Classic Rock UK: Icons of Rock & Roll (2019)
English | 148 pages | True PDF | 181 MB
Here’s a question: who’s the greatest rock icon of them all? Sure, it’s not a competition, but you can still have some fun with it. Is it Jimmy Page, the man in the dragon suit who sold hard rock and guitar heroism to millions of kids across America? Is it Keith Richards, cigarette in mouth, living the lifestyle everybody dreams about but no one but him could survive? Is it ZZ Top’s king of cool Billy Gibbons, monolithic Metallica frontman James Hetfield, or even Eric Clapton, who has spent more than 50 years keeping it classy? (For me it’s Lemmy, purely because no one gave fewer fucks for as long as he did).
In truth, there’s no right answer, just as there’s no way of boiling down exactly what it is that makes a “rock star”. But in this special magazine you’re holding, you’ll find a series of extraordinary up-close-and-personal interviews with some of the icons who built the music we all love, taken from the archives of Classic Rock magazine, which hopefully go some way to shining a light on what makes these legends the people they are.
You’ll find everyone from Jimmy Page talking about the world-beating success of Led Zeppelin in the 70s to Guns N’ Roses guitarist Slash reflecting on the rock’n’roll life as recently as 2018, via the likes of AC/DC’s Angus Young, Freddie Mercury, Iggy Pop, Pink Floyd’s David Gilmour and Lou Reed, not to mention such cult heroes as Johnny Winter and JJ Cale. They’re all wildly different personalities, but if there’s one thing that unites them, it’s their dedication to the music they play.
And maybe that’s what makes an icon an icon. It’s not the way they look (though that helps), or what they say (likewise), but the legacy they’ll leave. And on that front, you won’t meet any finer examples than in these pages. We hope you enjoy reading about them as much as we did sitting down and talking to them.
FEATURES
06 Jimmy Page - “Led Zeppelin’s fourth album? It’s good, isn’t it” – so says the guitarist behind one of the greatest rock bands of them all. Who are we to argue?
16 Queen - A classic audience with Freddie Mercury as the rock icons prepared to release their legendary 1975 album A Night At The Opera.
24 Slash - The Guns N’ Roses guitarist on reuniting with Axl, the #MeToo movement and tricky conversations about drugs with your kids.
36 Keith Richards - Sex, drugs and car smashes: Keith looks back on making the Rolling Stones’ landmark 1971 album Exile On Main Street.
44 David Gilmour - From Syd Barrett to Live 8, the Pink Floyd mainman reflects on the prog legends’ rollercoaster 50-year career.
50 Aerosmith - The latest chapter in the career of America’s biggest rock band: a story of splits and reunions, drugs and sobriety, rock’n’roll and bad feet…
60 Lemmy - We spent an afternoon drinking with the Motörhead man to find out what life had taught him. This is what we learned.
66 Gregg Allman - Southern rock’s founding father on high times, liver transplants, fallen bandmates and the legacy he wants to leave behind.
70 Iggy Pop - Who do you get to interview the Igster? Trainspotting author Irvine Welsh, that’s who. This is what happened when two legends met.
76 Angus Young - How a kid in a schoolboy uniform rewired the sound of\ rock’n’roll forever with AC/DC.
82 Chris Squire - Ex-choirboy, bon viveur, prog founding father, CEO of Yes – the late bassist was a giant in every sense. This is his story.
88 Eric Clapton - The greatest British guitarist of his generation, a drug-addled mess, God… Slowhand reflects on 50 years of highs and lows.
98 Jon Lord - “Cancer has changed me – I am a better man with it” – a poignant interview with the Deep Purple keyboard legend a week before he passed.
104 Johnny Winter - The blues icon sits down with Aerosmith guitarist Joe Perry to talk the highs and lows of a life in rock’n’roll.
110 JJ Cale - Mentor to Eric Clapton, inspiration to both Lynyrd Skynyrd and Neil Young – meet the man who was blues rock’s bestkept secret.
114 Billy Gibbons - From Hendrix-approved prodigy to beardy boogie-rock titan, these are the life and times of the ZZ Top frontman.
122 James Hetfield - Metallica’s iconic frontman on the triumphs, tragedy and turmoil that helped transform him into the frontman of metal’s biggest band.
128 Rush - Exit stage left: the Canadian prog rock legends bow out with this vintage 2012 interview.
138 Lou Reed - Grumpiest man in music? Not this time. The ex-Velvet Underground leader on his love of heavy metal and the undiluted power of rock.