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The Latest Breaking News from Desmond Child

“Steven started singing, ‘Cruisin’ for the ladies.’ I said, ‘That’s really bad. I don’t think Van Halen would put that on the B-side of their worst record’”: When Aerosmith got schooled by hit songwriter Desmond Child

His tough-talking approach helped create one of the band’s biggest hits

MusicRadar

"I was writing with all these rock bands because that's who wanted to hire me. I did OK with that." The 10 songs that influenced Desmond Child the most

Desmond Child sold millions with Aerosmith, Kiss, Bon Jovi and more – and his new live album, recorded in an ancient Greek amphitheatre, is a celebration of those songs

Louder

“We called it Slow Tools. I mean, we’d have 19 breakdowns a day": How the producer of Ricky Martin's Livin' La Vida Loca overcame troublesome tech to make recording history with the first all-digital number one single

“It was like, you know, Thomas Edison or something," says Desmond Child. "We made it all the way to number one in a completely digitised format”

MusicRadar

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“The ‘We've gotta hold on’ was the first chorus. Jon was happy with that. I said, ‘No, no, no, that's just the B section. Let's write the chorus now’”: Songwriter Desmond Child had to fight for Livin' On A Prayer's killer chorus – and for the song itself

“Richie and I knew what we had, and at another writing session we got on our hands and knees, literally, and begged Jon to at least try it”

MusicRadar

"The album careens so quickly between clever and stupid that I'm surprised it hasn't become a cult classic." A story of flick-knives, tyre-irons, and Desmond Child's little-remembered 'gang rock' phase

Before he was churning out megahits with Aerosmith, Bon Jovi and Kiss, Desmond Child was the cornball king of streetfighting anthems

Louder

"When I moved to Birmingham I assumed every band was going to sound like Black Sabbath": Meet Margarita Witch Cult, the big-riffing Brummies keeping Sabbath’s traditions alive

Built on a Sabbath template with lashings of Motörhead and Alice Cooper, Margarita Witch Cult also admit to being influenced by Desmond Child

Metal Hammer

“When I brought up the talk box, everybody in the band started laughing at me. But when it actually worked, it became an integral part of that hit song”: How Bon Jovi created their signature rock anthem – with a 'hit doctor' and a 'goofy' guitar effect

“When I was a teenager, Frampton Comes Alive was such a huge record"

MusicRadar

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“I’d been playing guitar full-time for 25 years, and when I got to play on a Deep Purple album it was just one chord!” Meet Tommy Denander, the session guitar great who’s worked with everyone from Jeff Beck and Michael Jackson to Joe Perry and Ace Frehley

You’ve heard the Swedish guitarist on over 100 gold or platinum records. He tells his war stories from decades of session work, from fighting for all-important missing credits to playing with his heroes – and writing the song that finally brought Alice Cooper and Jeff Beck together…

Guitar World

“Love in an elevator? Yeah, I've done it!”: Steven Tyler and Joe Perry on the making of the Aerosmith classic Pump

Plus: the Aerosmith song that Slash said was "too pop"

MusicRadar

“No, man! If we had had this level of success in the 70s we would not be here now. We would never have survived it”: The wild story of Aerosmith’s Pump, the album that turned them into superstars all over again

How a drug-free Aerosmith hit a new career high with 1989’s Pump

Louder

“A friend of mine told me about an open audition for a new artist named Cyndi…”: From his education with Cyndi Lauper and giving Alice Cooper a killer Poison intro, to co-writing with Julian Lennon, John McCurry shares the stories behind his biggest hits

A long-time collaborator of Lauper and Lennon, scoring hits with Bonnie Tyler, Belinda Carlisle and Alice Cooper, McCurry’s session career is legendary. To think he started out on accordion…

Guitar World

“Alice really wanted a signature riff. When I played it for him, he just smiled and patted me on the back”: The iconic Alice Cooper Poison riff started out as John McCurry’s warm-up routine – and it lives a double life

