I was just reminded why I don't buy NME andy more

Message Bookmarked

Bookmark Removed

http://www.nme.com/news/104901.htm

― colin s barrow (colin s barrow), Thursday, 1 May 2003 04:02 (twenty-one years ago) link

good ol' andy

― electric sound of jim (electricsound), Thursday, 1 May 2003 04:06 (twenty-one years ago) link

on-topic: i bought my last ever copy 2 weeks ago. i feel much better for some reason.

― electric sound of jim (electricsound), Thursday, 1 May 2003 04:06 (twenty-one years ago) link

Well, now you don't have to waste valuabe mindspace on which sugar water some shitty mongoloid rock star is drinking. Well, not because of NME, anyway.

― Kenan Hebert (kenan), Thursday, 1 May 2003 04:23 (twenty-one years ago) link

That Vines guy can't rock for toffee, as we used to say in Surrey, England. But my, does he have a face you could really punch.

― colin s barrow (colin s barrow), Thursday, 1 May 2003 04:49 (twenty-one years ago) link

i like how they have a blurb describing their review of the new Blur as 'definitive'. "this compact disc, which is a small thin circular piece of plastic with a sheet of alumniumn inside, came to us in a plastic box called a 'jewel case'. there. now you know."

― Dave M. (rotten03), Thursday, 1 May 2003 06:20 (twenty-one years ago) link

Where the hell's the Mardi Gras Bomber when you need him?

― Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Thursday, 1 May 2003 07:01 (twenty-one years ago) link

...

― Cozen (Cozen), Thursday, 1 May 2003 07:44 (twenty-one years ago) link

I've not bought it in well over a year now. Emma still gets it most weeks and I'll occasionally have a look through, but it's toss. Complete bathroom-floor drivel.

― Nick Southall (Nick Southall), Thursday, 1 May 2003 07:47 (twenty-one years ago) link

I stopped buying it at the end of last year after 18 years, though I should have stopped much earlier. I'm a creature of habit but every Wednesday I'd buy a copy and feel my blood pressure soar as I read about the pish that is the new rock revolution.

― Billy Dods (Billy Dods), Thursday, 1 May 2003 07:57 (twenty-one years ago) link

I think the last one I bought was when I saw Fabulous on the cover. That really put me off.

― colin s barrow (colin s barrow), Thursday, 1 May 2003 09:30 (twenty-one years ago) link

I finally stopped buying it a couple of years ago. A friend of mine who likes Avril Lavigne has just started buying it. Go figure.

― j0e (j0e), Thursday, 1 May 2003 09:51 (twenty-one years ago) link

we shall hunt this friend of yours down for sport.

― stevem (blueski), Thursday, 1 May 2003 10:01 (twenty-one years ago) link

I'll buy it when thye start putting centrefolds in it like Playboy and have more nudity. I hope they convince Emma Bunton to disrobe!

― Calum, Thursday, 1 May 2003 11:34 (twenty-one years ago) link

b-b-but Andy More is a good music writer < /SARCASM >
So now the Vines guy drink Dr Pepper? Ick. Doesn't he know thats just carbonated prune juice?

― Lord Custos Epsilon (Lord Custos Epsilon), Thursday, 1 May 2003 12:00 (twenty-one years ago) link

he needs something to work all that maccas through his bowels

― electric sound of jim (electricsound), Thursday, 1 May 2003 12:01 (twenty-one years ago) link

Call me stupid, (I am an American), but if nobody buys the NME as is perpetually claimed in these weekly threads, why do they keep making it?

― Nick A. (Nick A.), Thursday, 1 May 2003 12:24 (twenty-one years ago) link

how many copies does it sell a week now? 20,000?

― stevem (blueski), Thursday, 1 May 2003 12:25 (twenty-one years ago) link

i suspect if ILM was populated more by sixth-formers rather than grads than NME would find more favour.

― stevem (blueski), Thursday, 1 May 2003 12:27 (twenty-one years ago) link

i don't think anyone is saying that no-one buys the NME (well, i'm not, anyway). just that it's not very good, and not as good as it used to be. constant, pointless titbits about craig nicholls being one problem!

― weasel diesel (K1l14n), Thursday, 1 May 2003 13:10 (twenty-one years ago) link

When I used to buy the NME and Melody Maker, it was cos they featured bands you couldn't read about anywhere else. Nowadays, you can read about The White Stripes in the Sunday Times: this never happened with My Bloody Valentine. Music just seems to go overground very quickly these days. I dunno, like stevem says, maybe if I was 15, I'd see things differently. Hard to believe really that NME, Melody Maker and Sounds all used to co-exist on a weekly basis.

