Classic Pop

Classic Pop magazine is the ultimate celebration of great pop and chart music with star interviews, features, news and reviews. From pop to electronic and new wave, dance and indie – it's all here…

WELCOME

CLASSIC POP WHO’S WHO

GIRLS ALOUD REUNION TOUR WILL BE DEDICATED TO SARAH HARDING

BLONDIE’S CHRIS STEIN IS “DOUBTFUL” HE’LL PERFORM LIVE AGAIN

Kylie’s Body Language gets 20th anniversary vinyl reissue

Rick Rubin helms Gossip’s Powerful comeback

LET’S ROCK ANNOUNCES LINEUP FOR FOUR FESTIVALS

KEEPING THE DREAM ALIVE

80s incarnation of The Damned reunites for UK tour

My POP life • THE WITHNAIL & I ACTOR AND FORMER DOCTOR WHO STAR TALKS US THROUGH HIS MUSICAL OBSESSIONS

Q+A D:REAM • THE 90s DANCE DUO WHOSE CLUB ANTHEM BECAME A POP HIT THAT SUMMED UP AN ENTIRE DECADE

BANANARAMA, MIDGE URE + MORE HEAD TO LEEDS FOR 80s CLASSICAL

VERMIN IN ERMINE

SHANE MACGOWAN DIES AGED 65

Ian Peel’s A to Z of POP • HOW IS IT THAT SO MANY CLASSIC GREATEST HITS COMPILATIONS WERE RELEASED WITH TRACKS THAT WE’D NEVER ACTUALLY HEARD BEFORE?

This month in POP • TINA TURNER WOWS THE CROWDS IN RIO WHILE WHITNEY AND JACKO TOP THE U.S. SINGLES CHART

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TOP 5 UK ALBUMS CHART

“Our music was about finding something other than what was expected of us” • IT’S BEEN 40 YEARS SINCE BANANARAMA’S DEBUT ALBUM, BUT KEREN WOODWARD AND SARA DALLIN’S FRIENDSHIP SINCE THEY WERE TEENAGERS IN BRISTOL GOES BACK EVEN FURTHER. AS NEW BEST OF COMPILATION GLORIOUS CELEBRATES DECADES OF IMPERIOUS POP, THE DUO TELL US HOW THEY HAVE OVERCOME EVERYTHING THE INDUSTRY COULD THROW AT THEM – AND WHY IT’S NEVER A GOOD IDEA TO TRY TO DRESS LIKE BANANARAMA AT AN 80s PARTY…

HOTTER THAN JULY • THE MOTOWN LEGEND’S FIRST RECORD OF THE 80s WAS A BACK-TO-BASICS RETURN TO FORM. A TIGHT COLLECTION IN WHICH STEVIE PLAYS IT SAFE WITH HIS TRADEMARK FUNKY SOULFUL POP BUT DELIVERS A PUNCH THROUGH ARDENT POLITICAL ACTIVISM.

"TWO TRIBES WAS LIKE DRIVING A CAR OFF A CLIFF!" • HE'S THE MAN WHO DEFINED THE SOUND OF THE 80s. NOW TREVOR HORN IS BACK WITH AN AUDACIOUS SOLO ALBUM THAT REINVENTS A WHOLE HOST OF CLASSIC SONGS FEATURING AN ALL-STAR CAST OF COLLABORATORS INCLUDING SEAL, MARC ALMOND, RICK ASTLEY AND IGGY POP. WE MEET THE PRODUCER WHO TAKES US BEHIND ITS CREATION AS WELL AS HIS FORMER LIFE SHAPING THE SONIC LANDSCAPE OF THE CHARTS.

PET SHOP BOYS • WITH NEIL TENNANT’S WITTY LYRICS AND CHRIS LOWE’S CULTURED SYNTHS AND BEATS, THE DUO’S CONSISTENTLY STRONG BACK CATALOGUE HELPED TO REDEFINE THE POP LANDSCAPE

2024 The year ahead • THINGS ARE SHAPING UP NICELY FOR 12 MONTHS OF MAJOR NEW ALBUMS AND TOURS FROM OUR FAVOURITE ARTISTS

CLASSIC POP TOP TEN • NOVELTY CRUISE FODDER, A NUTTY BOYS CLASSIC, PHIL COLLINS GOES RETRO, SHAKY DOES ELVIS, A GREEN DUCK IN A NAPPY AND BING & BOWIE...

grape expectations • SHAUN RYDER MADE THE ULTIMATE COMEBACK IN THE MID-90s WITH BLACK GRAPE. NOW 30 YEARS ON FROM THEIR FORMATION, SHAUN AND BANDMATE KERMIT RETURN WITH A NEW ALBUM THAT’S AS FIERY AND VITAL AS ANYTHING FROM THEIR FIRST PHASE...

VIRGINS AND PHILISTINESS THE COLOURFIELD • WHEN TERRY HALL DIED LAST DECEMBER, HIS MID-80s BAND, THE COLOURFIELD, WERE LARGELY OVERLOOKED BY OBITUARIES. NONETHELESS, THEIR DEBUT ALBUM, VIRGINS AND PHILISTINES, REMAINS A HIGHLIGHT IN THE BACK CATALOGUE OF THE MAN THAT DAMON ALBARN CALLED “THE COOLEST HUMAN BEING ON EARTH”.

TOP 20 ReMiX ALBuMs • WHILE THE MOTIVES OF RECORD LABELS WERE OFTEN CALLED INTO QUESTION, REMIX ALBUMS WERE CERTAINLY AFFORDABLE AND OFFERED SOMETHING DIFFERENT FOR THE MUSIC CONSUMER, AS OUR LATEST COUNTDOWN REVEALS

WAH! GAMES

THE BEST OF 2023 • OUR PICK OF THE FINEST NEW ALBUMS, REISSUES, VARIOUS ARTIST COMPILATIONS...