSON BROWNE possesses a unique facility known as credibility. Whether he's accompanying himself solely with an acoustic guitar or being backed with electric guitar and ...

Sly & The Family Stone: The Palladium, Los Angeles

Live Review by Steven Rosen, Sounds, 17 November 1973

IT LOOKS as if Sly Stone has changed his ways. During a rash of appearances here in the Lost City (a TV taping and two ...

Jeff Beck

Interview by Steven Rosen, Guitar Player, December 1973

AMONG GUITARISTS, Jeff Beck has few peers. Bubbly, elusive, humoresque guitar work has been his trademark since his first performances with The Yardbirds over half-a-dozen ...

Jeff Beck, The Yardbirds: Jeff Beck…In Retrospect

Retrospective and Interview by Steven Rosen, Los Angeles Free Press, December 1973

JEFF BECK IS one of those characters who is so brilliantly erratic that he is constantly set-ting the music (and journalistic) world on its ear. ...

Jesse Ed Davis

Interview by Steven Rosen, Zoo World, 6 December 1973

TAKE ONE Oklahoman Indian; stick one guitar in his hand and what you come up with is a singer/songwriter/guitarist more impressive and powerful than all ...

The Doors, Ray Manzarek: The Doors: An Interview with Ray Manzarek

Interview by Steven Rosen, Sounds, 22 December 1973

SR: THE BREAKING up of the Doors was kind of a mysterious circumstance and I'm sure not many people know really what happened. ...

Jesse Ed Davis: An Interview with Jesse Ed Davis

Interview by Steven Rosen, Guitar Player, March 1974

JESSE ED DAVIS plays guitar like a man with a mission. You probably wouldn't find him listed in any guitar polls, but you'd sure as ...

Canned Heat: The Fire's Lit — The Heat Is On

Interview by Steven Rosen, Sounds, 2 March 1974

THE INDUSTRY of music hangs like the sword of Damocles over its performers. At any turn an artist may be erased from the books by ...

King Crimson, Robert Fripp: King Crimson’s Robert Fripp

Interview by Steven Rosen, Guitar Player, May 1974

ROBERT FRIPP, lead guitarist with English rock King Crimson, conspicuous personality by appearing inconspicuous. Rather than stand when performing, he perches himself on a stool, ...

Wishbone Ash

Interview by Steven Rosen, Guitar Player, June 1974

ANDY POWELL, TED TURNER, and Martin Turner form the front instrumental line of England’s Wishbone Ash, a quartet (rounded out with Steve Upton on drums) ...

Elvis Presley, the Sweet Inspirations: Inglewood Forum, Los Angeles CA

Live Review by Steven Rosen, Sounds, 1 June 1974

PERHAPS AMERICA'S two most important musical artists took to the roads recently. Bob Dylan blazed a crosscountry tour which left followers and non-believers alike a ...

Rory Gallagher talks technique

Interview by Steven Rosen, Guitar Player, July 1974

RORY GALLAGHER was mentor and founding member of Taste, a pre-Cream trio which pioneered the way for the so-called "heavy" bands. With his Irish trio ...

Bad Company: Four Of A Kind

Interview by Steven Rosen, Circus, August 1974

PAUL RODGERS is perhaps England's (and America's) most well known unknown. As lead vocalist with Free he developed a small-but-strong following gushing with devotion. But ...

Bad Company: Paul Rodgers's Bad Company

Interview by Steven Rosen, Rolling Stone, 15 August 1974

LOS ANGELES – Cub Scout shirt unbuttoned, face unshaven, hair uncombed, Paul Rodgers sits tensely in a corner armchair. ...

Emerson Lake And Palmer, King Crimson: Greg Lake

Interview by Steven Rosen, Guitar Player, September 1974

GREG LAKE IS the surrounded L in ELP, the British trio which has brought to the forefront the power of classical music in a rock ...

