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i say classic, if only for the interviews that the indie fuxor guy does with rappers (the ll cool j interview this week was class) and R&B artists (the smuji video segment a few weeks back was hilarious).

― dickvandyke (dickvandyke), Wednesday, 1 September 2004 08:57 (twenty years ago) link

classic sure. see also ILX heroes: Miquita Oliver and Simon Amstell

― Jaunty Alan (Alan), Wednesday, 1 September 2004 08:59 (twenty years ago) link

miquita's legs - total classic.

― dickvandyke (dickvandyke), Wednesday, 1 September 2004 09:04 (twenty years ago) link

i wish these guys presented TOTP.

TOTP has the blandest, dumbest, most boring presenters ever employed by the BBC.

― dickvandyke (dickvandyke), Wednesday, 1 September 2004 09:05 (twenty years ago) link

both of 'em are classic. the ll cool j interview wz hilarious.

― Julio Desouza (jdesouza), Wednesday, 1 September 2004 09:06 (twenty years ago) link

Teh Beanie Man interview during which Simon tells him he is gay and then Beanie Man refuses to shake his hand was a classic

― Robin Goad (rgoad), Wednesday, 1 September 2004 09:25 (twenty years ago) link

D, absolutely. why? because popworld is part of the simon fuller axis. YOU'RE ALL BEING FOOLED! wise-ass fun that takes the piss out of the modern pop industry? no, it IS the modern pop industry in its most insidious form.

yeh, simon is one cool-ass fucker (good name, too), but the fact remains he's taking the devil's shilling. it's all part of the man's sinister plan, kids.

― grimly fiendish, Wednesday, 1 September 2004 09:32 (twenty years ago) link

Classic, to the very marrow of the bone, Miqita I love you!

― lukey (Lukey G), Wednesday, 1 September 2004 10:10 (twenty years ago) link

That bloke irritates me in a way that few television presenters do. He seems like he's be the perfect bad ILM poster. It's one thing to be sarcastic and knowing, but the relentless way in which he takes the piss just seems to me vicious and nasty rather than fun-loving or cheeky.

― Super-Masonic Black Hole (kate), Wednesday, 1 September 2004 10:11 (twenty years ago) link

Simon, show me evidence of this proposed Fuller connection, because i aint convinced. And besides, arn't Girls Aloud nesteled within his evil clutches? Yet they are clearly the greatest all female vocal pop band since (insert name here, but if you are thinking Spice Girls I have 2 words for you 'Viva Forever.')

― lukey (Lukey G), Wednesday, 1 September 2004 10:16 (twenty years ago) link

anyone who doesnt like girls aloud doesnt like pop!

― dickvandyke (dickvandyke), Wednesday, 1 September 2004 10:18 (twenty years ago) link

x-post, shouldnt we be welcoming a bit of nastiness and cruelty in the blanded out world of music programmes on TV, super masonic black hole?

― dickvandyke (dickvandyke), Wednesday, 1 September 2004 10:19 (twenty years ago) link

popworld is the nuts! even more so since biggins' chart predictions became a fixture. and while simon can be cruel there is love in popworld too (see: jamelia, amy winehouse, the relentless PR campaign that is busted etc etc - even the welcoming of lemar to the brace at "popbeach" after months of sly digs & backchat) i do love it when somebody vapid and vainglorious attempts to get "in" with simon & miquita & falls flat (see shaznay lewis - oooh cringeworthy).
best tv show ever unless this weeks epsode of LEXX is good. (this week's was great!)

― bob snoom, Wednesday, 1 September 2004 10:20 (twenty years ago) link

If it was funny-sarcastic, I would see your point. But it's nasty-sarcastic, and bitchy, and I just can't stomach bitchy any more.

― Super-Masonic Black Hole (kate), Wednesday, 1 September 2004 10:21 (twenty years ago) link

i dont know, i find him genuinely funny. i dont think hes that nasty or bitchy, really. a bit patrionising, yeah, but not a total asshole.

― dickvandyke (dickvandyke), Wednesday, 1 September 2004 10:23 (twenty years ago) link

I don't find him funny at all. I find him patronising and too clever by half. Also something about his little chipmunk face just screams SMARMY and perhaps even PUNCHABLE to me.

― Super-Masonic Black Hole (kate), Wednesday, 1 September 2004 10:27 (twenty years ago) link

im quite surprised no one has punched him yet.

― dickvandyke (dickvandyke), Wednesday, 1 September 2004 10:29 (twenty years ago) link

Less about the lad, more about the girl, please thankyou.

― ___ (___), Wednesday, 1 September 2004 10:40 (twenty years ago) link

Teh Beanie Man interview during which Simon tells him he is gay and then Beanie Man refuses to shake his hand was a classic

I would like to see this. Other than that, I find him kind of...slappabale. That knowing way he has of being nasty to people once they're off-screen although he's been smiling through an interview with the same person five minutes earlier just seems needlessly cruel and unneccessary. We KNOW Melanie Chisholm is crap. If you know it too, why not have someone more interesting on your programme?

Sometimes, though, he is funny. In a mean, spiteful, wouldn't buy him a drink unless it was to pour over his head sort of way.

― hobart paving (hobart paving), Wednesday, 1 September 2004 10:40 (twenty years ago) link

Although pouring a drink over someone's head could also be construed as slightly spiteful.

― hobart paving (hobart paving), Wednesday, 1 September 2004 10:40 (twenty years ago) link

they cant really have any one better on the programme, as its for kiddies. this way allows them to have their cake and spitefully eat it.

