Classic Rock

Every month Classic Rock is packed with exclusive interviews and behind-the-scenes features on rock’s biggest names, from Led Zeppelin to Deep Purple, from Guns N’ Roses to the Rolling Stones, from the Sex Pistols to AC/DC and beyond. Each issue plays host to the heftiest rock reviews section on the planet. In an average issue, you’ll find over 150 albums reviewed, all from the ever-varied, multi-faceted world of rock - whether it’s hard rock or heavy metal, prog or punk, goth rock or southern rock, we’ve got it covered.

WELCOME

This month’s contributors

Classic Rock

“WE'RE STEPPING BACK FROM THE SOAP OPERA” • The Quireboys are now The Black Eyed Sons.

RIP • Thank you… and good night.

NEWS

Kenny Wayne Shepherd • The US bluesman on the spark of Stevie Ray Vaughan, the creep of AI, and smoking with Bonamassa.

The Southern River Band • Meet the Aussie rock’n’rollers with fire in their bellies and classic rock in their veins.

Finger Eleven • They might have just achieved their goal of making an album that sounds like it’s from both the past and the future.

Bobbie Dazzle • Meet the West Midlands singer bringing back upbeat music, fun and fashion of the 70s.

FIRE, FAITH AND FORGIVENESS A TRIBUTE TO JACK RUSSELL • The Great White frontman passed away on August 7. Alan Niven, the band’s former manager, co-songwriter and producer tells Classic Rock about the Jack Russell he knew.

REMEMBERING JACK RUSSEL • December 5, 1960 – August 7, 2024

The Offspring Pretty Fly (For A White Guy) • Inspired by a baseball-capped server at a dive-thru, the song brought the band a UK No.1 single, lifted them out of the doldrums and set them up for the next period of huge success.

Nikki Sixx • The Mötley Crüe bassist on making new music, replacing Mick Mars, work-life balance, learning when to say no…

ALL ABOUT BEING LOUD • In an exclusive extract from his Fast Eddie biography Make My Day, long-time Motörhead associate Kris Needs looks back at the making of their game-changing Overkill album and the subsequent killing-it UK tour.

LIFE IS A JOURNEY • For some people, travelling life’s road is easy. For lifelong worrier Myles Kennedy it’s anything but. But with his brand new solo album The Art Of Letting Go he’s learning just what that title says.

THE CLASSIC Rock INTERVIEW BILL WYMAN • WW2 evacuee, RAF airman, Rolling Stone, hit solo artist, bandleader, author, restaurateur, archaeologist, cricketer… Even just his time in The Greatest Rock’N’Roll Band In The World is storied, but there’s been much, much more to his life than that.

ROGUE TRADER • Recording almost everything on his latest album himself and putting it out on his own label, Tuk Smith followed the adage that if you want something doing properly, do it yourself.

THE KILLING FLOOR • Now revered as a linchpin moment in the history of the blues, Howlin’ Wolf’s London sessions in 1970, with a superstar cast that included some of England’s rock royalty, came out of a chance encounter several months earlier at a gig in San Francisco.

GOTTA KEEP MOVIN • In 1968 the MC5’s Kick Out The Jams album was a grenade thrown into the music scene. In the decades since, Wayne Kramer acted as guardian of the band’s legacy until he died earlier this year, after making one final album.

THE HOT List • THE ESSENTIAL NEW ROCK TRACKS TOU NEED TO HEAR THIS MONTH AND THE BANDS TO HAVE ON YOUR RADAR

THE HARD STUFF the Ultimate ROCK REVIEWS section

THE HARD STUFF ALBUMS

ROUND-UP: BLUES

ROUND-UP: SLEAZE

BEST OF THE REST • Other new releases out this month.

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THE HARD STUFF REISSUES

BEST OF THE REST • Other reissues out...