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…

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Soft Cell and PSB unite for synth-pop supergroup

Long-awaited deluxe boxset for Older unveiled

NKOTB TIP THEIR HATS TO THE 80S

Ali Campbell’s ‘poignant’ farewell album with much-missed Astro

FERRY RETURNS WITH COVERS EP AND ROXY MUSIC REUNION TOUR

Electric Ladies tour is rescheduled for June

CLASSIC PRINCE LIVE SHOW MAKES IT OUT OF THE VAULT

1-HIT WONDER

Q + A HELD BY TREES • DAVID JOSEPH’S INSTRUMENTAL PROJECT SEES TALK TALK ALUMNI JOINING FORCES FOR A REMARKABLE ALBUM THAT IMMERSES ITSELF IN THE AURA OF THE BAND’S SPIRIT OF EDEN AND LAUGHING STOCK ERAS

MY POP LIFE • THE JOURNALIST AND BROADCASTER TALKS US THROUGH HER MUSIC OBSESSIONS

LOST & FOUND

JAM PHOTOBOOK GETS 40TH ANNIVERSARY UPDATE

IAN PEEL‘S A TO Z of POP • WHAT DO SQUEEZE, THE SPECIALS AND LEO SAYER ALL HAVE IN COMMON? THEY ALL HAD THE HONOUR OF RECORDING A SESSION FOR JOHN PEEL’S RADIO ONE SHOW. AND WHILE OTHER DJS FROM THE 80S ALL BROKE BANDS WITH SESSIONS AT MAIDA VALE STUDIOS, IT’S THE PEEL ARCHIVE THAT WE CAN TRULY SAY SHAPED THE COURSE OF POP HISTORY.

THIS MONTH IN POP • THIS MONTH, DIANA ROSS LEAVES MOTOWN, PIL ARE BOOED OFF STAGE AND TOYAH RELEASE THEIR MOST SUCCESSFUL ALBUM…

"WE WERE FIRING ON ALL CYLINDERS,GOING AT THE SPEED OF LIGHT" • POST-PUNK PIONEERS THE ASSOCIATES TRANSFORMED THEMSELVES INTO BONA FIDE POP STARS ON 1982’S SULK. ALAN RANKINE, MIKE HEDGES, MICHAEL DEMPSEY, SLEEVE PHOTOGRAPHER PETER ASHWORTH AND MARTYN WARE TAKE US INSIDE THEIR SKEWED MASTERWORK.

OLDER GEORGE MICHAEL • INSPIRED BY THE GRIEF OF LOSING HIS PARTNER, GEORGE MICHAEL’S EXPANSIVE, HIT-FILLED MASTERPIECE WAS AMONGST THE MOST POWERFUL STATEMENTS OF HIS CAREER

HIT... OR MYTH? • BETWEEN 1998’S SOLO ALBUM AND HIS DEATH IN 2019, TALK TALK SINGER MARK HOLLIS RETREATED INTO A RECLUSIVE, ENIGMATIC SILENCE. AIDED BY A NEW BOOK AND A DOCUMENTARY, WE EXPLORE THE STORY BEHIND THE SUNGLASSES...

JANET JACKSON • AFTER FIRST FINDING FAME AS PART OF THE JACKSON FAMILY DYNASTY, JANET ASSERTED HER INDEPENDENCE TO BECOME ONE OF THE MOST SUCCESSFUL AND INFLUENTIAL SOLO ARTISTS IN POP

"Music Should be a play ground" • ALONGSIDE FRANKIE GOES TO HOLLYWOOD’S WELCOME TO THE PLEASUREDOME, PROPAGANDA’S A SECRET WISH DEFINED THE GRANDEUR OF ZTT. THEIR DEBUT ALBUM STOOD ALONE AS A BEACON OF EXTRAVAGANT SYNTH-POP… UNTIL NOW. MORE THAN THREE DECADES ON, CLAUDIA BRÜCKEN AND SUSANNE FREYTAG TELL THE REMARKABLE STORY OF THEIR STUNNING COMEBACK LP, THE HEART IS STRANGE.

STAYING OUT FOR THE SUMMER • AS WE FINALLY GEAR OURSELVES UP FOR THE FIRST COMPLETE FESTIVAL SEASON IN THREE YEARS, CLASSIC POP GUIDES YOU THROUGH SOME CHOICE PICKS ON THE MUSICAL CALENDAR

TOP TEN • FALCO PAYS TRIBUTE TO AN ICONIC COMPOSER, GEORGE MICHAEL BARES HIS SOUL AND THE LATE MARVIN GAYE SCORES A POSTHUMOUS HIT

TEENAGE KICKS • ONE OF THE MUSIC WORLD’S GREAT ADVENTURERS, EVEN BY DAVE STEWART’S STANDARDS HIS NEW PROJECT EBONY MCQUEEN IS AMBITIOUS: A MOVIE WITH AN ACCOMPANYING TRIPLE-ALBUM BOXSET. IT ALSO ALLOWS HIM TO REFLECT ON HOW A FOOTBALL-OBSESSED SUNDERLAND TEENAGER BECAME ONE OF POP’S GREAT COLLABORATORS. IN A WIDE-RANGING INTERVIEW TAKING IN DRUNK PIRATES IN THE CARIBBEAN AND BOB DYLAN’S LOVE OF COCKTAILS, HE TELLS US: “I’VE GOT AN INQUISITIVE MIND.”

Danny Wilson-Bebop Moptop • THERE WAS MORE TO SCOTTISH SOPHISTI-POP BAND DANNY WILSON THAN CLASSIC SINGLE MARY’S PRAYER. MATT PHILLIPS EXPLORES THEIR UNDERRATED SECOND ALBUM, WHICH TOOK INSPIRATION FROM THE ENTIRE POP PANTHEON, FROM COLE PORTER TO...