Case Study - Classic Rock Magazine

Classic Rock is a British magazine dedicated to rock and blues music. It is published by the same company as Metal Hammer which makes it extremely popular and quite well known.

Although it focuses on bands from the 1950's to the 1990's, it also includes information about the newest bands and who their classic influences are.

A monthly edition of Classic Rock

This magazine has a quite wide audience but mainly appeals to the older generation because they can relate to the more classic music included. The magazine recently published it 150th issue and is now more popular than NME.

The first issue of Classic Rock was issued in 1988 by ex-Metal Hammer editor Jerry Ewing. He felt that rock music was underpublished by the magazine industry and released a one-off issue about classic rock music.

This initial issue was much more popular than he expected and therefore the magazine company continued to publish it.


The popularity of Classic Rock grew as more mainstream artists were featured such as Iron Maiden, Guns N Roses, Black Sabbath and Aerosmith. Soon it overtook the leading magazine brands such as NME and Q and is now publishing 13 issues a year.

The magazine also acts as a tribute to band members from the 1950's and 1960's who are no longer with us, and this is why they appear on the cover of special edition issues.

A special edition issue including a CD

Aswell as covering the genre of Classic Rock, the magazine also includes information on the latest Blues music and Prog bands. Sleaze music is sometimes included in this which widens the target audience of the magazine and helps them to sell more copies.

Classic Rock reviews any release that even comes close to being classified as rock, including albums, DVDs, concerts and books, and includes an annual award for best new band.

Classic Rock has also published special decade issues featuring 70s , 80s, and 90s hard rock and metal bands, throughout 2006. In 2007, three special editions were also published with bonus DVDs. These each focussed on one genre of rock music - first blues rock , then progressive rock and heavy metal.