Wow, I just got my hands on my first magazine sent to me through the Amazon.com subscription, and it is the best rock magazine I've ever read. The magazine featured ridiculous write ups on Journey, John Kalodner, Triumph, and on the cover and feature was Led Zeppelin covering the Last Days. Included were stories on Zep's final Years (77 80), their manager Peter Grant, Zeppelin's In Through the Out Door, and John Bonham. Those stories were very well detailed, published, thoroughly interesting, great write ups, pictorials, etc. The magazine was 146 pages, and aside for the feature contents, regular contents include a communication breakdown (which answers fans letters and emails), the dirt (all the news, rumors, and more), Everyhome should have one (where the magazine asks a musician his favorite album...this edition included Rudolf Scheneker from the Scrops saying no home should be without Steely Dan's The Royal Scam..and he was serious), The Stories Behind the SOngs (Classic Rock looking at BOC's Don't Fear the Reaper), Q & A (with Kinks Dave Davies), Bad Wisdom, The Hard Stuff (the biggest, rockingest rock reviews package on the planet covering all that is new, reissued, spotlight, DVD, books, you name it...it gets reviewed...the best review column I have ever read), and many more regular sections.I've read and subscribed to dozens of magazines in the past. Such as Metal Edge, Blender, Maxim, Rolling Stone, Guitar World, Revlover, Sound and Vision, and by far this UK published magazine is my absolute favorite one to buy and well worth the $9.00 USD an issue.
I am actually a bit peed off as Amazon.com has recuded the price now to be around $6.70 an issue when I bought mine a couple months ago, but nonetheless, it's a fantastic and addictive magazine certainly any fan of classic rock will enjoy. Next issue is going to be fantastic as well covering Pink Floyd, Grand Funk Railroad, and Jimi Hendrix. Bring it on!
How about classic '70s and '80s ROCK AND ROLL, NWOBHM, Prog and Indie. Yeah, every once in awhile an issue will have too much Led Zep or too much AC/DC which to me is a waste for this fine magazine because you can read about those bands anywhere. But, what makes Classic Rock magazine so unique is that it covers many (of my favorite) bands that you do not see on the covers of 20 other magazines sitting nexxt to it on the shelf. Bands that may or may not have "made it" in their day but nonetheless inspired newcomers and/or their slice of history such as Hawkwind, King Crimson, Motorhead, Thin Lizzy, Soft Machine, Robert Wyatt, Gong, T. Rex, Peter Hammill, VdGG, and of course the metal trinity of Judas Priest, Iron Maiden and the almighty Black Sabbath. Classic Rock has a great way of providing unique coverage (rare photos & excellent interviews) and have a great way of mixing the old with the new. Their facts are accurate and what gives them an edge of credibility over so many other rags is they seem to CARE and KNOW and REVERE these bands like you and I do. What a concept writers who actually know about the bands they interview and write about.
Borders is the only bookstore in which I have seen this magazine, and only for about the last year. Then for some reason, it seems to have disappeared off their shelves. Which would be a shame if they decide to stop carrying it. Who knows, maybe they only bring in a few copies which are quickly sold and that's why you don't see them as often. Anyone know about this?Born in 1998 originally as a one off concept Classic Rock has blossomed to be the premier `dad rock' magazine on the planet, though given how steadfastly it refuses to spend virtually any time on anything more recent than the end of the NWOBHM it may soon have to have the epithet of `grandad rock' magazine!
With well written (if sometimes rehashed) articles the magazine has a good reviews section and spends time reviewing reissues as well and hardly an issue goes by where you won't score yourself a free CD or even at times a free DVD which is a great way of finding out about new bands. Actually, while the magazine itself concentrates very hard on not stepping on the toes of it's sister magazine Metal Hammer the bands featured on their cover mount CD's are often very new and this is a nice juxtaposition. Many CD's have found their way onto my shelf due to the inclusion of a track on one of these free discs.
Another aspect I appreciate is the humour and the fact that the whole hard rock and heavy metal scene isn't taken too seriously. Joke captions and cheeky remarks are often the order of the day and many of the writers really do have very long and impressive CV's of hard rock and metal journalism. The whole thing is rounded off by live reviews, regular features that alternate over time and tasty photography.
As my tag line says, subscribe to this and Metal Hammer. And the reason for this is that the two complement each other, Metal Hammer being aimed at a younger readership who think Korn and the rest of the Adidas rock crowd are where metal music began whereas Classic Rock prefers to deal with the 70's. And some 70's stuff as well. And they'll occasionally spend a bit of time talking about the 70's. Actually, sometimes you wish they'd turn the spotlight of their quality journalistic onto some younger bands and fair play, the whole thing is a bit Brit-centric which is fair enough since that is where the magazine comes from and the European bands get short shrift. If you wanna find out about continental bands try Power Play.
All up I rarely miss an issue at my newsstand except when I can see all I'm in for is another love fest about one of the magazines pet 70's bands. Heartily recommended for the discerning older metal head or young pup that wants to catch some news about some of the bands that started it all.
Read Best Reviews of Classic Rock Here
best magazine covering old and new rock music i have ever read...emphasis on classic rock of 60s,70s and 80s...great articles and interviews..keeps me up to date with all the news about the bands i grew up with and still love todayI found this magazine in a Borders store almost 2 years ago at $7.99. I took it home and read it from cover to cover in about 2 days, it was that hard to put down. I haven't found a magazine in the past decade where I have enjoyed each article and the subject matter enclosed. They have tons of CD, DVD and concert reviews and being from England, informs those of us on this side of the pond of new bands that we would otherwise never hear of. It took me a few issues to subscribe, but I have been on board ever since. If you like articles on bands from the past such as Led Zeppelin, Thin Lizzy, Grand Funk, Pink Floyd, Y & T, well the list goes on and on. Some are stories on what they have been up to, but mostly an article about a particular tour or making of an album that we now recognise as a classic. It has also turned me on to bands such as Status Quo, Tokyo Dragons, Young Heart Attack, and Mostly Autumn that I would have otherwise never been exposed to. Also, every 3 or 4 issues comes with a rather long playing free CD of current music that is a nice bonus that samples the gammut of rock music. I recommend this highly, mostly color pictures that have never been shown before. The Thin Lizzy spread was my favorite a couple of issues ago. Try an issue or two, you won't be disappointed.
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