“Most people,” author Julian Barnes once wrote, “didn’t experience ‘the 60s’ until the 70s...”
Editor’s note
Classic Rock Special: Legends of the 70s
WHEN ALL IS ONE AND ONE IS ALL The making of Led Zeppelin IV • It had no title, no band name on the sleeve, no singles released to radio. But the album that the record company said would bomb made Zeppelin the biggest band on the planet. Forty years after its release, the inside story of a rock classic.
FOUR SYMBOLISM • The origins of the album’s four symbols explained.
THE BACK TO THE CLUBS TOUR • 1971 was the last time you could see Zeppelin for 70p…
GET INSIDE ACCESS TO THE MAKING OF LED ZEPPELIN’S CLASSIC ALBUMS • Led Zeppelin: The Classic Rock Special Edition collects classic stories from the magazine’s 20 year history. From Led Zeppelin 1 to the reunion gig, it’s everything you need to know about rock’s greatest band.
STONES IN EXILE • Keith Richards and Charlie Watts on the fights, drugs and chaos that was the making of Exile On Main St…
THE ULTIMATE GUIDE TO THE GREATEST ALBUMS EVER MADE • Discover 146 pages of classic albums reappraised by rock’s greatest writers and ranked according to votes cast by Classic Rock magazine’s readers. Did your favourite make the cut?
Roxy Music Virginia Plain • It broke most of the accepted rules governing what makes a hit single, yet this song about a painting of a cigarette packet – a cigarette packet! – became a genuine rock classic.
LET THERE BE ROCK! • On December 31, 1973, the fledgling AC/DC saw in the New Year by playing their very first gig at a bar in Sydney. Forty years on, the members of that original line-up recall the birth of a legend.
IT’S A LONG WAY TO THE TOP • Released only in Australia the original High Voltage wasn’t anything special, but follow-up T.N.T. put AC/DC on the road to fame and success…
CHEAP THRILLS • After two Australia-only album releases, it was time to look abroad. A compilation from those two was their first step towards global fame.
“WE NICKNAMED HIM ROAD-TEST RONNIE. HE TRIED IT ALL” • Pre-AC/DC, Bon Scott was the acid-gobbling, jellyfish-bothering singer with Fraternity. Former bandmate John Bisset recalls the man behind the myth.
IT’S A LONG WAY TO THE TOP… • …if you wanna rock’n’roll. And in Australia, AC/DC were taking the first steps up that ladder. Cue riots, dust-ups and urine-filled turkeys.
LOCK UP YOUR DAUGHTERS! • In April 1976 AC/DC played their very first UK gig at a pub in West London. Classic Rock’s Malcolm Dome was in the front row.
“WE PARTIED DOWN.” • One hot day in 1977, AC/DC and Lynyrd Skynyrd jammed together in a Jacksonsville, Florida practice room. Skynyrd guitarist Gary Rossington recalls their mutual admiration society.
Iggy And The Stooges Raw Power • Stooges guitarist James Williamson looks back at this proto-punk ass kicker that opened many a show circa ’73 – and says what he thinks of the Guns N’ Roses version.
Deep Heat • Ian Gillan, Roger Glover and Ian Paice reflect on Purple’s rise, fall… and modern-day resurrection.
MADE IN THE SHADES • Mk I: How The Searchers’ Chris Curtis helped found a fledgling Deep Purple.
ON YOUR MARKS • Purple Mk II: flared trousers, afghans, greatcoats, patchouli oil… and that was just the audience.
PURPLE GET FUNKED! • How Mk III Burn-ed brightly, then came to a tempestuous end with Stormbringer.
Deep Purple’s 25 maddest moments
TASTE TEST • Some people call Mk IV Purple’s darkest hour. Don’t you believe it…
FRIENDS REUNITED? • The Mk II line-up got back together not once, but twice. Was this wise?
LYNNCH MOB • The knives were out when Joe Lynn Turner joined for Mk V’s Slaves And...