Conference marvin::uk_music

    I used to buy Q but now I buy Select because it seems to include more 
    "indie" bands which I tend to prefer.The junk "reviews" in nme ect is
    unbelievable .They do cover good bands but try understanding their 
    gig reviews it's 18th century poetry or something.

    
    I read Melody Maker and NME for the sole reason of the classified adds.

I buy NME,MM regularly and buy either Q or SELECT every month depending on whats 
inside.
  Yes NME has been getting rather sad lately .They seem to be trying to change 
direction over the last couple of months. They're obviously trying to get away
from the indie dance thing and back into the "rockin" side of things and are
making a hash of it.
  Melody Maker is not changing its direction but it's gatting smaller! Last weeks
was just 46 pages long! Six months ago it used to be anything form 54 to 68 pages.
Is the magazine in trouble?
  Q is o.k. except it gives all the old fogies like Tom Petty too much room and
band like Flowered Up only ever get on when they're on a roll. Select was great
until the makers of Q bought it. They almost destroyed it for a couple of months
but it seems to be finding its feet again .Long live the free tapes!

  There is a new glossy out called SIREN and concentrates soley on indie rock
and gives almost no room to indie dance. It's very unbalanced and overpriced.Also
most of the articles are S***e.

                NIALLY.

p.s. bring back Record Mirror and Sounds ....please

    Sounds now that was a good magazine.

    I agree with the noter who said that he buys music papers for the
    classified advertisments. The rest, let's face it, is meant for peaking
    teenagers.

    About a year agfo the NME started including wall-posters of Costello,
    Ryder (hype alert!) and the like. I found it one gross insult but then
    you probably know how I feel about Jo Soaps being made into
    Super-Humans. (And Tony Wilson grinning all the way to the bank.) The
    NME is dishonest - plain and simple. And the same for the rest.

    - Tim

    PS I stopped buying them a long time ago but I'll sometimes scan them
       at a friend's house/cube.

   I used to buy NME regularily but no longer bother. I just don't think its 
   worth the money any more. 

   I buy "Record Collector" every month. Although there are a lot of pages
   of ads, this magazine has several excellent features in each issue where
   they focus on different artists, with condensed history and discography.

   They also do album reviews which are reasonably accurate, unlike NME who
   don't appear to see any need to actually listen to them first.

   Dave

    
    I buy NME weekly. Agree that some of the critics try to be oversmart in
    their reviews. But it still covers the indie music scene best.
    
    I buy Q, Select and Vox on a monthly basis. Q is a pile of crap. The
    only reason I still buy it is to keep the collection going but I reckon
    I will stop soon. Started going down hill when itrealised that it could
    double its profits by publishing its Film reviews in a seperate
    magazine, Empire. You have to laugh when it comes to its end of year
    selection of best albums. More often than not they pick one indie album
    as a token gesture. Last year Happy Mondays, year before Stone Roses.
    Also, they went a bit overboard on the last George Michael album
    putting it up there with Sergeant Pepper, Blonde On Blone etc..
    
    Select isn't bad covering a good cross section of music taste and also
    includes an excellent Film section.
    
    Vox keeps improving. This is just a monthly glossy version of NME. Good
    coverage, better reviews (less smart-assed). Good film section. It
    includes a an ongoing encyclopedia of Rock music that you build up (not
    brilliant). Also comes with a supplement magazine dedicated to record
    collecting, resissues etc. which is called Record Hunter. So all in all
    at the moment Vox is excellent value for money. Next month they will
    have a special offer on a tape/CD of soul classics carrying on where
    NME seems to have left off over the past couple of years.
    
    I feel that between these three magazines there is something to satisfy
    most tastes. 
    
    		Ian.

    
    
    	When i'm in the UK i buy NME for the gig guide, the rest
    	of it isn't even good enough for bog paper.
    
    	Q appears to be going the same way.

    I used to get Q every month, primarily for the reviews, but it seems to
    have become remarkably content-free in the last few months. I think VOX
    is better but it still isn't essential reading. I'm looking forward to
    details of their soul collection, though...

    As for the NME, I last bought it about a year ago and found it gratuitously
    offensive without any redeeming features. 

    �Paul� 

    I agree that Q has gone downhill over the last year.
    
    However, I still think NME is the only paper worth getting, and thats
    after 13 years of reading it.  So, thumbs up for the NME.
    
    Mikef

    I buy fanzines, all of which are too undependable to subscribe to.
    Stuff like Rolling Stone and NME don't provide enough entertainment. On
    the other hand, even the largest and most pro-like 'zines ("Forced
    Exposure" and (especially!) "Chemical Imbalance") have pointed me to a
    lot of current favorites.
    
    Depending on rags like NME (which has been playing the "this week's
    XYZ is hot, last week's ZYX have SOLD OUT!" game for at least 15 years)
    or Creem for music criticism is like depending on commercial radio
    stations for music.
    
