Experience 12 months of high-voltage vibes, iconic interviews, and unforgettable moments from the rock giants that defined a generation.
Classic Rock Annual (2025)
Editor’s note
KILLERS, BEASTS, SLAVES, SONS, SOULS… • With Iron Maiden celebrating their 50th anniversary this year, we talk to all the members of the band and look back over the successes, trials, tribulations, thrills, spills and genre-defining records of the longest-running and arguably greatest heavy metal band of them all.
UNLOCKING THE DOORS • Sixty years after The Doors opened for business, then took audiences – and themselves – on a destination-unknown thrill ride, we talk with surviving members Robby Krieger and John Densmore to find out what the key was that unlocked the magic. “Maybe it was luck, or maybe it was meant to be,” says Krieger.
LEARNING TO FLY • With their label ready to drop them after a so-so first album, Aerosmith clung on, dreamed on, accepted some tough demands, Joe Perry tells us, and recorded a second that gave them lift-off: Get Your Wings.
BILL WYMAN • WW2 evacuee, RAF airman, Rolling Stone, hit solo artist, bandleader, author, restaurateur, archaeologist, cricketer… Even just his time in The Greatest Rock’N’Roll Band In The World is storied, but there’s been much, much more to his life than that.
REVENGE IS SWEET • When Alice Cooper’s album Billion Dollar Babies hit No.1 in the UK and US in 1973, instead of solidifying the band they unravelled. It would be 50 years until the original group recorded another, The Revenge Of Alice Cooper.
THE WORKING MAN • The Creedence Clearwater Revival frontman’s saga is one of American rock’s most complex: a story of working-class poetry, bitter betrayal, legal warfare, and long-delayed redemption. Now at peace with his past and driven by a renewed purpose, John Fogerty’s story is not over yet…
THE LAST HURRAH • On July 5, 2025, the original four members of Black Sabbath reunite to play the very last Sabbath show, in their home city. After that there will be no more comebacks, no more tours, no more ‘final’ shows. Ozzy, Tony, Geezer and Bill look back at their incredible time together.
“IS THIS OZZY’S LAST SHOW? ONE THOUSAND PER CENT” • Sharon Osbourne on the Back To The Beginning show.
ROCK ON WITH OUR MUSIC BOOKAZINES • Discover the origins of legendary songs, relive iconic performances and meet the pioneers behind some of music’s greatest names
FANTASTIC BEATS (AND WHERE TO FIND THEM) • Gold even before its release, Captain Fantastic And The Brown Dirt Cowboy was worth the hard work. But the album marked the end of Elton John’s imperial period – and his band.
PETE TOWNSHEND • With The Who he wrote some of the great songs from the first wave of pop, then went on to conquer the rock world. In recent years he’s mostly been involved in solo work. In the 60s he famously wrote the lyric: ‘Hope I die before I get old.’ Thankfully he didn’t.
THE ITALIAN JOB • Lights! Camera! Music! Problems. With an updated version about to hit cinema screens, we look at the making of Pink Floyd Live At Pompeii, with recollections from drummer Nick Mason, director Adrian Maben and the man behind the new mix, Steven Wilson.
A FAREWELL TO KINGS? maybe Not… • Celebrating half a century since their debut, we sat down with Rush’s Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson at the end of 2024 to speak about their 50 year journey from there to here – and what might come next for the Canadian prog rock legends..
CALIFORNIA GOLD • With Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham on board, Fleetwood Mac’s 1975 self-titled White Album was the first record by what became the band’s most beloved and successful line-up. “It was where all the planets aligned for us,” said Christine McVie.
GLENN HUGHES • With Trapeze, Deep Purple,...