Mick Wall (born 23 June 1958) is a British music journalist, author, and radio and TV presenter. He has been described as "the world's leading

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wale ...

and

metal A metal () is a material that, when polished or fractured, shows a lustrous appearance, and conducts electrical resistivity and conductivity, electricity and thermal conductivity, heat relatively well. These properties are all associated wit ...

writer".

Career

Wall began his career in 1976 at the age of 18, contributing to the music weekly magazine '' Sounds,'' where he wrote about

punk rock Punk rock (also known as simply punk) is a rock music genre that emerged in the mid-1970s. Rooted in 1950s rock and roll and 1960s garage rock, punk bands rejected the corporate nature of mainstream 1970s rock music. They typically produced sh ...

and new wave, and then

rockabilly Rockabilly is one of the earliest styles of rock and roll music. It dates back to the early 1950s in the United States, especially the Southern United States, South. As a genre, it blends the sound of Western music (North America), Western musi ...

funk Funk is a music genre that originated in African-American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African-Americans in the ...

new romantic New Romantic was an underground subculture movement that originated in the United Kingdom in the late 1970s. The movement emerged from the nightclub scene in London and Birmingham at venues such as Billy's and The Blitz. The New Romantic mo ...

and eventually

hard rock Hard rock or heavy rock is a heavier subgenre of rock music typified by aggressive vocals and Distortion (music), distorted electric guitars. Hard rock began in the mid-1960s with the Garage rock, garage, Psychedelic rock, psychedelic and blues ...

and heavy metal. In 1979, at the age of 21, he left

music journalism Music journalism (or music criticism) is media criticism and reporting about music topics, including popular music, classical music, and traditional music. Journalists began writing about music in the eighteenth century, providing commentary o ...

to become the partner in his own PR firm Heavy Publicity, where he oversaw press campaigns for artists such as

Black Sabbath Black Sabbath are an English rock band formed in Birmingham in 1968 by guitarist Tony Iommi, drummer Bill Ward (musician), Bill Ward, bassist Geezer Butler, and vocalist Ozzy Osbourne. After adopting the Black Sabbath name in 1969 (the band ...

, Journey,

REO Speedwagon REO Speedwagon (originally stylized as R.E.O. Speedwagon), or simply REO, was an American Rock music, rock band from Champaign, Illinois. Formed in 1967, the band cultivated a following during the 1970s and achieved significant commercial suc ...

Thin Lizzy Thin Lizzy are an Irish rock band formed in Dublin in 1969. The band initially consisted of bass guitarist, lead vocalist and principal songwriter Phil Lynott, drummer Brian Downey, guitarist Eric Bell and organist Eric Wrixon although Wr ...

Ultravox Ultravox (earlier styled as Ultravox!) were a British new wave band, formed in London in April 1974 as Tiger Lily. Between 1980 and 1986, they scored seven Top Ten albums and seventeen Top 40 singles in the UK, the most successful of which wa ...

, the Damned,

Dire Straits Dire Straits were a British rock band formed in London in 1977 by Mark Knopfler (lead vocals, lead guitar), David Knopfler (rhythm guitar, backing vocals), John Illsley (bass guitar, backing vocals) and Pick Withers (drums, percussion). Th ...

and several others. In the early 1980s, he also worked at

Virgin Records Virgin Records is a British record label owned by Universal Music Group. They were originally founded as a British independent record label in 1972 by entrepreneurs Richard Branson, Simon Draper, Nik Powell, and musician Tom Newman (musician), ...

as a press officer for bands including Gillan,

the Human League The Human League are an English synth-pop band formed in Sheffield in 1977. Initially an experimental electronic music, electronic outfit, the group signed to Virgin Records in 1979 and later attained widespread commercial success with their t ...

Simple Minds Simple Minds are a Scottish Rock music, rock band formed in Glasgow in 1977, becoming best known internationally for their song "Don't You (Forget About Me)" (1985), which topped the ''Billboard (magazine), Billboard'' Billboard Hot 100, Hot 100 ...