    Ray

    I buy Q (but admittedly only for the last year or so, so I might not
    have noticed its "decline").  Mainly for the listings of
    releases/re-releases and the odd article.
    
    Got NME and Melody Maker throughout the 70s - bought a copy of NME the
    other day though after a break of 10+ years and it now doesn't seem to
    come closer than Mars to my musical tastes...:-(
    
    K
    

    I started buying the NME wayyyy back in '67 (cos I wanted to know all
    about the Monkees (gulp)). I kept with it thoroughout the 70's, but
    knew that it did not provide me with the coverage I needed. I bought
    (and still have) the first few issues of Sounds - interesting, but
    without the style of NME.  MM was just too heavily into Jazz for my
    tastes, apart from being an exceedingly boring read.
    
    I have wide tastes in music and wanted one magazine which respected
    music as a medium and didn't sneer at any one genre - which the NME
    increasingly began to do.  There was one comic, called Music, which was
    badly proof-read, came out sporadically, but offered nearly all I
    wanted.  But it died...
    
    I finally packed in the NME (all the other music comics had merged into
    the same sneering limited-sort-of-coverage style.
    
    Finally, I "discovered" Q - it was EXACTLY what I had been looking for. 
    They covered all (well, most) types of music and actually appeared to
    review albums in a positive way - they actually LIKED music.... Thanks
    to Q, I have been introduced to bands I would never have thought of
    listening to, before.  However, I also was annoyed when the movie
    reviews were hacked out and I agree that Q has become complacent and
    predictable to some extent.  Still, it appears to be the best (imho) of
    a not particularly good bunch.
    
    
    Dave

    As you all know both Sounds and Record mirror are dead . Well sort of...
Record mirror is now a little supplement inside MusicWeek , the trade mag.
While it's not a bad mag 2 quid a week (approx. in Irish money) is a little 
much to pay. Anyway Record Mirror deserves more than that.
   There was rumour of a replacement coming by the team who wrote RM but I 
have yet to see it on the shelves .Any info?
      
                        NIALLY

    
      I was thinking of starting with "Rolling stone".Any opinions?
    

    Despite the huge circulation (or maybe because of it) Rolling Stone is 
    a bit of a dinosaur. It's almost as nice to the stars as Hello
    Magizine! The reviews are a bit harmless with great reviews being
    heaped upon the likes of The Travelling Willburies (sp?) etc.
     It's interviews can also be a little condescending and some of it's
    facts can be downright wrong but not very often . However it is better
    than Spin (not consistent enough...sometimes great but other times
     useless  ) . If you really do wish to buy an American "rock" mag. Then
    you could do worse but generally it's a bit ineffectual. The U.S.
    edition is about a quid dearer in this country than the European
    edition  which  is basically a much shrunken version of the same       
    thing.
         
             Nially. 

    Hi,
    
    Does one of these magazines list the UKDEMO Charts??
    
    

    Re: the last note...
    
    The demo chart appears in a magazine called Bandit, which is produced
    and distributed by an outfit on the Isle of Wight.
    
    It is a very small (in content) mag, but concerns itself primarily with
    telling the aspiring artist/band what the current crop of A&R people
    are looking for.
    
    I'll give you more details as soon as poss.
    
    At the moment, I buy NME each week. I realised a long, long time ago
    that the only worth these papers have for old people like me is in the
    information they provide with regard to releases, gig listing, etc. To
    read and to even take seriously the in-depth interviews is not a good
    way of spending precious time.
    
    For example, during the seventies I used to buy and read Sounds.
    Towards the end of that decade one of their star writers was one Gary
    Bushell. He's now a jurno with The Sun. Sold out or what? Julie
    Burchill is another -- now a novelist and screenwriter as well as
    Sunday Mail jurno -- former music paper hack. Their days spent grilling
    and analysing Paul Weller were just an aprenticeship and stepping stone
    to 'better' things.
    
    
    regards,
    Terry.
                     

That's "better" as in "worse", right?

    Anyone here read SIREN "the credible alternative" ? Apart from having
    the worst logo in history   it's reviews are crap and the interviews
    aren't much better. 
     It's glossy,expensive, totally negative and totally useless!
    
                   Niall

    
    Well I need to change an opinion on Select now. The Film Review section
    is just one page.
    
    Surprise, surprise.
    
    Select was bought over by the the publishers of Q and Empire.  Empire
    is totally dedicated to Film review etc, etc. You get the picture.
    
    Select is now all the poorer for it. I don't think SElect will be about
    this time next year.
    
    Ian.

    re Bushell and Sounds. 
    
