Mick Wall

Mick Wall
Born (1958-06-23) 23 June 1958
Nationality British
Occupation music journalist, author
Years active 1977-Present
Known for Kerrang!, Classic Rock

Mick Wall (born 23 June 1958) is a British music journalist, radio and TV presenter and author.[1]

Wall began his career contributing to the music weekly Sounds in 1977, where he wrote about punk and the new wave, and then rockabilly, funk, New Romantic pop and, eventually, hard rock and heavy metal. In 1979, he left music journalism to become the partner in his own PR firm, Heavy Publicity, aged 20, where he oversaw press campaigns for artists such as Black Sabbath, Journey, REO Speedwagon, Thin Lizzy, Ultravox, The Damned, Dire Straits and several others. In the early 1980s he also worked at Virgin Records as press officer for such artists as Gillan, The Human League, Simple Minds, Japan and others.

By 1983, Wall become one of the main journalists in the early days of Kerrang! magazine, where he was their star cover story writer for the next nine years. He subsequently became the founding editor of Classic Rock magazine in 1998, and presented his own television and radio shows on Sky TV, Capital Radio, BBC GLR, BBC Radio 1, Planet Rock and others. He has also guested on several television programmes and documentaries on BBC TV,[2] ITV, Sky One, Channel Four and MTV.

Wall has authored many biographies of musicians and bands including Ozzy Osbourne, Iron Maiden, AC/DC, Metallica and Guns N' Roses.[3] The latter mentioned him in their song "Get in the Ring" after Wall fell out with former friend, singer W. Axl Rose. In April 2016, Wall gave an impassioned apology to Rose on his blog with "As for the book, the biog I wrote on Axl, over 10 years ago now, that I can do something about. It’s not that the facts are all wrong or any of that. But the spirit is mean, disgruntled, unworthy. I’m sorry I wrote it. Sorry I wasn’t man enough to see the bigger picture. Sorry I squeezed all of the peace, love and understanding out of the book. I’d just had a heart attack, was angry at the world, thought I was about to check out and rather than reach for the light, I blew out the candles then sat there in the dark mouldering. I’m not like that anymore." "So goodbye W.A.R. It sure wasn’t fun writing you, I doubt it was much fun reading you, and you know what, it’s time to get you out of the fucking ring once and for all. Meanwhile, back in the world of sunlight and song, I can’t wait to see what Axl Rose and Guns N’ Roses do next. They are the last of the giants and I am a fan." [4]

His book Paranoid: Black Days With Sabbath & Other Horror Stories (1999) is a semi-fictionalised account of his substance-abusing days in the 1980s working with some of the biggest rock stars in the world. In 2008 he published a biography of Led Zeppelin entitled When Giants Walked the Earth. [5]

Wall is also the author of a blog on his official website, consisting of a compendium of domestic affairs and anecdotes from his past.

Bibliography

References

  1. ↑ "Biography".
  2. ↑ Macmillan. "Mick Wall". Macmillan.
  3. ↑ "List of books by Mick Wall". amazon.co.uk.
  4. ↑ "Getting Out Of The Ring". Mick Wall.
  5. ↑ David Cheal, 'When Giants Walked the Earth: A Biography of Led Zeppelin by Mick Wall', Telegraph.co.uk, 27 October 2008.
  6. ↑ "Mick Wall - A Life in Rock". The Huffington Post UK. 7 September 2015.
  7. ↑ "Lemmy: The Definitive Biography by Mick Wall review – sex, speed and cigarettes". the Guardian.

External links

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