Black Sabbath's Tony Iommi: Overcoming the Impossible

Interview by Steven Rosen, Guitar Player, October 1974

BLACK SABBATH lead guitarist Tony Iommi stands well over six-feet tall and plays like he has six fingers. Not bad, since several years ago Tony ...

REO Speedwagon: R.E.O. Speedwagon: The Band That Flies Together

Report and Interview by Steven Rosen, Circus Raves, November 1974

WHAT REALLY GOES on after hours in Rock 'n' Roll Land? When a band is not touring or performing what do they do to take ...

Steppenwolf Howls Back From Oblivion On Slow Flux

Report and Interview by Steven Rosen, Circus Raves, November 1974

"IT JUST ISN'T fun anymore." With those cursory words on Saint Valentine's Day, 1972, John Kaye and the other members of Steppenwolf parted company – ...

Love's Arthur Lee (1974)

Interview by Steven Rosen, Rock's Backpages audio, December 1974

Steven Rosen talks to Arthur Lee in 1974 on the influence of the Byrds on Love, and his development as an artist.

File format: MP3 File size: 1mb<br> Interview length: 1 minute 27 seconds Sound quality: ***

John McLaughlin, Mahavishnu Orchestra: Mahavishnu John McLaughlin

Interview by Steven Rosen, Guitar Player, February 1975

MAHAVISHNU JOHN MCLAUGHLIN has taken the guitar further in the last two years of his career than most players hope to in a lifetime. His ...

Arthur Lee: Love, Arthur Lee Style: More Changes

Interview by Steven Rosen, Rolling Stone, 13 February 1975

LOS ANGELES – Not since the 1972 release of Vindicator has Arthur Lee been widely heard on record, that first polo project seemingly marking the ...

Blue Oyster Cult: On Your Feet Or On Your Knees

Review by Steven Rosen, Phonograph Record, April 1975

THOUGH THIS record does not rank with the Beach Boys In Concert for sheer recording quality or the Who's Live at Leeds for spontaneous instrumentation, ...

Led Zeppelin: Long Beach Arena, Los Angeles CA

Live Review by Steven Rosen, Sounds, 19 April 1975

LED ZEPPELIN'S long awaited North American tour could have waited a while longer – about ten years or so. After reports had filed in to ...

Suzi Quatro: Roxy, Los Angeles

Live Review by Steven Rosen, Sounds, 19 April 1975

A FRIEND was explaining to me the merits of Suzi Quatro's one-night Roxy performance. "Well," he said, trying hard to come up with something worthwhile, ...

The Beach Boys, Jesse Colin Young: Santa Barbara University, CA

Live Review by Steven Rosen, Sounds, 19 April 1975

"I WISH they all could be California girllls," the Beach Boys sang on a sunny and high spirited Sunday afternoon. It was the perfect setting ...

Focus, Jan Akkerman: Jan Akkerman: Dutch Treat

Interview by Steven Rosen, Guitar Player, May 1975

JAN AKKERMAN, lead guitarist of Focus, represents the new breed of European guitarists so long invisible under the veil of the English players. Where the ...

Steely Dan: Katy Lied

Review and Interview by Steven Rosen, Circus Raves, May 1975

EIGHT-THIRTY PM. On the sixteenth story of a monster New York skyscraper a lonely light shone at the end of a cavernous floor. The deserted ...

John Mayall's After-Hours Madness

Interview by Steven Rosen, Rolling Stone, 22 May 1975

CINCINNATI – With the release of his latest album, New Year, New Band, New Company, 41-year-old John Mayall has logged 23 albums in just over ...

Charlie Rich: Hilton Hotel, Las Vegas

Live Review by Steven Rosen, Sounds, 24 May 1975

CHARLIE RICH has successfully switched over from the relatively limited-audience reception of a country singer to an engaging live performer confident not only in the ...

The James Gang, Joe Walsh: Joe Walsh: Rock Master

Profile and Interview by Steven Rosen, Guitar Player, June 1975

JOE WALSH plays with the grace of George Harrison and the vehemence of Pete Townshend, a combination which earmarked his playing as lead guitarist of ...

