Latest articles by Alan di Perna
“All I was using was one Fender Twin Reverb, which I stole off Bob Marley… I had it turned up to 10 the whole time”: Stolen amps and punk rivalry – inside the making of the Sex Pistols’ Never Mind the Bollocks
Guitarist Steve Jones reflects on the making of the Pistols' incendiary studio album, Johnny Rotten's overdub myths, and why they had to keep Sid Vicious away from the studio
Angus Young on his favorite Gibson SG from his collection – and the hunt to find a replacement
The AC/DC guitar hero has tried getting copies made to no avail
Ozzy Osbourne on his special writing dynamic with Randy Rhoads
Blizzard of Ozz was the Prince of Darkness' solo debut – but it forever marked Rhoads as a guitar hero for the ages
Courtney Love refused to turn Celebrity Skin into “a grieving widow’s memoir” – but she paid tribute with the gear she played
With Celebrity Skin, Love shifted Hole's musical direction and created their final opus, in the midst of great tragedy
Why Keith Richards never wanted anyone to hear his Satisfaction guitar riff
Turns out, Otis Redding's rendition was the right one all along…
Mick Thomson reflects on Slipknot's Wait and Bleed, label pressures – and sticking to their own guns
In a 2014 GW interview, Thomson revealed his disdain for melodic choruses, and how he fought hard for the band to maintain their artistic integrity post-Wait and Bleed
Robert Smith on the flash of inspiration that shaped the Cure's biggest hit
Proving beyond doubt that the band's range extended far beyond dense, brooding epics, it remains the Cure song to reference for those who know only of the band's name and maybe their frontman's inimitable hairdo
A rare look inside Prince's world – record label battles, 3am sessions and wildfire guitar genius
The year is 1994: Prince has changed his name to O(+>, is at war with his label, and is readying a smoldering, guitar-heavy blues/funk trio album. GW was given rare access to his inner sanctum – his band, his studio, and even the elusive man himself
Prince’s long-time bassist on teaching guitar to the Purple Rain hitmaker
In 1994, Prince changed his stage name to 'O(+>' due to contractual disputes with his label, and, amid the turbulence, he granted Guitar World access to his onstage inner sanctum
Top players and a gun-wielding Phil Spector: the wild story of John Lennon's rock 'n' roll covers album
Recorded under threat of a lawsuit, while in the midst of his infamous “Lost Weekend”, Rock 'n' Roll was the craziest ride of the Beatle's career – featuring top players and a gun-wielding Phil Spector
The origins of Pete Townshend's guitar-smashing ritual
The destructive antics began as an unwelcome byproduct of something else the Who guitarist helped add to the guitar lexicon: wild feedback odysseys
Can't Get Enough was Bad Company's breakout smash, and its harmonized leads were perfect for the era
Keyed in by their mentors-of-sorts, Led Zeppelin, Mick Ralphs and co recorded their enormously successful debut album at the legendary Headley Grange house, which certainly provided a certain vibe to the proceedings...
Assembled on 24 hours' notice, this John Lennon-led supergroup marked the beginning of the end of the Beatles
Though the band's set at the 1969 Toronto Rock and Roll Revival was ragged, it confirmed in stone a hugely consequential decision Lennon had made just before the festival
How Dick Dale made the Stratocaster the ultimate surf-rock weapon
The surf guitar king was not only a Fender man to his bones – he had a close working relationship with Leo Fender himself
How Ric Ocasek formed an unlikely partnership with an alt-rock icon
For what would become his fifth solo album, Ocasek reached out to Smashing Pumpkins mastermind Billy Corgan, and came away impressed by his arranging talents and technical abilities
The creation and evolution of the Stratocaster
Timeless, iconic, yet also indisputably a product of the era in which it was designed, the Stratocaster was shaped in huge part by a few oft-overlooked players – one of whom suggested the whammy bar so he could get more money as a session guitarist
How one of rock's most storied Les Pauls changed hands from one guitar hero to another
Page had known Joe Walsh, then a budding guitar hero with the James Gang, since his pre-Zeppelin days with the Yardbirds. And Walsh had a proposition for him
For David Gilmour, Pink Floyd’s wildly ambitious the Wall tour was a blast – and a challenge
Used to experimenting and improvising onstage, Gilmour suddenly found himself juggling a multitude of new responsibilities, and, on one occasion, dodging burning drapes...
When Rory Gallagher was asked to fill Eric Clapton's shoes in rock's pioneering power trio
As Cream began to disintegrate barely two years into their existence, the enormously successful band's managers were desperate to keep them going
The making of the album that virtually invented a new genre, sold 30 million copies, and changed rock forever
One of the best-selling albums of all time, Nirvana's Nevermind re-shaped popular culture and guitar-based music almost overnight. This is how it was made
Through 50 years of triumph and tragedy, they remain hard rock's greatest titans
AC/DC's Angus Young traces the lineage of one of rock's greatest bands – from his air-tight six-string chemistry with his brother Malcolm, that time he tried one of Malcolm's guitars, and why he avoided Strats at all costs
Released weeks before his murder, John Lennon’s final album paired him with some of the era’s finest session guitarists
Hesitant to step back into the spotlight but powered by renewed creative energy, the former Beatle joined forces with Earl Slick, Hugh McCracken, and – though their collaborations weren't released for a number of years – Cheap Trick
The mod that made Kurt Cobain's $6 million MTV Unplugged Martin one of a kind
According to Nirvana guitar tech Earnie Bailey, Cobain was far from a vintage guitar fiend, and had no qualms with making his already weird D-18E even more unusual
“We knew we didn’t want to do an acoustic version of Teen Spirit”: The story of Nirvana's seminal MTV Unplugged set
Resisting network pressure to simply play the hits, Kurt Cobain, Pat Smear, Krist Novoselic, and Dave Grohl pulled together a remarkable and eclectic set that served as the haunting apex of Nirvana's final chapter
“I remember my first lesson with Joe. I had a guitar and a set of strings. I’d never really played. I didn’t know how to tune or string it”: Steve Vai and Joe Satriani discuss the evolution of guitar playing, and what they taught each other
In 1990, Steve Vai and Joe Satriani sat down for an extensive discussion with Guitar World, during which they joked that – when they were older – they would record a song called The Sea of Emotion. Now, more than three decades later, that premonition has come true
