We enter the New Year two music magazines lighter. Bang! (do I have to give it an exclamation mark everytime?) went down the pan before
Christmas; now X-Ray is joining it. They were on the shelves for less than a year, personally I'm surprised that either title lasted that long.
There seems to be a belief in the publishing world that you can
grab a few journos, team them up with some press releases, take some
photographs and voila, you have a music mag. Well it might work for 'Kitchens Today' or 'Bride Magazine' but it will never be enough for music fans. There has to be a bit more than that to tempt us to part with our hard earned.
The failure of these magazines has nothing to do with the state
of the music industry. The publishers may like to cling to that piece of pathetic self-delusion to justify their crap-ness but it just isn't true.
These magazines failed because they lacked a clear editorial focus,
they never told us precisely what sort of music they were into, unlike, say, Kerrang, which does exactly what it say's on the tin. So they covered the same old bands (i.e. those with a big advertising budget) at the same time and in exactly the same way. So why should I bother with it?
I remember the posters round town before Bang was launched, they made a lot about the Rock and Roll connection, I got quite excited at the idea of an r'n'r magazine. Then it arrived and guess what? Yep, Foo Fighters! Why?
Because: a) the record company probably bought the cover b) lots
of people buy Foo Fighters records so, logically, those people will buy our magazine. Wrong! If that's the way you see it go start a Foo Fighters magazine.
A music magazine has to communicate a sense of community, it has
to make you feel like you're a member of an exclusive club with it's own language and identity, whether it's big shorts or leather jackets.
I do not want to buy a rock periodical only to find articles about Justin Timberlake. That's the shit my dumb kid sister's into, why the fuck do I want to spend my time reading about it?
We here at Artrocker look forward to the launch of Bullitt. May
it learn the lessons of Bang and X-Ray. Funny thing is though, I kind of doubt it. I reckon it'll be just as unfocussed, will try to be all things to all men, and, as a result, will fold.
― CharlieNo4 (Charlie), Friday, 9 January 2004 09:48 (twenty-two years ago)
ummm .. wasn't the cover of bang launch issues flaming lips/hot hot yeah/poly spree .. twas Xray launch that had Foos ? a small pedantic point .. but worthy .. as the early issues of bang were fine .. then things became weird as they tried to tell me to look forward to the new sophie e bextor album ..
whereas xray just never appealed .. as for bullitt .. has this not been launched yet ? their message board kinda indicates it has though i have yet to see it ..
― mark e (mark e), Friday, 9 January 2004 10:05 (twenty-two years ago)
they never told us precisely what sort of music they were into, unlike, say, Kerrang, which does exactly what it say's on the tinThe thing is, this isn't true really - Kerrang covers a far broader spectrum of rock music than I imagine its average reader actually likes. You get, I dunno, Ackercocke and Nickelback in the same issue - there's no real commonality there. It does well because it's sparky and funny and it has a bit of individuality, and goes some way to making out it gives a shit about its readership (that is exactly what Bang didn't do; it really was such a fucking cold read - Tom does allude to this near the end, to be fair).
Bullitt will almost certainly last less long than either Bang or X-Ray because it appears to be terrible and pointless. It gives me no pleasure to say so, cos it would be great if there was a good 'general' monthly music mag again, but there you are.
― DJ Mencap (DJ Mencap), Friday, 9 January 2004 10:19 (twenty-two years ago)
Bullitt will almost certainly last less long than either Bang or X-Ray because it appears to be terrible and pointless. It gives me no pleasure to say so, cos it would be great if there was a good 'general' monthly music mag again, but there you are.Agreed. I hope Bullit has a long and fruitful life and learns from the mistakes of its doomed predecessors. I know that issue 1 (the last issue was the launch issue and thus has no number) contains, at the very least, interviews with Lambchop's Kurt Wagner, splendid Norwegians Madrugada, and Air (cover feature). Reviews include stuff on Ninja Tune and Cornelius. I think that's pretty borad. We'll see.
― CharlieNo4 (Charlie), Friday, 9 January 2004 14:51 (twenty-two years ago)