
Ian Fortnam
Classic Rock’s Reviews Editor for the last 20 years, Ian stapled his first fanzine in 1977. Since misspending his youth by way of ‘research’ his work has also appeared in such publications as Metal Hammer, Prog, NME, Uncut, Kerrang!, VOX, The Face, The Guardian, Total Guitar, Guitarist, Electronic Sound, Record Collector and across the internet. Permanently buried under mountains of recorded media, ears ringing from a lifetime of gigs, he enjoys nothing more than recreationally throttling a guitar and following a baptism of punk fire has played in bands for 45 years, releasing recordings via Esoteric Antenna and Cleopatra Records.
Latest articles by Ian Fortnam

“His work with Gentle Giant surely seals his prog reputation”: Produced By Tony Visconti box set
By Ian Fortnam published
73 personally curated tracks covers a huge range of genres from Ralph McTell to Thin Lizzy

“A few progressive leaps too far, with its experimentation and sheer audacity… but the future understood”: The Velvet Underground’s White Light/White Heat
By Ian Fortnam published
Massively inspirational, the 1969 album didn’t enjoy mass appeal at the time.

Hackney Diamonds is the Rolling Stones' most quintessentially Stonesy album in 40 years: it's also a 21st-century record for a 21st-century audience
By Ian Fortnam published
The Rolling Stones' Hackney Diamonds is the first album of original material in 18 years from the creators of rock's blueprint

These are the six essential Rod Stewart solo albums every rock fan needs in their life
By Ian Fortnam published
Forget the Great American Songbook series – these are the albums that prove Rod Stewart is one of rock’s greatest voices

Start Me Up was an abandoned, reggae-flavoured jam that almost never saw the light of day. Then it became a classic and earned The Rolling Stones a $14 million payday
By Ian Fortnam published
The Rolling Stones' last Top 10 UK single Start Me Up was originally an entirely different beast – and Keith Richards may still hold a grudge about that

"Loath to actually leave Pink Floyd, Syd Barrett made it so they had to chuck him out. And none of them ever got over it": Storm Thorgerson's documentary on the Pink Floyd founder reviewed
By Ian Fortnam published
Have You Got It Yet? The Story Of Syd Barrett And Pink Floyd reviewed

30 musicians on the album that changed their life as a kid
By Classic Rock published
Members of Kiss, Black Sabbath, Guns N’ Roses, Def Leppard, Rage Against The Machine and more reveal the albums that set them on the path to rock stardom

12 examples of the songwriting genius of Lou Reed that aren't Perfect Day or Walk On The Wild Side
By Ian Fortnam published
Twelve Lou Reed tracks for the connoisseur, charting his journey from black-clad street poet to ornery elder statesman

"Ultimately, they weren’t Rick Wakeman" - Clem Burke and Glen Matlock on the outsider appeal of the original punk bands
By Ian Fortnam published
Ahead of their gig with Iggy Pop at the Dog Day Afternoon festival in London, Blondie’s Clem Burke and former Sex Pistol Glen Matlock talk punk, punk and more punk

How The Damned made Darkadelic, their surprise contender for Album Of The Year
By Ian Fortnam published
Re-made and remodelled, with acclaimed album Darkadelic echoing glorious moments from their post-punk past, The Damned head into the future with much to offer

The world nearly got a supergroup featuring members of the Sex Pistols, Blondie and the Bay City Rollers
By Classic Rock published
Blondie’s drummer, the ex-Sex Pistols bassist, the Bay City Rollers’ guitarist and Paul Weller nearly made up punk’s weirdest supergroup

Groundhogs founding guitarist and frontman Tony McPhee dead at 79
By Fraser Lewry published
The death of Groundhogs' leader Tony McPhee has been confirmed by the band

St Anger at 20: how Metallica's most maligned album saved their career
By Ian Fortnam published
Metallica were facing oblivion at the turn of the millennium. 20 years ago today, they'd release the album that'd turn their fortunes around - and go down in infamy

The Suzi Quatro albums you should definitely own
By Ian Fortnam published
With her looks, charisma and star quality, Suzi Quatro was the undisputed queen of 70s glam-rock. These are her best albums

Alice Cooper: "There wasn’t one human being on the planet that thought we’d get past thirty years old"
By Ian Fortnam published
Godfather of shock-rock Alice Cooper on the Hollywood Vampires, the perks of being a sober celebrity, and launching a Johnny Depp and Amber Heard soap opera

"It was like Dorothy landing in Oz" - what happened when Alice Cooper went to Los Angeles
By Ian Fortnam published
Once upon a time, a garage band from Phoenix moved to LA and became Alice Cooper, with a little help from Frank Zappa, a dark alter ego and... West Side Story

Iggy Pop: "Once you’re my age, every day has to carry some risk"
By Ian Fortnam published
With a star-studded new album out, Iggy Pop talks about still giving his all, no more stage diving, addictions, his cockatoo, and finally taking a phone call from the Hall Of Fame

The Rolling Stones' In Mono: it's great but it borders on abuse
By Ian Fortnam published
The Stones’ monaural 60s box: eight albums, 16 discs, six kilograms-plus of wallet-rinsing duplication

Iggy Pop has made the best album he could have made: a stone-cold classic
By Ian Fortnam published
Former Stooges firebrand Iggy Pop finds dazzling late-career form on 19th solo album Every Loser

The Beatles Revolver Special Edition: so good, divorce papers will be filed if this isn't in certain stockings this Christmas
By Ian Fortnam last updated
Can Giles Martin work his magic on Revolver's four-track recordings? Yes, he can.

Buzzcocks' Steve Diggle: "five years of sex, drugs and rock’n’roll took its toll"
By Ian Fortnam published
Buzzcocks' leader Steve Diggle on following his dream, the toll of partying too hard, and continuing after losing Pete Shelley

Killing Joke's Jaz Coleman: the soundtrack of my life
By Ian Fortnam published
Killing Joke frontman Jaz Coleman picks his records, artists and gigs of lasting significance, and reveals why bossa nova is the perfect music for breakfast

The Godfathers are back with a new line-up, a new album, and a disdain for poodle hairdos
By Ian Fortnam published
Having fired the old band a hired a new one, Peter Coyne reckons The Godfathers pack lot of "a whole lot of rock’n’roll dynamite"
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