― dickvandyke (dickvandyke), Wednesday, 1 September 2004 10:43 (twenty years ago) link

> Simon, show me evidence of this proposed Fuller connection,
> because i aint convinced

go to http://www.popworld.com. go to "info" at the top right of the main screen, then scroll down to "corporate information".

― grimly fiendish, Wednesday, 1 September 2004 11:02 (twenty years ago) link

Simon was sitting opposite me in my local last night. ROWR!

― marianna lcl, Wednesday, 1 September 2004 22:17 (twenty years ago) link

Disgusting and depressing.

― jed_ (jed), Wednesday, 1 September 2004 22:25 (twenty years ago) link

― cºzen (Cozen), Wednesday, 1 September 2004 22:32 (twenty years ago) link

I don't disagree.

― cºzen (Cozen), Wednesday, 1 September 2004 22:33 (twenty years ago) link

ive only seen clips of it - i'm never up early enough for the whole programme. But i find it slightly upsetting for the reasons Hobart Paving said. I think young people being arch and sarcastic is now the norm - in real life as well as on TV - and that's a bad thing.

― jed_ (jed), Wednesday, 1 September 2004 22:39 (twenty years ago) link

I want to meet an arch young person.

― cºzen (Cozen), Wednesday, 1 September 2004 22:42 (twenty years ago) link

sarcastic everyone's at.

― cºzen (Cozen), Wednesday, 1 September 2004 22:42 (twenty years ago) link

I'll introduce you to Abigai1 Wi1d.

― Alba (Alba), Wednesday, 1 September 2004 22:43 (twenty years ago) link

now I have to look up what arch means.

― cºzen (Cozen), Wednesday, 1 September 2004 22:44 (twenty years ago) link

Arch

2: (used of behavior or attitude) characteristic of those who
treat others with condescension [syn: condescending, patronizing,
patronising]

― jed_ (jed), Wednesday, 1 September 2004 22:46 (twenty years ago) link

That's what I would have said too.

Weirdly, the (American) dictionary.com has it only as 'mischievous; roguish'.

I used to be all in favour of kids being arch and sarcastic, but jed is making me doubt myself.

― Alba (Alba), Wednesday, 1 September 2004 22:50 (twenty years ago) link

Would you settle for an evil, disaffected, sarcastic malcontent kid-no-longer like me?

― R.I.M.A. (Barima), Thursday, 2 September 2004 10:48 (twenty years ago) link

why shouldn't they be sarcastic? a lot of the people they have to deal with arguably deserve it (Beenie Man a good example).

― the neurotic awakening of s (blueski), Thursday, 2 September 2004 10:56 (twenty years ago) link

I don't think all kids are arch and sarcastic, or at least if they are it does not mean they are cynical or critical.

― Ronan (Ronan), Thursday, 2 September 2004 11:05 (twenty years ago) link

I guess I mean that it's just an adopted thing rather than a generation defining one. Though I don't know many 12/13 year olds.

― Ronan (Ronan), Thursday, 2 September 2004 11:05 (twenty years ago) link

I'm related to a few and so far that's not the case. Though maybe when they're 15, it'll pick up.

― R.I.M.A. (Barima), Thursday, 2 September 2004 11:11 (twenty years ago) link

I wish I knew more 12/13 year olds.

― Jimmybommy JimmyK'KANG (Nick Southall), Thursday, 2 September 2004 11:12 (twenty years ago) link

JOKE!!!!!!!!!!!!

― Jimmybommy JimmyK'KANG (Nick Southall), Thursday, 2 September 2004 11:12 (twenty years ago) link

for large chunks of the program, simon doesnt mock, but merely asks pop stars silly questions. it's not his fault if some of the celebs dont respond well to the questions.

and he looks like the british version of seth cohen. rowrr indeed.

― may, Thursday, 2 September 2004 11:15 (twenty years ago) link

you all better recognise.

fo shizzle

― Jaunty Alan (Alan), Thursday, 2 September 2004 13:08 (twenty years ago) link

When Southall announces that he wishes he knew more babies/grandads/pushchairs/sea lions, then I'll be worried.

― R.I.M.A. (Barima), Thursday, 2 September 2004 14:21 (twenty years ago) link

See, this morning was an example of when Popworld really works - Simon Amstell and Darren Hayes playing off one another, trying to see how long it would take before one of them cracked up. And me hyperventilating with giggles and forgetting to check the oven.

― cis (cis), Sunday, 5 September 2004 09:17 (twenty years ago) link

simon amstell was awful interviewing the vaguely humorless cassidy today.

― cºzen (Cozen), Sunday, 5 September 2004 10:48 (twenty years ago) link

a variety of schticks is better than one needing changed.

― cºzen (Cozen), Sunday, 5 September 2004 10:48 (twenty years ago) link

popworld is still the best pop music show on british TV today.

― splooge (thesplooge), Sunday, 5 September 2004 10:54 (twenty years ago) link

i think they are all equally the worst.

― jed_ (jed), Sunday, 5 September 2004 11:00 (twenty years ago) link

"Irony: Do not let yourself be goverened by it, especially not in uncreative moments. In creative moment try to make use of it as one more means of grasping life. Cleanly used, it too is clean, and one nead not to be ashamed of it; and if you feel you are getting too familiar with it, it you fear this grownin intimacy with it, then turn to great and serious objects, before which it becomes small and helpless. Seek the depth of things: thither irony never descends - and when you come this close to the edge of greatness, test out at the same time whether this ironic attitude springs from a necessity of your nature. For under the influence of serious things either it will fall from you (if it is something fortuitous,) or else it will (if it really innately belongs to you) strengthen into a stern instrument and take its place in the series of tools with which you will have to shape your art."

