FourFourTwo
Editor
Hugh Sleight
Categories
Football
Frequency
Monthly
Circulation
111,406 / month
First issue
1994
Company
Haymarket
Country
United Kingdom
Language
English
Website
Official site
ISSN
1355-0276
FourFourTwo is a football magazine published by Haymarket. Published monthly, costing £3.99, and at about 164 pages long, it published its 150th edition in February 2007. It takes its name from the football formation of the same name, 4-4-2, which is considered to be a basic, trustworthy and standard formation in British football; it is almost certainly the most popular formation for 11-a-side matches.
An Audit Bureau of Circulations report for the first half of the year 2006 showed that the magazine's circulation had increased by 18% when compared to the same figures for the previous year. It had a Total Average Net Circulation Per Issue of 111,406. Of this;
96,267 (86%) was in the British Isles and
15,139 (14%) was overseas.
In 2008, it was announced that FourFourTwo had entered into a 3-year shirt sponsorship deal with Swindon Town F.C., which will commence in the 2008/09 season.
Contents
1 Columnists
1.1 Present
1.2 Past
2 Editors
3 Content
3.1 First Section
3.2 Up Front
3.3 Features
3.4 Planet Football
3.5 Elsewhere in the magazine
4 Other Editions
4.1 Turkish Edition
4.2 Norwegian Edition
4.3 Australian Edition
4.4 Korean Edition
5 External links
//
Columnists
Present
Currently, the following high-profile people are amongst the regular contributors to Four Four Two (UK edition):
Henry Winter, leading football journalist.
James Richardson, who famously presented Football Italia, gives his views on Italian football.
Past
Previously, the following high-profile people were amongst the regular contributors to Four Four Two (UK edition):
Brian Clough, ex-player and manager, up to his death in 2004.
Bobby Robson, ex-player and manager who briefly replaced Clough.
Stan Bowles, the ex-QPR and England player, who wrote an anecdotal column.
Robbie Savage, the former Wales midfielder, who wrote about the game from a current Premiership footballer's perspective.
Sam Allardyce, Ex Newcastle United manager who answered readers' questions.
David Platt, who wrote columns discussing tactics for particular matches or teams.
Arsène Wenger, Arsenal manager. FourFourTwo's 5-a-side "guru" who is questioned by 2 people every month and gives tips on the 5-a-side game.
Editors
Notable editors of FourFourTwo have included Matt Snow and Hugh Sleight.
Content
The magazine is split up as such:
First Section
The following three features are always in the first part of the magazine.
"Magic Moment" or "FourFourTwo Moment", a usually sponsored feature on the first page showing a moment of triumph from the past month, for example, Northern Ireland beating Spain 3-2.
Letters to the editor, Hugh Sleight. Every month a "Star Letter" wins a prize.
One on One, where readers send in questions which are put directly to either a football player or manager.
Up Front
Up Front runs from about page 25 to 60 of the magazine, consisting of shorter interviews and regular features. It is often more comedy based than the rest of the magazine. Amongst others, it contains:
The Diary takes a comedy based look at the latest month in the football world.
The Boy/Girl's A Bit Special. This is a short article informally interviewing a young star in the making, and has been a female on several occasions. Questions range from 'who has had the biggest influence on your game?' to 'what car do you own?'. Issue one featured an unknown 16 year old Liverpool youth team player called Michael Owen.
I'll Tell You This. Transcript of a short, irreverent telephone interview with a well-known football personality, where questions rarely involve football, and often border on the surreal - unless of course the interviewee has a book or other product to promote.
Reviews, of football related products, predominantly books and video games.
They said what?!. A short column of funny, strange or witty quotes from football personalities in the month beforehand.
The Insider is another short column listing all the rumours in the Premier League for the time.
On the Couch. A psychologist analyses a part of football to find its basis.
Features
Between Up Front and Planet Football, so usually stretching from about page 60 to 125. 'Regular' Features include:
Extended interviews.
"And Another Thing...", where four of a kind (e.g. Four disabled fans, four referees, four journalists, four fans supporting West London clubs) are gathered together in a pub and asked to comment on different footballing issues.
More Than A Game, an in-depth look at one of football's biggest rivalries, often involving deep social and political parameters. A recent example was Fenerbahçe vs Galatasaray
My Secret Vice, a report on a particular footballer's unusual hobby. A recent example was Reading's American player Marcus Hahnemann, who confirmed he was a petrolhead.
Sing When You're Winning, where one celebrity (although past 'Specials' have seen multiple English rugby World Cup winners or Cabinet Politicians) talks about their football fandom.
Action Replay, a retrospective look at a significant, obscure, landmark or forgotten event in football history.
Planet Football
This covers two main areas: UK football other than the Premiership and overseas football. It consists of a number of short interviews, features and a results service. Among many reports from top-level football leagues across the globe, the section includes a report from James Richardson.
Elsewhere in the magazine
My Perfect XI is a football personality's favourite team, often within certain criteria (e.g. players played against, players who have played for Liverpool clubs), normally with one or more substitutes and a manager. The interviewee may name themselves in the team, but often rejects it, instead settling for a place on the bench, or as Coach of the team.
Spine Line Competition. To win a prize, readers can decipher the riddle printed along the magazine's spine line, which always relates to some content in that edition.
Other Editions
Turkish Edition
In April 2006 the first issue of the Turkish edition was published
Norwegian Edition
In September 2005 the first issue of the Norwegian edition was published. The name was translated literally into Norwegian as Fire Fire To. It combines coverage of the Norwegian domestic leagues with that of the Premiership, which is very popular throughout Scandinavia - in fact Norway has more Premiership football on terrestrial TV than Britain itself.
Australian Edition
Main article: FourFourTwo (Australia)
FourFourTwo launched an Australian edition in October 2005, to coincide with new A-League.
The launch publicity ran with the tagline of "It's footy, but not as you know it", a reference to the popularity of Australian rules football and rugby league and the fact that Association Football is referred to as soccer in Australia. This also referred to the launch slogan of the A-league "It's football, but not as you know it" - part of the work Football Australia is doing to rebrand and relaunch the game. Further to this, the first edition's frontpage contained the motto "Goodbye Soccer, Hello Football". The launch party was attended by, amongst others, cricketer Ricky Ponting.
Korean Edition
In June 2007 the first issue of the South Korean edition was published, by Korean publishing company MediaWill. The Korean edition contains many articles on domestic football, which normally take up about half of the 190-pages per issue.
The price is W6,800. Although the British edition is imported in Korean market, it costs W16,000 and therefore has a very limited market share.
Wednesday, 10 December 2008
Research of other professional magazines - Empire
Empire (magazine)
Empire
Editor
Mark Dinning
Categories
Film
Frequency
Monthly
First issue
July 1989
Company
Bauer
Country
United Kingdom
Language
English
Empire is a British film magazine published monthly by Bauer Consumer Media. From the first issue in July 1989, the magazine was published by Emap until Bauer purchased Emap Consumer Media in early 2008. It is the biggest selling film magazine in Britain, consistently outselling its nearest market rival Total Film and is also published in Australia, Turkey and Russia. Empire organises the annual Sony Ericsson Empire Awards which are voted for by readers of the magazine.
Contents
1 Regular features
1.1 Masterpieces
2 Fifteenth anniversary
3 Eighteenth anniversary
4 Readers' top films
4.1 Current List, The 500 Greatest Movies of All Time
5 Readers' top directors
6 Editors
7 External links
Regular features
In common with most British film magazines, Empire is populist in both approach and coverage unlike less irreverent and more serious magazines such as Sight and Sound. It reviews both mainstream films, including Hollywood fare, and art films, but feature articles concentrate on the former. The magazine occasionally produces themed issues around subjects such as Star Wars and "sex in film".
As well as film news, previews and reviews, Empire has some unique regular features. Each issue (with the exception of issues 108 - 113) features a Classic Scene, a transcript from a notable film scene. The first such classic scene to be featured was the "I could have been a contender" scene from On the Waterfront.
The regular Top 10 feature lists Empire's choice of the top ten examples of something film-related. For example 10 Best Chase Scenes or 10 Best Movie Gags in The Simpsons. Readers are encouraged to write in if they disagree with the choices made.
The At Home section covers DVD news and releases; Empire's editors consider this section to be of sufficient quality to term it a magazine in itself, which is also relevant to the growth and importance of the DVD market, where sales can often outstrip that of box-office.
Pint of Milk presents celebrities' answers to silly or unusual questions, including the question "How much is a pint of milk?" This is intended as a guide to the Chosen Celebrity's contact with reality, and as such can be more informative than a direct interview, often reporting some surprising responses.
Each magazine includes a "Spine Quote", in which a relatively challenging quote is printed on the spine of the magazine. There are usually some obvious and obscure links from the quote to the main features of that month's edition. Readers are invited to identify the film source and the links to win a prize.
Kim Newman's DVD Dungeon is a regular feature in the At Home section, in which critic Kim Newman reviews the most obscure releases, mostly low budget horror movies.
Masterpieces
A regular feature since issue 167, the masterpiece feature is a two page essay on a film selected by Empire in the At Home section. The selection of the films seem to be quite random and follow no specific pattern. Only a few issues since the first masterpiece feature have not featured one - 169, 179, 196, 197 and 198.
The films to feature in this section so far are:
Raging Bull (Issue 167, May 2003)
Gone with the Wind (Issue 168, June 2003)
The Shawshank Redemption (Issue 170, August 2003)
Casablanca (Issue 171, September 2003)
Blade Runner (Issue 172, October 2003)
La dolce vita (Issue 173, November 2003)
The Shining (Issue 174, December 2003)
The Third Man (Issue 175, January 2004)
The 400 Blows (Issue 176, February 2004)
His Girl Friday (Issue 177, March 2004)
Schindler's List (Issue 178, April 2004)
The Godfather (Issue 180, June 2004)
King Kong (Issue 181, July 2004)
Seven Samurai (Issue 182, August 2004)
Fight Club (Issue 183, September 2004)
Tokyo Story (Issue 184, October 2004)
Annie Hall (Issue 185, November 2004)
Bride of Frankenstein (Issue 186, December 2004)
It's a Wonderful Life (Issue 187, January 2005) (incorrectly labelled as #18 in the magazine)
This is Spinal Tap (Issue 188, February 2005)
The Silence of the Lambs (Issue 189, March 2005)
L'Atalante (Issue 190, April 2005)
L.A. Confidential (Issue 191, May 2005)
The Searchers (Issue 192, June 2005)
Do The Right Thing (Issue 193, July 2005)
Brief Encounter (Issue 194, August 2005)
Brazil (Issue 195, September 2005)
On the Waterfront (Issue 199, January 2006)
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (Issue 200, February 2006)
Rome, Open City (Issue 201, March 2006)
The General (Issue 202, April 2006)
Deliverance (Issue 203, May 2006)
The French Connection (Issue 204, June 2006)
The Battle of Algiers (Issue 205, July 2006)
Das Boot (Issue 206, August 2006)
Don't Look Now (Issue 207, September 2006)
Vertigo (Issue 208, October 2006)
The Lord of the Rings (Issue 209, November 2006)
Some Like It Hot (Issue 210, December 2006)
The Wizard of Oz (Issue 211, January 2007)
The Wages of Fear (Issue 212, February 2007)
Belle de jour (Issue 213, March 2007)
The Spirit of the Beehive (Issue 214, April 2007)
Die Hard (Issue 215, May 2007)
A Clockwork Orange (Issue 216, June 2007)
Performance (Issue 217, July 2007)
Bringing Up Baby (Issue 218, August 2007)
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (Issue 219, September 2007)
The Big Sleep (Issue 220, October 2007)
Days of Heaven (Issue 221, November 2007)
The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (Issue 222, December 2007)
Bicycle Thieves (Issue 223, January 2008)
Cabaret (Issue 224, February 2008)
The Wild Bunch (Issue 225, March 2008)
Glengarry Glen Ross (Issue 226, April 2008)
The Fly (Issue 227, May 2008)
Out of the Past (Issue 228, June 2008)
Rear Window (Issue 229, July 2008)
Forbidden Planet (Issue 230, August 2008)
The Night of the Hunter (Issue 231, September 2008)
Network (Issue 232, October 2008)
Kind Hearts and Coronets (Issue 233, November 2008)
Dr. Strangelove or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (Issue 234, December 2008)
Fifteenth anniversary
Empire published a special 15th anniversary issue in June 2004 by which time the magazine had reviewed 4,240 theatrical films. Nicole Kidman was named "actress of our lifetime" and Kevin Spacey was named "actor of our lifetime". The 15 most influential films of the preceding 15 years were considered to be:
Reservoir Dogs
The Silence of the Lambs
Trainspotting
sex, lies, and videotape
The Matrix
Jurassic Park
The Killer
Toy Story
The Blair Witch Project
Four Weddings and a Funeral
Batman
New Jack City
Scream
Gladiator
Dumb & Dumber
Eighteenth anniversary
As part of its 18th birthday issue published in June 2007 Empire published a list of top 18-rated moments in film. This list is as follows:
Alien - Dinner chestburster
The Omen - Glass decapitation
An American Werewolf in London - Wolf transformation
The Exorcist (film) - Crucifix abuse
Risky Business - Ready Ralph?
