''Let It Rock'' was a monthly British music magazine, which featured lengthy critical articles, record reviews, and feature articles covering a wide spectrum of popular music, including
soul
In many religious and philosophical traditions, there is a belief that a soul is "the immaterial aspect or essence of a human being".
Etymology
The Modern English noun ''soul'' is derived from Old English ''sāwol, sāwel''. The earliest attes ...
,
reggae
Reggae () is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1960s. The term also denotes the modern popular music of Jamaica and its diaspora. A 1968 single by Toots and the Maytals, " Do the Reggay" was the first popular song to use ...
, and
blues
Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the Afr ...
. Between October 1972 and December 1975, 35 issues of the magazine were published in London, by Hanover Books, sometime in Berners Street W1. The publisher was Peter Shepherd, who also published other music publications including ''Folk Review'' and ''Country Music''.
Dave Laing
David William Laing (9 January 1947 – 7 January 2019) was an English writer, editor, and broadcaster, specialising in the history and development of pop and rock music. He was a research fellow at the universities of Westminster and Liverpool ...
was the founding editor;
John Pidgeon took over as editor in October 1973. The reviews editor was
Simon Frith
Simon Webster Frith (born 1946) is a British sociomusicologist and former rock critic who specializes in popular music culture. He is Tovey Chair of Music at University of Edinburgh.
Career
As a student, he read PPE at Oxford and earned ...
, and
Charlie Gillett
Charles Thomas Gillett (; 20 February 1942 – 17 March 2010) was a British radio presenter, musicologist, and writer, mainly on rock and roll and other forms of popular music. He was particularly noted for his influential book ''The Sound of t ...
was consultant editor. Other contributors included
John Peel
John Robert Parker Ravenscroft (30 August 1939 – 25 October 2004), known professionally as John Peel, was an English disc jockey (DJ) and radio presenter. He was the longest-serving of the original BBC Radio 1 DJs, broadcasting regularly fr ...
,
Lester Bangs
Leslie Conway "Lester" Bangs (December 14, 1948 – April 30, 1982) was an American music journalist, critic, author, and musician. He wrote for ''Creem'' and ''Rolling Stone'' magazines, and was known for his leading influence in rock music c ...
,
Michael Gray,
Mick Gold
Mick Gold (born Michael Gold, London, 7 August 1947) is a British documentary film maker, photographer and journalist, who has written for publications such as ''Creem'', '' Melody Maker'', and '' Let It Rock''.
He has produced and directed six e ...
,
Mick Houghton,
David Downing
David Downing (born 1946) is a British author of mystery novels and nonfiction. His works have been reviewed by ''Publishers Weekly'', ''The New York Times'', and ''The Wall Street Journal''. He is known for his convincing depictions of World Wa ...
,
Gary Herman,
Idris Walters Idris may refer to:
People
* Idris (name), a list of people and fictional characters with the given name or surname
* Idris (prophet), Islamic prophet in the Qur'an, traditionally identified with Enoch, an ancestor of Noah in the Bible
* Idris G ...
,
, Ian Hoare and
Phil Hardy
Philip Hardy (born 9 April 1973) is an English-born former Ireland under-21 footballer who played as a left-back. With Welsh club Wrexham from 1990 to 2001, he played more than 450 games under manager Brian Flynn. He was named on the PFA ...
, and the soul music column was written by
Pete Wingfield
William Peter Wingfield (born 7 May 1948) is an English record producer, keyboard player, songwriter, singer and music journalist.
Career
Whilst at Sussex University Wingfield and three other students formed the group Jellybread. In 1969, he ...
. The initial art editor was John Finn. Designers and illustrators included
Barney Bubbles
Barney Bubbles (born Colin Fulcher; 30 July 1942 – 14 November 1983) was an English graphic artist whose work encompassed graphic design and music video direction. Bubbles, who also sketched and painted privately, is best known for his distinc ...
, George Snow, Kevin Sparrow and Peter Till. The magazine struggled to achieve consistent sales of 20,000 and closed due to market forces. Music writers
David Hepworth
David Hepworth (born 27 July 1950) is a British music journalist, writer and publishing industry analyst who was instrumental in the foundation of a number of popular magazines in the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s. Along with the journalist, editor and b ...
and
Barney Hoskyns
Barney Hoskyns (born 5 May 1959) is a British music critic and editorial director of the online music journalism archive Rock's Backpages.
Biography
Hoskyns graduated from Oxford with a first class degree in English. He began writing about mus ...
have called ''Let It Rock'' influential, and suggested that it was the precursor of such music publications as ''
Q magazine
''Q'' was a popular music magazine published monthly in the United Kingdom. It was founded in 1986 by broadcast journalists Mark Ellen and David Hepworth, who were presenters of the BBC television music series ''The Old Grey Whistle Test''. '' ...
'' and ''
Mojo
Mojo may refer to:
* Mojo (African-American culture), a magical charm bag used in voodoo
Arts, entertainment and media Film and television
* MOJO HD, an American television network
* ''Mojo'' (play), by Jez Butterworth, made into a 1997 film
* ' ...
''.
References
Monthly magazines published in the United Kingdom
Music magazines published in the United Kingdom
Defunct magazines published in the United Kingdom
Magazines established in 1972
Magazines disestablished in 1975
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