Bachman Turner Overdrive: Overdrive Man: Randy Bachman

Interview by Steven Rosen, Guitar Player, July 1975

HAD RANDY BACHMAN (pronounced back-man) never even picked up a guitar, his talents as a songwriter and producer would have been enough to implant his ...

The Eagles: Eagles: The Earthpeople's Band

Interview by Steven Rosen, Sounds, 27 September 1975

They say they play real music for real people. Sounds dull. But the Eagles do it with a kind of magic that has made them ...

Canned Heat: Bass Guitarist Larry Taylor

Profile and Interview by Steven Rosen, Guitar Player, October 1975

LARRY TAYLOR is not one of your loud bass players; rather, he opts for minimum volume so he can punctuate and accent his playing with ...

Dave Mason: One of a Kind

Interview by Steven Rosen, Guitar Player, October 1975

THOUGH DAVE MASON admits he’s a songwriter first and a guitarist second, his work on the electric instrument has tagged him as a standout player ...

Deep Purple, Rainbow: Deep Purple Changes Hue

Interview by Steven Rosen, Creem, November 1975

THE CALIFORNIA CLIME seems to agree with Ritchie Blackmore, a usually unhealthy looking fellow whose complexion runs somewhere between spoiled flour and banana yogurt and ...

Jethro Tull: A 'Minstrel' Bares His Soul

Interview by Steven Rosen, Circus Raves, November 1975

IAN ANDERSON IS twenty-eight years old today, a fact which pleases him none too greatly. The face is no betrayal of age; long and thin, ...

Bruce Springsteen: Roxy Club, Los Angeles CA

Live Review by Steven Rosen, Sounds, 1 November 1975

BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN'S closing night at the Roxy Club in Hollywood provided neither excitement nor exceptional performance as he played for a packed house. ...

The Eagles: Fishing With The Eagles For the Universal Trout

Interview by Steven Rosen, Circus Raves, December 1975

THINGS ARE SO MELLOW on Jim Guercio's Caribou Ranch, those 3,200 acres of secluded headland lying right outside Denver, that even the birds seem to ...

The Faces, Jeff Beck, Ronnie Wood: Ron Wood

Interview by Steven Rosen, Guitar Player, December 1975

DURING THE musically bountiful years of the late Sixties, the Jeff Beck Group emerged; it was an outfit of undisciplined nature and unabashed energy. ...

Jethro Tull: An Interview with Ian Anderson

Interview by Steven Rosen, Circus, 9 December 1975

IAN ANDERSON is not fond of the press; in fact, he dislikes that body intensely. Interviews have misquoted him, misrepresented him and manhandled him. In ...

Blue Oyster Cult: Blue Oyster's Buck Dharma

Interview by Steven Rosen, Guitar Player, January 1976

DONALD "BUCK Dharma" Roeser is the lead guitar player in the New York based band, Blue Oyster Cult, a driving and loud outfit which has ...

Doobie Brothers: The Doobies Brothers: Street Fighting Men

Interview by Steven Rosen, Sounds, 24 January 1976

DRUMMER JOHN Hartman leans back precariously in the Memphis Hotel room chair, fingers locked behind head and mouth working in a typically rapid manner. He's ...

Wishbone Ash: Long Beach Arena

Live Review by Steven Rosen, Sounds, April 1976

THE LONG BEACH ARENA, usually a noisy and vibrant auditorium for rock music, was just that Friday night when Paris, Wishbone Ash and Bachman Turner ...

War: A Walk On War's Wild Side

Interview by Steven Rosen, Sounds, 10 April 1976

FAR OUT Productions, besides being War's Hollywood headquarters, seems to be a favourite hangout for streetwalkers. They seem to think that all the black gentlemen ...

