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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OUR CONTRIBUTORS

PET SHOP BOYS UNVEIL NEW STUDIO ALBUM AND ROYAL OPER A HOUSE DATES

ELLIS - BEXTOR BOUNCES BACK WITH MAJOR LABEL DEAL

Gabrielle’s heart-shaped LP return

WIN tickets for UB40’s arena show dates

Support needed for SAW blue plaque honour

A DREAM TEAM-UP OF MANC LEGENDS

Q+A: THE ZUTONS • PRODUCERS NILE RODGERS AND IAN BROUDIE ADD THEIR POP NOUS TO THE LIVERPOOL BAND’S MUCH-ANTICIPATED COMEBACK ALBUM. DAVE MCCABE AND ABI HARDING TAKE US INSIDE THE BIG DECIDER...

KNOPFLER HAS TYNE ON HIS MIND

NEVILLE STAPLE CANCELS LIVE SHOWS ON HEALTH GROUNDS

1-HIT WONDER

My POP life • THE STAND-UP COMEDIAN AND CO-PRESENTER OF RADIO 4’S THE INFINITE MONKEY CAGE REFLECTS ON HIS POP FAVOURITES...

Q+A STARSAILOR • AS THE WARRINGTON FOURPIECE RELEASE THEIR FIRST ALBUM IN SEVEN YEARS, FRONTMAN JAMES WALSH REFLECTS ON THEIR CAREER AND TAKES US TO A PLACE WHERE THE WILD THINGS GROW...

FR ANK FARIAN

COMING UP FOR AIR ON 25TH ANNIVERSARY

LOST & FOUND

Ian Peel’s A to Z of POP • THERE’S A GENRE THAT EXISTED FOR A MOMENT, WHEN THE 80s BLURRED INTO THE 90s, WHICH PAVED THE WAY FOR SO MUCH THAT WAS TO COME. AND IT’S RIPE FOR REAPPRAISAL.

This month in POP • NEW ORDER RELEASE A SYNTH-POP CLASSIC, BANANARAMA SPRING TO LIFE, U2 SCORE A FIRST NO.1 ALBUM AND DURAN DURAN FINALLY MAKE IT THE TOP

TOP 5 UK ALBUMS CHART

“There’s a streak in me that hates being categorised” • Paul Young ushered in the sound that dominated the second half of the 80s with the eclectic No Parlez, which spanned soul, New Wave, Bowiesque art-pop and even boasted a controversial Joy Division cover. Now celebrated with a new expanded edition, we hear how the album was created from Paul, producer Laurie Latham, bassist Pino Palladino and backing vocalists The Fabulous Wealthy Tarts.

KINGS OF THE WILD FRONTIER • LEFT WITHOUT ANY BAND MEMBERS FOLLOWING A MALCOLM MCCLAREN-LED MUTINY, ADAM REGROUPED STRONGER THAN EVER AND MADE THE SEEMINGLY UNLIKELY TRANSFORMATION FROM LEATHER-CLAD ABRASIVE POST-PUNK TO VIBRANT CHART DARLING

THE SONGS

THE PL AYERS

THE VIDEOS

SUCK IT AND SEE • Having celebrated their 40th anniversary last year, James are back with uplifting new album Yummy. The LP maintains a prolific output since the band reformed, vowing to stop their internal chaos. Tim Booth, Saul Davies and Jim Glennie tell Classic Pop of the nine-piece’s eccentric creative process, why they’re so bloody-minded – and of their macabre sweepstake...

ALBUM BY ALBUM KIM WILDE • FROM NEW WAVE ANTHEMS TO SYNTH-DRIVEN GEMS AND PURE POP, THE MIDDLESEX-BORN SINGER BOASTS A WILDLY ECLECTIC BACK CATALOGUE

Black Book Recordings • WITH DOZENS OF UNRELEASED TRACKS AND RARE GLIMPSES INTO THEIR STUDIO PROCESS, COMPREHENSIVE NEW BOXSET 1985 CELEBRATES HOW THE WATERBOYS REALISED THEIR ‘BIG MUSIC’ VISION ON THIRD ALBUM THIS IS THE SEA. WE MEET THE BAND’S FRONTMAN AND SONGWRITER MIKE SCOTT TO FIND OUT MORE…

TOP TEN • BLONDIE AT THEIR BEST, ALL NIGHT SPINAL TAP, A TIMELESS ANTI-WAR SONG, ONE FOR THE OLDIES,ONE-HIT WONDERS AND... SUE LAWLEY!

THE COOL cats • FORMED VIA AN ADVERT IN A TOBACCONIST’S WINDOW BACK IN 1974, SQUEEZE ARE CELEBR ATING THEIR GOLDEN ANNIVERSARY THIS YEAR WITH A LIVE TOUR AND NOT ONE, BUT TWO NEW ALBUMS. WE MEET SONGWRITERS CHRIS DIFFORD AND GLENN TILBROOK TO HEAR ABOUT LIFE IN ONE OF POP’S MOST ENGLISH OF BANDS...

GIANT THE WOODEN TOPS • THE WOODENTOPS COULD HAVE BEEN MASSIVE, WITH A UNIQUE STYLE AND THE RIGHT CONNECTIONS, EVEN INADVERTENTLY...