Classic Rock

The definitive voice in rock journalism, going behind the scenes to bring the real stories behind rock legends from Led Zeppelin to Metallica, to Marilyn Manson and beyond. Please note: This digital version of the magazine does not currently include the covermount items or content you would find on printed newsstand copies

WELCOME

This month’s contributors

Classic Rock

Rock Rules The Top 20 Again • Guitar music back with a bang in a new renaissance.

RIP • Thank you and good night

Chick Corea

Chris Barber • April 17, 1930 – March 2, 2021

LG Petrov • February 17, 1972 – March 7, 2021

NEWS

Mick Fleetwood Plans Farewell Mac Tour • Drummer says the band “owe it to the fans”.

Download 2021 Cancelled • But Iron Maiden re-booked for the 2022 event!

The Offspring • Dexter and Noodles on opioids, sex droughts and growing old disgracefully.

Levara • Fusing rock-star genes with synth-rock jams, this LA trio have come for our stadiums.

BURIED TREASURE • Riches from the rock underground

Chris Holmes • The former W.A.S.P guitarist on Blackie Lawless, his new documentary, giving up booze, and that interview

MY FIRST LOVE • The Swedish shred star reflects on the live album that impacted him more than any other.

Dropkick Murphys • Ken Casey on sobriety, stolen puddings, and the resurrected art of smashing TVs with sledgehammers

Jacob Bryant • Meet the North Georgia country rocker with a troubled past and a bright future.

Michael Schenker • The influential guitarist on immortality, alcoholism and why he’ll never make peace with elder brother Scorpion Rudolf.

The Dust Coda • They all like AC/DC, they’re not always on 11, they spent lockdown getting a record deal, they’ve played some unusual gigs…

100 MOST INFLUENTIAL GUITAR HEROES

ROBERT SMITH • All spidery substance and no “empty flash”, The Cure frontman makes the guitar sound like no one else.

ELYSE STEINMAN

LARRY LALONDE

MARC RIBOT • Meet the daring sonic chameleon (and a guitarist for Tom Waits, The Black Keys and others) whose playing has taken in rock, free jazz, classical, hardcore punk, Cuban music and more.

SYLVAIN SYLVAIN • He had the look, the attitude, the talent, the desire. Had heroin not intervened, he reckoned his band the New York Dolls, not the Stones, could have been the Greatest Rock’n’Roll Band In The World.

KURT COBAIN • He’s widely celebrated as a songwriter, but the Nirvana mastermind also changed everything for a new generation of guitar players.

SISTER ROSETTA THARPE

DEVIN TOWNSEND

MICK GREEN • Wilko Johnson on the first time he heard The Pirates’ chief six-stringer

TOSIN ABASI • Anyone who thinks there’s nothing new left to be done on guitar, watch this space.

STEVE ROTHERY

NITA STRAUSS

JONI MITCHELL • She’s best known as one of the greatest singer-songwriters of her generation, but her mostly open-tunings one-of-a-kind guitar playing occupies a field of its own.

TODD RUNDGREN • From using a guitar to simulate motorbikes on Bat Out Of Hell, and the sound of strangled chickens on A Wizard, A True Star, we revisit the case for the singer, songwriter, producer’s guitar genius.

RICK NIELSEN • Behind the oddball exterior and the daft guitars is someone who could show guitar heroes a thing or

RODRIGO Y GABRIELA

THURSTON MOORE & KIM GORDON

GARY CLARK JR • He might be a relatively new kid on the blues block, but his Grammy-winning combination of guitar playing, music and lyrics has fast-tracked him to its top table.

GLENN TIPTON • As half of Judas Priest’s twin-guitar firepower he’s...