Martin Barre MCNIDDER & GRACE

A cache of Brian Wilson’s 1976 solo demos shed light on a brief window of renewal in what was a rough era for The Beach Boys. By David Fricke.

He turned down Hendrix, butted heads with Lemmy, was saved from a bad trip by Pete Townshend, present at a thousand pop-culture flashpoints… Ten Years After bassist Leo Lyons explains why he’s like “the rock’n’roll Forrest Gump”.

Thirty years after its release, Billy Corgan looks back at the making of The Smashing Pumpkins ’ era-defining big, bold, bombastic masterpiece Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness .

So Paul McCartney said to Danny Francis in 1974. Francis, who passed away last year, spent the best part of 40 years putting himself between rock stars and trouble – and keeping them out of trouble. But, working with some of the rock world’s biggest names, he was more than just a bodyguard.

EVAN STANLEY AND Nick Simmons have known each other since they were babies. After all, their fathers — Kiss co-founders Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons — have been bandmates since the early Seventies. C