The Marshall Tucker Band: Toy Caldwell Of The Marshall Tucker Band: Fastest Thumb Since Wes Montgomery

Interview by Steven Rosen, Guitar Player, May 1976

THE MOST distinctive advance in American rock guitar of the last decade has been the so-called "southern" approach. Large groups of extremely talented pickers have ...

Supertramp On a Bum Trip

Interview by Steven Rosen, Sounds, 15 May 1976

SUPERTRAMP HORNMAN and funnyman John Helliwell gazed longingly out the A&M Records publicity office window at the burgundy Dino Ferrari. ...

Robin Trower, Steve Marriott: Robin Trower/Steve Marriott: Brits Slay Yanks With Past Blasts

Live Review by Steven Rosen, Sounds, 22 May 1976

Robin Trower Band/Steve Marriott’s All Stars: Long Beach Arena, Los Angeles ...

Bad Company, Kansas: Bad Company: Bored Company

Live Review by Steven Rosen, Sounds, 5 June 1976

Bad Company/Kansas: Inglewood Forum, Los Angeles ...

Back Street Crawler, Free, Paul Kossoff: Paul Kossoff: An Interview with Rock’s Street Crawler

Interview by Steven Rosen, Guitar Player, July 1976

THE LATE PAUL KOSSOFF, born in London, September 14, 1950, became the unsung guitar great of Free at the age of eighteen. That short-lived, but ...

Genesis: From England's Genesis, here's Steve Hackett

Interview by Steven Rosen, Guitar Player, October 1976

STEVE Hackett usually inhabits the deepest, darkest corner of Genesis' performing stage. Perched on a footstool, the English lead guitarist opts more for guitar technique ...

Jimi Hendrix, Noel Redding: Noel Redding: More Than Just Jimi Hendrix's Bass Player

Interview by Steven Rosen, Guitar Player, October 1976

IT IS INEVITABLE when dealing with such a visible force as Jimi Hendrix that persons who were close to him – and even played music ...

Montrose: Ronnie Montrose

Interview by Steven Rosen, Guitar Player, October 1976

RONNIE Montrose, guitarist at various times for a melange of bands – Edgar Winter (where he was replaced by Rick Derringer), Van Morrison, and Boz ...

Lowell Fulson: 40 Years Of Playing The Blues

Interview by Steven Rosen, Guitar Player, November 1976

THOUGH his name may not be as familiar as B.B. King’s, Ray Charles’, or T-Bone Walker’s, Lowell Fulson (with an n, not an m) has ...

Mick Ronson: The Intense Guitar of Mick Ronson

Interview by Steven Rosen, Guitar Player, December 1976

THE THREE-WORD title of Mick Ronson's second solo album also happens to accurately describe his approach to the guitar: Play, Don't Worry. ...

Santana: Carlos Santana (1977)

Interview by Steven Rosen, Rock's Backpages audio, 1977

Carlos Santana talks to Steven Rosen about his musical background. (1977)

File format: MP3 File size: 427kb Interview length: 36 seconds Sound quality: **

Frank Zappa

Interview by Steven Rosen, Guitar Player, January 1977

FRANK ZAPPA – guitarist, composer, producer, avid roller derby fan, and leader of the Mothers Of Invention – is, at 36, probably the elder statesman ...

Black Sabbath: Technical Knock-out

Interview by Steven Rosen, Sounds, 22 January 1977

TONY IOMMI walked into the Hollywood Holiday Inn dining room like some living zombie. One wondered, actually, why the Warner Bros. publicist had set up ...

Jimi Hendrix: Jim Marshall: The Man, The Amps; Together They Revolutionized Rock and Roll

Profile and Interview by Steven Rosen, Guitar Player, February 1977

EASILY THE MOST revolutionary electric guitarist of the past decade was the late Jimi Hendrix. In many ways Jimi was the first electric guitarist in ...