Reservoir Dogs - Mr. Blonde slashing the face of Marvin the cop
Blue Velvet - Karaoke From Hell
Readers' top films
Empire occasionally poll readers to find out what their favourite films are.
Current List, The 500 Greatest Movies of All Time
The latest list was selected in September 2008 by over 10,000 Empire readers, 150 film makers and 50 film critics. Here are the top 25 films chosen:
The Godfather
Raiders of the Lost Ark
Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back
The Shawshank Redemption
Jaws
GoodFellas
Apocalypse Now
Singin' In The Rain
Pulp Fiction
Fight Club
Raging Bull
The Apartment
Chinatown
Once Upon A Time In The West
The Dark Knight
2001: A Space Odyssey
Taxi Driver
Casablanca
The Godfather Part II
Blade Runner
The Third Man
Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope
Back To The Future
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
The Good, The Bad And The Ugly
The entire list can be found at Empire
Readers' top directors
In June 2005, of poll of 10,000 readers was asked to name the greatest film director of all time. In a list of twenty directors, Steven Spielberg was granted the honour of greatest director, while the total list was:
Steven Spielberg
Alfred Hitchcock
Martin Scorsese
Stanley Kubrick
Ridley Scott
Akira Kurosawa
Peter Jackson
Quentin Tarantino
Orson Welles
Woody Allen
Clint Eastwood
David Lean
The Coen Brothers
James Cameron
Francis Ford Coppola
Oliver Stone
Sergio Leone
John Ford
Billy Wilder
Sam Peckinpah
Editors
Empire has had eight editors. They are:
Barry McIlheney (issues 1 - 44)
Phil Thomas (issues 45 - 72)
Andrew Collins (issues 73 - 75)
Mark Salisbury (issues 76 - 88)
Ian Nathan (issues 89 - 126)
Emma Cochrane (issues 127 - 161)
Colin Kennedy (162 - 209) (Will Lawrence acted as editor for 12 issues while Colin Kennedy was absent)
Mark Dinning (210 - present. Dinning was formerly Associate Editor on the magazine leaving to take up the position of Editor of Total Film for a period, he then returned to take up the same role for Empire)
Empire
Editor
Mark Dinning
Categories
Film
Frequency
Monthly
First issue
July 1989
Company
Bauer
Country
United Kingdom
Language
English
Empire is a British film magazine published monthly by Bauer Consumer Media. From the first issue in July 1989, the magazine was published by Emap until Bauer purchased Emap Consumer Media in early 2008. It is the biggest selling film magazine in Britain, consistently outselling its nearest market rival Total Film and is also published in Australia, Turkey and Russia. Empire organises the annual Sony Ericsson Empire Awards which are voted for by readers of the magazine.
Contents
1 Regular features
1.1 Masterpieces
2 Fifteenth anniversary
3 Eighteenth anniversary
4 Readers' top films
4.1 Current List, The 500 Greatest Movies of All Time
5 Readers' top directors
6 Editors
7 External links
Regular features
In common with most British film magazines, Empire is populist in both approach and coverage unlike less irreverent and more serious magazines such as Sight and Sound. It reviews both mainstream films, including Hollywood fare, and art films, but feature articles concentrate on the former. The magazine occasionally produces themed issues around subjects such as Star Wars and "sex in film".
As well as film news, previews and reviews, Empire has some unique regular features. Each issue (with the exception of issues 108 - 113) features a Classic Scene, a transcript from a notable film scene. The first such classic scene to be featured was the "I could have been a contender" scene from On the Waterfront.
The regular Top 10 feature lists Empire's choice of the top ten examples of something film-related. For example 10 Best Chase Scenes or 10 Best Movie Gags in The Simpsons. Readers are encouraged to write in if they disagree with the choices made.
The At Home section covers DVD news and releases; Empire's editors consider this section to be of sufficient quality to term it a magazine in itself, which is also relevant to the growth and importance of the DVD market, where sales can often outstrip that of box-office.
Pint of Milk presents celebrities' answers to silly or unusual questions, including the question "How much is a pint of milk?" This is intended as a guide to the Chosen Celebrity's contact with reality, and as such can be more informative than a direct interview, often reporting some surprising responses.
Each magazine includes a "Spine Quote", in which a relatively challenging quote is printed on the spine of the magazine. There are usually some obvious and obscure links from the quote to the main features of that month's edition. Readers are invited to identify the film source and the links to win a prize.
Kim Newman's DVD Dungeon is a regular feature in the At Home section, in which critic Kim Newman reviews the most obscure releases, mostly low budget horror movies.
Masterpieces
A regular feature since issue 167, the masterpiece feature is a two page essay on a film selected by Empire in the At Home section. The selection of the films seem to be quite random and follow no specific pattern. Only a few issues since the first masterpiece feature have not featured one - 169, 179, 196, 197 and 198.
The films to feature in this section so far are:
Raging Bull (Issue 167, May 2003)
Gone with the Wind (Issue 168, June 2003)
The Shawshank Redemption (Issue 170, August 2003)
Casablanca (Issue 171, September 2003)
Blade Runner (Issue 172, October 2003)
La dolce vita (Issue 173, November 2003)
The Shining (Issue 174, December 2003)
The Third Man (Issue 175, January 2004)
The 400 Blows (Issue 176, February 2004)
His Girl Friday (Issue 177, March 2004)
Schindler's List (Issue 178, April 2004)
The Godfather (Issue 180, June 2004)
King Kong (Issue 181, July 2004)
Seven Samurai (Issue 182, August 2004)
Fight Club (Issue 183, September 2004)
Tokyo Story (Issue 184, October 2004)
Annie Hall (Issue 185, November 2004)
Bride of Frankenstein (Issue 186, December 2004)
It's a Wonderful Life (Issue 187, January 2005) (incorrectly labelled as #18 in the magazine)
This is Spinal Tap (Issue 188, February 2005)
The Silence of the Lambs (Issue 189, March 2005)
L'Atalante (Issue 190, April 2005)
L.A. Confidential (Issue 191, May 2005)
The Searchers (Issue 192, June 2005)
Do The Right Thing (Issue 193, July 2005)
Brief Encounter (Issue 194, August 2005)
Brazil (Issue 195, September 2005)
On the Waterfront (Issue 199, January 2006)
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (Issue 200, February 2006)
Rome, Open City (Issue 201, March 2006)
The General (Issue 202, April 2006)
Deliverance (Issue 203, May 2006)
The French Connection (Issue 204, June 2006)
The Battle of Algiers (Issue 205, July 2006)
Das Boot (Issue 206, August 2006)
Don't Look Now (Issue 207, September 2006)
Vertigo (Issue 208, October 2006)
The Lord of the Rings (Issue 209, November 2006)
Some Like It Hot (Issue 210, December 2006)
The Wizard of Oz (Issue 211, January 2007)
The Wages of Fear (Issue 212, February 2007)
Belle de jour (Issue 213, March 2007)
The Spirit of the Beehive (Issue 214, April 2007)
Die Hard (Issue 215, May 2007)
A Clockwork Orange (Issue 216, June 2007)
Performance (Issue 217, July 2007)
Bringing Up Baby (Issue 218, August 2007)
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (Issue 219, September 2007)
The Big Sleep (Issue 220, October 2007)
Days of Heaven (Issue 221, November 2007)
The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (Issue 222, December 2007)
Bicycle Thieves (Issue 223, January 2008)
Cabaret (Issue 224, February 2008)
The Wild Bunch (Issue 225, March 2008)
Glengarry Glen Ross (Issue 226, April 2008)
The Fly (Issue 227, May 2008)
Out of the Past (Issue 228, June 2008)
Rear Window (Issue 229, July 2008)
Forbidden Planet (Issue 230, August 2008)
The Night of the Hunter (Issue 231, September 2008)
Network (Issue 232, October 2008)
Kind Hearts and Coronets (Issue 233, November 2008)
Dr. Strangelove or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (Issue 234, December 2008)
Fifteenth anniversary
Empire published a special 15th anniversary issue in June 2004 by which time the magazine had reviewed 4,240 theatrical films. Nicole Kidman was named "actress of our lifetime" and Kevin Spacey was named "actor of our lifetime". The 15 most influential films of the preceding 15 years were considered to be:
Reservoir Dogs
The Silence of the Lambs
Trainspotting
sex, lies, and videotape
The Matrix
Jurassic Park
The Killer
Toy Story
The Blair Witch Project
Four Weddings and a Funeral
Batman
New Jack City
Scream
Gladiator
Dumb & Dumber
Eighteenth anniversary
As part of its 18th birthday issue published in June 2007 Empire published a list of top 18-rated moments in film. This list is as follows:
Alien - Dinner chestburster
The Omen - Glass decapitation
An American Werewolf in London - Wolf transformation
The Exorcist (film) - Crucifix abuse
Risky Business - Ready Ralph?
Reservoir Dogs - Mr. Blonde slashing the face of Marvin the cop
Blue Velvet - Karaoke From Hell
Readers' top films
Empire occasionally poll readers to find out what their favourite films are.
Current List, The 500 Greatest Movies of All Time
The latest list was selected in September 2008 by over 10,000 Empire readers, 150 film makers and 50 film critics. Here are the top 25 films chosen:
The Godfather
Raiders of the Lost Ark
Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back
The Shawshank Redemption
Jaws
GoodFellas
Apocalypse Now
Singin' In The Rain
Pulp Fiction
Fight Club
Raging Bull
The Apartment
Chinatown
Once Upon A Time In The West
The Dark Knight
2001: A Space Odyssey
Taxi Driver
Casablanca
The Godfather Part II
Blade Runner
The Third Man
Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope
Back To The Future
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
The Good, The Bad And The Ugly
The entire list can be found at Empire
Readers' top directors
In June 2005, of poll of 10,000 readers was asked to name the greatest film director of all time. In a list of twenty directors, Steven Spielberg was granted the honour of greatest director, while the total list was:
Steven Spielberg
Alfred Hitchcock
Martin Scorsese
Stanley Kubrick
Ridley Scott
Akira Kurosawa
Peter Jackson
Quentin Tarantino
Orson Welles
Woody Allen
Clint Eastwood
David Lean
The Coen Brothers
James Cameron
Francis Ford Coppola
Oliver Stone
Sergio Leone
John Ford
Billy Wilder
Sam Peckinpah
Editors
Empire has had eight editors. They are:
Barry McIlheney (issues 1 - 44)
Phil Thomas (issues 45 - 72)
Andrew Collins (issues 73 - 75)
Mark Salisbury (issues 76 - 88)
Ian Nathan (issues 89 - 126)
Emma Cochrane (issues 127 - 161)
Colin Kennedy (162 - 209) (Will Lawrence acted as editor for 12 issues while Colin Kennedy was absent)
Mark Dinning (210 - present. Dinning was formerly Associate Editor on the magazine leaving to take up the position of Editor of Total Film for a period, he then returned to take up the same role for Empire)
Tuesday, 9 December 2008
Rolling Stone magazine research
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a United States-based magazine devoted to music, politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner (who is still editor and publisher) and music critic Ralph J. Gleason.
The magazine was known for its political coverage beginning in the 1970s, with the enigmatic and controversial gonzo journalist Hunter S. Thompson. Rolling Stone changed its format in the 1990s to appeal to younger readers, often focusing on young television or film actors and pop music. This led to criticism that the magazine was emphasizing style over substance.[3] In recent years, the magazine has resumed its traditional mix of content, including in-depth political stories, and has seen circulation rise. [4]
Beginnings in San Francisco
To get the magazine off the ground, Wenner borrowed $7500 from his family members and from the family of his soon-to-be wife, Jane Schindelheim.[5] Rolling Stone was initially identified with and reported on the hippie counterculture of the era. However, the magazine distanced itself from the underground newspapers of the time, such as Berkeley Barb, embracing more traditional journalistic standards and avoiding the radical politics of the underground press. In the very first edition of the magazine, Wenner wrote that Rolling Stone "is not just about the music, but about the things and attitudes that music embraces." This has become the de facto motto of the magazine.
