Dead Rock Stars
Dead Rock Stars is a new, enlightening yet wholly amusing podcast presented by former Classic Rock editor and star Kerrang! writer Mick Wall and Metal Hammer and The Quietus regular Joel McIver. Between them, these two rock writers have written over fifty books on music and contributed to dozens of publications. The new podcast, produced by 7digital – whose resumé includes Bruce Dickinson’s Rock Show and Radcliffe And Maconie for BBC 6 Music radio show – celebrates Wall and McIver’s combined decades of experience in rock writing and has the stated objective of revealing to listeners exactly what a particular deceased rocker was like in the flesh. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Episodes
October 20, 2020 • 63 mins
In this episode of Getcha Rocks Off, Mick Wall and his guest co-host, author and journalist Jon Hotten, as they jump into a DeLorean and venture back in time to the spandex and AquaNet hairspray-adorned Sunset Strip of West Hollywood in the '80s.
They unpack many tales from their travels, and explore:
- the iconic Rainbow Bar & Grill
- the origins of glam, hair metal
- Franki Banali and Quiet Riot
- Ozzy and Sharon
- the rise of Motl...
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October 26, 2018 • 64 mins
In the final episode of the first series of our Rock Godcast, tDead Rock Stars, we present a contractual obligation fulfilling Greatest Hits. Just thank Dio we didn't opt for a live album. Or our very own Metal Machine Music. Talking of which, you'll find a heated discussion about that very album within, plus banter about Bon Scott's nickname of Road-test Ronnie, Rick Parfitt's big night in, Elvis and the Memphis Mafia, Lemmy's lov...
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October 19, 2018 • 53 mins
In this latest thrilling episode, Mick and Joel pick over the life, loves and legacy of the greatest rock star of them all. The Big Cheese, the full enchilada, the deep-fried cheese burger. Or simply, The King. Elvis Aaron Presley is the pioneer of rock 'n roll. the man who created a road-map for rock stars before rock stars even existed. From a dirt-poor childhood, via a spell as a truck driver and briefly the world's most famous ...
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October 12, 2018 • 46 mins
This week, seasoned rock writers Mick Wall and Joel McIver shine the spotlight on Marc Bolan; with a Gibson set to stun and corkscrew hair, he wasn't no square. Bolan was a true original, moving from late Sixties acoustic hippy whimsy to hard rocking, glamtastic boogie by the turn of the decade, and in doing so influencing a slew of artists, his friend and rival David Bowie included. Whilst enjoying an amazing run of hit singles, o...
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October 5, 2018 • 58 mins
In another thrilling episode of the podcast, Mick and Joel take a deep dive into the fast life and times of the finest female rock singer of them all - Janis Joplin. From being a troubled Texan teenager to the hit sensation at the 1967 Monterey pop festival, and a peer of Jimi Hendrix, Grace Slick and Jim Morrison, Janis always seemed destined to burn out rather than fade away. And when drugs, alcohol and self-esteem issues were ad...
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September 28, 2018 • 55 mins
This week, Mick and Joel turn their keen eye and quick wits to the late, great Jack Bruce. Jack was a highly gifted musical prodigy, with a love for jazz and classical music, but who came to prominence in the British blues boom of the early Sixties, finding himself rubbing shoulders and sharing stages with the likes of Alexis Korner, Mick Jagger, Graham Bond and John Mayall. But of more importance was his introduction to Eric Clapt...
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September 21, 2018 • 57 mins
In this episode, esteemed rock writers Mick Wall and Joel McIver look at the purple reign of Prince. From teenage wunderkind, signed at 17 to a major label and given complete creative control to his stunning Super Bowl performances, Prince's life was not like other musicians'. Singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, producer, auteur, movie star, talent scout, provocateur, music factory... Prince was many, many things. Most surpr...
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September 14, 2018 • 54 mins
Once again, Mick Wall and Joel McIver look towards to Seattle, the home of both grunge, but also an abnormally large number of rockers now resting in peace. This week they explore the life of Chris Cornell, frontman for Soundgarden and Audioslave. Chris was also flat-mates with Andrew Wood, flamboyant frontman with Mother Love Bone, who would be one of the city's first rock star drug casualties. Cornell's tribute to Wood, Temple Of...
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September 7, 2018 • 42 mins
This episode, Mick and Joel look at the enigmatic Syd Barrett, one time leader of the fledgling Pink Floyd. Though Syd's time in Pink Floyd was only brief his idiosyncratic songs have proven to be hugely influential and continue to reverberate through the decades. Bringing an eccentric Englishness to the burgeoning prog/psyche scene in the mid-Sixties, he was a man both part of and yet quite apart from the scene. But within two yea...
