Let It Rock

Let It Rock was a British magazine published between October 1972 and December 1975. It was one of several publications of the early to mid-1970s (others included Cream and Strange Days) which attempted to emulate the success of Rolling Stone and other American music-based magazines such as Fusion and Crawdaddy. These were aimed at the large US college-age readership, were more adult in tone and dealt with a wider range of topics than the British pop weeklies. Let It Rock (named after a Chuck Berry song) attracted many notable rock and pop writers; among the editorial group were Dave Laing, Simon Frith, Charlie Gillett and Michael Gray, all of whom had backgrounds in higher education. Perhaps as a consequence of this, Let It Rock was more analytical than its competitors and tried to establish a historical perspective on pop music. It challenged the critical consensus of the post-Beatles "progressive" era by paying more attention to pop singles, soul, reggae, rock'roll and early 1960s American pop, and also ran articles on non-musical topics such as sport, film and television, reflecting the cultural changes of the 1970s.

Let It Rock never managed to secure a firm financial basis. Sales were disappointing and at one point the magazine was published by a "Rock Writers' Co-Operative". It closed down at the end of 1975, but is seen in retrospect as a predecessor of monthly publications such as Mojo, Q, Word and Uncut, all of which have succeeded in recent decades - albeit with greater corporate support and a less challenging agenda.

Links to Peel
John Peel is known to have written at least two articles for Let It Rock. In the November 1974 issue he contributed to the magazine's "Top Ten" feature (pp.12-13). He listed his choices with (most of) their catalogue numbers:
 * 1. Frankie Laine: "The Kid's Last Fight" (Philips PB258)
 * 2. Lonnie Donegan: "Frankie And Johnny" (Nixa NPT 19012, plum label)
 * 3. Little Richard: "Ready Teddy/Rip It Up" (London HLO 8336)
 * 4. Gene Vincent: "Say Mama" (no label given)
 * 5. Duane Eddy: "Peter Gunn" (no label given)
 * 6. The Misunderstood: "I Can Take You To The Sun" (Fontana TF 777)
 * 7. The Jimi Hendrix Experience: "Red House" from the LP Are You Experienced (Track 612 001)
 * 8. Country Joe And The Fish: Electric Music For The Mind And Body (Fontana STFL 6081)
 * 9. Pink Floyd: "Interstellar Overdrive" from the LP Piper At The Gates Of Dawn (Parlophone)
 * 10. The Faces/Rod Stewart: Anything. That's cheating really but I love the Faces with a fiery devotion.....

The November 1974 issue also contains an article by Dave Amery, "Flowers never bend with the rainfall", on "the decline and fall of Dandelion records" (pp.23-24)

In the January 1975 issue there is a full-page review (p.33) by Peel of the double LP Merseybeat 1962-64 (United Artists UAD 305/6). The review is entitled "The Quality of Mersey", with the sub-heading "An aging scouse DJ reports on the new compilation album that encapsulates 'an era of Shanklyesque energy'"