In the 1970s, Rolling Stone began to make a mark for its political coverage, with the likes of gonzo journalist Hunter S. Thompson writing for the magazine's political section. Thompson would first publish his most famous work Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas within the pages of Rolling Stone, where he remained a contributing editor until his death in 2005. In the 1970s, the magazine also helped launch the careers of many prominent authors, such as Cameron Crowe, Joe Klein, Joe Eszterhas, and P. J. O'Rourke. It was at this point that the magazine ran some of its most famous stories, including that of the Patty Hearst abduction odyssey.
The magazine was so influential in shaping pop culture in the 1970s that a song dedicated to it, "The Cover of the Rolling Stone" by Dr. Hook & The Medicine Show (written by Shel Silverstein), became a hit single. Dr. Hook & The Medicine Show eventually did end up fulfilling their wish and ended up on the cover of Rolling Stone.
Today
In the 1990s, facing competition from lad mags such as FHM, Rolling Stone reinvented itself, hiring former FHM editor Ed Needham. The magazine started targeting younger readers and offering more sex-oriented content, which often focused on sexy young television or film actors as well as pop music. At the time, some long-time readers denounced the publication, claiming it had declined from astute musical and countercultural observer to a sleek, superficial tabloid, emphasizing style over substance.[6] Since then, however, the magazine has resumed its traditional mix of content, including in-depth political stories, and has seen circulation (currently at 1.4 million) and revenue rise. In 2007, the magazine's revenue was up 23.3 percent. [7] Also in 2007, the magazine won a National Magazine Award for general excellence and was a finalist in reporting for Janet Reitman's article "Inside Scientology."[8][9]
Leading up to what it called the 50th Anniversary of Rock in 2004, Rolling Stone published a series of all-time greatest lists to recognize historic achievements in the field. The 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time[1] and the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time appeared in 2003, followed by 50 Moments That Changed the History of Rock & Roll and The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time in 2004. It also published The Rolling Stone Immortals, a list of the 100 greatest artists of our time.
On May 7, 2006, Rolling Stone published its 1000th issue.[10] The cover, which was influenced by the cover art of The Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, featured some of the most influential celebrities whom RS had covered.
Rolling Stone has evolved over the years, but certain features regarded as the hallmarks of the magazine have remained intact. Features such as "National Affairs" which has been around since the likes of Hunter S. Thompson and Joe Klein, and "Rock and Roll" are still published in the magazine today. In a bid to react to the advent of the internet, these two features have been made available in the forms of blogs.[11][12] Rolling Stone also publishes "Random Notes," a section which mixes photos with tabloid like headlines. Another regular feature printed next to "Random Notes" is the "Smoking Section" which is written by Austin Scaggs.
Today, four decades since its founding by Jann Wenner, the Rolling Stone record reviews section is regarded by many sources as still one of the most influential around.[13]
Beginning with issue #1064, October 30th 2008, Rolling Stone abandoned their large 10X12 format for a "classic magazine" shape which features glossy paper and "perfect binding". A self-adhesive mailing address label replaces the large white box previously on a bottom corner of the cover. Rolling Stone is printed on 100% carbon neutral paper. [14]
Criticism
One major criticism of Rolling Stone involves its apparent generational bias toward the 1960s and 1970s. One critic referred to the Rolling Stone list of the 99 Greatest Songs as an example of "unrepentant rockist fogeyism." [15] In further response to this issue, rock critic Jim DeRogatis, a former Rolling Stone editor, published a thorough critique of the magazine's lists in a book called Kill Your Idols: A New Generation of Rock Writers Reconsiders the Classics (ISBN 1-56980-276-9), which featured differing opinions from many younger critics. [16] Conservative columnist Jonah Goldberg criticised the magazine saying that "Rolling Stone has essentially become the house organ of the Democratic National Committee." [17]
The website Shoutmouth criticised Rolling Stone for reconsidering many classic albums that it had previously dismissed. Examples of artists for whom this is the case include, among others, Led Zeppelin, AC/DC, and Nirvana. For example, Led Zeppelin was largely written off by Rolling Stone critics during the band's most active years in the 1970s. However by 2006, a cover story on Led Zeppelin honored them as "the Heaviest Band of All Time." [18] A critic for Slate magazine described a conference at which the 1984 Rolling Stone Record Guide was scrutinized. As he described it, "The guide virtually ignored hip-hop and ruthlessly panned heavy metal, the two genres that within a few years would dominate the pop charts. In an auditorium packed with music journalists, you could detect more than a few anxious titters: How many of us will want our record reviews read back to us 20 years hence?" [15]
The hire of former FHM editor Ed Needham further angered critics who alleged that Rolling Stone had lost its credibility.[19]
Website
Rolling Stone has maintained a website for many years, with selected current articles, reviews, blogs, MP3s, and other features such as searchable and free encyclopedic articles about artists, with images and sometimes sound clips of their work. There are also selected archival political and cultural articles and entries. The site also at one time had an extensive message board forum. Rolling Stone now permits users to make follow-up comments to posted articles in a blog format. It also maintains a page at MySpace.
Famous staff
Robert Altman (photographer)
Michael Azerrad
Lester Bangs
Robert Christgau
Brian Cookman
Cameron Crowe
Anthony DeCurtis
Deborah Dragon
Jancee Dunn
Joe Eszterhas
Timothy Ferris
Ben Fong-Torres
David Fricke
Erik Hedegaard
Joe Klein
Jon Landau
Jerry Hopkins
David LaChapelle
Annie Leibovitz
Steven Levy
Kurt Loder
Greil Marcus
Paul Nelson
P.J. O'Rourke
Rob Sheffield
Ralph Steadman
Neil Strauss
Matt Taibbi
Hunter S. Thompson
Touré
Peter Travers
Jann Wenner
Baron Wolman
Evan Wright
In popular culture
Rolling Stone is largely regarded as a predominant music promotional force in American culture, alongside the likes of MTV. It has been frequently referenced in other forms of media, such as in Cameron Crowe's semi-autobiographical film Almost Famous where Crowe's character worked as a teenage reporter for the magazine and the cult classic music-oriented movie High Fidelity where becoming a Rolling Stone journalist is cited as the lead character's ambition. In the 1985 movie Perfect, John Travolta made an appearance as a Rolling Stone journalist. Wenner had cameo roles in both Almost Famous and Perfect.
In Stephen King's 1980 novel Firestarter, the young heroine takes her story (of her very demonstrable psychic powers) to Rolling Stone. Because she is fleeing the government, or rogue elements of it, the choice of Rolling Stone is a clever way of choosing a national venue respected by the growing younger demographic that is also unlikely to cooperate with government censorship or suppression of her story.
The magazine also had made some of the most controversial covers in pop culture; eyebrows were raised when a then-17 year-old Britney Spears was featured on the cover of Rolling Stone magazine in a sexually suggestive Lolita-themed photo shoot which triggered widespread speculation (denied by her representatives) that the singer had had breast implants. Another controversial cover and, perhaps one of the magazine's most famous, is of Janet Jackson who was photographed topless with her then-husband's hands covering her breasts.
The Rick Griffin logo for Rolling Stone and magazine cover were used as the basis for promotional images for the film School of Rock.
At the end of The Wedding Singer, Drew Barrymore is reading a copy of Rolling Stone (Issue 440, January 31, 1985) with Billy Idol on the cover, while going to Las Vegas with Glen on the plane.
In the movie, Tenacious D and the Pick of Destiny, copies of Rolling Stone are seen in a scene where Jack Black and Kyle Gass are contemplating what they need to be great musicians, and Gass notices that several great guitarists wield the same pick.
In the movie Iron Man, Tony Stark is pictured on a fictional cover of Rolling Stone.
In the movie Music and Lyrics, fictional Rolling Stone magazine reviews from various eras play a major role.
In the video game Rock Band 2, players are recognized on Rolling Stone as Rock Immortals after beating the final song set.
In the pilot episode of the CW series Gossip Girl, a fictional Rolling Stone cover story on "forgotten bands of the '90s" is a repeatedly referenced plot point. Supermodel Gisele Bündchen, on September 2000 issue, was named the most beautiful girl in the world.
Celebrities who have appeared on the cover
Main article: List of celebrities who have appeared on the cover of Rolling Stone magazine
Some artists have graced the cover many times, some of these pictures going on to become iconic. The Beatles, for example, have appeared on the cover over thirty times, either individually or as a band.[20] The first ten who appeared on the cover were:
Paul McCartney
Jimi Hendrix
John Lennon
Tina Turner
The Beatles
Otis Redding
Donovan
Jim Morrison
Janis Joplin
Eric Clapton
International editions
Argentina - Published by Publirevistas S.A. since April 1998.
Australia - Began as a supplement 1969 in Go-Set magazine. It became a full title in 1972 and was published by Next Media Pty Ltd, Sydney until 2008. It is now published by ACP Magazines and is the longest running international edition.
Brazil - Published in Brazil since October 2006 by Spring Comunicações.
Chile - Published by Edu Comunicaciones until May 2003. Published by El Mercurio, since January 2006.
China - Rolling Stone in mainland China is licensed to One Media Group of Hong Kong and published in partnership with China Record Corporation. The magazine is in Chinese with translated articles and local content.
Colombia - Edited in Bogotá for Colombia, Ecuador, Perú, Panama and Venezuela.
France - Launched 2002. This edition temporarily ceased in 2007 and was relaunched in May 2008 under license with 1633SA publishing group.
Germany - Published in Germany since 1994 by Axel Springer AG.
India - Launched in March 2008 by MW Com, publisher's of Man's World Magazine.
Indonesia - Published in Indonesia since June 2005 by JHP Media.
Italy - Published in Italy since November 2003, first by IXO Publishing and now by Editrice Quadratum.
Japan - Launched in March 2007.
Mexico - Published by Prisa Internacional since 2002.
Russia - Published by Izdatelskiy Dom SPN since 2004.
Spain - Published by PROGRESA in Madrid, since 1999.
Turkey - Published since June 2006 by GD Gazete Dergi.
Rolling Stone is a United States-based magazine devoted to music, politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner (who is still editor and publisher) and music critic Ralph J. Gleason.
The magazine was known for its political coverage beginning in the 1970s, with the enigmatic and controversial gonzo journalist Hunter S. Thompson. Rolling Stone changed its format in the 1990s to appeal to younger readers, often focusing on young television or film actors and pop music. This led to criticism that the magazine was emphasizing style over substance.[3] In recent years, the magazine has resumed its traditional mix of content, including in-depth political stories, and has seen circulation rise. [4]
Beginnings in San Francisco
To get the magazine off the ground, Wenner borrowed $7500 from his family members and from the family of his soon-to-be wife, Jane Schindelheim.[5] Rolling Stone was initially identified with and reported on the hippie counterculture of the era. However, the magazine distanced itself from the underground newspapers of the time, such as Berkeley Barb, embracing more traditional journalistic standards and avoiding the radical politics of the underground press. In the very first edition of the magazine, Wenner wrote that Rolling Stone "is not just about the music, but about the things and attitudes that music embraces." This has become the de facto motto of the magazine.
In the 1970s, Rolling Stone began to make a mark for its political coverage, with the likes of gonzo journalist Hunter S. Thompson writing for the magazine's political section. Thompson would first publish his most famous work Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas within the pages of Rolling Stone, where he remained a contributing editor until his death in 2005. In the 1970s, the magazine also helped launch the careers of many prominent authors, such as Cameron Crowe, Joe Klein, Joe Eszterhas, and P. J. O'Rourke. It was at this point that the magazine ran some of its most famous stories, including that of the Patty Hearst abduction odyssey.
The magazine was so influential in shaping pop culture in the 1970s that a song dedicated to it, "The Cover of the Rolling Stone" by Dr. Hook & The Medicine Show (written by Shel Silverstein), became a hit single. Dr. Hook & The Medicine Show eventually did end up fulfilling their wish and ended up on the cover of Rolling Stone.
Today
In the 1990s, facing competition from lad mags such as FHM, Rolling Stone reinvented itself, hiring former FHM editor Ed Needham. The magazine started targeting younger readers and offering more sex-oriented content, which often focused on sexy young television or film actors as well as pop music. At the time, some long-time readers denounced the publication, claiming it had declined from astute musical and countercultural observer to a sleek, superficial tabloid, emphasizing style over substance.[6] Since then, however, the magazine has resumed its traditional mix of content, including in-depth political stories, and has seen circulation (currently at 1.4 million) and revenue rise. In 2007, the magazine's revenue was up 23.3 percent. [7] Also in 2007, the magazine won a National Magazine Award for general excellence and was a finalist in reporting for Janet Reitman's article "Inside Scientology."[8][9]
Leading up to what it called the 50th Anniversary of Rock in 2004, Rolling Stone published a series of all-time greatest lists to recognize historic achievements in the field. The 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time[1] and the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time appeared in 2003, followed by 50 Moments That Changed the History of Rock & Roll and The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time in 2004. It also published The Rolling Stone Immortals, a list of the 100 greatest artists of our time.
