Music magazines

Alistar made an interesting comment on another thread:

Q used to be a good mag in the mid to late nineties but since about 2001 they've selected their little clique of bands who in their eyes can do no wrong (U2, Radiohead, Coldplay) and given them the choice coverage. All Bono has to do is say he likes Shreddies for breakfast and there's a four page spread on it. I notice from recent issues they've added a Heat magazine-esque "gossip" section, a new but not entirely unexpected low for them.

All the best journos who were with Q during it's pre-2000 golden period have moved over to mags like Mojo and Uncut which is all I read from the music press these days. The latest issue of Uncut with Mozzer on the cover is really very good and there are no stupid lists in it trying to tell you what's the best or worst. Q is a wankstain of a publication in my humble opinion.

Uncut and Mojo are excellent though.

Generally, I appreciate Q for the diversity on review. I recently found out about Richard Hawley through Q.

Uncut is a good magazine, though not one I would read frequently. Mojo seems to cater to a more middle of the road audience who are still interested inbeing challenged by music. IMHO. Prehaps I read a few below par issues, but that was the impression I got from it.

The Word is in a similar mould, but there are some good articles in it. This month is Mozza. Last month it was the PSB. KT Tunstall was also front page.

What's your opinions on music magazines?

NME bum the Arctic Monkeys too much it's sickening. I also wish they would stop reporting on every second of Pete Fuckin Doherty's miserable life. Nobody cares.

It also now embraces emo. Fallout Boy poster this week.

All these TOP 50/100 lists should be banned

Then Q would have nothing to fill it's pages.

I know NME like to move ahead all the time and not get stuck in the past but they don't slag anything off these days.Every band is "brilliant" and "fantastic".Bollocks.

It was so much fun in the 80s when the journalists would rip to pieces a lot of artists

I guess most of the journos these days are working for the record comapnies.

They're all shite - NOOL is the only music info service you need - helping people avoid the Cre since 2001 (or something)...

Snorri xxx

State of Love and Trust wrote: NME bum the Arctic Monkeys too much it's sickening. I also wish they would stop reporting on every second of Pete Fuckin Doherty's miserable life. Nobody cares.

It also now embraces emo. Fallout Boy poster this week.

True. Remember, in the late 90's they embraced nu metal.

Now they slag it off no end.

Q magazine has got better,but I miss Vox and Select.

:D

The Boy wrote: Q magazine has got better,but I miss Vox and Select.

:D

Eh?

Christopher Owens wrote:

The Boy wrote: Q magazine has got better,but I miss Vox and Select.

:D

Eh?

Vox was a monthly off shoot of the NME that lasted a few years

SelEct was similar to Q .Was pretty good somtimes

I like THE MELODY MAKER:D and SOUNDS

Anyone remember this issue of Record Mirror?

April 1985 , a few weeks before LOW LIFE came out

Johnny "Two Sheds" Jackson wrote: Anyone remember this issue of Record Mirror?

April 1985 , a few weeks before LOW LIFE came out

No i was in JAIL

Rocket Mick wrote: [No i was in JAIL

I bet you had the MONOPOLY on that place

The Boy wrote: Q magazine has got better,but I miss Vox and Select.

:D

Select was the one I made a point of getting, now its Q by default....the other choices being Spin, Mojo and Rolling Stone I should add.

What happened to that mag that came out last year called Rip n Burn? Looked like quite a good format, obviously not enough others thought the same though....

Kerrang is also very similar to NME, in that they mainly cater for the newest fads (emo etc) but they always give respect to the originals (Black Sabbath, Killing Joke etc) which I don't think NME do.

Classic Rock is a good read, although slightly biased towards Classic Rock (obviously), and Metal Hammer tend to have a more overall view, compared to Kerrang.

I haven't read many of the above magazines because they're not widely distributed in the States. However, Rolling Stone used to be good until the late '90s. Scantily clad females, rappers, and celebrities having nothing to do with music never appeared on the covers. Spin was also good until around then, but I stopped reading it after most of the images in the mag looked like soft-core porn. Alternative Press was also decent but you don't see it around much any more. Circus was a cheap rock mag but it used to have good band coverage until the late '90s nu-metal explosion. Rather than a diversity of bands - they did cover Smashing pumpkins occasionally - every week had an interview with a different member of Slipknot, Korn, or Limp Bizkit. All of the pull-out pictures were of nu-metal artists and Blink 182. In fact, in the back, where they had coverage on up and coming acts, everyone wanted to be nu-metal. Now, I understand the popularily of nu-metal at the time, but there were other rock acts.

