Classic Pop

Classic Pop magazine is the ultimate celebration of great pop and chart music - featuring both the stars of yesteryear and the classic pop-inspired acts breaking today, Classic Pop brings you closer to the genre and music you love. Each issue – with 80s pop at its core – brings you the very best exclusive artist interviews, in-depth features, music news and reviews celebrating the finest acts from the late-70s post-punk scene through to the pop, synth-pop, New Romantic, ska, indie, electronic and guitar greats of the 80s and chart stars of the 90s – plus the best new acts that embrace our classic pop heritage.

WELCOME

Classic Pop

OUR CONTRIBUTORS

THE CHARLATANS MAKE EMOTIONAL ROCKFIELD RETURN FOR NEW ALBUM

SANANDA MAITREYA WANTS TO FEEL THE HEAT ON UK TOUR

MARIAH’S BACK IN THE HERE AND NOW

PET SHOP BOYS SOUNDTRACK SILENT CLASSIC

Q + A • IN 2022, STUDIO LEGEND TREVOR HORN RELEASED HIS MEMOIR ADVENTURES IN MODERN RECORDING: FROM ABC TO ZTT. NOW HE’S FOLLOWING IT UP WITH A SPOKEN WORD TOUR AROUND THE UK THIS OCTOBER WHERE HE PROMISES TO DIVULGE MORE. CLASSIC POP IS ALL EARS…

1 HIT WONDER

TERRY HALL’S LAUGH SOUNDS AGAIN

CAST SEIZE THE MOMENT ON NEW RECORD

TRANSVISION RE-VAMPED FOR TOUR DATES DOWN UNDER

BUCKINGHAM NICKS REISSUED FOR THE FIRST TIME ON VINYL

My POP life • THE ACTOR, PRESENTER AND COMEDIAN AKA DOC BROWN REVEALS HIS LOVE OF THE BEASTIE BOYS, A TRIBE CALLED QUEST AND THE CARDIGANS…

Q + A • HAVING RECENTLY SIGNED TO ALAN McGEE’S NEW LABEL, THE BLOW MONKEYS HAVE A GREAT NEW ALBUM ON THE HORIZON AND HIT THE ROAD FOR A JOINT HEADLINE TOUR WITH THE CHRISTIANS IN OCTOBER. JUST DON’T LET DR. ROBERT HEAR YOU CALLING HIS BAND “SOPHISTIPOP”.

LOST & FOUND

JAMES PRIME • 3 NOVEMBER 1960 – 19 JUNE 2025

ASH REACH FOR THE STARS ON NEW LP

LUÍS JARDIM • 4 JULY 1950 – 4 JULY 2025

DON’T SLEEP ON THIS NEW ORB ODYSSEY

Ian Peel’s A to Z of POP • “QUESTION. WHAT’S THE CONNECTION BETWEEN A DRAWSTRING BAG AND A DICTIONARY? THE ANSWER: THE WEIRD AND WONDERFUL WORLD OF PROMOTIONAL ITEMS FOR CLASSIC POP ALBUMS AND SINGLES.”

This month in POP • THE SPECIALS RETURN, THE FINAL LP IN GARY NUMAN’S ‘MACHINE’ TRILOGY HITS THE TOP SPOT AND KATE BUSH BECOMES THE FIRST EVER FEMALE SOLO ARTIST TO ENTER THE UK ALBUMS CHART AT NO.1

TOP 5 UK ALBUMS CHART • 13 SEPTEMBER 1980

DREAM WEAVER • CELEBRATING BOTH THE 40TH ANNIVERSARY OF DREAM INTO ACTION AND THE RELEASE OF FOUR ALBUMS IN THE PAST DECADE, HOWARD JONES CONTINUES TO BE ONE OF MUSIC’S BIGGEST EXPLORERS. FAR FROM THE EARNEST OBSERVER HE’S SOMETIMES PORTRAYED AS, THE KEYTAR KING REFLECTS ON THE JOYS OF A GOOD ‘WOAH-OH’ AND HOW HE SWAPPED WORKING IN A CLING FILM FACTORY FOR SYNTH-POP SUCCESS.”

BLUR • THE FOURPIECE’S FIFTH RECORD WAS A BOLD ABOUT-FACE THAT KILLED OFF BRITPOP BUT KEPT BLUR ALIVE. THE BAND TRADED KINKS-INDEBTED CHARACTER STUDIES FOR LO-FI EXPERIMENTATION, WITH THRILLING RESULTS THAT HELPED THEM BREAK THE UNITED STATES.

THE SONGS

“My world went ‘Bang!’ All the frustrations I’d had building up, all my self-consciousness, it was completely gone.” • Facing a career as a reluctant raver, the 1990s saw Nick Heyward instead re-energised by his classic songwriting chiming with Britpop – to the extent that he joined Oasis’ record label. Then his luck ran out. With a new boxset charting a turbulent decade, Heyward tells CP how Lenny Kravitz gave him hope and of the dramatic night which changed his entire life…

THE CHARLATANS • EMERGING FROM THE BAGGY SCENE IN THE EARLY 90S, THE CHARLATANS OUTLASTED MANY OF THEIR PEERS THANKS TO A CONSTANT EVOLUTION OF THEIR SOUND − A JOURNEY THAT CONTINUES WITH THE RELEASE OF THEIR 14TH STUDIO LP, WE ARE LOVE, IN OCTOBER

NiK OF TIME...