On May 7, 2006, Rolling Stone published its 1000th issue.[10] The cover, which was influenced by the cover art of The Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, featured some of the most influential celebrities whom RS had covered.
Rolling Stone has evolved over the years, but certain features regarded as the hallmarks of the magazine have remained intact. Features such as "National Affairs" which has been around since the likes of Hunter S. Thompson and Joe Klein, and "Rock and Roll" are still published in the magazine today. In a bid to react to the advent of the internet, these two features have been made available in the forms of blogs.[11][12] Rolling Stone also publishes "Random Notes," a section which mixes photos with tabloid like headlines. Another regular feature printed next to "Random Notes" is the "Smoking Section" which is written by Austin Scaggs.
Today, four decades since its founding by Jann Wenner, the Rolling Stone record reviews section is regarded by many sources as still one of the most influential around.[13]
Beginning with issue #1064, October 30th 2008, Rolling Stone abandoned their large 10X12 format for a "classic magazine" shape which features glossy paper and "perfect binding". A self-adhesive mailing address label replaces the large white box previously on a bottom corner of the cover. Rolling Stone is printed on 100% carbon neutral paper. [14]
Criticism
One major criticism of Rolling Stone involves its apparent generational bias toward the 1960s and 1970s. One critic referred to the Rolling Stone list of the 99 Greatest Songs as an example of "unrepentant rockist fogeyism." [15] In further response to this issue, rock critic Jim DeRogatis, a former Rolling Stone editor, published a thorough critique of the magazine's lists in a book called Kill Your Idols: A New Generation of Rock Writers Reconsiders the Classics (ISBN 1-56980-276-9), which featured differing opinions from many younger critics. [16] Conservative columnist Jonah Goldberg criticised the magazine saying that "Rolling Stone has essentially become the house organ of the Democratic National Committee." [17]
The website Shoutmouth criticised Rolling Stone for reconsidering many classic albums that it had previously dismissed. Examples of artists for whom this is the case include, among others, Led Zeppelin, AC/DC, and Nirvana. For example, Led Zeppelin was largely written off by Rolling Stone critics during the band's most active years in the 1970s. However by 2006, a cover story on Led Zeppelin honored them as "the Heaviest Band of All Time." [18] A critic for Slate magazine described a conference at which the 1984 Rolling Stone Record Guide was scrutinized. As he described it, "The guide virtually ignored hip-hop and ruthlessly panned heavy metal, the two genres that within a few years would dominate the pop charts. In an auditorium packed with music journalists, you could detect more than a few anxious titters: How many of us will want our record reviews read back to us 20 years hence?" [15]
The hire of former FHM editor Ed Needham further angered critics who alleged that Rolling Stone had lost its credibility.[19]
Website
Rolling Stone has maintained a website for many years, with selected current articles, reviews, blogs, MP3s, and other features such as searchable and free encyclopedic articles about artists, with images and sometimes sound clips of their work. There are also selected archival political and cultural articles and entries. The site also at one time had an extensive message board forum. Rolling Stone now permits users to make follow-up comments to posted articles in a blog format. It also maintains a page at MySpace.
Famous staff
Robert Altman (photographer)
Michael Azerrad
Lester Bangs
Robert Christgau
Brian Cookman
Cameron Crowe
Anthony DeCurtis
Deborah Dragon
Jancee Dunn
Joe Eszterhas
Timothy Ferris
Ben Fong-Torres
David Fricke
Erik Hedegaard
Joe Klein
Jon Landau
Jerry Hopkins
David LaChapelle
Annie Leibovitz
Steven Levy
Kurt Loder
Greil Marcus
Paul Nelson
P.J. O'Rourke
Rob Sheffield
Ralph Steadman
Neil Strauss
Matt Taibbi
Hunter S. Thompson
Touré
Peter Travers
Jann Wenner
Baron Wolman
Evan Wright
In popular culture
Rolling Stone is largely regarded as a predominant music promotional force in American culture, alongside the likes of MTV. It has been frequently referenced in other forms of media, such as in Cameron Crowe's semi-autobiographical film Almost Famous where Crowe's character worked as a teenage reporter for the magazine and the cult classic music-oriented movie High Fidelity where becoming a Rolling Stone journalist is cited as the lead character's ambition. In the 1985 movie Perfect, John Travolta made an appearance as a Rolling Stone journalist. Wenner had cameo roles in both Almost Famous and Perfect.
In Stephen King's 1980 novel Firestarter, the young heroine takes her story (of her very demonstrable psychic powers) to Rolling Stone. Because she is fleeing the government, or rogue elements of it, the choice of Rolling Stone is a clever way of choosing a national venue respected by the growing younger demographic that is also unlikely to cooperate with government censorship or suppression of her story.
The magazine also had made some of the most controversial covers in pop culture; eyebrows were raised when a then-17 year-old Britney Spears was featured on the cover of Rolling Stone magazine in a sexually suggestive Lolita-themed photo shoot which triggered widespread speculation (denied by her representatives) that the singer had had breast implants. Another controversial cover and, perhaps one of the magazine's most famous, is of Janet Jackson who was photographed topless with her then-husband's hands covering her breasts.
The Rick Griffin logo for Rolling Stone and magazine cover were used as the basis for promotional images for the film School of Rock.
At the end of The Wedding Singer, Drew Barrymore is reading a copy of Rolling Stone (Issue 440, January 31, 1985) with Billy Idol on the cover, while going to Las Vegas with Glen on the plane.
In the movie, Tenacious D and the Pick of Destiny, copies of Rolling Stone are seen in a scene where Jack Black and Kyle Gass are contemplating what they need to be great musicians, and Gass notices that several great guitarists wield the same pick.
In the movie Iron Man, Tony Stark is pictured on a fictional cover of Rolling Stone.
In the movie Music and Lyrics, fictional Rolling Stone magazine reviews from various eras play a major role.
In the video game Rock Band 2, players are recognized on Rolling Stone as Rock Immortals after beating the final song set.
In the pilot episode of the CW series Gossip Girl, a fictional Rolling Stone cover story on "forgotten bands of the '90s" is a repeatedly referenced plot point. Supermodel Gisele Bündchen, on September 2000 issue, was named the most beautiful girl in the world.
Celebrities who have appeared on the cover
Main article: List of celebrities who have appeared on the cover of Rolling Stone magazine
Some artists have graced the cover many times, some of these pictures going on to become iconic. The Beatles, for example, have appeared on the cover over thirty times, either individually or as a band.[20] The first ten who appeared on the cover were:
Paul McCartney
Jimi Hendrix
John Lennon
Tina Turner
The Beatles
Otis Redding
Donovan
Jim Morrison
Janis Joplin
Eric Clapton
International editions
Argentina - Published by Publirevistas S.A. since April 1998.
Australia - Began as a supplement 1969 in Go-Set magazine. It became a full title in 1972 and was published by Next Media Pty Ltd, Sydney until 2008. It is now published by ACP Magazines and is the longest running international edition.
Brazil - Published in Brazil since October 2006 by Spring Comunicações.
Chile - Published by Edu Comunicaciones until May 2003. Published by El Mercurio, since January 2006.
China - Rolling Stone in mainland China is licensed to One Media Group of Hong Kong and published in partnership with China Record Corporation. The magazine is in Chinese with translated articles and local content.
Colombia - Edited in Bogotá for Colombia, Ecuador, Perú, Panama and Venezuela.
France - Launched 2002. This edition temporarily ceased in 2007 and was relaunched in May 2008 under license with 1633SA publishing group.
Germany - Published in Germany since 1994 by Axel Springer AG.
India - Launched in March 2008 by MW Com, publisher's of Man's World Magazine.
Indonesia - Published in Indonesia since June 2005 by JHP Media.
Italy - Published in Italy since November 2003, first by IXO Publishing and now by Editrice Quadratum.
Japan - Launched in March 2007.
Mexico - Published by Prisa Internacional since 2002.
Russia - Published by Izdatelskiy Dom SPN since 2004.
Spain - Published by PROGRESA in Madrid, since 1999.
Turkey - Published since June 2006 by GD Gazete Dergi.
Smash Hits Magazine Research
Smash Hits
Smash Hits was a pop music based magazine, aimed at children and young teenagers, and originally published in the United Kingdom. It ran from 1978 to 2006 and was issued fortnightly for most of that time. The name survives as a brand for a related spin-off digital television channel, digital radio station, and website which have survived the demise of the printed magazine.
Beginnings
Smash Hits was founded in 1977 by Nick Logan, who previously edited the New Musical Express during one of its most creative periods and went on to create '80s fashion bible The Face.
After releasing a test issue in September 1978, with Plastic Bertrand on the front and a centre spread of Sham 69, the first issue was published in November 1978 and featured Blondie on the cover. The publication was initially monthly but switched to fortnightly after only three issues, which it remained until its demise. The backbone of the magazine in its early years, and one of its major early selling points, was the publication of Top 20 song lyrics.
Peak
The magazine was at its peak in the 1980s, launching the career of many respected journalists including Heat's editor Mark Frith. Other well-known writers have included Dave Rimmer, Ian Birch, Mark Ellen (who went on to launch Q, Mojo and Word), Steve Beebee, Peter Martin, Chris Heath, Sylvia Patterson, Tom Hibbert, and Miranda Sawyer. Neil Tennant of the Pet Shop Boys also worked as a writer and assistant editor, and once claimed that had he not become a pop star, he would likely have pursued his ambition to become editor.
Final years of publishing
In the 1990s the magazine's circulation slumped and it was overtaken by the BBC's spin off magazine Top Of The Pops. Emap's other biweekly teen magazine of the period Big! (which featured more celebrities and stars off television like Home And Away and Beverly Hills 90210) was closed and this celeb focus was shifted over to Smash Hits, which became less focused on Teenpop and more of an Entertainment magazine. The magazine also shifted size a number of times in subsequent relaunches including one format that was as big as an album with songwords to be clipped out on the card cover. Television presenter and journalist Kate Thornton was editor for a short time.
The magazine was also available in Continental Europe, especially in Germany where the issues could be bought at train stations or airports, whilst the title was licensed for a French version in the 90s. There were other licensed versions in the magazine's history. In 1984 an Australian version was created and proved just as successful for that new market as the original had back in Britain, whilst in the US, a version was published during the Eighties under the title Star Hits, drawing articles from the British version.
It was published by Emap, who also use the name for one of their digital television services, and for a digital radio station. The brand also covered the annual Smash Hits Poll Winners Party, an awards ceremony voted for by readers of the magazine.
In February 2006, it was announced that the magazine would cease publication after the 13 February edition due to declining sales. [1] The digital television, digital radio, and website services will continue.
Editors
"Chris Hall" (pseudonym of Nick Logan who refused to use his name as editor, instead inventing the name from those of his children Christian and Hallie)
Ian Cranna
David Hepworth
Mark Ellen
Steve Bush
Barry McIlheney
Richard Lowe
Mike Soutar
Mark Frith
Kate Thornton
Gavin Reeve
John McKie
Emma Jones
Lisa Smosarski
Lara Palamoudian
Compilation albums
EMAP licensed the brand for a number of compilation albums, including a tie up with the Now That's What I Call Music brand for Now Smash Hits, a retrospective of the early 1980s (80 - 87).
[edit] Australian edition
The Australian edition of Smash Hits magazine began in November 1984 as a fortnightly edited by James Manning. The magazine blended some content from the parent publication with locally generated material. Eddy Sarafian, who was later to edit the successful competitor TV Hits for Attic Futura Publications, was also on staff at the time the magazine was founded. Robyn Doreian, later editor of Attic Futura's Hot Metal was graphic designer for Smash Hits and in the early 1990s Lisa Anthony, formerly editor of Attic Futura's Hit Songwords, would become Smash Hits' editor for a brief period. Australian Smash Hits was originally published by Fairfax Magazines and was later purchased by Mason Stewart Publications. Over the years it became a monthly and then a bi-monthly. In 2007 the magazine retailed for AU$5.95 Inc. GST and NZ$6.50. On March 30, 2007 it was announced that the Australian edition would cease publication due to low readership [1]. The editor at that time was Emma Bradshaw. The issue that was scheduled to be released on May 9, 2007 was cancelled.
Smash Hits was a pop music based magazine, aimed at children and young teenagers, and originally published in the United Kingdom. It ran from 1978 to 2006 and was issued fortnightly for most of that time. The name survives as a brand for a related spin-off digital television channel, digital radio station, and website which have survived the demise of the printed magazine.