Simon and mikita (sp?) should read Rilke.

― jed_ (jed), Sunday, 5 September 2004 23:10 (twenty years ago) link

two years pass...

yet another crappy British music mag

Popworld Pulp

New weekly music magazine
http://fireescapetalking.blogspot.com/2007/04/new-weekly-music-magazine.html

A new weekly music magazine has hit the newsstands. Popworld Pulp, a spin-off of the long-running Channel 4 TV programme, launched today; it will be lucky to still be publishing at the end of the year.

― djmartian, Thursday, 12 April 2007 12:48 (seventeen years ago) link

I wonder what Jarvis will say about this mag?

― djmartian, Thursday, 12 April 2007 12:52 (seventeen years ago) link

"This magazine isn't as good as the following banking services I whole-heartedly endorse"

― Dom Passantino, Thursday, 12 April 2007 12:55 (seventeen years ago) link

is this mag worse than playmusic?

― djmartian, Thursday, 12 April 2007 12:56 (seventeen years ago) link

Nothing is worse than Playmusic.

― Dom Passantino, Thursday, 12 April 2007 12:58 (seventeen years ago) link

The Chap is fucking better than Playmusic. Front is better than Playmusic. Scarlet is better than Playmusic. I mean, it really is that bad.

― Dom Passantino, Thursday, 12 April 2007 12:58 (seventeen years ago) link

It's high time NME got a viable weekly competitor though, so who knows, they might actually get it right...*hopes*

― CharlieNo4, Thursday, 12 April 2007 13:33 (seventeen years ago) link

it's called Popworld Pulp yet the bands mentioned on the front cover are all bands featured in the NME every week...

good luck with that then.

― blueski, Thursday, 12 April 2007 13:34 (seventeen years ago) link

CharlieNo4, have seen the front cover of Popworld Pulp? - every artist on the front cover is already covered by NME ! this isn't viable competition it's lazy duplication !

xpost blueski sharp minds think alike

― djmartian, Thursday, 12 April 2007 13:37 (seventeen years ago) link

other publishing failures this decade: bang, x-ray, that mag based in the north east

― djmartian, Thursday, 12 April 2007 13:39 (seventeen years ago) link

if they want to compete with NME fine, but doing so under the name 'Popworld Pulp' seems foolish. I haven't seen the TV show for a while - they still talk to actual Pop acts tho right? that aren't Matt Willis?

― blueski, Thursday, 12 April 2007 13:41 (seventeen years ago) link

Jarvis is probably very upset. first tiger losing the masters, then that incident with coleman slipping on a kids toy at the top of the stairs, and now this! when will it end?

― 600, Thursday, 12 April 2007 13:43 (seventeen years ago) link

OK, fuck it.

Here's how I'd change the NME from a "holy shit, how about we stop establishing ourselves as a "viable" "brand" and actually start doing something about the fact we're haemoragghing readers at the moment".

Fuck kids in the provinces: they'll eventually copy what kids in London, Manchester, and Sheffield are doing anyway, just six months later. It's like writing for a fashion mag: sure, you tell people where they can put together an outfit on a budget, but you make it clear that "WITH JUST £100 YOU CAN DRESS EXACTLY LIKE RICH SIENNA WHO IS RICH". Indie music is trickledown culture.

Also, the whole "we're writing for 15-year-olds" thing doesn't work. J17 wrote for 17 year olds so they'd be read by 15 year olds. At a young age you want to be older. 13 year olds wanna be 15, 17 year olds wanna be 20. NME should really be hitting freshmen HARD. "Will this band sell to an 18 year old Y/N?" should be the first question they ask when covering anything.

Plus the typical NME reader is currently a Razorlight fan who drinks Coke Zero and sits around in the beer garden of a pub wearing a rugby (union) shirt: ie, a total cock. If you're going to try and sell music as a lifestyle, sell it to people who don't already have a lifestyle of their own. Do you really wanna lose out on sales because half your target readership is out attending one day cricket in fancy dress?

If you look at the NME's last.fm group, you'll see a lot of bands there who aren't in the NME. American indie bands, mainly. Here's that inevitable word: "PITCHFORK". Arcade Fire should be the NME's lead band.They _need_ The Decemberists on the cover, and all that useless lot. Rilo Kiley, CYHSY, all that "literate" college kid indie bullshit. Sure, it's not selling as much as Jamie T, but fuck me you'll get a more committed readership from it. The NME's target reader should be a 18 year old girl who wears gold lame ballet shoes and brings herself off to Mighty Boosh DVDs.

So, yeah. Problem solved.

― Dom Passantino, Thursday, 12 April 2007 13:45 (seventeen years ago) link

jarvis sez brand infringement

― djmartian, Thursday, 12 April 2007 13:47 (seventeen years ago) link

Kerrang has all the girls now apparently. (kerrang is sadly also shite now btw)

― Brigadier Lethbridge-Pfunkboy, Thursday, 12 April 2007 13:49 (seventeen years ago) link

Kerrang has all the girls now apparently.

yep, have you seen how NME is pretending to like My Chemical Romance - just to get the teenager emo gurls !

― djmartian, Thursday, 12 April 2007 13:50 (seventeen years ago) link

That's the thing as well, comparing the number of magazines on the market for women to the number of magazines on the market for men, I'm guessing that women are a _lot_ more likely to buy/read a magazine, correct? Part of Kerrang's current circ figure jump has to be down to the fact that it's running heavily on a female genre (ie, emo). This is why the NME needs to cut it out with the lad indie/nu rave, and start hitting US college indie.

