Mark Weiss, Author: Mark “Weissguy” Weiss is a world-renowned photographer who has traveled the globe photographing legends from Van Halen, Ozzy Osbourne, Aerosmith, and Mötley Crüe to Metallica, Guns N’ Roses, Bon Jovi, and KISS. Weiss’s iconic images capture the artists onstage, backstage, and behind the scenes. He visually documented historic events including the US Festival, Live Aid, the Moscow Music Peace Festival, and the PMRC hearings in Washington, DC. His photographs have been published in thousands of magazines worldwide, and he is responsible for two of the era’s defining album covers, Bon Jovi’s Slippery When Wet and Twisted Sister’s Stay Hungry. His inimitable photographs helped craft the visual imagery of rock and metal in the 1980s.

Richard Bienstock, Co-Author: Richard Bienstock is a journalist and musician whose writing has appeared in numerous U.S. and international outlets, including Rolling Stone, Billboard, Guitar Player, and Classic Rock. He is a former senior editor of Guitar World and executive editor of Guitar Aficionado magazines, and has authored several books, among them Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck, the official companion to the 2015 film of the same name. He is also the author of an upcoming oral history on the 1980s hard rock industry, to be released by St. Martin’s Press.

Rob Halford, Foreword Contributor: Rob Halford is best known as the lead vocalist for the Grammy Award-winning heavy metal band Judas Priest and famed for his wide-ranging voice. Halford is referred to as "The Metal God", not just for his vocals, but also for his contributions and dedication to the metal genre.

Eddie Trunk, Afterword Contributor: Eddie Trunk is an American music historian, radio personality, talk show host, and author, best known as the host of several hard rock and heavy metal-themed radio and television shows.