Larry Carlton

Interview by Steven Rosen, Guitar Player, February 1977

LARRY CARLTON, guitarist with the famed progressive jazz-funk Crusaders, is at 28, one of the most in-demand session guitarists in Los Angeles. ...

Led Zeppelin, Jimmy Page: Led Zeppelin's Jimmy Page (1977)

Interview by Steven Rosen, Rock's Backpages audio, April 1977

Jimmy Page on recording techniques, and the formation of Led Zeppelin, with Steven Rosen (1977)

File format: MP3 File size: 1.2 mb<br> Interview length: 1 minute 49 seconds Sound quality: ***

Sammy Hagar's Space Age Rock

Interview by Steven Rosen, Circus, 12 May 1977

SAMMY HAGAR, resplendent in all-red jumpsuit and looking more the little kid in newly-shorn locks, questions the questioner. "What do you mean, my 'space concept?'" ...

Jimmy Page, Led Zeppelin: Jimmy Page

Interview by Steven Rosen, Guitar Player, July 1977

CONDUCTING AN INTERVIEW with Jimmy Page, lead guitarist and producer/arranger for England's notorious hard rock band Led Zeppelin, amounts very nearly to constructing a mini-history ...

Funkadelic: Scifi Funkiness: Triple Threat Guitar From Funkadelic

Interview by Steven Rosen, Guitar Player, December 1977

ALMOST 20 YEARS AGO, a group of singers organized themselves from a rather large barbershop group into a pop/soul conglomeration called Parliament. They moved from ...

Deep Purple, Ritchie Blackmore: Ritchie Blackmore: Wailing over the Purple Rainbow

Interview by Steven Rosen, Guitar Player, 1978

WHILE RITCHIE Blackmore’s Baroque-tinged shred solos make him the in-vitro father of today’s progressive- and classical-metal movement (just ask Yngwie), his foot-stomping power chords in ...

Jaco Pastorius: Portrait of Jaco

Interview by Steven Rosen, Player, June 1978

JACO PASTORIUS, at 26, has developed bass playing capabilities putting him at the top of the technical ladder. He combines an R&B feel with strict ...

Aerosmith: The Joe Perry Interview

Interview by Steven Rosen, Guitar Player, 1979

UNLEASHING HIGH-ENERGY rock and roll led by Steven Tyler’s vocals and the often dueling guitars of Joe Perry and Brad Whitford, the members of Aerosmith ...

Aerosmith's Brad Whitford: Doubling On Lead And Rhythm

Interview by Steven Rosen, Guitar Player, March 1979

BRAD WHITFORD might be considered the "refined" half of Aerosmith's guitar team — he's a deliberate player, whose steady rhythm lines complement lead guitarist Joe ...

Pink Floyd: David Gilmour: Beginning A Second Decade As Lead Guitarist For Pink Floyd

Profile and Interview by Steven Rosen, Guitar Player, May 1979

DAVID GILMOUR has been playing guitar with Pink Floyd for 11 years now – about one-third of his life. And for more than a decade, ...

Brothers Johnson: The Brothers Johnson

Interview by Steven Rosen, Guitar Player, November 1979

'PLATINUM' IS THE perfect word to precede 'record' when you’re a musician today. And with a three-for-three tally, the Brothers Johnson are decorating their walls ...

Pete Townshend, The Who: Peter Townshend (1979)

Interview by Steven Rosen, Rock's Backpages audio, Winter 1979

Steven Rosen talks to Pete Townshend about developing his solo style after listening to Jimi Hendrix (1979).

File format: MP3 File size: 842kb<br> Interview length: 1 minute 11 seconds Sound quality: ***

Van Halen: Eddie Van Halen drops the bomb on Heavy Metal

Interview by Steven Rosen, Guitar World, January 1984

SIX ALBUMS AGO (including the one yet to be released). Van Halen issued its first record. It was dramatic, intense and bold. and contained within ...

AC/DC: Angus Young: The Man In Short Pants Is Long On Guitar Chops

Interview by Steven Rosen, Guitar World, March 1984

...but don't ask him what equipment he uses. ...

