I was never a massive fan of the NME, preferring the broader coverage of Hot Press, but its demise is another milestone on the road to wherever guitar rock is going. I think my first introduction to McPhisto was in an NME review of the May 1993 gigs in the Netherlands.
Wasn't particularly a massive fan of the NME either, they hated much of the music, bands and artists I liked in my NME buying years of the late 80's and 90's.
But, yep, I still bought it, because together with Melody Maker and Sounds in the UK and of course Hot Press in Ireland, they were really the only way to get any current news and info on your favourite bands pre internet days I guess pre-1995/1996, other than word of mouth, even if those said artists and bands were constantly being ripped to shreds (by the NME, Sounds and Melody Maker at least).
They did cover U2 well, even if they mostly hated on them. I fondly remember buying the issue that had the 'Lights, Camera, Achtung!' coverage of the Zoo TV opener in Lakeland and reading it in my lunch break in my first job, and being so excited - gotta remember the internet as we know it hadn't arrived at this time - nobody really knew what was coming, it sounded wild. Nowadays, Bono sneezes and there is instantaneous global coverage of it, including multiple camera angles, and then in-depth commentary on such matters from every corner of the web. Wee exaggeration, but not a million miles from the truth.
Pre internet days, they were also the easiest way to get to see the band abroad too, as there were a number of advertisers who used the NME and the other weekly music rags to offer package trips (which were often a bit of a rip off to be honest, and contained ill-behaved drunks that you had to endure on long coach trips etc.), you'd get the travel, gig ticket, and hotel where appropriate all included in the price. Gotta remember pre-internet days it was difficult to research and pre-book hotels and source and secure overseas tickets. So thanks to the NME's existence, I got to see U2 in Cologne 1993, Dublin 1993, New Jersey 1997, Rotterdam 1997, Dublin 1997 as well as Simple Minds in Paris,
They used to have loads of cool free cassettes on the front with all kinds of stuff on them from all kinds of artists - samplers, compilations, demo's, sessions etc. I built up quite a collection of them but ended up binning them long ago.
End of an era I guess, but in all honesty, surprised it's survived this long in the print media format in this day and age.
Bono once sent Steven Swells an axe after an NME review. U2 never really got huge coverage from them, but like you say, ìt was a goldmine for reviews, setlists & tour dates before the web. They did cash in on a magazine-style special a few years back.
U2 got huge coverage from NME. They were on the cover five times during the Achtung Baby era and journalists from the magazine were on their private plane. Once Bono's reputation faded because of all the politics and the divide at NME began (along with its own reputation dissipating), they started to turn on U2. The journalists currently there all hate U2, all because the last few editors have driven it down a one-way street, which has led to its demise. It got boring, predictable and cruel – they made personal insults about The Darkness' family, for example. Its vendetta against individual artists was petulant at best.
I'm not surprised it went down the toilet. I've spoken to previous NME journalists before and one said last year he would never go back to the magazine because of its poisonous environment and lack of inherent music criticism. The writing has been poor since I started reading it nearly ten years ago, virtually deteriorated to the point of sheer banality and laziness.
It moved with the times in a strange way: becoming fond of One Direction and Ed Sheeran and other artists it would normally have condemned. They thought that was the way to attract readers, but they probably should have kept their integrity intact and ceased publication in the early Noughties in the same fashion as Melody Maker.
It had some great journalism in its heyday, it just got inconsistent, sloppy, mismanaged and misguided. It's a shame, because I'm all for music publications operating in print, but social media and the online world is shoving that out of the way. There's another reason, but not the primary one in NME's quietus. It has created a lack of jobs, which is bad for me as a journalism graduate. It spawned some great writers – Julie Burchall, Charles Shaar Murray, Nick Kent, et al.
I suppose I'll miss it in a way and it's shame, but it became a comical publication.
My main period for NME was 1977 to 1982.
At this time there were 4 main weekly music papers in the UK NME, Melody Maker, Record Mirror and Sounds. I started with RM then progressed to the NME.
Around 1980 I began to see some adverts for this with this fumny, strange name sounding band called 'U2'.
They seemed to be doing loads of gigs at tiny pub venues around London. I was curious. Who were they?
It was not unril late 1982 that I actually heard them and go into them properly in 1983 through War and NYD.
Had to wait till November 1984 to see them in Glasgow... What an amazing experience... and that set the scene for the next 34 years !
@KieranU2 That's as succinct a summing up as I have seen. I picked up the last copy outside HMV yesterday and can honestly say that there was better journalism, and far more relevant content in the latest Screw Fix manual.
Originally posted by Anam:@KieranU2 That's as succinct a summing up as I have seen. I picked up the last copy outside HMV yesterday and can honestly say that there was better journalism, and far more relevant content in the latest Screw Fix manual.
Lol yup, it really lost its way over the years didn't it? I'm really not sure how it's kept going since 2000 onwards. I was working in print media at that time myself and jumped ship roundabout then knowing the days were numbered.
NME lost touch with the ground mid 90's. I am surprised it lasted out as long as this. Same as HMV with it's over inflated prices. I would rather see that shop close than this musical newspaper fold though.