Anthem Publishing | #1 | Nov. 2012

Last Thursday, a new magazine that’s curiously parallel with the subhead of this very blog has just made a splash on the UK magazine racks. We say “Searching for divinity in records from ’78-’85 or so…” and the new Classic Pop magazine [“eighties | electronic | eclectic”]  define their charter as covering music “from Punk to Live Aid” so that’s perhaps beyond parallel and all the way to congruent. As someone who is a long time ex-veteran of caring about the music press, the reason for this has much to do with the canonization of what’s now known as “classic rock” by the generation that preceded mine and is now approaching the shores of Lake Geriatric in their paddleboats.

Over the last 25 years, there have been countless magazines flogging the same tired articles on The Big Three [Beatles/Stones/Who] and their dozen or so peers over and over and over again because theirs was the generation that had reached peak maturity and thus had the greatest financial power socially in the time period now passed. All of these people are in their sixties and seventies now and after the financial meltdown that saw their portfolios melt away just when they needed them, the few remaining advertisers/publishers are now chasing the generation behind them who are in their 40s-50s. Those who ostensibly have the scratch to drop on a magazine that caters to artists that they care about. So out with Neil Young, Keith Richards, Paul McCartney! [finally!] In with: Pet Shop Boys, ABC, Duran Duran, Depeche Mode, and Kraftwerk. While it’s true that Ralf Hutter is as old as many “classic rock” stars, the huge qualitative difference with him is that the audience and critical establishment that grew up around what became “classic rock” never trusted Hutter and deemed him unworthy due to his lack of “authenticity.”

The one trait that Hutter shares with each of the acts that I mentioned in the same sentence last paragraph is that “authenticity” is conspicuously absent from the aesthetic values that all of those acts share! In fact, I would go as far as saying that the very idea is antithetical to that generation of bands’ entire artistic thrusts! So this is the milieu in which this new magazine seeks to travel. One may as well strap in and enjoy it. My generation has about 15 years to revel in the attention before it’s gone and we’re the ones pushed out of the cave. I’m just impressed that there are still paper magazines to cater to my perceived needs in these, the end times! As much as I may enjoy this publication, it really looks like a perfect match as reading material for Mr. Vinny Vero.

In the case of Classic Pop, at least it comes by its pedigree honestly since it’s edited by Mr. Ian Peel, the official ZTT archivist who made the leap from trainspotting ZTT fan [possibly the most severe redundancy I have ever typed] to the man with the keys to the kingdom. One gets the impression that this will be like a good, pre-1983 issue of Smash Hits written for an adult sensibility. I would like to have something more substantial to say about the magazine, but it is currently on UK newsstands only. It’s due to make its appearance on the Barnes + Noble periodical racks next month in The States. If I can afford an issue [not likely, by the look of things] I will give it a thorough going over in a possible future post. It’s also available as a modern-a-go-go iPad app version, but I can’t find it in the US app store on my iPod Touch. I’ll bet that it’s a UK only thing. Until such time as you can obtain the real/or virtual thing, you can at least visit their website here where one may inquire further.

– 30 –