Beginnings
Smash Hits was founded in 1977 by Nick Logan, who previously edited the New Musical Express during one of its most creative periods and went on to create '80s fashion bible The Face.
After releasing a test issue in September 1978, with Plastic Bertrand on the front and a centre spread of Sham 69, the first issue was published in November 1978 and featured Blondie on the cover. The publication was initially monthly but switched to fortnightly after only three issues, which it remained until its demise. The backbone of the magazine in its early years, and one of its major early selling points, was the publication of Top 20 song lyrics.
Peak
The magazine was at its peak in the 1980s, launching the career of many respected journalists including Heat's editor Mark Frith. Other well-known writers have included Dave Rimmer, Ian Birch, Mark Ellen (who went on to launch Q, Mojo and Word), Steve Beebee, Peter Martin, Chris Heath, Sylvia Patterson, Tom Hibbert, and Miranda Sawyer. Neil Tennant of the Pet Shop Boys also worked as a writer and assistant editor, and once claimed that had he not become a pop star, he would likely have pursued his ambition to become editor.
Final years of publishing
In the 1990s the magazine's circulation slumped and it was overtaken by the BBC's spin off magazine Top Of The Pops. Emap's other biweekly teen magazine of the period Big! (which featured more celebrities and stars off television like Home And Away and Beverly Hills 90210) was closed and this celeb focus was shifted over to Smash Hits, which became less focused on Teenpop and more of an Entertainment magazine. The magazine also shifted size a number of times in subsequent relaunches including one format that was as big as an album with songwords to be clipped out on the card cover. Television presenter and journalist Kate Thornton was editor for a short time.
The magazine was also available in Continental Europe, especially in Germany where the issues could be bought at train stations or airports, whilst the title was licensed for a French version in the 90s. There were other licensed versions in the magazine's history. In 1984 an Australian version was created and proved just as successful for that new market as the original had back in Britain, whilst in the US, a version was published during the Eighties under the title Star Hits, drawing articles from the British version.
It was published by Emap, who also use the name for one of their digital television services, and for a digital radio station. The brand also covered the annual Smash Hits Poll Winners Party, an awards ceremony voted for by readers of the magazine.
In February 2006, it was announced that the magazine would cease publication after the 13 February edition due to declining sales. [1] The digital television, digital radio, and website services will continue.
Editors
"Chris Hall" (pseudonym of Nick Logan who refused to use his name as editor, instead inventing the name from those of his children Christian and Hallie)
Ian Cranna
David Hepworth
Mark Ellen
Steve Bush
Barry McIlheney
Richard Lowe
Mike Soutar
Mark Frith
Kate Thornton
Gavin Reeve
John McKie
Emma Jones
Lisa Smosarski
Lara Palamoudian
Compilation albums
EMAP licensed the brand for a number of compilation albums, including a tie up with the Now That's What I Call Music brand for Now Smash Hits, a retrospective of the early 1980s (80 - 87).
[edit] Australian edition
The Australian edition of Smash Hits magazine began in November 1984 as a fortnightly edited by James Manning. The magazine blended some content from the parent publication with locally generated material. Eddy Sarafian, who was later to edit the successful competitor TV Hits for Attic Futura Publications, was also on staff at the time the magazine was founded. Robyn Doreian, later editor of Attic Futura's Hot Metal was graphic designer for Smash Hits and in the early 1990s Lisa Anthony, formerly editor of Attic Futura's Hit Songwords, would become Smash Hits' editor for a brief period. Australian Smash Hits was originally published by Fairfax Magazines and was later purchased by Mason Stewart Publications. Over the years it became a monthly and then a bi-monthly. In 2007 the magazine retailed for AU$5.95 Inc. GST and NZ$6.50. On March 30, 2007 it was announced that the Australian edition would cease publication due to low readership [1]. The editor at that time was Emma Bradshaw. The issue that was scheduled to be released on May 9, 2007 was cancelled.
Q Magazine research
Q (magazine)
Q is a music magazine published monthly in the United Kingdom, with a circulation of 130,179 as of June 2007[1].
Founders Mark Ellen and David Hepworth were dismayed by the music press of the time, which they felt was ignoring a generation of older music buyers who were buying CDs — then still a new technology — from artists such as Paul Simon, Level 42, and Dire Straits. Modeled after Rolling Stone, Q was first published in 1986, setting itself apart from much of the other music press with monthly production and higher standards of photography and printing. In the early years, the magazine was sub-titled "The modern guide to music and more". Originally it was to be called Cue (as in the sense of cueing a record, ready to play), but the name was changed so that it wouldn't be mistaken for a snooker magazine. Another reason, cited in Q's 200th edition, is that a single-letter title would be more prominent on newsstands.
Content
The magazine has an extensive review section, featuring: new releases (music), reissues (music), music compilations, film and live concert reviews, as well as radio and television reviews. It uses a star rating system from one to five stars; indeed, the rating an album receives in Q is often added to print and television advertising for the album in the UK and Ireland. It also compiles a list of approximately eight albums, which it classes as the best new releases of the last three months.
Much of the magazine is devoted to interviews with popular musical artists.
The magazine is well known for compiling lists. It has created many, ranging from "The 100 Greatest albums" to the "100 Greatest '100 Greatest' Lists". The most famous of these is the classic "50 bands to see before you die". Every other month, Q - and its sister magazine, Mojo (also owned by Bauer) - have a special edition. These have been about musical times, genres, or a very important/influential musician.
Often, promotional gifts are given away, such as cover-mounted CDs or books. The January, 2006 issue included a free copy of "The Greatest Rock and Pop Miscellany … Ever!", modeled on Schott's Original Miscellany.
Every issue of Q has a different message on the spine. Readers then try to work out what the message has to do with the contents of the mag. This practice — known as the "spine line" — has since become commonplace among British lifestyle magazines, including Q's movie-centric sister rag, Empire and the football monthly FourFourTwo.
Usual features include The Q50, wherein the magazine lists the top 50 essential tracks of the month; Cash for Questions, in which a famous celeb/band answers question sent in by readers - who win £25 if their question is printed; Ten Commandments, wherein a particular singer creates their very own ten commandments by which to live and Rewind, in which they take us back in time through the history of music via archive issues of Q. On March 4, 2007, "Q" named Elvis Presley the greatest singer of all time.
Q today
Q's current editor is Paul Rees, former editor of the UK edition of Kerrang!, another musical Bauer publication based on heavier rock/metal music.
In 2006, Q published a readers' survey; the 100 Greatest Songs Ever, won by Oasis' Live Forever.[1]
In the April 2007 issue, Q published an article containing the 100 Greatest Singers, won by Elvis Presley.[2]
Q has a history of associating with charitable organizations, and in 2006 the British anti-poverty charity War on Want was named its official charity.
Q is a music magazine published monthly in the United Kingdom, with a circulation of 130,179 as of June 2007[1].
Founders Mark Ellen and David Hepworth were dismayed by the music press of the time, which they felt was ignoring a generation of older music buyers who were buying CDs — then still a new technology — from artists such as Paul Simon, Level 42, and Dire Straits. Modeled after Rolling Stone, Q was first published in 1986, setting itself apart from much of the other music press with monthly production and higher standards of photography and printing. In the early years, the magazine was sub-titled "The modern guide to music and more". Originally it was to be called Cue (as in the sense of cueing a record, ready to play), but the name was changed so that it wouldn't be mistaken for a snooker magazine. Another reason, cited in Q's 200th edition, is that a single-letter title would be more prominent on newsstands.
Content
The magazine has an extensive review section, featuring: new releases (music), reissues (music), music compilations, film and live concert reviews, as well as radio and television reviews. It uses a star rating system from one to five stars; indeed, the rating an album receives in Q is often added to print and television advertising for the album in the UK and Ireland. It also compiles a list of approximately eight albums, which it classes as the best new releases of the last three months.
Much of the magazine is devoted to interviews with popular musical artists.
The magazine is well known for compiling lists. It has created many, ranging from "The 100 Greatest albums" to the "100 Greatest '100 Greatest' Lists". The most famous of these is the classic "50 bands to see before you die". Every other month, Q - and its sister magazine, Mojo (also owned by Bauer) - have a special edition. These have been about musical times, genres, or a very important/influential musician.
Often, promotional gifts are given away, such as cover-mounted CDs or books. The January, 2006 issue included a free copy of "The Greatest Rock and Pop Miscellany … Ever!", modeled on Schott's Original Miscellany.
Every issue of Q has a different message on the spine. Readers then try to work out what the message has to do with the contents of the mag. This practice — known as the "spine line" — has since become commonplace among British lifestyle magazines, including Q's movie-centric sister rag, Empire and the football monthly FourFourTwo.
Usual features include The Q50, wherein the magazine lists the top 50 essential tracks of the month; Cash for Questions, in which a famous celeb/band answers question sent in by readers - who win £25 if their question is printed; Ten Commandments, wherein a particular singer creates their very own ten commandments by which to live and Rewind, in which they take us back in time through the history of music via archive issues of Q. On March 4, 2007, "Q" named Elvis Presley the greatest singer of all time.
Q today
Q's current editor is Paul Rees, former editor of the UK edition of Kerrang!, another musical Bauer publication based on heavier rock/metal music.
In 2006, Q published a readers' survey; the 100 Greatest Songs Ever, won by Oasis' Live Forever.[1]
In the April 2007 issue, Q published an article containing the 100 Greatest Singers, won by Elvis Presley.[2]
Q has a history of associating with charitable organizations, and in 2006 the British anti-poverty charity War on Want was named its official charity.
Mojo research
MOJO was born as a print magazine, back when they launched such things, in the autumnal mists of October, 1993. Originally it was going to be called PRACTICAL BEEKEEPING, but good sense (and lawyers) intervened*.
Its original team had been involved in the launch of Q Magazine in the previous decade, but MOJO's rubric immediately differed. While Q surveyed the contemporary pop-culture landscape, taking the temperature of pop and fitting music into a world that contained film, television, celebrity and the like, MOJO was always about music pure and simple. Since its first issue it has championed music old and new that appeared likely to one day acquire the epithet "timeless". Always we've favoured the mavericks, divas, loonies and shitkickers, the lost classics and ambitious opuses, over the fads, starlets and best-sellers pored over by other magazines.
In other words, we like to think it's the music magazine you go to when you've grown out of all the others.
The roll-call of MOJO editors includes Paul du Noyer (1993-1995), Mat Snow (1995-1999), Paul Trynka (1999-2001) and Pat Gilbert (2002-2003). The current incumbent is Phil Alexander. Its influential staff and contributors have included Lloyd Bradley, Greil Marcus, Jim Marshall, Dave Marsh, Sylvie Simmons, Victor Bockris, Jim Irvin, Steve Fawcett, Mark Ellen, David Hepworth, Keith Cameron, Henry Diltz, Barney Hoskins, Joel Selvin, Nick Kent, Ben Edmonds, John Harris, Barry Miles, Charles Shaar Murray, David Cavanagh, Phil Sutcliffe, Robert Hilburn, Kevin Westenberg and many other legendary icons of the music magazine racket.
In 2001, MOJO first launched mojo4music.com (why such a rubbish URL? It's a long story) and in September 2003 it celebrated its 10th anniversary by morphing itself into a digital radio station, broadcasting via Freeview Channel 721, Sky Channel 0182, and online, if you're on a PC.
Since October 1993, Mojo has profiled hundreds of artists and reviewed over 10,000 albums. In that time we've encountered music that made our souls melt and some that made our stomachs turn, but our guiding principle has never wavered. We chop through the jungle of novelty (and indeed, the novelty of "jungle") seeking the source: the essence of soul or genius that makes music, of whatever genre, endure.
Mojo (magazine)
Mojo is a popular music magazine published by Bauer, monthly in the United Kingdom. Following the success of the magazine Q, publishers Emap were looking for a title which would cater for the burgeoning interest in classic rock music. Mojo was first published on 15 October 1993; in keeping with its classic rock aesthetic, the first issue had Bob Dylan and John Lennon as its first cover stars. Noted for its in-depth coverage of both popular and cult acts it acted as the inspiration for Blender and Uncut. Many noted music critics have written for it including Charles Shaar Murray, Greil Marcus, Nick Kent and Jon Savage. The launch editor of Mojo was Paul Du Noyer and his successors have included Mat Snow, Paul Trynka and Pat Gilbert.
Often criticised for its frequent coverage of classic rock acts such as The Beatles and Bob Dylan, it has nevertheless featured many newer and "left-field" acts. It was the first mainstream magazine in the UK to focus on The White Stripes, whom it has covered as zealously as many older acts.
Mojo regularly includes a covermount CD which ties in with a current magazine article or theme. In 2004 it introduced the Mojo Honours list, an awards ceremony which is a mixture of readers' and critics' awards.