This blue-eyed boy that wants to be wrote: Rather than a diversity of bands - they did cover Smashing pumpkins occasionally - every week had an interview with a different member of Slipknot, Korn, or Limp Bizkit. All of the pull-out pictures were of nu-metal artists and Blink 182. In fact, in the back, where they had coverage on up and coming acts, everyone wanted to be nu-metal. Now, I understand the popularily of nu-metal at the time, but there were other rock acts.

That's the problem with a lot of magazines nowadays. They're quick to jump on the bandwagon, instead of championing other artists.

The other problem is that most of them seem to ignore past music, which is a big in my book, as it's important to discover the roots of music, IMHO.

all the uks current music mops are populated by lazy arsed hacks who cut n paste most of their articles from other sources. the very fact the the artic chimps are getting any publicity is in fact proof of this,they tagged onto what could only be described as minor public interest and in the face of fuck all else to do have pumped them into the megaband status they are so certainly not. in fact they are shite,dont care what any of you say they are utter fuckin rubish. good luck to the chimps though,its not their fault i suppose. nor are they the only ones that have been foisted upon us over the last 5 yrs or so,music mags used to be at the forefront of musical movements, not tagging along?. now they aint fit to wipe your arse on.

I only buy music mags now if someone I like's in there (except the NME, which I wouldn't touch with a 12-foot barge pole). None of them are really worth getting on a regular basis.

This is the only serious music publication you need:

covers the spectrum of electro, jazz, avant, dub, rock, noise and experimental.

all the other rags are crap!

I always use Charmin.

these days i only buy them when they contain something about the order and that includes nme.

MM was the best. Select was good in early 90's Nil now.

Used to buy Q on a regular basis, not now though

by doing my vault series i have gone back to my old smash hits and number one mags. i struck me back in those days teenage pop mags were actually quite good and tried to educate their audience and didn't just feature the latest teen idol.

State of Love and Trust wrote: NME bum the Arctic Monkeys too much it's sickening. I also wish they would stop reporting on every second of Pete Fuckin Doherty's miserable life. Nobody cares.

It also now embraces emo. Fallout Boy poster this week.

What is EMO???, I see it all over the clothes description on E-bay, I'm obviously too old for this!

I've only just worked out what IMHO is.

Ness Order wrote:

State of Love and Trust wrote: NME bum the Arctic Monkeys too much it's sickening. I also wish they would stop reporting on every second of Pete Fuckin Doherty's miserable life. Nobody cares.

It also now embraces emo. Fallout Boy poster this week.

What is EMO???, I see it all over the clothes description on E-bay, I'm obviously too old for this!

scruffy young lazy arse twats with baggy jeans, hoodies and skateboard trainees probably.

Ness Order wrote:

State of Love and Trust wrote: NME bum the Arctic Monkeys too much it's sickening. I also wish they would stop reporting on every second of Pete Fuckin Doherty's miserable life. Nobody cares.

It also now embraces emo. Fallout Boy poster this week.

What is EMO???, I see it all over the clothes description on E-bay, I'm obviously too old for this!

Here you go.

Christopher Owens wrote:

Ness Order wrote:

State of Love and Trust wrote: NME bum the Arctic Monkeys too much it's sickening. I also wish they would stop reporting on every second of Pete Fuckin Doherty's miserable life. Nobody cares.

It also now embraces emo. Fallout Boy poster this week.

What is EMO???, I see it all over the clothes description on E-bay, I'm obviously too old for this!

Here you go.

Ooh thanks, not as exciting as it sounds!

EMO = Shit bands.

For example:

Fallout Boy Panic At The Disco My Chemical Romance The Used Funeral For A Friend

The one genre of music I hate with a vengeance, it's Emo. SOOOOOOOO shit.

Don't mix up emo kids with skaters or grungers. Emo kids are usually wearing lots of odd looking make up and seeking attention from anyone.

State of Love and Trust wrote: EMO = Shit bands.

For example:

Fallout Boy Panic At The Disco My Chemical Romance The Used Funeral For A Friend

The one genre of music I hate with a vengeance, it's Emo. SOOOOOOOO shit.