― Dom Passantino, Thursday, 12 April 2007 13:52 (seventeen years ago) link

xp, obv.

― Dom Passantino, Thursday, 12 April 2007 13:52 (seventeen years ago) link

See Kerrang Vs NME thread for discussion on how to make Kerrang better btw.

― Brigadier Lethbridge-Pfunkboy, Thursday, 12 April 2007 13:52 (seventeen years ago) link

"North American Indie"

yeah, let's see the NME put these artists on the front cover

Agalloch
Animal Collective
Ariel Pink
Bad Brains
Band of Horses
Blonde Redhead
Caspian
Cannibal Ox
Circle Takes the Square
Nels Cline
Dälek
Matthew Dear
Dinosaur Jr.
Grails
Isis
Jatun
Junior Boys
Kayo Dot
Khonnor
LCD Soundsystem
Lightning Bolt
Mastodon
Mice Parade
Minus the Bear
My Morning Jacket
The National
Neurosis
Panda Bear
Sleepytime Gorilla Museum
Stars of the Lid
Marnie Stern
David Torn
Trans Am
TV on the Radio

― djmartian, Thursday, 12 April 2007 14:14 (seventeen years ago) link

Will this band sell to an 18 year old Y/N?

presumably you'd/they'd still want to restrict this based on same old rubbish class/race/cultural divides tho, to some extent. tho (re)expanding the demographic does not have to be a commercial disaster. this might mean putting rappers on the cover again oh noes.

also remember that NME's (or any big mag's) future lies in it's online and TV presence as much if not more than it does in print. cohesion between the two/three forms needs to be taken into account as much as is feasible.

― blueski, Thursday, 12 April 2007 14:28 (seventeen years ago) link

NME scrapped their Message Boards - because they couldn't control dissenting opinions?

NME stopped comments on their news items as people were destroying their [feeble] brand image

― djmartian, Thursday, 12 April 2007 14:36 (seventeen years ago) link

if they paid me to be NME board moderator...best job ever.

― blueski, Thursday, 12 April 2007 14:38 (seventeen years ago) link

Why did they stop the NME chat rooms?

― Brigadier Lethbridge-Pfunkboy, Thursday, 12 April 2007 14:40 (seventeen years ago) link

to stop old pop perverts such conor macknocklaus and stevo sutherlando from chatting up teenagers?

― djmartian, Thursday, 12 April 2007 14:45 (seventeen years ago) link

Kerrang has all the girls now apparently.

This was the main thing going through my mind when I was reading a double page spread on that band Hinder a couple of weeks ago, one page of which was a photo of the band throwing money around what I assume to be a hotel room, with a woman in her underwear passed out face down on a bed. It was pretty revolting

― DJ Mencap, Thursday, 12 April 2007 14:46 (seventeen years ago) link

excessive trolling by David Devant And His Spirit Wife (xpost)

― blueski, Thursday, 12 April 2007 14:46 (seventeen years ago) link

Yeah, but female Kerrang readers have pretty low self-esteem. Being drugged by Hinder probably sounds like a good deal to them.

xp

― Dom Passantino, Thursday, 12 April 2007 14:47 (seventeen years ago) link

Kerrang
and
Terrorizer
Still have message boards. And quite popular too it seems. So it's bizarre NME doesn't. Cost cutting exercises do you reckon on NME's part?

― Brigadier Lethbridge-Pfunkboy, Thursday, 12 April 2007 14:48 (seventeen years ago) link

or blueski's answer haha

― Brigadier Lethbridge-Pfunkboy, Thursday, 12 April 2007 14:49 (seventeen years ago) link

are Hinder as hideous as Nickelback ?

Worse band I have had the misfortune to experience one track this year: Medina Lake [last year's crap band award goes to Hawthorne Heights]

― djmartian, Thursday, 12 April 2007 14:51 (seventeen years ago) link

Dom that only works because most publishers assume that women will buy a magazine every day, read it on the train and then forget about it, so you can get through each of them in about 10mins. Logical extension = dumb the NME down EVEN MORE, put fewer words in, make it for girls, watch sales rise (except they won't because this is all about to go hugely out of fashion).

― Matt DC, Thursday, 12 April 2007 14:53 (seventeen years ago) link

Maybe the NME coverage will go in cycles and eventually it will come back round to covering inventive acts that deserve coverage. (that encompasses all genres btw)

― Brigadier Lethbridge-Pfunkboy, Thursday, 12 April 2007 14:58 (seventeen years ago) link

The Melody Maker really changed around 1987 didn't it? That's what is needed.

― Brigadier Lethbridge-Pfunkboy, Thursday, 12 April 2007 14:59 (seventeen years ago) link

"yep, have you seen how NME is pretending to like My Chemical Romance - just to get the teenager emo gurls !