    I read some really old copies of Sounds the other night and realised
    just how cr*p a writer Bushell really was/is. I think the chap was 
    obviously setting himself up for a career in Sun TV column writing
    back then. Remember how he championed all those Oi bands? and those 
    Punk's Not Dead debates with Mensi and Hoxton Tom (who?). Must admit
    those Judge Dread interviews made me laugh though. Judge Dread eh?
    Deserves his own note really does'nt he? 
    
    
    Barry.   

There's a definite link between Oi bands (racist and violent) and the Sun
(ditto), wouldn't you say...


Rod

    Our Gal's even graced the front cover of Searchlight (?), an anti
    facist journal, which claims he has links with some of the more dodgy
    right wing groups. The last I heard Bushell was seeking legal action
    against the claims. He always tried to play down the more racist
    leanings of those Oi bands back in his Sounds days.However, did'nt a 
    4 skins pub gig contribute to, or even cause, the riots in Southall 
    10 years ago? I seem to remember the pub being burnt down. 
    
    Remember these Sounds hacks? Robbi Millar, Phil Sutcliffe, Paul Suter,
    McCullogh (forget his first name), Sandy Robertson, Alan Lewis, who I
    think went off to become editor of NME. And of course, not forgetting,
    Sounds' resident astrologer Norton Ferris.   
    
    Barry.
    

Apparently, when GB tender his resignation from the Sun ( he's moving to 
the Star ), Kelvin McKenzie said ( amongst other things ), that he was 
"too right wing for the Sun".


Stuart

    re:26
    
    It was Dave McColough. He championed U2, quite vigorously and
    poetically at times, from their very early English days until 1983's
    War LP. This he slated -- vigorously (a bit of a McColough trademark),
    and with no real justification. Just another music jurnolist whim.
    
    Terry.
    

     Hi ;^)
    
    Qstn; Is there a magazine outthere in the U.K. which covers the dance
    music properly,plus having a detailed release-listing of Euro and U.S.
    dance music product?
    
    A mag that covered that(not to the max though)was "JOCKS"later"DJ"mag
    but this one seem to have vanished,is there a proper alternative?
    
    I like to have some help on this please?
    
    thx, Jan.

	Yes, Rock Around World is now defunct and they have been for about
	9 months.  I found out when my cost for subscription was returned
	to me.  When I inquired further I was told it simply had to do with
	the large costs associated with running such a business which were
	much more than expected.  The person when on to say that Alternative
	Press took some 6 years to begin turning a profit and at the time
	Spin was just starting to make money.  I'll miss it, it was nice to 
	see where in world your favorite bands were touring, etc.  It was
	far more concise than any concert/tour schedules I've ever seen in
	any other papers but then again as the time implies they'd have to
	be best!

	- Jim

    It's now nearly two years since this subject was discussed. I stopped
    buying the music papers about then, because although I was familiar
    with most of the bands they covered, I no longer had any idea what they
    talking about anymore. It all seemed to be a bunch of art critics gone
    mad.
    
    I bought Q last weekend, just for something to read, and quite enjoyed
    it. Admittedly a bit of a coffee table comic book, but it seemed clear
    and informative. So have things improved in the last couple of years?
    What are the other papers like? Have they changed at all? What do you 
    buy, and why?
     
    Phil Gill.

re .31

Like you Phil, I buy Q. And for similar reasons. The rest of the press still
seems to prefer literary masturbation to providing information. IMHO anyway.
My recommendation would be to stick with Q (with occasional forays into Vox 
if there's anything interesting in it).

Balders

    I used to be a big Q fan, but it started getting a bit tame for my
    tastes, too many articles appreciating Eric Clapton.  Vox has a bit
    more of a bite to it.
    
    I read somewhere that they are planning a 'Q gold' - an edition of Q
    devoted to the larger wll known bands only, like Genesis, Eric Clapton,
    Rolling Sto...snore...
    
    Mikef

I regularly buy Q, Vox and Select, which are all pretty good IMO.  I still
get NME and Melody Maker, but I'm not sure how much longer this will continue,
they just get worse week after week.  This week's copy must have been the
most boring and least informative ever, and they're even behind the monthly's
with news!

Chris.

    I buy MM and NME every week - there's almost exactly a week's worth of,
    erm, comfort-break reading in the two.....
    
    It must be said that some of the critics/reporters are a bit
    self-obsessed at times, but I do buy both papers' line about their
    journalists enthusiasm for new music/bands. Also, they make me laugh at
    times, especially the last two pages of the MM (Mr. Agreeable, etc.).
    Call me infantile or whatever, but I like it.
    
    I sometimes look at Q/Vox/Select etc if they are lying around, but I
    find there's too much about established bands & artistes - living in
    the cultural wasteland that is Welwyn Garden City, I'm far more
    interested in newer, 'upcoming' bands than the likes of what makes Mike
    Fiddler fall asleep in the last note.
    
    Bob