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

and others. In 1983, Wall become one of the main journalists of ''

Kerrang! ''Kerrang!'' is a British music webzine and quarterly magazine that primarily covers rock, punk and heavy metal music. Since 2017, the magazine has been published by Wasted Talent Ltd (the same company that owns electronic music publication ...

'' magazine, where he was their star cover story writer until 1992. In 1985, he began hosting several music video shows and interviews on Sky Channel, including ''Sky Trax'' and the heavy metal show ''Monsters of Rock'' until 1988, when the channel changed its music format and became the news network

Sky News Sky News is a British free-to-air television news channel, live stream news network and news organisation. Sky News is distributed via an English-language radio news service, and through online channels. It is owned by Sky Group, a division of ...

in 1989. He subsequently became the founding editor of ''

Classic Rock Classic rock is a radio format that developed from the album-oriented rock (AOR) format in the early 1980s. In the United States, it comprises rock music ranging generally from the mid-1960s through the early-1990s, primarily focusing on comm ...

'' magazine in 1998, ten years prior he had presented his own television and radio shows on Sky TV (Monsters of Rock),

Capital Radio Capital London is an Independent Local Radio station owned and operated by Global Media & Entertainment as part of its national Capital (radio network), Capital Network. As Capital Radio it was launched in the London area in 1973 as one of Bri ...

, BBC GLR,

BBC Radio 1 BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It specialises in modern popular music and Contemporary hit radio, current chart hits throughout the day. The station provides alternative genres at night, including ...

, Planet Rock and others. Since then, he has also guested on several television programmes and documentaries on

BBC TV BBC Television is a service of the BBC. The corporation has operated a public broadcast television service in the United Kingdom, under the terms of a royal charter, since 1 January 1927. It produced television programmes from its own studios ...

, ITV,

Sky One Sky One was a British pay television channel operated and owned by Sky Group (a division of Comcast). Originally launched on 26 April 1982 as Satellite Television, it was Europe's first satellite and non- terrestrial channel. From 31 July 1989, ...

Channel Four Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded entirely by its commer ...

and

MTV MTV (an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable television television channel, channel and the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Launched on ...

. Wall has written many biographies of musicians and bands including

Ozzy Osbourne John Michael "Ozzy" Osbourne (born 3 December 1948) is an English singer, songwriter, and media personality. He rose to prominence during the 1970s as the lead singer of the heavy metal music, heavy metal band Black Sabbath, during which per ...

Iron Maiden Iron Maiden are an English Heavy metal music, heavy metal band formed in Leyton, East London, in 1975 by bassist and primary songwriter Steve Harris (musician), Steve Harris. Although fluid in the early years of the band, the line-up for most ...

AC/DC AC/DC are an Australian rock band formed in Sydney in 1973. Their music has been variously described as hard rock, blues rock and Heavy metal music, heavy metal, although the band calls it simply "rock and roll". They are cited as a formativ ...

Metallica Metallica is an American heavy metal band. It was formed in Los Angeles in 1981 by vocalist and guitarist James Hetfield and drummer Lars Ulrich, and has been based in San Francisco for most of its career. The band's fast tempos, instrume ...

and

Guns N' Roses Guns N' Roses is an American hard rock band formed in Los Angeles, California in 1985 as a merger of local bands L.A. Guns and Hollywood Rose. When they signed to Geffen Records in 1986, the band's "classic" line-up consisted of vocalist Axl R ...

. The latter mentioned him in their song " Get in the Ring" after Wall fell out with his former friend, singer

Axl Rose W. Axl Rose ( ; born William Bruce Rose Jr., February 6, 1962) is an American singer and songwriter. He is the lead vocalist and lyricist of the hard rock band Guns N' Roses, and has been the band's sole constant member since its inception in ...