― Kim Tortoise, Thursday, 1 May 2003 13:27 (twenty-one years ago) link

You all secretly love it!

― sonny m, Thursday, 1 May 2003 13:40 (twenty-one years ago) link

i think in an ironic way NME's only hope has been the incredible rise of Kerrang! in recent years which succeeds as its on a fortnightly basis (i think) and panders to the whole 'fandom' thing in rock n' roll thats second only to pop (notice Smash Hits and co. are still going strong and surely outselling the NME too) - hip hop attracts a similar level of obsession and probably sells more than anything else but curiously there's never been a weekly hip-hop led magazine (has there?) - as much as NME supported hip hop in the late 80s and to a lesser extent since, you just can't imagine b-boys picking it up.

so NME by steering things back in a 'rock weekly' direction i.e. focussing primarily on rock again, may have bagged them a new legion of 15 year olds at least (to replace the disgruntled 20somethings and the diehard indie-fans who stuck with it til the virtual death). still i can see NME being forced to go fortnightly within a year or two if their sales figures continue to drop/come nowhere close to what they were at least 8 years ago (how well did NME sell in the 80s incidentally? or early 90s? when was the real peak period?)

a lot of this is just thinking out loud so feel free to correct me on anything.

― stevem (blueski), Thursday, 1 May 2003 13:50 (twenty-one years ago) link

Do the Vines really have a song called 'Blues Riff'? Ugh.

― ss, Thursday, 1 May 2003 14:13 (twenty-one years ago) link

what are the NME's actual sales figures at the moment? I'm not sure they're selling that badly. They're definitely aiming for a younger audience (it's getting a bit like the Melody maker in its last few months). They seem to be taking the "everything's just Great at the moment! Rock is back!" attitude, but the enthusiasm feels a little forced. if you read the small reviews, there are certainly writers who have enthusiasm for more than just the vines and the strokes, but the "yay for new rock!" attitude seems to dominate the rest of the mag. they seem to need to work at least one article about one of the big-indie favourites (strokes, interpol, vines, coldplay, stripes etc) every issue, regardless of whether there actually is any actual news about them (hence coca cola/dr.pepper articles). coldplay were on the front cover last week, but there was no interview inside, just an essay by steve sutherland about how they are by far the most important band on the planet right now (he got worked up to such an extent that even a coldplay-admirer like myself was left scratching his head.) but while these are bad things, to me, i doubt its doing their sales too much harm.

― weasel diesel (K1l14n), Thursday, 1 May 2003 14:18 (twenty-one years ago) link

the fact that NME put up the price, went smaller and glossy-full colour a last year suggests they were/are still in relative trouble

― stevem (blueski), Thursday, 1 May 2003 15:14 (twenty-one years ago) link

I'd love to read that Sutherland piece about Coldplay, if anyone has it please.

― Nick Southall (Nick Southall), Thursday, 1 May 2003 15:18 (twenty-one years ago) link

''notice Smash Hits and co. are still going strong and surely outselling the NME too.''

Might be true though not sure. Smash Hits used to be the only pop magazine in the 80's, nowadays it's competing with Heat, OK, Tabloid magazines, Top of the Pops magazine and countless teen magazines, all of whom feature pop stars. There was a very enertaining program about Smash Hits on the TV recently where Mark Ellen was remembering how if he wanted to interview Sting, he would just go round his house, whereas nowadays, it is impossible to get anywhere near Gareth Gates and co for personal assistants, and when you do, they are advised not to say anything controversial. He also told an anecdote about how he had a Smash Hits exclusive on Band Aid (ie every famous star together in one studio), took the photos to the editorial department and was told: 'But we've already got Strawberry Switchblade on the cover' and somehow they convinced him too. I digress.

― Kim Tortoise, Thursday, 1 May 2003 15:29 (twenty-one years ago) link

It would be a shame to see NME go, but if they continue to insist that Coldplay are the best thing to happen to music and that Is This It is one of the 10 greatest LPs ever then they are only going to have themselves to blame.

― Calum, Thursday, 1 May 2003 16:27 (twenty-one years ago) link

You must be logged in to post. Please either login here, or if you are not registered, you may register here.