-- djmartian, Thursday, April 12, 2007 4:50 PM (1 hour ago)"

seems to work for dom passantino

― That one guy that quit, Thursday, 12 April 2007 15:11 (seventeen years ago) link

the reason NME doesn't open up online opinions, is the magazine is based on bullshit propaganda controlled by tone deaf idiots at the king's reach tower - they don't want to open things up - because they still want to think they can control [distort] opinions ala pre the internet era

the only people who agree with NME viewpoints are kids too young to know any better [the view, the holloways, Larrikin Love, maccabeeswhatever - that kind of b-shit post-pete doherty 3 chords amateur generic shoddy guitar crap]

if they opened up a messageboard - there would be too many dissenting opinions

look at drownedinsound for the anti-NME rants this week:

The Weekly DiScussion: indie-rock ethnic cleansing, who's first against the wall?
http://www.drownedinsound.com/articles/1848043

look at all this NME hyped rubbish:

The Twang, The Automatic, The Kooks, The View, Dirty Pretty Things, Babyshambles, Reverend & The Makers, Thee Unstrung, Kaiser Chiefs, Kasabian, The Feeling, Pigeon Detectives, Little Man Tate, Fratellis, Razorlight, Holloways, The Zutons, The Paddingtons, Milburn, The Harrisons, Switches, Humanzi, Kharma 45, Larrikin Love…

― djmartian, Thursday, 12 April 2007 15:11 (seventeen years ago) link

i can't back that up, btw, but you know, zing culture.

― That one guy that quit, Thursday, 12 April 2007 15:12 (seventeen years ago) link

xpost ha does dom hang around 6th form centres / FE colleges / Malls for 16/17/18 year old MCR teenager gurls?

― djmartian, Thursday, 12 April 2007 15:14 (seventeen years ago) link

Nah, just stickam.com

― Dom Passantino, Thursday, 12 April 2007 15:17 (seventeen years ago) link

Martian where do you hang about when you're trying to get girls?

― Matt DC, Thursday, 12 April 2007 15:20 (seventeen years ago) link

f they paid me to be NME board moderator...best job ever.

I seem to recall stumbling across the moderator password for their old chatroom as a fresh-faced youth, that was fun

― Michael Philip Philip Philip philip Annoyman, Thursday, 12 April 2007 15:21 (seventeen years ago) link

What was it? "crashland"?

― Dom Passantino, Thursday, 12 April 2007 15:22 (seventeen years ago) link

lol 2000

― Michael Philip Philip Philip philip Annoyman, Thursday, 12 April 2007 15:23 (seventeen years ago) link

Everyone had that didn't they?

― Brigadier Lethbridge-Pfunkboy, Thursday, 12 April 2007 15:24 (seventeen years ago) link

Maybe it was just the time of night that I was on NME at, but most people didn't seem to be into a lot of the music NME were covering. Flaming Lips, Mercury Rev, Qotsa and Spiritualized seemed to be the only bands people agreed on.

NME 2000 = old manics fans vs new manics fans vs new old manics fans.

― Brigadier Lethbridge-Pfunkboy, Thursday, 12 April 2007 15:26 (seventeen years ago) link

When I'm being encouraged to read that fucking DiS thread just to learn that there are boards where people congregate, big up slightly-below-the-radar mediocre indie and tell each other they don't like the NME very much, it's pretty hard not to side with Lex's view of all this

― DJ Mencap, Thursday, 12 April 2007 15:28 (seventeen years ago) link

DiS are a necessary evil, I think.

― Dom Passantino, Thursday, 12 April 2007 15:30 (seventeen years ago) link

I don't think they're necessary or evil. It just makes me think of '65daysofstatic' written on a backpack

― DJ Mencap, Thursday, 12 April 2007 15:33 (seventeen years ago) link

I don't think I have ever read DiS. 65daysofstatic are ok actually.

― Brigadier Lethbridge-Pfunkboy, Thursday, 12 April 2007 15:41 (seventeen years ago) link

what ho? the nme site has messageboards. look. look see. http://www.nme.com/boards/

― acrobat, Friday, 13 April 2007 00:18 (seventeen years ago) link

Nu-Popworld sucks...Alex and Alexa just seem like they're trying to be another version of Simon and Miquita, but they seem so self-aware. It's just not as funny.

― musically, Friday, 13 April 2007 00:42 (seventeen years ago) link

I didnt realise NME had put them back up. They did take them down ages ago because I knew people who posted there.

― Brigadier Lethbridge-Pfunkboy, Friday, 13 April 2007 00:45 (seventeen years ago) link

its so shit with the new presenters. theyre just like a terrible imitation of how amstell and oliver used to do it. they should have let the new two develop their own rapport. but the bit i saw today where they were taking the piss out of the word and 90s yoof tv style presenting was actually really funny. best thing ive seen on there since simon amstell left.

― titchyschneiderMk2, Saturday, 14 April 2007 10:13 (seventeen years ago) link

i bet it meant a lot to their 16-year-old target audience.

― That one guy that quit, Saturday, 14 April 2007 11:27 (seventeen years ago) link

I don't think that they're 16 year old target audience live in a vacuum separate from like, ten years ago. I'm pretty sure most people get it.

― I know, right?, Saturday, 14 April 2007 16:36 (seventeen years ago) link

maaaybe -- although 'the word' is really more like 15 years ago now. when i was sixteen, jokes about yoot television of the early-to-mid-eighties would probably have gone over my head.

― That one guy that quit, Saturday, 14 April 2007 16:53 (seventeen years ago) link

Popworld Pulp bombs after just two issues
http://tinyurl.com/yuszkb

what a fool:

Darren Styles, chief executive of Brooklands Group said: “To be perfectly frank the magazine has bombed in a way nobody connected with it could ever have envisaged."

― djmartian, Wednesday, 18 April 2007 14:51 (seventeen years ago) link

bwahahaha

― blueski, Wednesday, 18 April 2007 14:53 (seventeen years ago) link

"The market was there according to every group we asked"

FIRE YR RECRUITERS!

