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Heard today that the next issue of NME will be the last print copy - I guess that is the way with internet publications taking the place of the printed word.
But in my teens it was a sign of "right on coolness" to have a copy of either the NME, OZ or International Times somewhere in the house (I graduated to them from MAD magazine )

guydarryl wrote: ↑Wed Mar 07, 2018 9:28 pm ...in my teens it was a sign of "right on coolness" to have a copy of either the NME, OZ or International Times somewhere in the house (I graduated to them from MAD magazine )

That sounds very familiar, Guy. My Dad always called The NME "The Enemy". I used to get Melody Maker too, and Sounds, and then when I started working in London I discovered Pete Frame's Zig Zag magazine with his "Rock Family Trees" in.

I regarded NME as a joke. Much preferred Sounds and later Kerrang.

pisses me off all this physical gone for digital replacement.

In the late 70's early 80's I was a regular Sounds reader - the NME was too full of its' own importance.
Sounds was less interested in fashions, hype's and The Next Big Thing, focussing more on the music.

Digital editions are taking over from paper - nowadays I do most of my leisure-time reading on an e-reader, but that is mainly due to the illuminated screen and ability to adjust the print-size for my ageing eyes.
Also many of the old sci-fi books that I enjoy have been reissued digitally - where a paper edition would just not have been economically viable.

I started off reading Sounds and NME, then NME only once Gary Bushell's racist tendencies became obvious. At the time, along with John Peel, they were essential for finding out about (especially, independent) bands and gigs. Haven't read any music weeklies since the mid 90s.



Despite the slightly dodgy tag line, NME did more than most to promote female musicians...Slits, Raincoats, Girls At Our Best, Babes In Toyland, Sleater Kinney, Sugarcubes...to name a few that I got into.

For me, it was NME from about 1968-70, then Melody Maker plus Rolling Stone from about 1970-72, then NME, plus Creem from 1973-84, then I stopped buying music mags entirely unless they had a free CD on the cover. Sounds was always rubbish, with ink that came off on your fingers and free posters of Brian Connelly of Sweet fame.

A band I was a member of in 1998 ish got a bad review from NME after quite a big gig in London. I never read the bloody thing and certainly didn't change after that review. Unambitious rock is how we were described . Never take any notice of a review in NME, it is only one persons view and we are all different are we not.

edit; hooray 1000 posts for me

I think I have posted before about a bad review in NME being a badge of honour.

My mum was on front desk and switch board for NME in Long Acre. I still have review copies of albums from the 70s. Nick Kent hosted me at 14 I think with my younger brother for an all dayer at Alexandra Palace. A nice bloke.