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Classic Rock
by XICripZ
Contrary to what most people would assume, my favourite music magazine is 'Classic Rock'. The monthly publication, based in the UK has been active since 1998 and is focused upon all forms of Rock music through from the '60s right up to the early nineties in order to ensure that those who made an impact and would in the future be ... considered 'classic' (such as Guns 'N' Roses) are all included alongside the pioneers. Metal, Psychedelic Rock, Rock 'n' Roll, Garage Rock, Grunge, Progressive Rock are all covered here along with many others, it does all possible to draw in a range of audiences with a variety of tastes and unities them together in a format which means there will always be something they can relate to in some form or another. Although they mainly stay in the '70s and '80s, they also ensure that they often dedicate little things towards contemporary Rock performers too, but are sure not to go down Q and NME's direction of attempting to discover 'The Next Big Thing' in the music industry.
I've been a reader of 'Classic Rock' for the past two years. I got into it through the influence of my rocker uncle (who plays lead guitar in a pub Rock 'n' Blues band) and having him always tell me to listen to "proper music" as opposed to "that black crap" I tended to listen to prior to that time. Although I did have an interest in Rock/Metal/Grunge etc. prior to this time, reading this has increased my interest in it and allowed me to have more of an understanding of the various phases Rock has gone through.
Although at first it took me a while to get into things (there's a lot to take in for someone for only a slight bit of interest in the music), I found that once I had got into reading large features on acts I liked such as Living Color, Guns 'N' Roses and Aerosmith, it wasn't long before eventually I began widening knowledge by reading up on the likes of Black Sabbath, Metallica and Iron Maiden (who I previously didn't know a single song by) and actually taking an interest in those in the same way that I had with the bands I was more familiar with.
The magazine costs around £5 each and I felt that this was a reasonable price for what you get. The magazine is reasonably lengthy and packs in lots of little features. With each and every issue you'll find either a CD or a DVD free with it. These are typically related to a theme which they may be going for with a certain issue (in the past year or so Metal, Prog Rock and other styles have been given as focused themes for a whole edition). The magazine has interviews with prominent names in the industry - a favourite section being 'Ever Meet Hendrix?', in which big musical stars speak on the megastars they've had the opportunity to meet up with in the past. You'll also get a list of tour dates for any Rock performers (either veterans or more contemporary musicians) and a review section which includes in excess of 100 individual releases each month. Another nice little extra is a poster which comes with the magazine. As the mag is so well-presented with a cardboard cover encasing the thing itself (to reflect the fact that these are collector's items), it's nice to see that that they give you another aesthetically-pleasing feature too in order to just top it all off. Notable ones include when Slash released an all-star album and all the collaborators came together for a photo shoot -which the poster is of; a poster of 50 significant guitars and a list of albums which changed the shape of Rock.
One thing which I felt was a bit of a cheat was that some features of it are lifted from elsewhere. One article I recently read had come from the early nineties and reflected the way they spoke on Hip Hop and its P-Funk sampling at the time. They don't hide this, but don't really make it clear to the reader that this is the case and that it effects how certain sections should be read. This isn't always important, but obviously it was something I picked-up on and may be found elsewhere through some of the other features and takes away from the refreshing feel that the publication has.
As my uncle got me into the magazine, I found it interesting to see that now I've widened my knowledge of these things to the point where I can say I know enough about the music side of things to have some sort of an insight to the type of music he grew up on and the sort of culture which existed at the time. I found it interesting that one time I was shocked by finding that Parliament-Funkadelic was recently featured in the magazine. My uncle had no clue on who they are (as a Funk and Soul band active through the seventies and eighties) and it allowed him to get up on what else was going on in the music world in the time when he was getting really involved with it and what I probably would have been listening to had I been old enough to have done so. The magazine is good like that and manages to do well at covering all areas of what my uncle considers "guitar music" and expects me not to be up on.
