Classic Pop (magazine)


Classic Pop is a monthly British music magazine, which launched in October 2012. It was devised and founded by Ian Peel, who was also editor for the first 19 issues. Rik Flynn stepped in as editor until Issue 23 followed by current editor Steve Harnell. Ian Peel remains involved as Founder & Editor-at-Large.
Its overriding philosophy is summed up on one of its occasional series, Five Decades of... which interviews and appraises the work of an influential musician or group who may have been constantly overlooked my other media but who are nonetheless hugely influential and have been consistently active, releasing new music across the 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, 2000s and 2010s. Key Five Decades of... features have included Vince Clarke, Duran Duran, Simple Minds and Spandau Ballet.
Classic Pop has also published special one-off editions commemorating the lives of David Bowie, Prince and Michael Jackson, as well as the careers of ABBA, Madonna, Paul McCartney and Elton John.

Regular sections

'Godfathers/Godmothers of Pop'

One of the magazine's lead sections, every issue has profiled one or more highly influential musicians with an exclusive interview and induction into Classic Pop's Godmothers/Godfathers of Pop. The following artists have been bestowed the title:
Marc Almond, Adam Ant, Wally Badarou, Tom Bailey, Andy Bell, Blancmange, Thomas Dolby, Wolfgang Flür, Martin Fry, Glenn Gregory, Clare Grogan, Tony Hadley, Daryl Hall, Morten Harket, Nick Heyward, Peter Hook, Trevor Horn, Steve Jansen, Matt Johnson, Howard Jones, Gary Kemp, Nik Kershaw, Mark King, Annie Lennox, Ron Mael, Phil Manzanera, Dieter Meier, Daniel Miller, Kylie Minogue, Giorgio Moroder, Yoko Ono, Andy Partridge, Kate Pierson, Nick Rhodes, Nile Rodgers, Shaun Ryder, Cathal Smyth, Lisa Stansfield, Susan Ann Sulley, Bernard Sumner, John Taylor, Tracey Thorn, Toyah, Midge Ure, Martyn Ware, Pete Waterman.

'Classic Album'

Each edition of Classic Pop devotes five pages to an in-depth examination of the making of, and influence of, a definitive album of the pop genre.
Since May 2014, the singles reviews section has been written by a special guest. To date these have included:
Every issue of the magazine has included a column – most often written by Ian Peel or John Earls – examining and assessing a single or album that should be considered classic or influential with hindsight, but which has fallen off the radar of the media or public-at-large. The following releases have been covered in this section:

'Labelled With Love'

Classic Pop runs an occasional series of in-depth appraisals of influential record labels. These have included:
For five issues in 2014, Classic Pop ran a series of interviews with songwriters describing the creative process behind some of their most well-known works. The songs examined in this series were:
A pictorial based on exclusive behind-the-scenes photos and commentary from a recent concert. These have included Claudia Brücken's This Happened at Bush Hall, London, The Christians' European Tour, Thomas Dolby's Time Capsule Tour of the US, Nick Heyward at Let's Rock the Moor!, Let's Rock Festival, Madness at The Queens' Diamond Jubilee Celebration Concert, Swing Out Sister at Billboard Live, Tokyo, Then Jerico's Big Area Tour.

'Hit Songwords'

The earlier issues of the magazine included the lyrics to a particular song. These were Deacon Blue – Chocolate Girl, The Farm - All Together Now, Frankie Goes To Hollywood – Two Tribes , Spandau Ballet - Gold, Squeeze - Cool for Cats.