. In April 2016, Wall made an impassioned apology to Rose, acknowledging that the spirit of the book he had written on Axl Rose ten years earlier was "mean, disgruntled, unworthy. I'm sorry I wrote it." He concluded by saying, "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." 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 wrote a biography of

Led Zeppelin Led Zeppelin were an English rock music, rock band formed in London in 1968. The band comprised vocalist Robert Plant, guitarist Jimmy Page, bassist-keyboardist John Paul Jones (musician), John Paul Jones and drummer John Bonham. With a he ...

, entitled '' When Giants Walked the Earth''. Wall was also the author of a blog on his official website, consisting of a compendium of domestic affairs and anecdotes from his past (2006–2014). He deleted his website in 2020. "I was sooo bored with it and nobody looks at websites anymore anyway," he said. Instead, he has his official Facebook page, his personal Facebook page, the Dead Rock Stars Facebook page and his Twitter/X account. He also co-hosted a podcast called "Dead Rock Stars" with fellow writer

Joel McIver Joel McIver (born 10 February 1971) is a British author. His best-known work is ''Justice for All: The Truth About Metallica'', first published in 2004 and appearing in nine languages since then. McIver's other works include biographies of Bla ...

, which ran for 23 episodes in 2018. In June 2018, ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'' named "Dead Rock Stars" their podcast of the week. In 2020, Wall teamed up with podcast network, NoFilter Media, to launch "Getcha Rocks Off" podcast. His book, Two Riders Were Approaching: The Life & Death of Jimi Hendrix (Trapeze) is his most controversial, opening as it does on the first page an imagined account of the murder of Hendrix. The book is written in a novelistic style which Classic Rock said "does for Hendrix what James Ellroy did for the story of JF Kennedy, another murdered rock star."

Bibliography

*''Diary Of A Madman – The Official Biography of

'', Zomba Books, 1986 *''Market Square Heroes – The Authorized Biography of

Marillion Marillion are a British neo-prog band, formed in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, in 1979. They emerged from the post-punk music scene in Britain and existed as a bridge between the styles of punk rock and classic progressive rock, becoming the mo ...

'', Sidgwick & Jackson, 1987 *''

: The Most Dangerous Band In The World'', Sidgwick & Jackson, 1991 *''

Pearl Jam Pearl Jam is an American Rock music, rock band formed in Seattle, Washington, in 1990. One of the key bands in the grunge, grunge movement of the early 1990s, Pearl Jam has outsold and outlasted many of its contemporaries from the early 1990s, ...

, Sidgwick & Jackson'', 1994 *''All Night Long: The True Story of

Jon Bon Jovi John Francis Bongiovi Jr. (born March 2, 1962), known professionally as Jon Bon Jovi, is an American singer, songwriter, guitarist, and actor. He is best known as the founder and Lead vocalist, frontman of the rock band Bon Jovi, which was fo ...

'', Omnibus Press, 1995 *''Run To The Hills: The Authorised Biography of

'', Sanctuary Books, 1998 *''Paranoid: Black Days With Sabbath & Other Horror Stories''. Mainstream, 1999 *''Mr Big: Ozzy, Sharon and My Life as the Godfather of Rock'', Robson Books, 2004 (written with

Don Arden Don Arden (born Harry Levy; 4 January 1926 – 21 July 2007) was an English music manager, agent, and businessman. He managed the careers of rock acts such as Jerry Lee Lewis, Little Richard, Gene Vincent, Air Supply, Small Faces, The Mo ...

) *''XS All Areas: the Autobiography of

Status Quo is a Latin phrase meaning the existing state of affairs, particularly with regard to social, economic, legal, environmental, political, religious, scientific or military issues. In the sociological sense, the ''status quo'' refers to the curren ...

