NME letters page - C or D?

It is worth remembering that more than half of these letters are made up by bored NME staffers. I've been the victim of a few fictional correspondences attributed to me by my old flatmate (and NME sub), who thinks it's a great laugh.

On a more controversial note, am I the only person who thinks the NME is getting better? The move to Hello! format will be either kill or cure, but i quite fancy their chances.

By and large I've always enjoyed the NME letters page. It's never been less than entertaining and is inevitably the best devil's advocate stuff in any music media. Mind you, on the occasions I've seen it recently though I've felt that NME was going as up its own arse as it was in the mid-80s, in terms of its Orwellesque adherence to what you can and cannot say. There has definitely been an upsurge in squashing any kind of debate on any NME hobby horses - particularly the Asher D issue. I was dismayed to see that two weeks ago some poor cunt was labelled a racist (in brayingly sniffy tones) just for sarcastically calling AD a 'poor lamb' for being sent down for carrying those firearms. Shit, has it really come to this ? Don't black people feel patronised by such a 'we are not worthy' attitude ?

Dud. Definitely.

The So Solid debate is a rather worrying one. The NME writes an amazingly ill-informed article, claiming, among other things, that NME readers would be more vocal in their support of Asher D if he was Marilyn Manson (Kerrang's two places across on the shelf mate...). So, they get the proverbial shedload of letters saying "Umm... no". First week, they go with "If you think he should go to prison, you're a big old racist". Second week, they say "OK, don't send any more letters, as we'll have to admit we're wrong".

And the text message section... it's like hell, only a magazine section.

The paper itself is getting slowly better. I attribute this to a reduction in the levels of Mark Beamount.

None of the NME is any good... they a`re trying to write about new music which is shit

At least the NME was well-written in the mid-80s.

(most embarrassing skeleton in closet: I had letters in the NME as recently as 1998)

Whenever I look at it (which is very seldom now, I only skim through it every once in a great while), it seems worse than the time before. Has their nu-rock coverage attracted a dumber breed of readers or am I just an old fogey who remembers the past a bit too fondly? A little of both I suspect.

There are always late teen obsessives just now coming into their own in the milieu that's around them and finding what fuels their fancy. But I like to think that they're all here and not at the NME. ;-)

When I go towards Charing X tube station I stop in WH Smiths, pick up the NME and the letters page is the first (and most of the time) the only thing i look at and read. It's funny, especially when a good writer like steven wells is editing.

Some people have said that NME is getting better. Can these people tells us what they mean?

If I want to get patronised by an opinionated, over-educated nerd I'll post on ILM thank you very much. The NME sucks and it knows it does.

"Some people have said that NME is getting better"

Well, not better. Less unmitigated shite, put it that way. Perhaps they could employ Miss Amp! Or not....