― Groke, Wednesday, 18 April 2007 14:54 (seventeen years ago) link

I never even heard of So London.

― blueski, Wednesday, 18 April 2007 14:54 (seventeen years ago) link

Well, this is certainly an unexpected development.

― Dom Passantino, Wednesday, 18 April 2007 14:59 (seventeen years ago) link

Lawrie Sanchez for editor.

― Dom Passantino, Wednesday, 18 April 2007 15:00 (seventeen years ago) link

earlier this week:

http://tinyurl.com/yplmlz
Brooklands has spent approximately £1 million on the Popworld Pulp push;

are these people just stupid?

obviously no understanding of market research
a crap mag with no unique selling point - there was no niche or demand for this flimsy mag

more:

Popworld Pulp flops
http://tinyurl.com/2b3ppa
Brooklands Group published the magazine which only sold 9,000 copies in the first two weeks

― djmartian, Wednesday, 18 April 2007 15:00 (seventeen years ago) link

It had a USP, Martian - it just didn't live up to it. I'm guessing the pitch to advertisers, industry and "groups" was very different to the reality.

― Groke, Wednesday, 18 April 2007 15:05 (seventeen years ago) link

I'd pay £1.75 a week for a magazine that gave me:

- top 100 singles and nice big analysis/stats with that
- complete list of all downloads, singles and albums released that week
- 25 pages allocated for 25 different genres with various news and reviews on each - very regimented
- extension of that to cover stuff not recognised/covered much in the UK as and when - 'genre of the week' and what nonsense have you
- an amusing cartoon strip drawn by whoever the new colin b morton and chuck death happen to be
- some stuff about tv, films, music vids, games, books, comics, the interweb etc. - same ratio as would be in NME 12 years ago
- YOUR LETTERS
- blogosphere round-up
- Mark Sinkah's 'Guess My Theory'
- lolcat of the week
- political correctness gone mad in terms of cover star choices
- gig reviews i suppose
- usual listings

come now, it's child's play!

― blueski, Wednesday, 18 April 2007 15:07 (seventeen years ago) link

bollocks you would steve, you can and do find all of that on the internet yourself!

― lex pretend, Wednesday, 18 April 2007 15:10 (seventeen years ago) link

i'm willing to pay someone to do it for me so that i have more time freed up for just staring into space wondering where my life is going.

― blueski, Wednesday, 18 April 2007 15:11 (seventeen years ago) link

Mr Groke - every band / artist on the front cover of Popworld Pulp was already featured in NME ! There was nothing USP about it !

as i said previously this isn't viable competition it's lazy duplication !

IMHO no viable teenager music mag niche existed and this will go down as the magazine publishing flop of the year

more words of twitdom from Darren Styles:

"The industry wanted it, the news-trade wanted it, the market was there according to every group we asked"

Obviously the most important people the perceived target market: teenage kids - didn't want it, didn't need it and probably not even aware of it !

I also agree with the analysis of the blogger that first blogged about Popworld Pulp: http://fireescapetalking.blogspot.com/2007/04/new-weekly-music-magazine.html

― djmartian, Wednesday, 18 April 2007 15:23 (seventeen years ago) link

Martian you're not listening. There was clearly a gap between the concept - a magazine about pop designed to appeal to the audience of a successful weekly show - and the product, which was as you say a pallid NME lite.

The concept had a strong USP. The product didn't deliver it.

― Groke, Wednesday, 18 April 2007 15:26 (seventeen years ago) link

it's worth pointing out that what i'd like from a weekly music mag hasn't really changed since when i was 18 (when i still enjoyed NME but also Music Week). i was enjoying both mags without really being typical 'target audience' for either. but i suppose this wasn't enough for NME eventually and they had to change for the worse or die.

― blueski, Wednesday, 18 April 2007 15:28 (seventeen years ago) link

I disagree the concept DID NOT have a strong USP and it's publishing strategy bombed after 2 issues - after one 1 year of planning.

Mr Groke Answer this question: Who are these mystery artists that the Popworld Pulp were supposed to cover to met their perceived young teenage market to create a USP? [that were not already covered by the NME]

my answer there weren't any, as it was NME content lite wrapped up in glossy mag

This was a publishing disaster waiting to happen, 1 million pounds up in smoke, a year's work for nothing, 10 people let go after 2 issues - due to the fact there was NO new niche market to fill.

― djmartian, Wednesday, 18 April 2007 15:53 (seventeen years ago) link

Anyone even thinking about starting a new print music magazine now is insane and needs help. People always say "why don't you guys take Stylus into print?" and I say "cos we don't want to die in debtor's jail, you crazy".

― Scik Mouthy, Wednesday, 18 April 2007 15:57 (seventeen years ago) link

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/6571291.stm

http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/42820000/jpg/_42820871_popworld_203.jpg

Pop magazine axed after one week

Popworld Pulp magazine has closed after just one week because of poor sales.

The first issue of the music magazine, which was linked with Channel 4's Popworld show, had an initial print run of 130,000 copies but sold just 9,000.

Darren Styles of the Brooklands Group publishers said: "The magazine has bombed in a way nobody connected with it could ever have envisaged."

The magazine, priced £1.49, was aimed at 16-24 year olds and focused on indie, pop, rock, emo and R&B.

The magazine had been in development for more than a year and had been heavily trailed on TV, radio and the internet.

'Acid test'

Mr Styles said: "Every piece of research we did, every dummy we created and the concept in all its forms was fantastically received from first to last.

"The industry wanted it, the news trade wanted it, the market was there according to every group we asked - but come the acid test the readers were absent."

