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FORGOTTEN HISTORY: Biff byford | History Defined

Ten albums that prove, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that 1980 was the greatest year ever for hard rock and heavy metal

Ozzy reborn! AC/DC back! Iron Maiden on the prowl! 1980 rocked

Metal Hammer

“We knew we’d done something great, but we didn’t know we’d written a defining album for that era”: How 747 (Strangers In The Night) made Saxon unexpected stars of the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal

Inspired by a widespread blackout in the 1960s, the Yorkshire band switched from their usual “street fighting and girls” lyrics and reached new heights

Metal Hammer

"Yelling, fighting, drugs, alcohol… everything always went on. At the very end, he took me to his house and gave me a sword." Motorhead's Lemmy Kilmister, by those who knew him best

On what would've been his 80th birthday, we remember rock'n'roll icon and Motorhead legend Lemmy Kilmister

Metal Hammer

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"He was the Mad Max of rock 'n' roll." Lemmy is on the cover of the new Metal Hammer: we celebrate the man, the myth and the music of Motörhead

10 years since his passing and 50 years since Motorhead began, we celebrate a legend

Metal Hammer

"It was something that hit you like a flash of light, so you write a song about it": The story of the magical Saxon classic inspired by heavy metal music, heavy metal fans and... Toto?

Saxon were cruising the New Wave of British Heavy Metal... and their signature tune celebrated it

Metal Hammer

"Keep the faith!" Biff Byford reveals cancer diagnosis as Saxon are forced to postpone more shows

Saxon frontman Biff Byford has posted an update on social media explaining why the band have had to postpone dates this year

Metal Hammer

"The health and well-being of the band has to come first": Saxon cancel 10 summer shows as Biff Byford undergoes emergency surgery

Saxon aim to be back on the road in late August

Louder

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“I don’t think anybody can be prepared for how big the crowd was. A sea of denim and leather as far as you can see”: The epic story of Monsters Of Rock, the greatest heavy metal festival of them all

The triumphs, the bottlings, the rucks, the rain – long-running festival Monsters Of Rock changed hard rock and heavy metal forever

Metal Hammer

Biff Byford on Lemmy, inspiring thrash metal and the greatest heavy metal riff ever written

Ever wondered who'd win in a fight between Vikings and Saxons? Biff Byford has the answer

Metal Hammer

“What did we get for being innovative? We got slaughtered by everyone. That’s what you face for trying something new”: How Saxon made Crusader, the album that marked the end of their early 80s glory years

Biff Byford looks back on Saxon’s divisive 1984 album Crusader

Metal Hammer

“Our producer chopped down the songs to four minutes… the originals were much longer and stretched out”: King Crimson fan and Saxon vocalist Biff Byford narrowly missed out on being a prog musician

Twists of fate prevented him from following his original ambitions – but his band still use Robert Fripp’s music at sound checks

Louder

“We were the biggest of our generation of metal bands. We’d done it through hard graft and killer songs. None of that trendy image rubbish”: How Saxon’s Wheels Of Steel turned them into the NWOBHM’s first stars

No band did more than Saxon to put the NWOBHM on the map

Metal Hammer

Fill your heads with heavy metal thunder: The Saxon albums you should definitely listen to

Almost 50 years on from their formation, NWOBHM spearheads Saxon and much-loved frontman Biff Byford are verging on national treasure status – and these are their best albums

Louder

“You can feel embarrassed when you play a bum note, but I played bum notes on Strangers In The Night. Today those are the right notes!” Michael Schenker on rerecording UFO with Axl Rose, triangle guitars – and why there are no bad playing habits

Rock legend Michael Schenker checks in to talk My Years with UFO, the appeal of the V-shaped guitar and why he does not sweat the technique (and maybe you shouldn't either)

Guitar World

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Metal Hammer

"They invented stainless steel there": Saxon pay tribute to Sheffield with new video for Fire And Steel

The release of the Fire And Steel video comes ahead of Saxon's upcoming tour of mainland Europe

Metal Hammer

"Phil Mogg sings so unusually so it's difficult to copy, but Axl did a fantastic job": Michael Schenker's track-by-track guide to his new album My Years With UFO

Michael Schenker's My Years With UFO features contributions from Axl Rose, Slash, Roger Glover, Joey Tempest and many more

Guitar World

“I’d always said to the Scorpions, ‘If any band from England asks me to join, no matter who it is, I’m doing it’”: Michael Schenker celebrates his tenure with UFO with a new reimagined greatest hits record – and it features Slash

Michael Schenker's new album, My Years with UFO, marks the 50th anniversary of the guitarist's tenure with the British classic rock band

Metal Hammer

Axl Rose appears on an upcoming Michael Schenker album of classic UFO songs

The first song released from Michael Schenker's My Years With UFO album stars Slash and former Skid Row man Erik Grönwall

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"It was very British, but it shot round the world. It changed music": How the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal was born, by those who were there

In the late 70s, rock music was given a steel-booted kick up the backside by a new breed of band.The NWOBHM would go on to rule Britannia – and the world

Metal Hammer

"No holograms, no troupes of dancers, just a giant light-up trident descending from the ceiling": Judas Priest keep it simple on a triumphant first night of the Invincible Shield tour

A show 160 years in the making: Judas Priest, Saxon and Uriah Heap take to the stage in Glasgow

Metal Hammer

"Things have gone further than we envisaged, but that’s life": Saxon's Biff Byford on their new guitarist, extraterrestrial life and the future

As Saxon prepare to tour The UK with Judas Priest and Uriah Heep, we catch up with frontman Biff Byford to hear about new album Hell, Fire And Damnation

Metal Hammer

“They must have realised it was a bit stupid”: Metallica have never covered a Saxon song, and Biff Byford has a theory why

Metallica have never covered Saxon on record – could an incident at their second ever show explain why?

Louder

"It's like being forced by Mary Beard, wielding a vicious riding crop, to watch never-ending episodes of The Time Tunnel": Saxon's Hell, Fire And Damnation

Biff Byford lines up the history lessons on Saxon's 24th studio album Hell, Fire And Damnation

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