ON THE SURFACE, guitar trends in 1986 looked downright wild and perverse — a weird parade of shred-happy virtuosos, anthemic power pop heroes, dirtbag metalheads and eccentric alt-rock outsiders. But

VAN HALEN WAS the world’s biggest rock band at the beginning of 1985. Their 1984 album had sold more than five million copies in the U.S., reaching Number 2 on the Billboard 200 albums chart (their hi

HE MIGHT HAVE joined the Haunted a full 17 years after the group formed, yet to metal guitarists, Ola Englund’s face is far more recognizable than those of his bandmates — even though bassist Jonas Bj

PRE-1986, SCANDINAVIAN ROCK was a minor import for the U.S. — while the sluggish international sales of Europe’s first two albums suggested the Swedes were doomed to their domestic market. But as guit

“THE CALL OF Cthulhu,” written by American author H.P. Lovecraft, was first published in Weird Tales in February 1928. The story describes an ancient, nightmarish being rising from the sludgy depths t

IT WAS THE summer of 1985, and Johnny Marr was a man out of time. Three years earlier, while still a teenager, the guitarist had co-founded the Smiths in Manchester, England, with vocalist Morrissey (