Q Magazine No More

[ZingaliMan]

Last one out this month as sadly another music mag goes to the wall. Have not bought Q on a regular basis for years but have bought many an album from their reviews . 

[Academically Deficient]

That's a shame. Been years since I bought it right enough.

Although I did buy a book that compiled the late Tom Hibbert's "Who Do They Think They Are?" articles from the magazine. The one on Jimmy Savile was particularly memorable.

[Oscar Wilder]

Have been a subscriber for over 20 years!
That's Sounds, Record Mirror, NME, Melody Maker, Vox, and Select all gone, magazines i regularly bought!
Only got Vive Le Rock left!! [emoji19]

[Jimi Shandrix]

Q was laughably bad. Worse even than Uncut and Mojo. Populated by journos unwilling to offend anybody. Every album receiving 4/5. NME, Sounds and especially Melody Maker were essential reading last century but printed music journalism has been dead a long time. There are simply no more untold stories of The Beatles, Bob Dylan or Pink Floyd left to be told. The internet has done away with the need to get anybody else's opinion first. 

[ZingaliMan]

20 minutes ago, Jimi Shandrix said:

Q was laughably bad. Worse even than Uncut and Mojo. Populated by journos unwilling to offend anybody. Every album receiving 4/5. NME, Sounds and especially Melody Maker were essential reading last century but printed music journalism has been dead a long time. There are simply no more untold stories of The Beatles, Bob Dylan or Pink Floyd left to be told. The internet has done away with the need to get anybody else's opinion first. 

You can still get NME online.

[Jimi Shandrix]

38 minutes ago, ZingaliMan said:

You can still get NME online.

The NME of today is somewhat different to it's heyday. I'm not sure I need to know what clothes Dua Lipa is wearing this week.

[Academically Deficient]

The big inky music papers were really good in the 70s and 80s. Music was generally taken very seriously then, pop culture in general was and the writing reflected that.

Although it did go overboard at times, crossing the line into utter pretentiousness. Rik from the Young Ones being the stereotypical up-himself NME reader. A bit like many of us in those days.

Present company excluded obviously.

[NotThePars]

Pitchfork and the Quietus are the only publications I read a decade ago that I can think of that are still on the go

[L. Brilliant]

I do have a good few from the late 90s but these types of things seem redundant in the online era.  In the offline age I liked it in the absence of anything else, finding and expanding my taste in music - but something so big and broad is never going to go very deep/specialised. 

It does/did have that strong vibe of the promotional space it equates to bring bought and paid for like the brits or mercury prize and - spot on above - the fear of saying much negative.

The business model of a £5 magazine to tell you Chris Martin's favourite colour / that QOTSA took drugs / Rammstein at Wembley arena 4 stars ... was probably lucky to outlive Woolworths and blockbuster 

 

 

[TheScarf]

Music magazines were basically rendered unnecessary from about 2002 when the internet was readily available to most households. 

A bit like all print journalism really. 

For what it’s worth, I liked Q magazine and bought it quite regularly in the late 90s and early 00s. 

[GNU_Linux]

Never read it myself but The Wire is still on the go & very well regarded.

[BillyAnchor]

Dead pool thread for this pish

[tongue_tied_danny]

On 29/07/2020 at 12:38, Jimi Shandrix said:

The NME of today is somewhat different to it's heyday. I'm not sure I need to know what clothes Dua Lipa is wearing this week.

 

On 29/07/2020 at 13:02, Academically Deficient said:

The big inky music papers were really good in the 70s and 80s. Music was generally taken very seriously then, pop culture in general was and the writing reflected that.

Although it did go overboard at times, crossing the line into utter pretentiousness. Rik from the Young Ones being the stereotypical up-himself NME reader. A bit like many of us in those days.

Present company excluded obviously.

I loved NME was i was around 14  or 15. This was at the time of the Madchester era. It was essential reading as it documented a youth subculture that I was interested in and wanted to be part of. Obviously this was pre internet and you could read about bands that were seldom, if ever, on TV or radio.

I tired of it pretty quickly, especially when it became apparent that they were just building up a scene and then knocking it down a year later. I also got pretty sick of the smug 6th form politics that every fucking interview descended into. I really couldn't give a f**k about Pete Hooton from The Farm's opinion on the gulf war or Carter USM's simple solution to the homelessness crisis.

Melody Maker was probably a better music mag as it didn't really go in for fads or scenes. I didn't really pay attention to Sounds or Record Mirror.

Edited July 30, 2020 by tongue_tied_danny

[Academically Deficient]

4 minutes ago, tongue_tied_danny said:

 

 

Melody Maker was probably a better music mag as it didn't really go in for fads or scenes. I didn't really pay attention to Sounds or Record Mirror.

Also agree about the political opinions getting tedious.

Sounds was a must read in the late 70s for punk rockers like me. Then it started promoting the dreadful phenomenon of "Oi" which fortunately was one of the shortest lived youth cultures of all time. 

[tongue_tied_danny]

27 minutes ago, Academically Deficient said:

Also agree about the political opinions getting tedious.

Sounds was a must read in the late 70s for punk rockers like me. Then it started promoting the dreadful phenomenon of "Oi" which fortunately was one of the shortest lived youth cultures of all time. 

Yeah, Oi was pretty dreadful and had far right undertones. I believe Garry Bushell was behind it.

It's before my time but I always thought it was just a London thing. Did it read its ugly head North of the border?

[Melanius Mullarkey]

On 29/07/2020 at 12:38, Jimi Shandrix said:

The NME of today is somewhat different to it's heyday. I'm not sure I need to know what clothes Dua Lipa is wearing this week.

Get back to me when she’s not wearing any.

[Academically Deficient]

53 minutes ago, tongue_tied_danny said:

Yeah, Oi was pretty dreadful and had far right undertones. I believe Garry Bushell was behind it.

It's before my time but I always thought it was just a London thing. Did it read its ugly head North of the border?

Skinheads were a thing, but very much a minority activity, and they were more likely to be into Madness, Jam, 2-Tone etc. I think it was a London thing. And a far-right arsehole thing.

I will admit to buying every record by Cockney Rejects until they went metal, but that's just between us