More recently, the magazine has taken to publishing many "Top 100" lists, including the subjects of drug songs (Mojo #109), rock epics (Mojo #125), protest songs (Mojo #126) and even the most miserable songs of all time (Mojo #127). To celebrate 150 issues, the magazine published a "Top 100 Albums of Mojo's Lifetime" list (essentially 1993 onwards). The top five for this list were:
Grace - Jeff Buckley (1994)
American Recordings - Johnny Cash (1994)
OK Computer - Radiohead (1997)
Time Out of Mind - Bob Dylan (1997)
Definitely Maybe - Oasis (1994)
In 2007, the magazine set out to determine "The Top 100 Records That Changed the World." The list was compiled and voted on by an eclectic panel of superstars, including Björk, Tori Amos, Tom Waits, Brian Wilson, Pete Wentz, and Steve Earle. Little Richard's original 1955 hit "Tutti Frutti" took the number one spot. The record, dubbed "a torrent of filth wailed by a bisexual alien," beat the Beatles "I Wanna Hold Your Hand" (2nd) and Elvis Presley's "Heartbreak Hotel" (3rd). The magazine's editors claimed "that the 100 albums, singles and 78s that made up the list make up the most influential and inspirational recordings ever made." Hailing "Tutti Frutti" as the sound of the birth of Rock n Roll, the magazine's editors went on to state "one can only imagine how it must have sounded when the song exploded across the airwaves!"
The top 10 on Mojo's 100 Records That Changed The World list are:
"Tutti Frutti" by Little Richard
"I Want to Hold Your Hand" by The Beatles
"Heartbreak Hotel" by Elvis Presley
The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan by Bob Dylan
Autobahn by Kraftwerk
"King of the Delta Blues Singers" by Robert Johnson
The Velvet Underground and Nico by The Velvet Underground and Nico
Anthology of American Folk Music (various artists)
What'd I Say by Ray Charles
"God Save the Queen" by Sex Pistols
The Magazine also published an issue in 2008 that celebrated the Beatles' 'The White Album', featuring a cover-mounted CD that included many cover versions of tracks from the album, including 'Blackbird' in Gaidhlig by Julie Fowlis.
Special editions
Many self-standing themed special editions of Mojo have been produced, devoting an entire magazine to one artist or genre. Three of the most successful were the series of magazines produced by editor Chris Hunt, telling the story of The Beatles - one thousand days at a time. Featuring contributions from many of the world's leading rock critics and Beatles experts, they were published between 2002 and 2003, before being collected together by then-Editor-in-Chief Paul Trynka and published as the book The Beatles: Ten Years That Shook The World (Dorling Kindersley, 2004). MOJO has also published four editions of "The MOJO Collection: The Greatest Albums Of All Time" (Canongate books) and a series of short, definitive biographies under the imprint MOJO Heroes, starting in 2002 with Neil Young: Reflections In Broken Glass, written by Sylvie Simmons, a longtime MOJO Contributing Editor.
Its original team had been involved in the launch of Q Magazine in the previous decade, but MOJO's rubric immediately differed. While Q surveyed the contemporary pop-culture landscape, taking the temperature of pop and fitting music into a world that contained film, television, celebrity and the like, MOJO was always about music pure and simple. Since its first issue it has championed music old and new that appeared likely to one day acquire the epithet "timeless". Always we've favoured the mavericks, divas, loonies and shitkickers, the lost classics and ambitious opuses, over the fads, starlets and best-sellers pored over by other magazines.
In other words, we like to think it's the music magazine you go to when you've grown out of all the others.
The roll-call of MOJO editors includes Paul du Noyer (1993-1995), Mat Snow (1995-1999), Paul Trynka (1999-2001) and Pat Gilbert (2002-2003). The current incumbent is Phil Alexander. Its influential staff and contributors have included Lloyd Bradley, Greil Marcus, Jim Marshall, Dave Marsh, Sylvie Simmons, Victor Bockris, Jim Irvin, Steve Fawcett, Mark Ellen, David Hepworth, Keith Cameron, Henry Diltz, Barney Hoskins, Joel Selvin, Nick Kent, Ben Edmonds, John Harris, Barry Miles, Charles Shaar Murray, David Cavanagh, Phil Sutcliffe, Robert Hilburn, Kevin Westenberg and many other legendary icons of the music magazine racket.
In 2001, MOJO first launched mojo4music.com (why such a rubbish URL? It's a long story) and in September 2003 it celebrated its 10th anniversary by morphing itself into a digital radio station, broadcasting via Freeview Channel 721, Sky Channel 0182, and online, if you're on a PC.
Since October 1993, Mojo has profiled hundreds of artists and reviewed over 10,000 albums. In that time we've encountered music that made our souls melt and some that made our stomachs turn, but our guiding principle has never wavered. We chop through the jungle of novelty (and indeed, the novelty of "jungle") seeking the source: the essence of soul or genius that makes music, of whatever genre, endure.
Mojo (magazine)
Mojo is a popular music magazine published by Bauer, monthly in the United Kingdom. Following the success of the magazine Q, publishers Emap were looking for a title which would cater for the burgeoning interest in classic rock music. Mojo was first published on 15 October 1993; in keeping with its classic rock aesthetic, the first issue had Bob Dylan and John Lennon as its first cover stars. Noted for its in-depth coverage of both popular and cult acts it acted as the inspiration for Blender and Uncut. Many noted music critics have written for it including Charles Shaar Murray, Greil Marcus, Nick Kent and Jon Savage. The launch editor of Mojo was Paul Du Noyer and his successors have included Mat Snow, Paul Trynka and Pat Gilbert.
Often criticised for its frequent coverage of classic rock acts such as The Beatles and Bob Dylan, it has nevertheless featured many newer and "left-field" acts. It was the first mainstream magazine in the UK to focus on The White Stripes, whom it has covered as zealously as many older acts.
Mojo regularly includes a covermount CD which ties in with a current magazine article or theme. In 2004 it introduced the Mojo Honours list, an awards ceremony which is a mixture of readers' and critics' awards.
More recently, the magazine has taken to publishing many "Top 100" lists, including the subjects of drug songs (Mojo #109), rock epics (Mojo #125), protest songs (Mojo #126) and even the most miserable songs of all time (Mojo #127). To celebrate 150 issues, the magazine published a "Top 100 Albums of Mojo's Lifetime" list (essentially 1993 onwards). The top five for this list were:
Grace - Jeff Buckley (1994)
American Recordings - Johnny Cash (1994)
OK Computer - Radiohead (1997)
Time Out of Mind - Bob Dylan (1997)
Definitely Maybe - Oasis (1994)
In 2007, the magazine set out to determine "The Top 100 Records That Changed the World." The list was compiled and voted on by an eclectic panel of superstars, including Björk, Tori Amos, Tom Waits, Brian Wilson, Pete Wentz, and Steve Earle. Little Richard's original 1955 hit "Tutti Frutti" took the number one spot. The record, dubbed "a torrent of filth wailed by a bisexual alien," beat the Beatles "I Wanna Hold Your Hand" (2nd) and Elvis Presley's "Heartbreak Hotel" (3rd). The magazine's editors claimed "that the 100 albums, singles and 78s that made up the list make up the most influential and inspirational recordings ever made." Hailing "Tutti Frutti" as the sound of the birth of Rock n Roll, the magazine's editors went on to state "one can only imagine how it must have sounded when the song exploded across the airwaves!"
The top 10 on Mojo's 100 Records That Changed The World list are:
"Tutti Frutti" by Little Richard
"I Want to Hold Your Hand" by The Beatles
"Heartbreak Hotel" by Elvis Presley
The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan by Bob Dylan
Autobahn by Kraftwerk
"King of the Delta Blues Singers" by Robert Johnson
The Velvet Underground and Nico by The Velvet Underground and Nico
Anthology of American Folk Music (various artists)
What'd I Say by Ray Charles
"God Save the Queen" by Sex Pistols
The Magazine also published an issue in 2008 that celebrated the Beatles' 'The White Album', featuring a cover-mounted CD that included many cover versions of tracks from the album, including 'Blackbird' in Gaidhlig by Julie Fowlis.
Special editions
Many self-standing themed special editions of Mojo have been produced, devoting an entire magazine to one artist or genre. Three of the most successful were the series of magazines produced by editor Chris Hunt, telling the story of The Beatles - one thousand days at a time. Featuring contributions from many of the world's leading rock critics and Beatles experts, they were published between 2002 and 2003, before being collected together by then-Editor-in-Chief Paul Trynka and published as the book The Beatles: Ten Years That Shook The World (Dorling Kindersley, 2004). MOJO has also published four editions of "The MOJO Collection: The Greatest Albums Of All Time" (Canongate books) and a series of short, definitive biographies under the imprint MOJO Heroes, starting in 2002 with Neil Young: Reflections In Broken Glass, written by Sylvie Simmons, a longtime MOJO Contributing Editor.
NME Media Pack. Magazine reserch
Welcome to the Ignite Media Pack
NME.COM is Europe's biggest and most viewed music website. It has earned worldwide respect for its rock music news and features, which are updated around the clock. With 1.3 million unique users generating over 13 million page impressions nme.com is the U.K.'s premier music content website. It offers unparalleled access to an affluent young audience and a unique opportunity to communicate with them in an environment that they relate to and return to frequently - 63% visit the site weekly or more frequently*. The nme.com audience is made up of key demographic groups that can be difficult to target through other media: -
65% Male*
50% 16-24*
23% 25-34*
79% ABC1*
Our readers are passionate about music and as a result of their close relationship with the site content they are far more responsive to advertising. Whether they are more positively disposed towards brands that they see as supporting their favourite site or accessing advertising that they see as particularly relevant to them and their lifestyles they are 33% more likely than average to have taken action as a result of seeing an advertisement on the site*.
NME
The New Musical Express (better known as the NME) is a popular music magazine in the United Kingdom which has been published weekly since March 1952. It was the first British paper to include a singles chart which first appeared in the 14 November 1952 edition. The magazine's commercial heyday was during the 1970s when it became the best-selling British music magazine. During the period 1972 to 1976 it was particularly associated with Gonzo journalism, then became closely associated with Punk rock through the writing of Tony Parsons and Julie Burchill.
History
The paper's first issue was published on 7 March 1952 after the Musical Express and Accordion Weekly was bought by London music promoter Maurice Kinn, and relaunched as the New Musical Express. It was initially published in a non-glossy tabloid format on standard newsprint. On 14 November 1952, taking its cue from the U.S. magazine Billboard, it created the first UK Singles Chart. The first of these was, in contrast to more recent charts, a top twelve sourced by the magazine itself from sales in regional stores around the UK. The first number one was "Here In My Heart" by Al Martino.
1960s
During the 1960s the paper championed the new British groups emerging at the time. The Beatles and The Rolling Stones were frequently featured on the front cover. These and other artists also appeared at the NME Poll Winners Concert, an awards event that featured artists voted as most popular by the paper's readers. The concert also featured an awards ceremony where the poll winners would collect their awards. The NME Poll Winners Concerts took place between 1963 and 1966. They were filmed, edited and then transmitted on British television a few weeks after they had taken place.
The latter part of the 1960s saw the paper chart the rise of psychedelia and the continued dominance of British groups of the time. During this period some sections of pop music began to be designated as Rock. The paper became engaged in a sometimes tense rivalry with its fellow weekly music paper Melody Maker, however NME sales were healthy with the paper selling as many as 200,000 issues per week which made it one of the UK's biggest sellers.
1970s
By the early 1970s NME had lost ground to the Melody Maker as its coverage of music had failed to keep pace with the development of Rock music, particularly during the early years of Psychedelia and prog. In early 1972, with the paper on the verge of closure by its owners IPC (who had bought the paper from Kinn in 1963), Alan Smith was made editor and the paper's coverage changed radically from an uncritical and rather reverential showbiz-oriented paper to something intended to be smarter, hipper, more cynical and funnier than any mainstream British music paper had previously been (an approach influenced mainly by writers such as Tom Wolfe and Lester Bangs). In order to achieve this, Smith raided the underground press for its best writers, such as Charles Shaar Murray and Nick Kent, and recruited other writers such as Tony Tyler and Ian MacDonald. As a result of its incorporation of journalists from outside the music scene, in musicians' jargon it rapidly became known as "The Enemy" for its often scathing reviews.
By the time Smith handed the editor's chair to Nick Logan in mid-1973, the paper was selling nearly 300,000 copies per week and was outstripping its other weekly rivals, Melody Maker, Disc, Record Mirror and Sounds.
