Dive into the digital edition and immerse yourself in the electrifying world of Jimi Hendrix, Metallica, Led Zeppelin, and other rock gods. Brace yourself for a wild ride with Thin Lizzy, Neil Young, Deep Purple, Tina Turner, Ian Hunter, Aerosmith, The Police, Creedence Clearwater Revival, and many more!
Classic Rock Annual (2024)
Editorial
THE LONG KISS GOODNIGHT • It’s been coming for a while, but the final show of the final tour by rock icons Kiss finally arrived. And Classic Rock was there to talk to Gene and Paul about the enormity of it all, wallow in the end-of-an-era atmosphere and, yes, rock and roll all (one final) night.
The Soundtrack Of My Life • Kiss bassist, fire breather and Beast Gene Simmons on the records, artists and gigs that are of lasting significance to him.
BASICS INSTINCT • Banned from MTV. Drunken shenanigans. USA-upsetting videos. Band members buggering off…After a stylistic detour with previous album Hot Space, with The Works Queen got back to basics, and returned to their rock roots and to the ‘real Queen’ sound.
CHRIS ROBINSON & RICH ROBINSON THE BLACK CROWES • The siblings talk about growing up, breaking out, breaking up, making up, love, hate, the pros and cons of success, Snakes, Money Makers and Harmony, dizzying highs (both kinds), heartbreaking lows, lost friends, recriminations, reunions… music and much more.
FOLLOW THE FELLOW WHO FOLLOWS A DREAM • In December 1973, Elton John finished a triumphant 13-date UK tour. It capped off an extraordinary year in which his album Goodbye Yellow Brick Road reinforced in some style his status as a global superstar.
Road Works
ANN WILSON & NANCY WILSON HEART • The Heart mainstays’ long and eventful career has taken the two sisters collectively and individually to thin-air highs and crushing lows, in a 50-year roller-coaster rock’n’roll saga. Along the way they’ve made some wonderful music. And their journey continues…
How The West Was Won • It was on Thin Lizzy’s third album, Vagabonds Of The Western World, that “you really get to hear Phil the poet”, says drummer Brian Downey. After that record, the boys really were in town.
THE ITALIAN JOB • In 1993 Guns N’ Roses released The Spaghetti Incident?, an album of covers, and brought a load of mostly obscure, mostly punk-rock tracks to a wider audience. We take a look at the originals that fired up Axl and co. enough to want to record their own versions.
The Soundtrack Of My Life • Stranglers bassist/vocalist Jean-Jacques Burnel on the records, artists and gigs that are of lasting significance to him.
PAUL RODGERS • One of rock’s all-time great vocalists looks back at his life and times with Free, Bad Company, The Firm and Queen, the tragedy of Paul Kossoff, his solo career, and why he probably owes the fact that he’s still alive today to his involvement in martial arts.
The Soundtrack Of My Life • Ex-Moody Blues frontman Justin Hayward on the records, artists and gigs that are of lasting significance to him.
THE RESURRECTION SHUFFLE • Dio was out, Gillan was gone, Geezer had given up. And Ozzy? Ozzy had declared war… Into the blackness surrounding Black Sabbath came light in the shape of singer Tony Martin, and the next chapter in the band’s ever eventful story began.
The Soundtrack Of My Life • Metal Queen Doro on the records, artists and gigs that are of lasting significance to her.
JON BON JOVI • “There was no Plan B in my life, ever,” he says. Luckily he didn’t need one. He started in covers bands, got the breaks, went on to mastermind one of the biggest and biggest-selling bands of his era, and became one of its biggest rock stars. And there’s more – much more…
AC/DE/50
“I PLAYED HIGH VOLTAGE FOR FIVE MONTHS STRAIGHT!” • Saxon’s Biff Byford on...