Record Mirror

Message Bookmarked

Bookmark Removed

i didnt start buying it until late 1989, it only just made it into the 90s but sadly folded in '91 (well if they will put Liza Minelli on the cover...) but how many of you in the UK bought and cherished this weekly pop chronicle? i think it was utterly classic during the time i read it - Babble was arguably funnier than NME's Thrills, plus plenty of good ultra-anal chart focus and a seemingly less discriminative policy towards cover stars, interviews and the like - in fact its support of dance and club culture resulted in it being turned into an eight page supplement within Music Week (which gives me another idea for a thread...)

what was it like in the 80s? i know most people prefer to talk about Sounds and MM but i never really knew those mags - how did RM compare to them if you bought them all?

― blueski, Wednesday, 16 October 2002 10:58 (twenty-three years ago)

http://www.fmlegacy.com/Graphics/recordmirror.JPG

Stefan Dennis, Edelweiss...oh lordy, happy days!

― blueski, Wednesday, 16 October 2002 11:03 (twenty-three years ago)

I started buying it in the Disco era, not least for James Hamilton's column and informative (but annoying) reviews of the latest records complete with bpms. I continued buying it quite regularly throughout the 80s, although I lost interest right at the end. With regard to Sounds/NME/MM - I bought those every week in the late 70s but gradually stopped as I got interested in disco, funk etc.

― David (David), Wednesday, 16 October 2002 11:09 (twenty-three years ago)

"what was it like in the 80s?"

It was horrible. (And I don't (just) mean the Record Mirror).

Blueski, you might find this short thread interesting:

How did the NME and Melody Maker end up being 'indie'

― Tim (Tim), Wednesday, 16 October 2002 11:09 (twenty-three years ago)

Record Mirror was the handy segway between Smash Hits (yes) and the NME really and i just appreciated the fact they'd interview New Kids On The Block just as soon as they would Tears For Fears, The Sundays, Orbital or Rakim...tho of course I personally didnt want to read about the New Kids at the time, hmmmm, isnt this what the NME has been trying to do recently but not quite managing because things like demopgraphics and genres SEEM so much more pidgeonholed now due to marketing even tho they're probably just as they were then, if not more open?

― blueski, Wednesday, 16 October 2002 11:18 (twenty-three years ago)

David beat me to it. The thing I remember about RM was the BPMs being listed. When I first bought it, seem to remember it was NME size but then it was reduced to Smash Hits proportions?

First muso rag I bought was NME with Lydon (pil era) on the front. He was ripping up wall paper or something (anarchy)
I kept it for years for reasons unknown.

― panico (panico), Wednesday, 16 October 2002 12:37 (twenty-three years ago)

James Hamilton's reviews were hilarious. It was always the first thing I used to turn to, even though I was certainly not a DJ! This jittery, juddering, hibbity thudder weighs in at a whopping 124 bpm...

― Daniel (dancity), Wednesday, 16 October 2002 12:40 (twenty-three years ago)

I disagree with Tim H. Record Mirror was very good in the early 80s. The letters page ('Mailman') in particular.

― zebedee, Wednesday, 16 October 2002 14:42 (twenty-three years ago)

Oh dear mostly that was a cheap gag.

I don't remember it much from the early '80s (was it MM who gave away that flexi with The The and The Passage on it? "One Born Every Minute" = k-classic) but what I do remember I thought moderate at best.

Never been much of one for publications' letters pages myself, though I understand some ILxers have been very keen over the years.

I mostly went Smash Hits -> NME myself, FWIW. Then I mostly gave up on the UK music press.

― Tim (Tim), Wednesday, 16 October 2002 14:48 (twenty-three years ago)

Tim - it WAS the MM who did the Passage flexi, but it was Blancmange 'Living on The Ceiling' on t'other side, not The The. (Unless there was another one i don't know about).

― Dr. C (Dr. C), Wednesday, 16 October 2002 15:04 (twenty-three years ago)

Thanks Doc.

Hm, well *someone* gave away a The The flexi with "Dumb As Death's Head" on it. It thought it was the one with The Passage on.

Google calls I think.

― Tim (Tim), Wednesday, 16 October 2002 15:45 (twenty-three years ago)

Cor the other track on the The The flexi was by the Sines! And it was given away by the Melody Maker.

Shows how much I know.

― Tim (Tim), Wednesday, 16 October 2002 15:48 (twenty-three years ago)

I used to do bits and pieces for Record Mirror from 1988-90 - a Throwing Muses gig here, a Godfathers interview there - hardly Paul Morley, but anyway ...- it was a worthy third place runner to the NME/MM until it went Smash Hits-size really .. it never really caught the post-Smash Hits generation like the NME could and suffered for it. The chart coverage was magnificent though, but the writing went downhill once Jim Reid and Nancy Culp stopped doing it. When Betty Page became editor it felt more like the kind of magazine you get handed to you at tube stations.

Btw, the first ever 'proper' music mag I bought was the RM Bob Marley tribute in 81.

― Darren, Wednesday, 16 October 2002 17:15 (twenty-three years ago)

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

Record Mirror - C/D