Paul Gorman, the rise and fall of the music press and why we miss it

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Жыл бұрын

Paul Gorman’s school report (aged 12) pointed out that “if he knew biology as well as he knew the pages of the NME he’d pass his O level. But he doesn’t and he won’t.” His latest book ‘Totally Wired’ tells the (almost) 100-year story of the music press - in fact he shows us the first Melody Maker from 1926 - and this pod covers the waterfront from a time when a white-hot think-piece was “the role of the banjo in the modern dance orchestra” to the invention of the pop charts, the ascent of the teen magazines, the underground titles, the heyday of the NME and MM, fanzines, the birth of rock nostalgia and how Britpop was both the last hurrah and the death knell. Various key figures appear along the way - Jann Wenner, Gloria Stavers, Chrissie Hynde, Caroline Coon and Nick Logan among them, and lost titles like Sniffin’ Glue and Black Music - all in an era when we read about music before we heard it. The pop press made everything larger than life and propelled us in the direction of records and ideas we’d never have encountered without it. We miss those days and we count the reasons why.
Totally Wired …
www.google.com/search?client=...
@PJGorman
paulgormanis.com/
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Пікірлер: 51

@AFaceintheCrowd01 Жыл бұрын

Nice mention of the late Charlie Gillette, a prince of a guy whose early 70s radio show Honky Tonk at noon Sundays pointed me towards so much superb music - Bees Make Honey, Ducks Deluxe, Kokomo, Louis Jordan, Millie Jackson, Bobby Charles - in and out of the pubs.

@jimquinn5316 Жыл бұрын

This is a brilliant interview with Paul Gorman , I remember buying Melody Maker, Sounds , NME and Rolling Stone regularly , and waited with anticipation for each issue .

@mnbv990 Жыл бұрын

Same here Jim. I read, and reread long articles on bands that pre internet, you never had a hope of ever hearing.

@jazztheglass6139 Жыл бұрын

I remember The Face starting the decline of the music press. and let's be honest all the journalists were serious drug addicts with a allusions to a literary career, a few of them made it. other journalists used it as a stepping stone to the tabloids

@onsenkuma1979 Жыл бұрын

One short-lived UK publication I recall with some fondness is Select. I still have a couple of late '90s issues and the compilation CDs that came with them. For some time I liked Mojo, and these days I pick up issues of Electronic Sound, in part because I like the whole look and the tactile feel of the magazine...the graphic style and sensibility...the paper stock...the smell of printer's ink...the whole aesthetic. These things matter to you or they don't, but you can't get them from online publications...

@dirkbogarde44 Жыл бұрын

Vox was also pretty good, which came out around the same time.

@ecc84 Жыл бұрын

I wish Dave and Mark would get together and write a book about smash hits.

@Graphicxtras1 Жыл бұрын

Laughed at the bit about reading about the music and not actually hearing any of the songs / albums, remember doing that for ages and ages. Really enjoyable interview and just ordered the book. I've also spent many hours reading through those old music papers in the British Library reading rooms, some are definitely not in a great state and I would love to see a massive online archive of all those old zigzags / downbeat / NME / Melody etc.

@Fog99horn Жыл бұрын

Classic podcast. The music press was a massive part of my life in the 1980s and I can still remember the excitement of leafing through NME, Sounds, MM, etc. to find out who was going on tour, releasing a new record, etc. Maybe the news and reviews were the most interesting bits - interviews were just filler!

@gazriley624 Жыл бұрын

Trouser Press and Zig Zag were 2 of my faves

@markwatkins8309 Жыл бұрын

The much later versions of Rolling Stone with STAPLES - the thin outer pages / covers usually came loose! I like what Paul said though, Stone commercialised the 60s (or words to the effect). A spot on concise summary.

@jasonladd6400 Жыл бұрын

I was an avid reader of these weeklies from mid 80s into 90s. Definitely offered an escape from my bleak and depressing surrounds.

@karltrosclair688 Жыл бұрын

Haven't they just digitised every issue Creem Magazine??..I think it may be viewable by subscription only...Or did I just imagine that??

@timhall3575 Жыл бұрын

Really enjoyed this - thanks. Maybe it's the age old arguement that ones favourite era of the 'Music Press' was that period when you're maybe 16-20.. so.. for me the golden age is 1988-1992.. Melody Maker knocking it out the park...Sounds being informative (shutting just too early... if they'd hung on 6 months loners they'd have really ridden the wave of grunge) and the NME trading on it's past / missing the boat on a bunch of things... I would race to the paper shop every Wednesday AM and pick up all x 3 papers - stuff them in my backpack and race to school... where I'd pore over them.. to the detriment of my school work...

@dirkbogarde44 Жыл бұрын

I bought the NME around the same time.....every weds before work and take it to my building site. The only thing that brightened my day.

@benday1218 Жыл бұрын

I agree that there are many artists today who I listen to, who if they had the backing of the old weeklies would be significant acts if they had the froth about them. You have to do you own froth on social media these days, and not all musicians have that skill or even the desire to do that. I see bands and musicians today who if they had emerged in 1995, would have knocked Menswear into a cocked hat.

@martinhorsfield5042 Жыл бұрын

On David's comment about the likes of Altered Images being made by the inkies, I've often thought there is a whole school of bands out there who are currently pissing in the wind without NME, Melody Maker etc. Take Sports Team, who have a great, gobby frontman, strike cool poses, and would doubtless have entertaining exploits to read all about. They're exactly the kind of act that the weekly music press was made for. But without the joint dance of hyperbole between band and journalist, they'll really struggle to make themselves heard.

@dirkbogarde44 Жыл бұрын

Just before the demise of the weeklies, I went out with a girl in London, who was helping this guy promote an American garage band out of New York. They managed to get them exposure because of who they knew and a gig at Koko. It was a very weird, first-hand machination of how this stuff works, based mainly on who you knew. Needless to say, this group disappeared soon after.