The year 1976 saw Punk arrive on what some people perceived to be a stagnant music scene and NME, like other "specialist" publications, was slow to cover this new phenomenon. In an attempt to boost sales, the paper advertised for a pair of "hip young gunslingers" to join their editorial staff. This resulted in the recruitment of Tony Parsons and Julie Burchill. The pair rapidly became champions of the Punk scene and created a new tone for the paper. Bands who a few months previously had been criticising the NME were now eager to be included. Around this time, one NME staffer, Chrissie Hynde, quit her day job to become a full-time punk rocker: after being an early member of The Damned, she eventually started her own band, The Pretenders.
Tony Parsons' time at NME is reflected in his 2005 novel Stories We Could Tell, about the misadventures of three young music paper journalists on the night of August 16, 1977, the night Elvis Presley died.
In 1978 Logan moved on, and his deputy Neil Spencer was made editor. One of his earliest tasks was to oversee a redesign of the paper by Barney Bubbles, which included the logo still used on the paper's masthead today (albeit in a modified form) - this made its first appearance towards the end of 1978. Spencer's time as editor also coincided with the emergence of Post-Punk acts such as Joy Division and Gang of Four. This development was reflected in the writing of Ian Penman and Paul Morley. Danny Baker, who began as an NME writer around this time, had a more straightforward and populist style.
The paper also became more openly political during the time of Punk. Its cover would sometimes feature youth-oriented issues rather than a musical act. The paper took an editorial stance against political parties like the National Front. The election of Margaret Thatcher in 1979 saw the paper take a broadly socialist stance for much of the following decade.
1980s
In 1981 the NME released the influential C81 cassette tape in conjunction with Rough Trade Records, available to readers by mail order at a low price. The tape featured a number of then up-and-coming bands, including Aztec Camera, Orange Juice, Linx and Scritti Politti, as well as a number of more established artists such as Robert Wyatt, Pere Ubu, Buzzcocks and Ian Dury. A second tape, C86, was released in 1986.
The NME responded to the Thatcher era by espousing Socialism through movements such as Red Wedge. In the week of the 1987 election the paper featured an interview with the leader of the Labour Party, Neil Kinnock, who appeared on the paper's cover. He had appeared on the cover once before, in April 1985.
Writers at this time included Mat Snow, Barney Hoskyns, Paolo Hewitt, Danny Kelly, Chris Bohn (known in his later years at the paper as Biba Kopf), Steven Wells and David Quantick.
However sales were dropping, and by 1985 NME had hit a rough patch and was in danger of closing. During this period (now under the editorship of Ian Pye, who replaced Neil Spencer in 1985), they were split between those who wanted to write about hip hop, a genre that was relatively new to the UK, and those who wanted to stick to rock music. Sales were apparently lower when photos of hip hop artists appeared on the front and this led to the paper suffering as the lack of direction became even more apparent to readers. A number of features entirely unrelated to music appeared on the cover in this era, including a piece by William Leith on computer crime and articles by Stuart Cosgrove on such subjects as the politics of sport and the presence of American troops in Britain, with Elvis Presley appearing on the cover not for musical reasons but as a political symbol.
The NME was generally thought to be rudderless at this time, with staff pulling simultaneously in a number of directions in what came to be known as the "hip-hop wars". It was hemorrhaging readers who were deserting NME in favour of Nick Logan's two creations The Face and Smash Hits. This was brought to a head when the paper was about to publish a poster of the cover of the Dead Kennedys' album Frankenchrist. The cover was a painting by H.R. Giger called Penis Landscape, then a subject of an obscenity lawsuit in the US. In the summer and autumn of 1987, three senior editorial staff were sacked, including Pye, media editor Stuart Cosgrove and art editor Joe Ewart. Alan Lewis was brought in to rescue the paper mirroring Alan Smith's revival a decade and a half before.
Some commented at this time that the NME had become less intellectual in its writing style and less inventive musically. Initially, NME writers themselves were ill at ease with the new regime, with most signing a letter of no confidence in Alan Lewis shortly after he took over. However, this new direction for the NME proved to be a commercial success and the paper brought in new writers such as Andrew Collins, Stuart Maconie and Steve Lamacq to give it a stronger identity and sense of direction, although Mark Sinker left in 1988 after the paper refused to publish a negative review he wrote of U2's Rattle and Hum. Initially many of the bands on the C86 tape were championed as well as the rise of Goth rock bands but new bands such as Happy Mondays and The Stone Roses were coming out of Manchester. One bright scene over these years was Acid House which spawned Madchester which helped give the paper a new lease of life. By the end of the decade, Danny Kelly had replaced Alan Lewis as editor.
The start of 1990 saw the paper in the thick of the Madchester scene, and covering the new British indie bands and shoegazers.
By the end of 1990, the Madchester scene was dying off, acid house was suffering from being the subject of a vigorous campaign to outlaw it by the John Major government, and NME had started to report on new bands coming from the US, mainly from Seattle. These bands would form a new movement called Grunge and by far the most popular bands were Nirvana and Pearl Jam. The NME took to Grunge very slowly ("Sounds" was the first British music paper to write about grunge with John Robb being the first person to interview Nirvana. Melody Maker was more enthusiastic early on, largely through the efforts of Everett True, who had previously written for NME under the name "The Legend!"). For the most part, NME only became interested in grunge after Nevermind became popular. Although it still supported new British bands, the paper was dominated by American bands, as was the music scene in general.
Although the period from 1991 to 1993 was dominated by American bands like Nirvana, this did not mean that British bands were being ignored. The NME still covered the Indie scene and was involved with a war of words with a new band called Manic Street Preachers who were criticising the NME for what they saw as an elitist view of bands they would champion. This came to a head in 1991 when during an interview with Steve Lamacq, Richey Edwards would confirm the band's position by carving "4real" into his arm with a razor blade.
By 1992, the Madchester scene had died and along with The Manics, some new British bands were beginning to appear. Suede were quickly hailed by the paper as an alternative to the heavy Grunge sound and hailed as the start of a new British music scene. Grunge however was still the dominant force, but the rise of new British bands would become something the paper would focus more and more upon.
In 1992, the NME also had a very public dispute with its former hero Morrissey due to allegations of him using racist lyrics and imagery. This erupted after a concert at Finsbury Park where Morrissey was seen to drape himself in a Union Flag. The series of articles which followed in the next edition of NME[2] soured Morrissey's relationship with the paper and this led to Morrissey not speaking to the paper again for over a decade. When Morrissey did eventually speak to the NME in 2003 he made it clear that he was content with speaking to the paper again as the three writers concerned had long since left.
Later in 1992, Steve Sutherland, previously assistant editor of Melody Maker, was brought in as the NME's editor to replace Danny Kelly. Andrew Collins, Stuart Maconie, Steve Lamacq and Mary Anne Hobbs all left the NME in protest, and moved to Select; Collins, Maconie and Lamacq would all also write for Q, while Lamacq would eventually join Melody Maker in 1997. Kelly, Collins, Maconie, Lamacq and Hobbs would all subsequently become prominent broadcasters with BBC Radio 1 as it reinvented itself under Matthew Bannister.
In April 1994 Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain was found dead, a story which affected not only his fans and readers of the NME, but would see a massive change in British music. Grunge was about to be replaced by Britpop[3], a new form of music influenced by British music of the 1960s and British culture. The phrase was coined by NME after the band Blur released their album Parklife in the same month of Cobain's death. Britpop began to fill the musical and cultural void left after Cobain's death, and Blur's success, along with the rise of a new group from Manchester called Oasis saw Britpop explode for the rest of 1994. By the end of the year Blur and Oasis were the two biggest bands in the UK and sales of the NME were increasing thanks to the Britpop effect. 1995 saw the NME cover many of these new bands and saw many of these bands play the NME Stage at that year's Glastonbury Festival where the paper had been sponsoring the second stage at the festival since 1993. This would be their last year sponsoring the stage, subsequently the stage would be known as the 'Other Stage'.
August 1995 saw Blur and Oasis plan to release singles on the same day in a mass of media publicity. Steve Sutherland leapt on this and stuck the story on the front page of the paper. This saw Sutherland come in for criticism for playing up the duel between the bands. Blur won the 'race' for the top of the charts, and the resulting fallout from the publicity led to the paper enjoying increased sales during the 1990s as Britpop became the dominant musical genre. After this peak the paper saw a slow decline as Britpop burned itself fairly rapidly out over the next few years. This left the paper directionless again, and attempts to embrace the rise of DJ culture in the late 1990s only led to the paper being criticised for not supporting rock or indie music. The paper did attempt to return to its highly politicized 1980s incarnation by running a front cover story in March 1998 condemning Tony Blair, who had previously associated himself with Britpop bands such as Oasis, and this received a certain level of attention in the wider media, but was generally not seen as coherent or well-argued.
Sutherland did attempt to cover newer bands but one cover feature on Godspeed You! Black Emperor in 1999 saw the paper dip to a sales low, and Sutherland later stated in his weekly editorial that he regretted putting them on the cover. For many this was seen as an affront to the principles of the paper and sales reached a low point at the turn of the millennium.
In 2000 Steve Sutherland left to become Brand Director of the NME, replaced as editor by 26 year-old Melody Maker writer Ben Knowles. The same year saw the closure of the Melody Maker (which officially merged with the NME) and many speculated the NME would be next as the weekly music magazine market was shrinking - the monthly magazine Select which had thrived especially during Britpop was closed down within a week of Melody Maker. In the early 2000s the NME also attempted somewhat to broaden its coverage again, running cover stories on hip-hop acts such as Jay-Z and Missy Elliott, electronic music pioneer Aphex Twin, Popstars winners Hear'say and R&B groups like Destiny's Child, but as in the 1980s these proved unpopular with much of the paper's readership, and were soon dropped.
In 2002 Conor McNicholas was appointed as editor. With a new wave of photographers including Dean Chalkley, Andrew Kendall, James Looker & Pieter Van Hattem and a high turnover of young writers, the paper slowly began to increase in sales. The NME reasserted its position as an influence in new music and helping to break bands including The Strokes, The Vines, The Libertines and The White Stripes alongside less successful bands such as The Von Bondies and The Cooper Temple Clause; this the paper heralded as "The New Rock Revolution". It focused on new British bands such as Franz Ferdinand, Bloc Party and the Kaiser Chiefs who emerged as "indie music" continued to grow in commercial success. Arctic Monkeys are the standard bearers in this crop of post-Libertines bands being both successfully championed by the NME and receiving widespread commercial and critical success.
From the issue of March 21, 1998 onwards, the paper has no longer been printed on newsprint, and more recently it has shifted to tabloid size: it has full, glossy, colour covers and has developed into more of a magazine format closer to the weekly teen-pop magazines it may be seen to have more in common with.
In May 2008 the magazine received a re-design, with the magazine being aimed at an older readership with a less poppy, more authoritative tone. The first issue of the re-design featured a free seven-inch Coldplay vinyl single.
NME.COM is Europe's biggest and most viewed music website. It has earned worldwide respect for its rock music news and features, which are updated around the clock. With 1.3 million unique users generating over 13 million page impressions nme.com is the U.K.'s premier music content website. It offers unparalleled access to an affluent young audience and a unique opportunity to communicate with them in an environment that they relate to and return to frequently - 63% visit the site weekly or more frequently*. The nme.com audience is made up of key demographic groups that can be difficult to target through other media: -
65% Male*
50% 16-24*
23% 25-34*
79% ABC1*
Our readers are passionate about music and as a result of their close relationship with the site content they are far more responsive to advertising. Whether they are more positively disposed towards brands that they see as supporting their favourite site or accessing advertising that they see as particularly relevant to them and their lifestyles they are 33% more likely than average to have taken action as a result of seeing an advertisement on the site*.
NME
The New Musical Express (better known as the NME) is a popular music magazine in the United Kingdom which has been published weekly since March 1952. It was the first British paper to include a singles chart which first appeared in the 14 November 1952 edition. The magazine's commercial heyday was during the 1970s when it became the best-selling British music magazine. During the period 1972 to 1976 it was particularly associated with Gonzo journalism, then became closely associated with Punk rock through the writing of Tony Parsons and Julie Burchill.
History
The paper's first issue was published on 7 March 1952 after the Musical Express and Accordion Weekly was bought by London music promoter Maurice Kinn, and relaunched as the New Musical Express. It was initially published in a non-glossy tabloid format on standard newsprint. On 14 November 1952, taking its cue from the U.S. magazine Billboard, it created the first UK Singles Chart. The first of these was, in contrast to more recent charts, a top twelve sourced by the magazine itself from sales in regional stores around the UK. The first number one was "Here In My Heart" by Al Martino.