This magazine is something I'll continue to purchase monthly as it offers so much to fans of Rock in general. The variety can't really be matched and they ensure that with each edition they manage to find new ways to work with features based on a number of acts who don't tend to release any new music - which few others would be able to match. The mag is entertaining throughout with great writers and features which seem to compel you to read it cover to cover.
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Mojo
by seano1993
As I am always on the look out for quality music publications, I was curious to find Mojo for 5 pounds in my local Tesco a few months ago. Normally I'm an "UnCut" man but I decided since they are the same price and look quite similar, as Mojo had the better CD I decided to break habit and purchase Mojo. Would I regret my ... decision? Was it a waste of five hard-earned (not really) pounds? Read on and find out...
Mojo has all the usual features of music magazines, letters,news,interviews,reviews etc. I would say their main focus is on indie rock music but they do branch out with features on different genres. I liked the way they are not mainstream as say "Kerrang", but they do not snob modern music like some other music publications (I'm looking at you, Uncut). The news section is quite good, with interesting music-related stories from around the world. I find their features are always good too, with some great essays on music.
One aspect that lets it down in my opinion is the review section. In comparison to other music mags it is very small. Indeed I find in the average issue you would only find two or three one page or longer
reviews, with most other new releases only granted a paragraph or two. I find this quite disappointing. Books and films are also reviewed but again, these sections are surprisingly small.
One of my favourite things about Mojo is the writing. The writers are obviously very intelligent in the field of music but they do now write like music snobs, the style of the magazine is very accessible and does not alienate the reader. The magazine is also quite full of content, there is not loads of advertising which is good. Id easily get a good hour and half read out of it, reading from cover to cover.
Overall I think Mojo is the best music magazine I have come across.
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Zero Tolerance Magazine
by Lehen
If you have zero tolerance for normality and thrive for the sickest and most brutal aspects of life this mini-magazine could be your unholy bible.
Zero Tolerance is a bi-monthly extreme metal and underground music 'zine setup by ex-members of Terrorizer and Metal Hammer publishing staff. Their goal was a simple one - create ... the most disgusting, intense, brutal and extreme loving magazine as possible!
Since the notable dip in what some readers claimed a loss of true quality, the Terrorizer (the current dominating number one extreme metal 'zine out there) machine became somewhat un-oiled and spawned the birth of a new era. That era is known as the take no trendy crap Zero Tolerance era. With Terrorizer magazine having no direct competition it was just a matter of time before there was some kind of revolt. Extreme music fans demand no more than extreme music and when a magazine 'devoted' to extreme music started to show signs of loosening the reins, some of the brutal offspring got restless, thus was born a place on the magazine shelves for Zero Tolerance. Upon the birth of ZT, it has created a massive rift in the heavy metal publishing industry and due to such movements, the overall quality from both Terrorizer and even the mighty Metal Hammer improved greatly. The formation of Zero Tolerance injected a new fresh energy onto the scene.
So what the hell is found within the pages of Zero Tolerance? This magazine is not all about bad attitudes, elitist views and opinions and scary music contained within its cover-mounted CD, it goes much deeper than that. You'll see all your regular big guns from such heavy metal sub-genres such as death, black, grind, thrash, power, sludge, doom, industrial etc, but you will encounter a more underground feel and a more personal insight on individual music scenes and cultures throughout the world.
In-touch with the underground, Zero Tolerance strive to dig that little bit deeper compared to the likes of Terrorizer, Metal Hammer and the mainstream loving Kerrang! Magazines. The brutal folks over at Zero Tolerance encourage the growth of diverse and unique music scenes such as noise, gore and anything obscure. This mini-mag is almost like your old skool fanzines in the late 90s in terms of attitude and in presentation aspects of no frills design and layouts. What you see is what you get. You don't get a cutting-edge and well presented and designed magazine, but what you do get is cutting-edge and well presented views and opinions of some of the most intense and cruel critics on planet metal.
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