@pauladams1915 Жыл бұрын

Dave and Mark certainly like the sound of their own voices.

@Bambloozled Жыл бұрын

Excellent stuff.

@jeztaylor6308 Жыл бұрын

Used to love Mr Agreeable and his 'reviews' in MM.

@silentlyunsteadycollecting Жыл бұрын

Ok...you convinced me. Order placed : )

@Larry-Art179 Жыл бұрын

fascinating

@waterboys3001 Жыл бұрын

In the early 1970s, my friends and I would go to the local newsagent and buy the latest copy of NME and MM. I went to university in 1975, aged 18. I loved Melody Maker. It introduced me to so much interesting music, particularly jazz. that I still listen to. My taste in music evolved and became more sophisticated with their help. The writers on MM knew their stuff. About 1978 the British music press was taken over by musical morons who knew nothing about music. They did not understand that certain music was just better. That Miles Davis was more important musically than The Damned. The press was taken over by nihilists who focused on how people dressed and their attitudes. My generation became disconnected from the music press. I have been living in the US since the 1980s and British punk never made any inroads. Rolling Stone never moved on from the 1960s, and it has always been musically clueless. it is also xenophobic, it has never really liked foreign bands. They despised Rush. Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, and AC/DC in the 1970s.

@thefreedweed Жыл бұрын

i bought that flexi yesterday in a charity shop for 50p/ its got a track by fanny on the other side / ive got the alice cooper and faces and rick wakeman and roger daltery / all from charity shops for pennys

@mikeysaint4368 Жыл бұрын

Without looking it up, I'm guessing that, in the UK at least, only Mojo is still a viable music magazine in print form. Its focus on Sixties, Seventies, Eighties and Nineties rock (and pop/rock) should appeal to a pretty sizeable demographic who grew up buying music papers and magazines. And because those people are aged 40 to 70-plus that ought to constitute a good few hundred thousand people who like printed media. It helps, too, that Mojo's articles are or were very well researched and written.

@dirkbogarde44 Жыл бұрын

I bought Mojo for many yrs from the beginning and was a subscriber.......eventually, I wasn't really reading it like I used to and considered it a waste of money. There are only so many articles you need or want to read about The Beatles or Led Zep.

@mikeysaint4368 Жыл бұрын

@@dirkbogarde44 Yes, I probably trailed off buying for similar reasons. I used to buy the special editions too, but when you've read tons of books on the Beatles, Zep, the Who, the Stones and Pink Floyd (et al) it's diminishing returns. I still like to have my collection of favourites editions, though, to flick through occasionally.

@martinfarnworth6659 Жыл бұрын

I used to buy Uncut. I got pretty tired of it as its become too reliant on what I'd call heritage or classic rock acts. I suppose they have to shift so many units but it's a sad state of affairs when new/current artists that may appeal are more niche nowadays. Also the reviews section only seems to consist of positive reviews. Just suggests the lack of objectivity or clout and fear of alienating a much diminished readership

@mikeysaint4368 Жыл бұрын

@@martinfarnworth6659 Unfortunately, it's been decided by most mainstream radio stations that rock is dead. It seems to be R&B, hip hop and soulless pop written by committee now. Radio is apparently aimed at people not really very interested in songs, but "beats" and so called "anthems" which all sound the same. Everyone discerning I know listens to oldies stations, which is presumably their best chance of hearing something decent. My workmates aged 25-40 all listen to music recorded when they weren't even born or were children.

@gazriley624 Жыл бұрын

i wrote for a few local Fanzines in the 80's shame the internet helped with the decline of zines

@jimcargill8492 Жыл бұрын

Mention made that 1M music papers were sold each week. Please bear in mind that the actual audience for these papers was only around seven of us buying every magazine. My fingers are still black after all these years.

@terrytickler Жыл бұрын

Cool

@davedogge2280 Жыл бұрын

Uncut uk magazine is still around and I believe that was around since the late 90s.

@philiphaigh8349 Жыл бұрын

First class 👍

@paulmichaelconnell495 Жыл бұрын

What happened to ME's interview with Dave Davies?

@Ben_Mdws Жыл бұрын

Hmm, do I read this book about the demise of the music press or Ted Kessler’s book about the demise of the music press. Think I’ll read Mojo, Uncut, The Wire and Electronic Sound instead.

@hugohugo2832 Жыл бұрын

What’s wrong with Foghat ffs?

@geofftayloruk Жыл бұрын

They used to be music-press shorthand for 1970s boogie naffness...

@apollomemories7399 Жыл бұрын

Does that even merit a question?

@61chickens Жыл бұрын

Dave Peverett was lonesome for a reason....

@hugohugo2832 Жыл бұрын

@@apollomemories7399 great band. Especially live. Try Looking In by Savoy Brown ( prior to name change) or Fool For the City

@hugohugo2832 Жыл бұрын

@@geofftayloruk great band

@claymor8241 Жыл бұрын

Dancing about architecture.

@spaceengineer1452 Жыл бұрын

NME is a joke, these days. Justin Bieber anyone ?

@dopesensi Жыл бұрын

Nothing more 2022 , than old white men saying the problem was "old white men" . Do you even know the percentage of the U.K. that was non natve at the time period you are talking about ?

@Dexter_2105 Жыл бұрын

I think we are going to have to look at The Beatles and The Rolling Stones as too white.

@candelise Жыл бұрын

@@Dexter_2105Fancy talking about 'too white' in a predominantly white country! Does one go on holiday to Mexico and remark on the large amount of Mexicans everywhere?

@candelise Жыл бұрын

@@genki2genki It is about influence and impact.