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August 31, 2018 • 43 mins
In the latest thrilling episode, Mick and Joel take a wise and witty wonder through the fast life and tumultuous times of Ronnie Van Zant, frontman of Florida rockers Lynyrd Skynyrd. Best known for Sweet Home Alabama and the epic Freebird, Skynyrd are usually portrayed as wild bunch of redneck renegades. There's certainly more than a grain of truth in that, but what's often forgotten is that they were also fabulous, pioneering musi...
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August 24, 2018 • 52 mins
This week, it's the turn of the most gifted guitarist of his generation to come under Joe and Mick's microscope. James Marshall Hendrix blazed a hugely fertile and creative path in his brief but bountiful three years in the limelight. No other guitar-slinger has bettered him for not just his guitar flash, but his songwriting, sonic experimentation, showmanship, or other worldly flamboyance. Whether playing the blues, funk, soul, ha...
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August 17, 2018 • 46 mins
This week our wild and willing wordsmiths Mick and Joel look at the short but stunning life of Randy Rhoads. A one-time guitarist with LA also-rans Quiet Riot, he became more famous as Ozzy Osbourne's right-hand man following his departure from Black Sabbath. Along with Sharon Arden (later Mrs Osbourne), Randy was absolutely fundamental in resurrecting Ozzy's moribund career. He also proved hugely influential to a brand new generat...
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August 10, 2018 • 50 mins
In this episode of the podcast, revered rock writers Joel and Mick pick over the brilliant but all too brief life of the scion of Seattle, the golden boy of grunge, Kurt Cobain. In a brief but blistering 4 years, Kurt went from social outcast to being the poster boy for the alternative music scene, The music he spearheaded, and the bands who followed in his slipstream (Soundgarden, Pearl Jam, Alice In Chains and the rest) would com...
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August 3, 2018 • 41 mins
In this episode, Mick and Joel scrutinise the short life of folk artist Sandy Denny. Sandy was a key figure in the evolution of folk rock, being a great songwriter, but one who also brought traditional songs to the fledgling Fairport Convention and was kept to the creation of their seminal Liege & Lief album. She's also the only artist to have guested on a Led Zeppelin album. But Sandy's complex character - exacerbated by insec...
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July 27, 2018 • 44 mins
In this week's Dead Rock Stars, there's double trouble as Mick and Joel dissect the lives of brothers Darrell and Vinnie Abbott. Their band Pantera quickly rose from being an enthusiastic and talented (if derivative) hair metal act, to groundbreaking artists whose 1994 album Far Beyond Driven one of the most extreme albums to debut at number one on the Billboard charts. But the story of the Abbott brothers has been one of severe hi...
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July 20, 2018 • 65 mins
In this week's episode, Mick and Joel take a deep dive into the life of Lou Reed, one of rock music's most complicated, challenging and caustic artists. From his start with the Andy Warhol proteges The Velvet Underground, to his collaborations with David Bowie and Metallica then on to his avant garde - and sometimes impenetrable - solo work, Lou Reed was always a fearless, fierce and fascinating artist. But what was he really like?...
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July 13, 2018 • 44 mins
In this episode of Dead Rock Stars, Mick and Joel turn their steely gaze upon the fast life and times of Bon Scott, AC/DC's bawdy, brawling and boozy frontman. As you'll discover, despite his fearsome reputation, Bon was in fact an erudite, well read fella, which in turn informed his wickedly brilliant lyrics. But the sad death in a stranger's car after a heavy night out denied him to the chance to sing on Back In Black, one of the...
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July 6, 2018 • 42 mins
In the latest eye and ear opening instalment of Dead Rock Stars, Mick Wall and Joel McIver take a look at the long and, quite frankly, legendary career of Rick Parfitt of Status Quo. Though often derided by snobby critics for their reliance on 3 chord boogie, The Quo was a band of the people. In fact, they had 60+ top 40 singles in the UK, and were the band who famously opened Live Aid in 1985 with the perfect "Rocking All Over The...
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June 29, 2018 • 47 mins
Cliff Burton was that rare thing; not only was he a hugely talented bass player, but he was a bass player who was the driving force behind his band In his all too brief three year stint with Metallica, he gave them the drive, desire and determination to go from being underground warriors to the biggest metal band on the planet. But tragically, Cliff was not to see his band realise their dreams and scale such dizzying heights. In la...
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June 22, 2018 • 45 mins
Revered rock writers Mick Wall and Joel McIver scrutinise the Bad Reputation of Thin Lizzy's Phil Lynott, singer and songwriter, rocker and romantic, bard and brawler. An illegitimate child of mixed race, Phil escaped his tough Dublin childhood to front the powerhouse hard rockers Thin Lizzy. And yet despite a clutch of killer albums, a formidable twin guitar attack and Lynott's charisma, this was a band who never quite conquered t...
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