Management had targeted a long-term circulation of 40,000 and launch sales of around 60,000.

"But the data tells us we have achieved a little over 15% of that," Mr Styles said. "Which makes continuation impossible for us - however brutal a rush to judgement that may seem."

Ten of the magazine's 14 staff have been made redundant.

The move follows the closure of Smash Hits magazine in 2006 after 28 years. Its publishers said teenagers were increasingly turning to new platforms like the internet to satisfy their interest in music.

― Brigadier Lethbridge-Pfunkboy, Thursday, 19 April 2007 13:16 (seventeen years ago) link

Those pesky teenagers killing print media.

― Brigadier Lethbridge-Pfunkboy, Thursday, 19 April 2007 13:17 (seventeen years ago) link

DJ Martian staggering though it may seem to you, a USP doesn't necessarily mean a list of acts!

However, if you're looking for a list of acts, go to the Radio 1 site and look at the stuff in the Top 40 (plus specialist charts). That would seem to cover it.

― Groke, Thursday, 19 April 2007 13:19 (seventeen years ago) link

You can buy (or could) in WH Smiths in Hamilton but you cant get The Wire anymore. As apparently I'm the only person in Hamilton who bought it.

The magazine, priced £1.49, was aimed at 16-24 year olds and focused on indie, pop, rock, emo and R&B.

Please can we have The Lex saying "But R&B and Pop kids don't wanna read about indie and emo!!"?

― Brigadier Lethbridge-Pfunkboy, Thursday, 19 April 2007 13:21 (seventeen years ago) link

how are Popworld the TV show's ratings nowadays anyway? I take it many of us don't watch it as much as we did in the Simon/Miquita era?

― blueski, Thursday, 19 April 2007 13:22 (seventeen years ago) link

Artrocker is in WH Smiths as well nowadays. We're through the looking glass, people.

― Dom Passantino, Thursday, 19 April 2007 13:24 (seventeen years ago) link

i catch popworld the telly show very occasionally, and it's just poo.

― Alan, Thursday, 19 April 2007 13:25 (seventeen years ago) link

now that is. i used to go out of my way to watch it.

― Alan, Thursday, 19 April 2007 13:25 (seventeen years ago) link

"This was a publishing disaster waiting to happen, 1 million pounds up in smoke, a year's work for nothing, 10 people let go after 2 issues - due to the fact there was NO new niche market to fill.

-- djmartian, Wednesday, April 18, 2007 6:53 PM (Yesterday)"

the money isn't up in smoke though. it kept printers/designers/hacks in smart trainers for a few months. it's a disaster for the backers. boo-hoo.

― That one guy that quit, Thursday, 19 April 2007 13:26 (seventeen years ago) link

i used to go out of my way to watch it.

you didn't have a TV?

― blueski, Thursday, 19 April 2007 13:27 (seventeen years ago) link

When did Simon and Miquita leave?

― Groke, Thursday, 19 April 2007 13:28 (seventeen years ago) link

Christmas 05, wasn't it?

― Dom Passantino, Thursday, 19 April 2007 13:30 (seventeen years ago) link

i had a tv, but it wasn't IN my way. some distance outside of it. my tv is now in my way. bloody thing.

― Alan, Thursday, 19 April 2007 13:31 (seventeen years ago) link

another thing that went wrong for popworld pulp, the misconception that this magazine would appeal to 16-24 year olds - the front cover design looked more like 12-15 kids mag.

― djmartian, Thursday, 19 April 2007 13:32 (seventeen years ago) link

the design looked bad yes

― blueski, Thursday, 19 April 2007 13:33 (seventeen years ago) link

people like bad design.

― That one guy that quit, Thursday, 19 April 2007 13:39 (seventeen years ago) link

do you?

― blueski, Thursday, 19 April 2007 13:45 (seventeen years ago) link

i'm not just people steve.

― That one guy that quit, Thursday, 19 April 2007 13:47 (seventeen years ago) link

do you like bad design?

― blueski, Thursday, 19 April 2007 13:51 (seventeen years ago) link

they had the klaxons on the cover. a MIILION quid riding on it?
with the KLAXONS on the cover?? a band playing THE FUCKING RITZ in manchester despite endless hype about them for months? they must be mad. 10 staff of 13 have been fired off the project. what the fuck-fire are the other 3 doing? anyone know?

― pisces, Thursday, 19 April 2007 14:17 (seventeen years ago) link

*and* there was no CLUB listings section. i scoffed aloud in the newsagent.

cheap paper an' all for a shiny new pop mag.

― pisces, Thursday, 19 April 2007 14:18 (seventeen years ago) link

what the fuck-fire are the other 3 doing? anyone know?

re-deployed to other projects within the company, the company has other publishing interests

― djmartian, Thursday, 19 April 2007 14:19 (seventeen years ago) link

redeployment evenly across the following titles (all doing 100,000+ a month)

Property Swindler Monthly
Capital Punishment Supporter
LolCats Update

― blueski, Thursday, 19 April 2007 14:26 (seventeen years ago) link

To be honest, I would say that "Maybe x publishing house should just take a chance and give y fanzine/webzine editor a £500k budget, they couldn't come up with anything worse", but then I remember Bang.

― Dom Passantino, Thursday, 19 April 2007 14:27 (seventeen years ago) link

bang was another failure as in reality it didn't offer anything different to NME

― djmartian, Thursday, 19 April 2007 14:30 (seventeen years ago) link

it had taylor parkes. i bought it for that.