Don't mix up emo kids with skaters or grungers. Emo kids are usually wearing lots of odd looking make up and seeking attention from anyone.

All the annoying, jumped-up kids at school are EMO-freaks... Life must be so hard for the poor little middle-class darlings - all that pent-up angst, noone understands them...

Snorri xxx

Snorrimon wrote:

State of Love and Trust wrote: EMO = Shit bands.

For example:

Fallout Boy Panic At The Disco My Chemical Romance The Used Funeral For A Friend

The one genre of music I hate with a vengeance, it's Emo. SOOOOOOOO shit.

Don't mix up emo kids with skaters or grungers. Emo kids are usually wearing lots of odd looking make up and seeking attention from anyone.

All the annoying, jumped-up kids at school are EMO-freaks... Life must be so hard for the poor little middle-class darlings - all that pent-up angst, noone understands them...

Snorri xxx

sounds like i should be an emo fan. on second thoughts.

Snorrimon wrote:

State of Love and Trust wrote: EMO = Shit bands.

For example:

Fallout Boy Panic At The Disco My Chemical Romance The Used Funeral For A Friend

The one genre of music I hate with a vengeance, it's Emo. SOOOOOOOO shit.

Don't mix up emo kids with skaters or grungers. Emo kids are usually wearing lots of odd looking make up and seeking attention from anyone.

All the annoying, jumped-up kids at school are EMO-freaks... Life must be so hard for the poor little middle-class darlings - all that pent-up angst, noone understands them...

Snorri xxx

Yeah emo kids are always complaining about things and saying that the world is against them, or that nobody understands and listens to them.

But God the music is utter rubbish!!! I remember driving with my dad and he put this random CD someone gave him on in the car, and it was rubbish emo, so he lobbed it out of the window on the roundabout outside marks and spencers.

EMOtionally Retarded is the best label.

EMO

I used to waste money on the latest import issues of Q, Mojo, Uncut, whatever. All flash and no substance, except for the Mojo piece a few years back on JD/NO. I don't have the time to devote to reading what some third-year grad student has to say about the bass riff on some awful Seventies glam band's one hit off their only album that only the most obsessed cultists actually like.

I give RS a pass, at least because when they get it right about a particular band or artist, you can tell. That being said, putting the crew from American Idol on your cover is a sure-fire way to court the sort of anti-Rolling Stone ire that they've done lately.

State of Love and Trust wrote: EMO = Shit bands.

For example:

Fallout Boy Panic At The Disco My Chemical Romance The Used Funeral For A Friend

The one genre of music I hate with a vengeance, it's Emo. SOOOOOOOO shit.

Don't mix up emo kids with skaters or grungers. Emo kids are usually wearing lots of odd looking make up and seeking attention from anyone.

I agree with you Jack. My classmates are major fans of the groups.

did select go out of business? when was this? why was i not told? i used to read it in the mid-late nineties and i thought it was pretty good.

about emo: isn't that dashboard confessional person emo? my students used to go on about him. i never did figure out what emo was, really, even after it was explained to me. it all just sounds the same.

If a guy sings too high for rock music, chances are it's emo.

State of Love and Trust wrote: EMO = Shit bands.

For example:

Fallout Boy Panic At The Disco My Chemical Romance The Used Funeral For A Friend

The one genre of music I hate with a vengeance, it's Emo. SOOOOOOOO shit.

Don't mix up emo kids with skaters or grungers. Emo kids are usually wearing lots of odd looking make up and seeking attention from anyone.

Well put Jack, that's my feeling of 'em as well. Saw a video for a band called Hawthorne Heights that had me laughing, hell just about anytime I flip throught the channels and catch what's on FUSE-TV will cause the same reaction. On one hand, I'll cut 'em some slack for trying to find their voice in music, but when I hear the results, it's enough to make me regret that thought. "Shut up and grow some balls" is what comes to my mind.

Not nearly as many good magazines as their once was, I'll buy an occasional Mojo, Wire, or Uncut from the UK, and Harp or Big Takeover here in the States. My all-time faves are Option, Forced Exposure, Trouser Press, and Puncture.

I watch Fuse TV also. I like some of the indie music on there.

[magenta]cozmonite61[/magenta] wrote: I watch Fuse TV also. I like some of the indie music on there.