'', Sidgwick & Jackson, 2004 (written with Francis Rossi and

Rick Parfitt Richard John Parfitt, (12 October 1948 24 December 2016) was an English musician, best known as a rhythm guitarist, singer and songwriter with rock band Status Quo (band), Status Quo. Parfitt began his career in the early 1960s, playing in p ...

) *''

John Peel John Robert Parker Ravenscroft (30 August 1939 – 25 October 2004), better known as John Peel, was an English radio presenter and journalist. He was the longest-serving of the original disc jockeys on BBC Radio 1, broadcasting regularly from ...

– A Tribute To The Legendary DJ and Broadcaster'', Orion Books, 2004 *''

Bono Paul David Hewson (born 10 May 1960), known by the nickname Bono ( ), is an Irish singer-songwriter and activist. He is a founding member, the lead vocalist, and primary lyricist of the rock band U2. Bono is known for his impassioned voca ...

: In The Name Of Love'', Andre Deutsch, 2005 *''Star Trippin': The Best Of Mick Wall 1985–91'', M&G, 2006 *'' W. Axl Rose: The Unauthorised Biography'', Sidgwick & Jackson, 2007 *'' When Giants Walked the Earth: A Biography of

'', Orion Books, 2008 *''Osbournes Confidential: An Insider's Chronicle'', JR Books, 2008 *''Appetite For Destruction: Legendary Encounters With Mick Wall'', Orion Books, 2010 *''Enter Night –

: The Biography'', Orion Books, 2010 *''

– Hell Ain't A Bad Place To Be'', Orion Books, 2012 *''

: Symptom of the Universe'', Orion Books, 2013 *''

Lou Reed Lewis Allan Reed (March 2, 1942October 27, 2013) was an American musician and songwriter. He was the guitarist, singer, and principal songwriter for the rock band the Velvet Underground and had a solo career that spanned five decades. Althoug ...

: The Life'', Orion Books, 2013 *''Love Becomes A Funeral Pyre: The Biography of

The Doors The Doors were an American rock band formed in Los Angeles in 1965, comprising vocalist Jim Morrison, keyboardist Ray Manzarek, guitarist Robby Krieger and drummer John Densmore. They were among the most influential and controversial rock acts ...

'', Orion Books, 2014 *''Black Sabbath: Symptom of the Universe'' St. Martin's Press, 2015 *''Getcha Rock's Off: Sex & Excess. Bust Up's & Binges. Life & Death on the Rock N' Roll Road'', Orion Books, 2015 *''

Foo Fighters The Foo Fighters are an American Rock music, rock band formed in Seattle in 1994. Initially founded as a one-man project by former Nirvana (band), Nirvana drummer Dave Grohl, the band comprises vocalist/guitarist Grohl, bassist Nate Mendel, gu ...

: Learning to Fly'', Orion Books, 2015 *''

Lemmy Ian Fraser Kilmister (24 December 1945 – 28 December 2015), better known as Lemmy Kilmister or simply Lemmy, was a British musician. He was the founder, lead vocalist, bassist and primary songwriter of the metal band Motörhead, of which he ...

: The Definitive Biography'', Orion Books, 2016 *''Last of the Giants: The True Story of

'', Trapeze, 2016 *''Like a Bat Out of Hell: The Larger than Life story of

Meat Loaf Michael Lee Aday (born Marvin Lee Aday; September 27, 1947 – January 20, 2022), known professionally by his stage name Meat Loaf, was an American singer and actor. He was known for his powerful, wide-ranging voice and theatrical live shows. ...

'', Trapeze, 2017 *

Steven Wilson Steven John Wilson (born 3 November 1967) is an English musician. He is the founder, guitarist, lead vocalist, and songwriter of the rock band Porcupine Tree, as well as being a member of several other bands, including Blackfield, Storm Corrosi ...

: ''Limited Edition of One: How to Succeed in the Music Industry Without Being Part of the Mainstream'', Constable Books, 2022

References

External links

Official Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wall, Mick 1958 births Living people British music critics British music journalists British writers Rock critics