Queen: Brian May Brings Out the Stars

Interview by Steven Rosen, Guitar World, March 1984

The Queen guitarist brought together some heavies with Eddie Van Halen on guitar and Phil Chen on bass – for his Star Fleet Project. ...

Gary Moore: Guitar on a Rampage

Interview by Steven Rosen, Guitar World, November 1984

The Irish terror has been compared to Beck, Van Halen and every whippersnapper coming up on the circuit. ...

Johnny Winter: The Bluesman Do Play Rock and Roll...

Interview by Steven Rosen, Guitar World, November 1985

...and Cajun-style, and country ...

The Cars, Elliott Easton: Elliot Easton's Guitar Trick Bag

Interview by Steven Rosen, Guitar World, May 1986

The left-handed wonder is much more than just a member of the Cars. He's a magician, a wizard, a merlin of the fretboard. ...

Eric Johnson: The Warm Tone of a Texas Twister

Interview by Steven Rosen, Guitar World, May 1986

The soft-spoken guitar genius has waited a long time to spring his music on us. We present a play-by-play of his layered approach to axe ...

Led Zeppelin: Chris Huston, Eddie Kramer's Co-engineer on Led Zeppelin II

Interview by Steven Rosen, Guitar World, July 1986

FOR MANY, the first two Led Zeppelin albums were Led Zeppelin. The enormous drum sound, those magical guitar tones and just the energy and volume ...

Jeff Beck, Jimmy Page, The Yardbirds: Jeff Beck on Jimmy Page

Interview by Steven Rosen, Guitar World, July 1986

The following excerpts are from a book I wrote in 1978 titled The Beck Book, a documentary detailing the life and music of guitarist Jeff ...

Led Zeppelin: Danny Goldberg's Hideaway

Interview by Steven Rosen, Guitar World, July 1986

IN 1973, DANNY Goldberg was working for Lee Solters, a show business public relations man who included Frank Sinatra as one of his clients, when ...

Led Zeppelin: Rodney B.'s Endless Party

Retrospective and Interview by Steven Rosen, Guitar World, July 1986

The parties were legendary, the hotels trashed regularly, the hangers-on flowed constantly when the Zep cruised the skyways. ...

Led Zeppelin, Robert Plant: Robert Plant: Deference to the Taskmaster

Interview by Steven Rosen, Guitar World, July 1986

In team play, where everything clicks, somebody has to call the shots. ...

ZZ Top: Billy Gibbons: Sittin' On Top Of The World

Interview by Steven Rosen, Guitar World, November 1986

"B.G. HERE," drawled the voice on the phone. Billy Gibbons was calling from Arizona where he was en route to Los Angeles for the filming ...

Lee Ritenour: Session Monster, Guitar Fusioneer, Pop Bandleader...? Will The Real Captain Fingers Please Stand Up.

Interview by Steven Rosen, Musician, January 1987

"THE GUITAR is a very difficult instrument to get a great sound on. There's no doubt about it — it takes a lot of years." ...

Procol Harum, Robin Trower: Robin Trower: Keeper Of The Dream

Interview by Steven Rosen, Guitar World, April 1987

The one-time Procol pace-setter has seen musical trends come and go, but he's back to playing among us because he has a vision of the ...

Paul Jackson Jr.

Profile and Interview by Steven Rosen, Guitar World, July 1987

A NATIVE OF Los Angeles, Paul Jackson, Jr. credits "The Lord" for his entry into the protected domain of the session player. While no one ...

Dean Parks: Session Aces: Dean Parks

Profile and Interview by Steven Rosen, Guitar World, July 1987

DEAN PARKS is the veteran of this wild bunch, having been a staple in the studios for 15 years. But like every other member of ...

Aerosmith, Joe Perry: Aerosmith: Joe Perry

Interview by Steven Rosen, Guitar World, December 1987

Bad Boy Joe Perry has always looked like a guitar hero. Aerosmith's new LP affirms once and for all, that he is the one. ...