― pisces, Thursday, 19 April 2007 14:32 (seventeen years ago) link

bang was like select magazine circa 2000 - no sense of purpose, no quality control

― djmartian, Thursday, 19 April 2007 14:36 (seventeen years ago) link

no income tax no VAT

― blueski, Thursday, 19 April 2007 14:37 (seventeen years ago) link

select circa 2000 was still okay. better than bang, which i too bought for taylor parkes. who was then sacked lol.

― That one guy that quit, Thursday, 19 April 2007 14:37 (seventeen years ago) link

people like bad design.

OTM. Heat/Take a Break/Hello etc to thread As much as I love the cool style and snappy fonts in The Wire or Sight on Sound they're not magazines which are going to sell 130,000 copies per issue.

― Billy Dods, Thursday, 19 April 2007 15:36 (seventeen years ago) link

none of these mags are bought because of their design tho (good or bad)

― blueski, Thursday, 19 April 2007 15:36 (seventeen years ago) link

also in 1993 every single magazine on the market looked horrendous (ahhhh post-Adobe hindsight tho...)

― blueski, Thursday, 19 April 2007 15:37 (seventeen years ago) link

sight and sound is bought for the AWESOME WRITING

― That one guy that quit, Thursday, 19 April 2007 15:38 (seventeen years ago) link

none of these mags are bought because of their design tho (good or bad)

You don't think so? Maybe it's not the main reason that they're bought but it's a big part of their usp that they have higher design values which appeal to a more design literate clientele, which their writing and coverage overlaps with.

― Billy Dods, Thursday, 19 April 2007 15:41 (seventeen years ago) link

it's not really provable unless the next issue of The Wire is all done in Comic Sans, pink and yellow and with kittens everywhere.

― blueski, Thursday, 19 April 2007 15:53 (seventeen years ago) link

more design literate clientele

design-literate, design-conscious or just design-bothered - not sure which is appropriate, if any.

if i bought The Wire now i might think 'yes this looks quite nice and smart and i can see attention has been paid to aesthetics'

people may also have done this in 1993 tho it's actually quite hard to imagine it. i do think there was a point in the mid-late 90s where design became much more of an issue in this regard whereas ideas and expectations about it were different before (can also be applied to pre-internet marketing i guess).

― blueski, Thursday, 19 April 2007 15:57 (seventeen years ago) link

What looks worse design-wise these days NME or Kerrang?

― Brigadier Lethbridge-Pfunkboy, Thursday, 19 April 2007 16:23 (seventeen years ago) link

there's all manner of ways to look at 'bad design'. bad design for a weekly mag would be not knowing how to find the bit you want, the page being confusing. but even then confusing page layout is a target market thing. what's confusing to a 30 yr old Wire reader is straight forward to a sugar buzzin 14 yr old. that's before you get on to visual detail.

― Alan, Thursday, 19 April 2007 16:30 (seventeen years ago) link

both Kerrang's and NME's websites are pretty ugly (and both rely on black/white/red a lot).

― blueski, Thursday, 19 April 2007 16:31 (seventeen years ago) link

Also, can we please have a moratorium on Vice-esque "antistyle" magazine design? That shit was tired in 2004.

― Dom Passantino, Thursday, 19 April 2007 16:34 (seventeen years ago) link

I think The Wire looks wretched. All those portraits. Give me a double page celebrity love handles feature with all the captions on a 20 degree slant any day.

― Groke, Thursday, 19 April 2007 16:36 (seventeen years ago) link

best bit of that BBC piece:

new platforms like the internet

OMG REALLY???

Has anyone seen Super Super? Made my eyes hurt.

― CharlieNo4, Thursday, 19 April 2007 16:37 (seventeen years ago) link

altho NME's word count per page is still often quite roflicious, they look OK/seem appropriate generally. as do Kerrang's i expect.

― blueski, Thursday, 19 April 2007 16:37 (seventeen years ago) link

i love my slanty text tho

― blueski, Thursday, 19 April 2007 16:38 (seventeen years ago) link

as FreakyTrigger website would indicate

― blueski, Thursday, 19 April 2007 16:38 (seventeen years ago) link

i can't read 'little white lies'. can an expert tell me if it's good design?

― That one guy that quit, Thursday, 19 April 2007 16:40 (seventeen years ago) link

where is thread on scroobius pip?

― Alan, Thursday, 19 April 2007 17:16 (seventeen years ago) link

sure enough the show has also now been axed (sez Popjustice). official RIP pop music on terrestrial TV in any shape or form.

― blueski, Friday, 27 April 2007 14:13 (seventeen years ago) link

one month passes...

i abhor this show now. cant wait til it dissapears (HAS it dissapeared?). theyre so fucking smug and irritating. do kids actually like this sort of hoxton-cuntish condesension?

― titchyschneiderMk2, Thursday, 14 June 2007 11:23 (seventeen years ago) link

one month passes...

C4's alleged 'commitment' to Popworld brand to possibly resurface via their acquisition of 50% stake in Emap's music television division? details

― blueski, Tuesday, 24 July 2007 17:53 (seventeen years ago) link

six months pass...

Martian where do you hang about when you're trying to get girls?
-- Matt DC, Thursday, 12 April 2007 15:20 (10 months ago) Link

^^^ILX questions never answered

― Dom Passantino, Tuesday, 19 February 2008 16:56 (sixteen years ago) link

Miquita = yummy

― Bodrick III, Tuesday, 19 February 2008 20:45 (sixteen years ago) link

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channel 4's popworld - C or D?