R.I.P. Classic Rock magazine

Wondering why I’d not had my subscriber edition of Classic Rock issue 232, I checked the Team Rock website this morning to find, to my dismay, that the company went into administration on 19 December 2016.

This means no more Classic Rock; no more Metal Hammer; and no more Prog magazine. Another heartfelt and very real loss to the music industry as Team Rock have been at the forefront of the genre now for the past 18 years.

I’ve been a subscriber since the beginning of 1999, just after the release of issue 2, and (although I had to nip out and buy the lastest) have every issue up to 232, the last; a veritable encyclopaedia of classic rock.

It’s a sad loss indeed and I shall miss my monthly digest into the annuls of rock past, present and even future. R.I.P. Team Rock – you’ll be sorely missed.

100 Greatest British Rock albums ever

Classic Rock started in July 1998 and has recently published it’s 200th issue. It now has a higher circulation world-wide than the New Musical Express (NME) which has been there since March 1952.

In issue 91 (April 2006) the ‘Classic Rock 100 Greatest British Rock albums ever’ list was published. Voted for by Classic Rock staff and key people in the British Rock music industry, it’s still regarded as one of the definitive standards, despite the passing of eight more years since.

I count myself very fortunate not only to have every issue of Classic Rock magazine itself, but also 60 of the top 100 British Rock albums. My Jem’s Music blog starts a new mini-series from today featuring tracks chosen from each of these 60.

The list was accompanied by free cover DVD – ‘The Making of the Greatest British Rock Albums’.This features live performances  and interviews from 11 top British Acts, each of which feature in the top 100 albums together with four bonus live recordings

Features

1. Queen – Interview with the band about ‘Death on two legs’ from the 1975 album “A night at the Opera” (Number 17/100)
2. Cream – Interview with the band about the ‘riff’ with live footage from the Royal Albert Hall of ‘Sunshine of you love’ taken from the 1967 album “Disraeli Gears” (Number 40/100)
3. Motorhead – Interview with various people about ‘Ace of Spades’ from the 1980 album of the same name (Number 25/100)
4. Pink Floyd – Interview with Roger Waters and David Gilmour about ‘Money’ with live footage of the guitar solo from the 1973 album ‘Dark side of the Moon” (Number 3/100)
5. Judas Priest – Interview with the band about the making of ‘Living after Midnight’ from the 1980 album “British Steel” (Number 39/100)
6. Iron Maiden – Live footage of ‘The Number of the Beast’ from the 1982 album of the same name (Number 15/100)
7. The Who – Interview with surviving band members about the track ‘Baba O’Riley’ from the 1971 album “Who’s Next” (Number 2/100)
8. Deep Purple – Ritchie Blackmore shows how the ‘riff’ from ‘Smoke on the Water’ should be played. From the 1972 album “Machine Head” (Number 26/100)
9. Def Leppard – Interview with Mutt Lunge (the band’s producer) about ‘Pour some sugar on me’ from the 1987 album “Hysteria” (Number 16/100)
10. Sex Pistols – Interview with band engineer about the musicality of ‘Anarchy in the UK’ from the 1977 album “Never mind the Bollocks” (Number 4/100)
11. Fleetwood Mac – Live footage of ‘Dreams’ from the 1977 album “Rumours” (Number 41/100)

Bonus

1. Metallica – ‘Wherever I may roam’ from “Metallica”
2. Nirvana – ‘Come as you are’ from “Nevermind”
3. Jimi Hendrix – ‘Burning of the midnight lamp’ from ‘”Electric Ladyland”, and
4. The Grateful Dead – ‘Truckin’ from “Anthem to Beauty”

 

Vox Magazine

Vox magazine was in circulation between October 1990 and June 1998. Heralded as the sister magazine to the NME and catering for the alternative end of the market, despite its excellent content, sadly its longevity proved to be ultimately untenable.

The image above is from the front cover of issue 1. This edition is now (strangely) a collector’s item and has a value of £40!

 Vox also featured regular slots on the latest music-related gadgets


And what could have been a really good Rock encyclopaedia - except that it only got up to 'R'!


The last edition of Vox