NME - state of…

R

Robsku

pen and ink
Is it just me or does the NME resemble the Sun more and more? I keep expecting them to have an Artic Monkeys cover with the line "it was the NME wot done it!". Meanwhile we're subjected to breathless copy about how the state music has never been better - that's right folks "we've never had it so good".

And as for the best British LPs of all time issue - well, that was just damn scary. But nice of them to unearth a few forgotten classics like Dare. Ha!
 
G

gek-opel

entered apprentice
I'm sure this has been covered before here (circa Arctic Monkey's praise/disinterment?) however, the NME needs mentioning as often as possible. The prime problem with it now is that in essence it is a ultra uncritical hype sheet for a very certain subset of white guitar acts BUT acts as if it still carried the critical weight of a paper with (a) writers with real talent who were as interesting to read as the actsthey covered, who actually formed a vital part of the creative matrix of bands-media-fans... and (b) covered everything.

Of course this has arisen because the NME has seen fit to refocuss their attentions on their perceived core readership as a result of serious competition and a series of similar magazines closing in the late 90s/ early 00s. What is galling is the way they kind of still act as if they were 1979-80-era crit heavyweights, wheras they are just a node in the IPC "young male interest" portfolio, content provider for Carling, and Shockwaves hairgel...
 
R

Robsku

pen and ink
gek-opel said:
I'm sure this has been covered before here (circa Arctic Monkey's praise/disinterment?)
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Yeah, I'm sure that the Arctics have already been discussed, though this was just an example of the NME's totally annoying self-championing.

gek-opel said:
What is galling is the way they kind of still act as if they were 1979-80-era crit heavyweights, wheras they are just a node in the IPC "young male interest" portfolio, content provider for Carling, and Shockwaves hairgel...
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Perhaps this is true, though I suspect that the current crop of hacks know absolutely squit about that "golden era" - if fact that seem to be totally ignorant of everything pre-Oasis, as Britpop is somekind of year zero for them.

The thing that really curdles the blood is the way these journos write about these teenage bands in this gushing style which might be OK if they themselves were teenagers and not the embarrassed 30 year olds which they really are.
 
Slothrop

Slothrop

Tight but Polite
gek-opel said:
I'm sure this has been covered before here (circa Arctic Monkey's praise/disinterment?) however, the NME needs mentioning as often as possible.
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I'm not sure it does really - it's one of those things that's too self evidently not-very-good to be worth repeatedly getting het up about how not-very-good it is.

The prime problem with it now is that in essence it is a ultra uncritical hype sheet for a very certain subset of white guitar acts BUT acts as if it still carried the critical weight of a paper with (a) writers with real talent who were as interesting to read as the actsthey covered, who actually formed a vital part of the creative matrix of bands-media-fans... and (b) covered everything.
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Yeah, I think you've got it there. They've basically become a lifestyle mag / cheerleader for people who've already decided what music they like and don't want to think to hard about why they like it. The K-Punk comment about it being 'Smash Hits for students' is pretty much the state of it, although substituting 'Bloc Party fans' for 'students' and killing the alliteration would make it rather more accurate.

I read a collection of Lester Bangs' writing the other day, and even when you're disagreeing with his tastes, you can't help but be shocked at how much better criticism it is than the shite that passes for pop writing these days (and lets be fair - the NME aren't the only culprits, just the easiest to kick.)
 
G

gek-opel

entered apprentice
Its the way that a patina of worthiness is maintained in some way which just makes me very angry...
 
S

seahorsegenius

It's just me.
It's funny, I'm from the U.S. so I never even heard of the NME before I got hooked up to the internet. So for me, people have always hated it.
 
M

mms

sometimes
big satan said:
no, it's been like that for at least 10 years
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no it's defintley changed since that funny man child creature became editor, much much more business orientated, much heavily indie, much less anything else, even the clubs section is literally just indie clubs now plus more blatenty advertsing driven, ie it's accepted now that you can pay for front page. It's totally anti intellectual too now. They have a very unfunny section with a bloke called john robinson aking sneery questions of people who are either old or haven't fared too well, ie annie and some one from status quo etc ha ha ha it's literally just not funny at all, just a sneery asshole.

anyway at the end of the day bashing it is a waste of time really, there are better things to do.
 
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Slothrop

Slothrop

Tight but Polite
mms said:
no it's defintley changed since that funny man child creature became editor, much much more business orientated, much heavily indie, much less anything else, even the clubs section is literally just indie clubs now
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To be fair, this is at least partly because 'proper songs' type indie is actually better now than it used to be. I mean, the Kaiser Chiefs aren't exactly worthy successors to Hendrix and the Sex Pistols, but they're a bit less blatantly crap than indie guitar things were in the late nineties, when the NME was more or less forced to be eclectic.

It's totally anti intellectual too now.
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Out of interest, how so? I've not read it in quite a while.
anyway at the end of the day bashing it is a waste of time really, there are better things to do.
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Yep. Bashing Wire for a start.
 
V

Victor Xray

Subtropical
I stopped buying the NME (it is shitload expensive via airmail to .au!) when I realised they were no longer giving out "0" rated reviews for records.
 
B

blunt

shot by both sides
mms said:
no it's defintley changed since that funny man child creature became editor, much much more business orientated, much heavily indie, much less anything else [...]
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Is this him?

conor_mcnicholas_e_21235a1c391f4b6e2ce013029b231756.jpg


Whatacunt.

From the IPC website: "Conor picked up the Consumer Editor of the Year Award despite stiff competition from the cream of British editors, including Nuts editor Phil Hilton, Closer editor Jane Johnson and Woman & Home editor Sue James."

Say no more.
 
N

Ned

Ruby Tuesday
I wouldn't call it 'Smash Hits for students'. My girlfriend always says she would love if it was actually anything like Smash Hits, which used to be occasionally witty and self-aware. Also I am a student and I don't know anyone who reads it. As for 'Smash Hits for Bloc Party fans', I am a Bloc Party fan but it doesn't mean I'm uncritical enough to bear the NME.

I think their strategy of narrowing the focus to the same ten bands, rotated on the cover, is going to kill them in the end. When rock like that goes back out of fashion they will be stuck with no audience and nothing to write about.
 
N

Ness Rowlah

Norwegian Wood
I called the NME "Hello" in another thread.

Everything is going downhill - not just the NME; but also there's seems to be
no decent mag for young males anymore (maybe Arena in it's early days wasn't
that great - but it sure as hell was better than all those tittie mags from Nuts to Arena/Esquire (and that includes (the shortlived?) Jack - that James Brown guy cannot be trusted can he?).

We are doomed ;)
 
S

stelfox

Beast of Burden
i don't know what was so bad about smash hits.
typical indie-boy insult, that one.
funnily enough, at simon r's book thing at the boogaloo last year, this real aggro manc was standing behind me and silverdollar, calling morley a traitor under his breath when he was talking and saying how he had turned the neme into smash hits!
the nme now is considerably worse than smash hits ever was.
 
B

boomnoise

♫
dave - i remember that guy! lol

the nme is crap but isn't it simply that we are no longer the target audience for these publications. and that the magazine market has changed dramatically? for me the more interesting questions relate to music writing online and whether revenue streams can be harnessed through online advertising to pay people to do it?
 
T

Tactics

BBP!
everybody is a critic

and everybody wants to be a writer. I don't like the NME in its current state (melody maker was the better out the two - r.i.p) but too many people think they could do better.
 
G

gek-opel

entered apprentice
Most of the people who write on here could do better... however, not for that market obviously. And saying- "you have no right to criticise unless you can actually do said activity better yourself" -- is that really a legitimate argument?
 
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