1960s
During the 1960s the paper championed the new British groups emerging at the time. The Beatles and The Rolling Stones were frequently featured on the front cover. These and other artists also appeared at the NME Poll Winners Concert, an awards event that featured artists voted as most popular by the paper's readers. The concert also featured an awards ceremony where the poll winners would collect their awards. The NME Poll Winners Concerts took place between 1963 and 1966. They were filmed, edited and then transmitted on British television a few weeks after they had taken place.
The latter part of the 1960s saw the paper chart the rise of psychedelia and the continued dominance of British groups of the time. During this period some sections of pop music began to be designated as Rock. The paper became engaged in a sometimes tense rivalry with its fellow weekly music paper Melody Maker, however NME sales were healthy with the paper selling as many as 200,000 issues per week which made it one of the UK's biggest sellers.
1970s
By the early 1970s NME had lost ground to the Melody Maker as its coverage of music had failed to keep pace with the development of Rock music, particularly during the early years of Psychedelia and prog. In early 1972, with the paper on the verge of closure by its owners IPC (who had bought the paper from Kinn in 1963), Alan Smith was made editor and the paper's coverage changed radically from an uncritical and rather reverential showbiz-oriented paper to something intended to be smarter, hipper, more cynical and funnier than any mainstream British music paper had previously been (an approach influenced mainly by writers such as Tom Wolfe and Lester Bangs). In order to achieve this, Smith raided the underground press for its best writers, such as Charles Shaar Murray and Nick Kent, and recruited other writers such as Tony Tyler and Ian MacDonald. As a result of its incorporation of journalists from outside the music scene, in musicians' jargon it rapidly became known as "The Enemy" for its often scathing reviews.
By the time Smith handed the editor's chair to Nick Logan in mid-1973, the paper was selling nearly 300,000 copies per week and was outstripping its other weekly rivals, Melody Maker, Disc, Record Mirror and Sounds.
The year 1976 saw Punk arrive on what some people perceived to be a stagnant music scene and NME, like other "specialist" publications, was slow to cover this new phenomenon. In an attempt to boost sales, the paper advertised for a pair of "hip young gunslingers" to join their editorial staff. This resulted in the recruitment of Tony Parsons and Julie Burchill. The pair rapidly became champions of the Punk scene and created a new tone for the paper. Bands who a few months previously had been criticising the NME were now eager to be included. Around this time, one NME staffer, Chrissie Hynde, quit her day job to become a full-time punk rocker: after being an early member of The Damned, she eventually started her own band, The Pretenders.
Tony Parsons' time at NME is reflected in his 2005 novel Stories We Could Tell, about the misadventures of three young music paper journalists on the night of August 16, 1977, the night Elvis Presley died.
In 1978 Logan moved on, and his deputy Neil Spencer was made editor. One of his earliest tasks was to oversee a redesign of the paper by Barney Bubbles, which included the logo still used on the paper's masthead today (albeit in a modified form) - this made its first appearance towards the end of 1978. Spencer's time as editor also coincided with the emergence of Post-Punk acts such as Joy Division and Gang of Four. This development was reflected in the writing of Ian Penman and Paul Morley. Danny Baker, who began as an NME writer around this time, had a more straightforward and populist style.
The paper also became more openly political during the time of Punk. Its cover would sometimes feature youth-oriented issues rather than a musical act. The paper took an editorial stance against political parties like the National Front. The election of Margaret Thatcher in 1979 saw the paper take a broadly socialist stance for much of the following decade.
1980s
In 1981 the NME released the influential C81 cassette tape in conjunction with Rough Trade Records, available to readers by mail order at a low price. The tape featured a number of then up-and-coming bands, including Aztec Camera, Orange Juice, Linx and Scritti Politti, as well as a number of more established artists such as Robert Wyatt, Pere Ubu, Buzzcocks and Ian Dury. A second tape, C86, was released in 1986.
The NME responded to the Thatcher era by espousing Socialism through movements such as Red Wedge. In the week of the 1987 election the paper featured an interview with the leader of the Labour Party, Neil Kinnock, who appeared on the paper's cover. He had appeared on the cover once before, in April 1985.
Writers at this time included Mat Snow, Barney Hoskyns, Paolo Hewitt, Danny Kelly, Chris Bohn (known in his later years at the paper as Biba Kopf), Steven Wells and David Quantick.
However sales were dropping, and by 1985 NME had hit a rough patch and was in danger of closing. During this period (now under the editorship of Ian Pye, who replaced Neil Spencer in 1985), they were split between those who wanted to write about hip hop, a genre that was relatively new to the UK, and those who wanted to stick to rock music. Sales were apparently lower when photos of hip hop artists appeared on the front and this led to the paper suffering as the lack of direction became even more apparent to readers. A number of features entirely unrelated to music appeared on the cover in this era, including a piece by William Leith on computer crime and articles by Stuart Cosgrove on such subjects as the politics of sport and the presence of American troops in Britain, with Elvis Presley appearing on the cover not for musical reasons but as a political symbol.
The NME was generally thought to be rudderless at this time, with staff pulling simultaneously in a number of directions in what came to be known as the "hip-hop wars". It was hemorrhaging readers who were deserting NME in favour of Nick Logan's two creations The Face and Smash Hits. This was brought to a head when the paper was about to publish a poster of the cover of the Dead Kennedys' album Frankenchrist. The cover was a painting by H.R. Giger called Penis Landscape, then a subject of an obscenity lawsuit in the US. In the summer and autumn of 1987, three senior editorial staff were sacked, including Pye, media editor Stuart Cosgrove and art editor Joe Ewart. Alan Lewis was brought in to rescue the paper mirroring Alan Smith's revival a decade and a half before.
Some commented at this time that the NME had become less intellectual in its writing style and less inventive musically. Initially, NME writers themselves were ill at ease with the new regime, with most signing a letter of no confidence in Alan Lewis shortly after he took over. However, this new direction for the NME proved to be a commercial success and the paper brought in new writers such as Andrew Collins, Stuart Maconie and Steve Lamacq to give it a stronger identity and sense of direction, although Mark Sinker left in 1988 after the paper refused to publish a negative review he wrote of U2's Rattle and Hum. Initially many of the bands on the C86 tape were championed as well as the rise of Goth rock bands but new bands such as Happy Mondays and The Stone Roses were coming out of Manchester. One bright scene over these years was Acid House which spawned Madchester which helped give the paper a new lease of life. By the end of the decade, Danny Kelly had replaced Alan Lewis as editor.
The start of 1990 saw the paper in the thick of the Madchester scene, and covering the new British indie bands and shoegazers.
By the end of 1990, the Madchester scene was dying off, acid house was suffering from being the subject of a vigorous campaign to outlaw it by the John Major government, and NME had started to report on new bands coming from the US, mainly from Seattle. These bands would form a new movement called Grunge and by far the most popular bands were Nirvana and Pearl Jam. The NME took to Grunge very slowly ("Sounds" was the first British music paper to write about grunge with John Robb being the first person to interview Nirvana. Melody Maker was more enthusiastic early on, largely through the efforts of Everett True, who had previously written for NME under the name "The Legend!"). For the most part, NME only became interested in grunge after Nevermind became popular. Although it still supported new British bands, the paper was dominated by American bands, as was the music scene in general.
Although the period from 1991 to 1993 was dominated by American bands like Nirvana, this did not mean that British bands were being ignored. The NME still covered the Indie scene and was involved with a war of words with a new band called Manic Street Preachers who were criticising the NME for what they saw as an elitist view of bands they would champion. This came to a head in 1991 when during an interview with Steve Lamacq, Richey Edwards would confirm the band's position by carving "4real" into his arm with a razor blade.
By 1992, the Madchester scene had died and along with The Manics, some new British bands were beginning to appear. Suede were quickly hailed by the paper as an alternative to the heavy Grunge sound and hailed as the start of a new British music scene. Grunge however was still the dominant force, but the rise of new British bands would become something the paper would focus more and more upon.
In 1992, the NME also had a very public dispute with its former hero Morrissey due to allegations of him using racist lyrics and imagery. This erupted after a concert at Finsbury Park where Morrissey was seen to drape himself in a Union Flag. The series of articles which followed in the next edition of NME[2] soured Morrissey's relationship with the paper and this led to Morrissey not speaking to the paper again for over a decade. When Morrissey did eventually speak to the NME in 2003 he made it clear that he was content with speaking to the paper again as the three writers concerned had long since left.
Later in 1992, Steve Sutherland, previously assistant editor of Melody Maker, was brought in as the NME's editor to replace Danny Kelly. Andrew Collins, Stuart Maconie, Steve Lamacq and Mary Anne Hobbs all left the NME in protest, and moved to Select; Collins, Maconie and Lamacq would all also write for Q, while Lamacq would eventually join Melody Maker in 1997. Kelly, Collins, Maconie, Lamacq and Hobbs would all subsequently become prominent broadcasters with BBC Radio 1 as it reinvented itself under Matthew Bannister.
In April 1994 Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain was found dead, a story which affected not only his fans and readers of the NME, but would see a massive change in British music. Grunge was about to be replaced by Britpop[3], a new form of music influenced by British music of the 1960s and British culture. The phrase was coined by NME after the band Blur released their album Parklife in the same month of Cobain's death. Britpop began to fill the musical and cultural void left after Cobain's death, and Blur's success, along with the rise of a new group from Manchester called Oasis saw Britpop explode for the rest of 1994. By the end of the year Blur and Oasis were the two biggest bands in the UK and sales of the NME were increasing thanks to the Britpop effect. 1995 saw the NME cover many of these new bands and saw many of these bands play the NME Stage at that year's Glastonbury Festival where the paper had been sponsoring the second stage at the festival since 1993. This would be their last year sponsoring the stage, subsequently the stage would be known as the 'Other Stage'.
August 1995 saw Blur and Oasis plan to release singles on the same day in a mass of media publicity. Steve Sutherland leapt on this and stuck the story on the front page of the paper. This saw Sutherland come in for criticism for playing up the duel between the bands. Blur won the 'race' for the top of the charts, and the resulting fallout from the publicity led to the paper enjoying increased sales during the 1990s as Britpop became the dominant musical genre. After this peak the paper saw a slow decline as Britpop burned itself fairly rapidly out over the next few years. This left the paper directionless again, and attempts to embrace the rise of DJ culture in the late 1990s only led to the paper being criticised for not supporting rock or indie music. The paper did attempt to return to its highly politicized 1980s incarnation by running a front cover story in March 1998 condemning Tony Blair, who had previously associated himself with Britpop bands such as Oasis, and this received a certain level of attention in the wider media, but was generally not seen as coherent or well-argued.
Sutherland did attempt to cover newer bands but one cover feature on Godspeed You! Black Emperor in 1999 saw the paper dip to a sales low, and Sutherland later stated in his weekly editorial that he regretted putting them on the cover. For many this was seen as an affront to the principles of the paper and sales reached a low point at the turn of the millennium.
In 2000 Steve Sutherland left to become Brand Director of the NME, replaced as editor by 26 year-old Melody Maker writer Ben Knowles. The same year saw the closure of the Melody Maker (which officially merged with the NME) and many speculated the NME would be next as the weekly music magazine market was shrinking - the monthly magazine Select which had thrived especially during Britpop was closed down within a week of Melody Maker. In the early 2000s the NME also attempted somewhat to broaden its coverage again, running cover stories on hip-hop acts such as Jay-Z and Missy Elliott, electronic music pioneer Aphex Twin, Popstars winners Hear'say and R&B groups like Destiny's Child, but as in the 1980s these proved unpopular with much of the paper's readership, and were soon dropped.
In 2002 Conor McNicholas was appointed as editor. With a new wave of photographers including Dean Chalkley, Andrew Kendall, James Looker & Pieter Van Hattem and a high turnover of young writers, the paper slowly began to increase in sales. The NME reasserted its position as an influence in new music and helping to break bands including The Strokes, The Vines, The Libertines and The White Stripes alongside less successful bands such as The Von Bondies and The Cooper Temple Clause; this the paper heralded as "The New Rock Revolution". It focused on new British bands such as Franz Ferdinand, Bloc Party and the Kaiser Chiefs who emerged as "indie music" continued to grow in commercial success. Arctic Monkeys are the standard bearers in this crop of post-Libertines bands being both successfully championed by the NME and receiving widespread commercial and critical success.
From the issue of March 21, 1998 onwards, the paper has no longer been printed on newsprint, and more recently it has shifted to tabloid size: it has full, glossy, colour covers and has developed into more of a magazine format closer to the weekly teen-pop magazines it may be seen to have more in common with.
In May 2008 the magazine received a re-design, with the magazine being aimed at an older readership with a less poppy, more authoritative tone. The first issue of the re-design featured a free seven-inch Coldplay vinyl single.
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