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
the DIRT
RIP Thank you… and good night.
Alex Lifeson’s New Project • Ex-Rush guitarist announces new band, album and single.
NEWS
Dan Reed Network • The band return with a new album that Reed says is “a little more fun than our last couple of records”.
Naked Gypsy Queens • Tennessee’s next great blues band, who follow some good advice from from Alice Cooper.
THE OUTSIDERS • C.Q. Polydor, Netherlands 1968. £500+
NEWS
Helen Love • Twenty years and 10 albums in, approved by John Peel and Joey Ramone, maybe it’s time you gave them a little love.
MY FIRST LOVE Montrose MONTROSE
NEWS
Spoon • Almost 20 years into their career, the band return with album number 10 and a playlist that helped inspire it.
Splinter • Fancy some punk-spirited rock’n’roll with a side of fancy footwork? Go Dutch with these guys.
Beth Hart • The heart-on-sleeve singer-songwriter on her new album of Led Zep covers, and how lockdown helped with mental health issues.
CLASSIC ROCK PRESENTS
UNDER THE COVERS • Ranging from almost Xerox copies to barely recognisable complete restylings of other people’s songs, we look at the culture of the cover version, and what actually constitutes a cover.
AIN’T NO LOVE IN THE HEART OF THE CITY • WHITESNAKE 1978
DEAR PRUDENCE • SIOUXSIE AND THE BANSHEES 1983
THE GREEN MANALISHI • (WITH THE TWO PRONG CROWN) JUDAS PRIEST 1978
THE GHOST OF TOM JOAD • RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE 1997
ALONE • HEART 1987
100% PROOF • Thin Lizzy were on the road to nowhere when they decided to record a dusty old folk tune titled Whiskey In The Jar, intended as a B-side. Result: a 70s classic.
HALLELUJAH • JEFF BUCKLEY 1994
BLINDED BY THE LIGHT • MANFRED MANN’S EARTH BAND 1976
STOP YOUR SOBBING • THE PRETENDERS 1979
JETT POWERED • Topping charts around the world, Joan Jett & The Blackhearts’ I Love Rock ’N’ Roll was a huge rock single of the 80s, with its basic but instantly recognisable monster riff. But you’d be forgiven for not knowing it was a cover version.
THE HOLY GRAIL • On March 10, 1968 at Winterland in San Francisco, Cream covered a Robert Johnson song. Today it is seen as one of the most magnificent four minutes of live rock ever recorded.
ROCKIN’ ALL OVER THE WORLD • STATUS QUO 1977
LITTLE WING • STEVIE RAY VAUGHAN & DOUBLE TROUBLE 1991
WALK THIS WAY • RUN-DMC 1986
Breaking The Law • A song written in the late 1950s, I Fought The Law took on a new and decidedly grittier life when The Clash put their stamp on it in 1979. Songwriter Sonny Curtis tells all.
HUSH • DEEP PURPLE 1968
GOD GAVE ROCK AND ROLL TO YOU II • KISS 1991
GLORIA • PATTI SMITH 1975
MAMA TOLD ME NOT TO COME • THREE DOG NIGHT 1970
LED ZEPPELIN VS MEMPHIS MINNIE • Whose version of When The Levee Breaks is better?
SINCE YOU BEEN GONE • RAINBOW 1979
HANGING ON THE TELEPHONE • BLONDIE 1978
BLACK BETTY • RAM JAM 1977
CASH CONVERTERS • Johnny Cash doing a version of industrialists Nine Inch Nails’ Hurt was nothing if not unlikely. But then the iconic Man In Black was no stranger to recording unlikely cover versions.
THE SONGS THEY ARE A-CHANGIN’ • Thousands...