NME R.I.P.

CORP$EY

no mickey mouse ting
https://www.theguardian.com/media/2018/mar/07/nme-ceases-print-edition-weekly-music-magazine

The NME is to cease publication in print after 66 years, the weekly music title joining a growing list of once mighty magazine brands that now only exist online.

The NME.com website will continue, replacing the print edition’s cover star interview with a new weekly digital franchise, the Big Read.

The NME will continue to keep a sporadic presence in print with special issues such as its paid-for series NME Gold, to cater for music stars’ appetite for appearing in a printed product.


I doubt anyone on here has read the NME since circa 2003 (when I read it), and especially not since it became something that overworked vendors hand out at tube stations to throw away for them, but still seems a noteworthy moment.

I've never really read any of the 'halycon days' NME stuff. Perhaps some of you pensioners can point me in the right direction?

When I was reading it it was dedicated to hailing deeply mediocre bands like The Vines and The Hives as being somehow exciting. Mind you at that tender age I ate it up.
 
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CORP$EY

no mickey mouse ting
I wonder if anybody else was led like a lamb to a pile of shit by NME's praising of Jet?
 

Leo

Well-known member
https://www.theguardian.com/media/2018/mar/07/nme-ceases-print-edition-weekly-music-magazine

I've never really read any of the 'halycon days' NME stuff. Perhaps some of you pensioners can point me in the right direction?

reporting for duty.

read it religiously from the punk years, probably 1980 thru maybe early 90s. in the pre-internet days, it was one of the very few resources for what was happening, gig reviews of bands before they even released their first 7" single would start to build the hype. i felt like i knew everything about the jesus and mary chain before they even released a record. monthlies like ny rocker were great too but couldn't compete with the british weeklies for timely news.

some of the writers were fanboys but many of them were excellent and critical when necessary. i think that was a big part of the attraction: their willingness in ruffling feathers, calling out poseurs and bands who sold out in a witty and cutting fashion, as opposed to most other music mags (and pretty much all internet sites today) who post nothing but praise and rarely criticize.

from the states, there seemed to be a clear split between team NME and team melody maker, as the weeklies competed for discovering (as well as hyping and knocking down) the next cool underground sound/band. maybe it's a british thing, beatles v. stones, oasis v. blur, etc. not sure why i gravitated towards the NME but as a loyalist, i knee-jerk dismissed MM until years later when i realized they had their fair share of excellent writers (hello, blissblogger!).

i should say the third wheel in the weekly competition was sounds, but they always struck me as much more mainstream and drifted for awhile into covering metal.

part of the attraction was also the whole ordeal of getting it, unlike today when you can call up anything at any time online. back then, there was the week's build up of anticipation, then the trip to one of the few magazine stores or record shops who sold it, and if you went a few days later you risked it being sold out and gone forever with no online archive.

kind of like the difference between making the trip to a revival house movie theater to see a short-run indie film - leaving early enough to get there and buy a ticket, waiting in the line to get in, rushing to nab the best seats, etc. -- as opposed to just dialing up the world of film on netflix any time you want from the luxury of home, or driving for eight hours across the barren lands of west texas to make the pilgrimage to donald judd's chinati compound in marfa. the entire ordeal is a key part of the experience.
 
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CORP$EY

no mickey mouse ting
I can't help but feel wistful (steady on barty) for a time when music writers commanded, if not respect, then at least attention

BORN TOO LATE

I think when I was a teenager I thought I might end up writing for Hip Hop Connection one day. For a living. PWNED.
 

john eden

male pale and stale
I read it most weeks from about 1986 to when it got a bit shit in the 90s and dance music was more interesting.

Used to go into town on a Saturday morning and read it in the library quite often. If I had my own copy I would read it cover to cover, even the small ads at the back.

I mean, I am a music geek and love reading about music, obviously. The writing was pretty great though - it's hard to beat people like Penman, Morley and Steven Wells - they could literally write about anything and make it interesting.

Plus, as Leo says, there often was no other way to find out about stuff than the weekly inkies or maybe the John Peel show. That was it.
 

Leo

Well-known member
i remember stumbling into Vintage Magazine Shop in Soho (https://www.yelp.com/biz/vintage-magazine-shop-london) a few years ago and finding probably 50-75 print copies of NMEs from the 70s thru 90s.

wicked place, thousands of old mags on every topic. I believe the company still exists via online mail order but the store closed in 2016.
 

version

Well-known member
Always seeing these legendary names popping up Morley/Penman/Kent/Burchill but not really read anything by them

Are there archives online?

All I could find of Kent is this review of a Pink Floyd gig

http://www.pink-floyd.org/artint/nmesyd74.htm

Kent published a couple of books, a collection of pieces on various artists called The Dark Stuff and Apathy for the Devil, a memoir full of anecdotes and stories about musicians he crossed paths with in the 70s.
 
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