McCurry’s legendary guitar hook had been used for another song two years earlier – but Alice Cooper was desperate for his Sweet Child O’ Mine moment

Guitar World

“You ride into town with your gang, stealing money, drinking as much as you can and being gone before the law catches you”: How Bon Jovi hit the jackpot with Slippery When Wet, the album that turned them into the hottest hard rock band of the 80s

Slippery When Wet turned Bon Jovi from also-rans to multi-platinum superstars

Louder

“The only way of getting back on track was to regain control of just about every facet of the band”: When Mike Portnoy quit Dream Theater for the first time, the shakeup led to epic double-album Metropolis Pt. 2

1999 modern prog masterpiece – their first record with Jordan Rudess – came after the dismissal of Derek Sherinian, the demise of internal “fake democracy” and fights with their label and the media

Louder

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Louder

“We were getting hassle from everyone to make the perfect album. It had to sell or the band would stall”: How Bon Jovi made a hard rock monster and saved their career with Slippery When Wet

From sweeping studio floors to superstardom, Bon Jovi’s Slippery When Wet album turned them into superstars

MusicRadar

"I’m telling you, I have a hit record here. I’m going to tour the world for the longest time and if you don’t give this to me, I have another company that will!”: Triple-neck guitars, modern-day cowboys and the story of Bon Jovi's Wanted Dead Or Alive

"It was quite a process and I believe that each triple-neck is worth about $50,000 – not in materials, but as far as what it costs the company to make them"

Louder

A pouting member of Mötley Crüe, a Bon Jovi songwriter and a risque video: Joe Perry looks back on the song that took Aerosmith back to rock's top table

Aerosmith have now enjoyed decades of superstardom, but go back to early 1987 and they were staring down the barrel

Louder

“I’m a believer in things happening for a reason. If I had become a huge star then I may not be alive today”: how cult 70s soft rockers Desmond Child & Rouge launched the career of a songwriting superstar

Desmond Child has written multi-platinum songs for Bon Jovi, Kiss and Aerosmith – but it wouldn’t have happened if his own career as a musician hadn’t failed

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Louder

"They weren't really guitarists and couldn't really play. They could play three or four chords and had trouble with that": songwriter Desmond Child on the shortcomings of 90s guitarists

Bon Jovi and Aerosmith hitmaker Desmond Child on the rise of grunge: "Nirvana had a star that captivated everyone's imagination"

Louder

“I don’t think Van Halen would put that on the B-side of their worst record”: Desmond Child on his initial reaction to Aerosmith's Dude (Looks Like A Lady), and how he helped turn it from a dud into a huge hit

The songwriting don was not impressed with the band's original version

Louder

"It was opening people’s minds": Songwriter Desmond Child sees Aerosmith's Dude (Looks Like a Lady) as an early trans anthem

Midas touch songwriter Desmond Child, who has written mega-hits for Kiss, Bon Jovi, Aerosmith and many more, views Dude (Looks Like a Lady) as a song about acceptance

The Guardian - UK

Livin’ on a Prayer! Desmond Child on writing bombastic hits with Bon Jovi, Aerosmith and more

From Dude (Looks Like a Lady) to You Give Love a Bad Name, the great songwriter has racked up 500m sales. As he publishes a star-studded memoir, Child talks about being a gay man at the more macho end of rock

Metal Hammer

A beginner’s guide to hair metal in 5 essential albums

Glam metal, hair metal – call it what you want. These are five albums that soundtracked the 1980s

Louder

Winger have taken the knocks and they've been knocked out, but at least Metallica have apologised

Kip Winger and Reb Beach on Winger's first album in almost a decade, that call from James Hetfield, and supporting Spinal Tap: "They’re a spoof band, but we’re the ones they’re spoofing on"

MusicRadar

Songwriter Desmond Child explains why his chorus melody from Bon Jovi's You Give Love A Bad Name features in two other hits songs

A tale of Bonnie Tyler, Jim Steinman and Ava Max

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