Guns N' Roses, Slash: Slash: Trigger with Attitude

Interview by Steven Rosen, Guitar, February 1995

After a whole year of well-publicised feuds with Axl Rose, Guns N' Roses' Slash has now cut loose to record his own album with a ...

Blackmore's Night, Ritchie Blackmore: Blackmore's Night: An interview with Ritchie Blackmore

Interview by Steven Rosen, unpublished, March 1995

Ritchie Blackmore, the penultimate electric guitar player, perhaps the main proponent of the Marshall/Stratocaster combo, has traded in his stacks for a tambourine and an ...

Van Halen: Eddie Van Halen

Interview by Steven Rosen, Total Guitar, August 1995

AT 38, EDWARD Van Halen is a changed man. He's cut his locks, cut out the sauce (and other less legal intoxicants) – and after ...

John Fogerty (1997)

Interview by Steven Rosen, Rock's Backpages audio, 10 April 1997

John Fogerty on guitar playing versus songwriting, and how he's got better.

File format: MP3 File size: 883.1k<br> Interview length: 1 minute 10 seconds Sound quality: ***

Black Label Society: Zakk Wylde

Interview by Steven Rosen, Total Guitar, June 2004

ZAKK WYLDE is a dichotomy – physically he resembles some psychotic biker, pumped biceps stretching the fabric of a sleeveless Levi's jacket, a scraggly beard ...

The Beach Boys, Carl Wilson: Carl Wilson

Interview by Steven Rosen, Player, 2005

AT A TIME when the venerable institution of the Beach Boys was threatening to disassemble itself during the late 70s and early 80s, youngest Wilson ...

P. F. Sloan: P.F. Sloan Reveals the Jewish Origins of 'Eve of Destruction'

Retrospective and Interview by Steven Rosen, Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles, 2006

'EVE OF DESTRUCTION', the famous folk-rock-protest hit record from 1965, isn't usually regarded as a specifically Jewish song. Or even a religious one, for that ...

Flaming Lips: Steven Drozd of The Flaming Lips

Interview by Steven Rosen, ultimate-guitar.com, 14 June 2006

STEVEN DROZD, guitarist for The Flaming Lips, plays guitar, keyboards, drums, sings, writes, entertains and philosophizes. He does a lot of different things. And that's ...

Primal Scream: Gary "Mani" Mounfield of Primal Scream

Interview by Steven Rosen, ultimate-guitar.com, 26 July 2006

TWENTY MINUTES before this interview was about to take place, an e-mail from the label said that singer Bobby Gillespie, singer for Primal Scream and ...

Motorhead's Phil Campbell

Interview by Steven Rosen, ultimate-guitar.com, 2 August 2006

FOR SOMEWHERE around 31 years now, Motorhead has been revving it up, cranking it out, and laying it down, a juggernaut of heavy metal that ...

Asia

Discography by Steven Rosen, Goldmine, 13 October 2006

ASIA WAS the hybrid formed when ELP and Yes both imploded and sent members scurrying about in search of a new band. ...

The Deftones: Stephen Carpenter of The Deftones

Interview by Steven Rosen, ultimate-guitar.com, 3 November 2006

STEPHEN CARPENTER is a musician with a lot on his mind. His work on the Deftones' newest, Saturday Night Wrist, is stunningly good, ranging from ...

The Who, Track By Track, Album By Album

Discography by Steven Rosen, unpublished, 2007

Originally commissioned by Classic Rock Direct Limited for a Who DVD. (Note: All quotations in story come from Steven Rosen's personal archive). ...

Blind Melon: Christopher Thorn and Rogers Stevens of Blind Melon

Interview by Steven Rosen, ultimate-guitar.com, 27 January 2007

BLIND MELON may have been a lynchpin back in the 90's, a nexus between rock and new wave and songwriters and guitar soloists. But the ...