Can't say that I've spent a lot of time watching that channel, though I have noticed that they sometimes show some rock movies. Saw the Led Zeppelin movie a couple of weeks back, and my cable guide said they were scheduled to air 24 Hour Party People, but they didn't..........just a lot of emo-videos instead.

Do you think that most Americans can understand 24HPP?

[magenta]cozmonite61[/magenta] wrote: Do you think that most Americans can understand 24HPP?

Not the average "typical" music fan, who doesn't have any clue what the whole "Manchester" phenomenon was. They might enjoy it or have their eyes opened by the spectacle of Ian Curtis and Shaun Ryder and want to investigate the music. But it helps to be familiar with the Factory scene.

Of course, the same arguement could be made about Chitty-Chitty Bang-Bang :p

AgentWood wrote: did select go out of business? when was this? why was i not told? i used to read it in the mid-late nineties and i thought it was pretty good.

about emo: isn't that dashboard confessional person emo? my students used to go on about him. i never did figure out what emo was, really, even after it was explained to me. it all just sounds the same.

a real pity about select.

Was Sounds any good?

I used to get all the cheap pop mags in the 80's I could lay my hands on because of the new wave coverage. Then I graduated to buying stuff like NME for articles covering a few bands I was interested in and getting a few boxes of mags from a penpal in London (should have kept some of those..tch)...

In the 90s, I could rely on Spin for the coverage of electronic and industrial music, and Alternative Press for the same.. plus lots of good articles. Sam Goody (the music retail store) had a magazine called "ReQuest" that didn't blow in regards to informative music-of-the-period-stuff. Plus whatever I found that covered gear - usually great detailed articles on bands and their set up which thrilled me immensely.

These days I just read stuff online, because the magazines I used to read are either out of print, out of content I enjoy or just plain dumb.

State of Love and Trust wrote: EMO = Shit bands.

For example:

Fallout Boy Panic At The Disco My Chemical Romance The Used Funeral For A Friend

These are more mall punk bands. Emo has become a watered-down, catch-all term that all these mallpunk bands/brats/newcomers have glommed on to.

True "emo", or "emo-core", short for "emotional hardcore", arose out of the mid-late 1980s underground hardcore scene in Washington DC. Similar scenes sprouted up later in Chicago, San Diego, etc.

Examples of first-wave emo might be:

Rites of Spring (Guy Picciotto pre-Fugazi) Embrace (Ian McKaye post-Minor Threat, pre-Fugazi) Dag Nasty Nation of Ulysses Moss Icon Cap N' Jazz Drive Like Jehu Sunny Day Real Estate Jawbreaker Hoover

NME is complete CRAP-save it for a 13 year old Q? not bad-irreverent (but waiting for the "Q Best of Manchester" to appear in my local shop sooonnn) Mojo-I like the writing-tho they can be snobbish Wire-pretty good....

a decent number of American music mags seem to be just shoveling whatever the PR depts of various record companies want us to see.....Looks over quality of music

and what annoys me the most about The British Music Press will pick a band and say how great they are, "The Best, The Greatest album of the last 20 years (Kerrang said that about "Permission to Land) when I can see good qualities but I feel frustrated like "I have heard this before" and that no band can match the hype....

even Oasis, as good as I though their first two albums were did that to me

Bands like Arctic Monkeys, Bloc Party, The Darkness are examples of this

Arctic Monkeys blew apart the UK....the states? pfffffffttt young band that needs time to develop Bloc Party? I wondered if I was hearing early U2 with some JD/Gang of Four tossed in The darkness. I liked "I Believe in a Thing Called Love" but a whole cd of that-acccck!! Somewheer Freddie Mercury is applauding and I thought if they came out in '87, The Darkness woulda beeeennnnn HUGE their hair and costumes are so perfectly hair metal

I tend to buy the NME although I don't really know why. It takes about five minutes to read and I usually couldn't give a rodent's posterior about the latest hit band they're flogging. I suppose it's just the novelty of a weekly music mag, plus they seem so breathless about everything.

I really used to like Spin but it seems like their quality level went down as they tried to make the magazine more mainstream. Q same story. I pick up a copy of Mojo if they're featuring someone I'm interested in, it's a good read but a bit costly. Magnet is pretty good too, talks about a lot of indie bands you'd probably never hear about anywhere else (which can be good or bad!).