Cradle of Filth: Paul Allender of Cradle Of Filth

Interview by Steven Rosen, ultimate-guitar.com, 4 March 2007

PAUL ALLENDER'S playing on Thornography, the new Cradle of Filth album, is both a nod at tomorrow and a bow towards yesterday. ...

CPR, David Crosby: CPR: David Crosby/James Raymond

Interview by Steven Rosen, Rock's Backpages, 7 September 2007

UP ON THE fifth floor of Warner Brothers Records, David Crosby and James Raymond are embracing each other as if they haven't seen each other ...

Paul McCartney, Wings: The Time I Was Not Invisible In Front Of Paul McCartney

Retrospective and Interview by Steven Rosen, Player, October 2007

IN 1973, I SAW myself disappearing. I was a grammar ghost, a sentence-writing cipher with barely a byline to hang my rent on. ...

George Harrison

Retrospective and Interview by Steven Rosen, unpublished, 2008

IT WAS A day of unmatched California beauty; a startling and fiery sun perched high above in a crystal blue sky and blazed down promise. ...

Eric Clapton, Todd Rundgren: Legendary Guitar: The Saga of Eric Clapton's Famous Fool SG

Report and Interview by Steven Rosen, Gibson.com, 16 April 2008

THE STORAGE CLOSET in Todd Rundgren's Mink Hollow Road studio was closed. But it wasn't locked. Big difference. If there were anything of value in ...

Mötley Crüe's Mick Mars: "I’ve Always Been About Melody And Tone"

Interview by Steven Rosen, ultimate-guitar.com, 6 September 2008

MICK MARS CAME into this world as Robert Alan Deal. He was born in Terre Haute, Indiana, on May 4, 1951. His family relocated to ...

Yngwie Malmsteen (2008)

Interview by Steven Rosen, Rock's Backpages audio, 20 October 2008

The Paganini of Poodle talks about guitars, recording methods, his reputation etc... but mostly about himself.

File format: mp3; file size: 44.4mb, interview length: 48' 31" sound quality: * (phoner)

Alice in Chains' William DuVall (2009)

Interview by Steven Rosen, Rock's Backpages audio, 2009

The "new boy" talks about the weight of expectation on his shoulders replacing Layne Staley, his friendship with Jerry Cantrell, recording new album Black Gives Way to Blue, and guitars, amps etc.

File format: mp3; file size: 39.4mb, interview length: 43' 02" sound quality: * (phoner)

Foo Fighters, Taylor Hawkins & the Coattail Riders: Taylor Hawkins (2010)

Interview by Steven Rosen, Rock's Backpages audio, 5 April 2010

The Foo Fighters drummer talks about his solo project, Taylor Hawkins & the Coattail Riders, and their new album Red Light Fever: working with guitarist Gannin Arnold; having members of Queen contribute; the album song-by-song; working with guitarists; his favourite British producers; singing on Slash's album; Chris Chaney's bass playing; using Gretsch drums; the family that is the Foo Fighters, and having his own band.

File format: mp3; file size: 26.1mb, interview length: 27' 12" sound quality: ** (phoner)

Jolie Holland: Pint of Blood

Review by Steven Rosen, American Songwriter, June 2011

LIKE THE LIGHTNING BUG she sings about on Pint of Blood — in a hauntingly poetic image on the song 'Gold and Yellow' — Jolie ...

John Fullbright: From the Ground Up

Review by Steven Rosen, American Songwriter, May 2012

ONE NEEDN'T BE a Fulbright Scholar to recognize that this first album from 23-year-old John Fullbright, an Oklahoma singer-songwriter whose hometown happens to be the ...

David Lindley: Behind the Curtain: David Lindley

Profile and Interview by Steven Rosen, Rock Cellar, 9 December 2016

THERE'S AN OLD saying about traveling to the beat of your own drummer. Taking the road less walked upon. Following your own muse. Making up ...

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