Mojo Magazine: Classic Or Dud

well it's new to me! but yeah i guess we are late.

i don't really like the specials that much but i really enjoyed the article about them a lot.

Just reading "SKa'd for Life" Horace Panter's book, he the bassman of the specials.

Updated (2008) odds for the first hip-hop act to get a full Mojo front cover:

4-5 Beastie Boys (up from evens)
evens Public Enemy (down from 4-5)
3-1 Kanye West
4-1 Wu Tang Clan
5-1 Outkast (down from 7-4)
6-1 Eminem (down from 2-1)
8-1 Jay Z
20-1 50 Cent (down from 12-1)
25-1 Run DMC/LL Cool J (down from 20-1)
33-1 T-Pain/Li'l Wayne
40-1 Dizzee Rascal
50-1 bar

I fancy a punt on Jay-Z, especially if he pulls off Glastonbury.

probably won't be wu-tang because they just did a big feature on them recently that pretty much covered everything...

Yep, but they managed to prove to themselves that they can cover rap and do it interestingly.

Mojo hardly ever features new acts on the cover.

If Mojo ever put rap on the front it's gonna be "canonical" stuff like Public Enemy or De La or something. Maybe in five years time 36 Chambers will be some sort of fogey rock-crit classic, who knows?

I'm unloading about 23kg of Mojos from the mid-late 1990s. I'm going to dump them all on eBay, but if there's anyone here looking for fills drop me an email - I'd rather folks here got first dibs.

will swap 8lb 4oz of UNCUTs?

i've been trying to give away my deadweight of mojos for ages now.
free to anyone - collection basis only.
issue 45 onwards with one missing (richie edwards cover, ended up in river avon)

One thing I absolutely love Love LOVE about Mojo: The layout. You can read the whole thing cover-to-cover and not have to do any backtracking. They print each story IN FULL and don't start the next one til the previous one is finished - none of this infuriating "Continued on page 83" nonsense like you'll find in "Rolling Stone" or other inferior rags.

I don't know if this admirable approach is Mojo-specific, or if it's typical of other UK magazines (music or otherwise). Either way, it earns my approval. If only other magazines (newspapers even) could follow their example...

ha, i have the opposite experience. the only US mag i read with any regularity is Wired and the 'continued..' thing in that bugs me silly (especially when the continued piece is less than a full page or if the continued bit is itself continued)

(Wired has recently felt like it's 50% adverts. there used to be a lot but recently they've been more noticeable, probably because they switched to the right hand page of each spread. that and the bloody stiff pages they insert, normally for things like cigarettes made by native americans, stuff i couldn't buy even if i wanted to.) (offtopic!)

cigarettes made by native americans

LOL!

currently selling my mojo archive for a wallte busting 99p : (#45 > #195)
so had to clear them out of the attic.
quite interesting to see the gradual change in the magazines layout
also, it really drives home just how few women are given cover status.
out of the 150 issues, only 5 have been by women
guesses for the 4 that have been awarded this status most welcome (one woman was granted the priviledge twice)
may have to count up the total of beatles/related covers just to see ..

Kate Bush, Joni Mitchell, Aretha Franklin, Tiffany.

kate bush : correct #111, #145

Debbie Harry was a cover for an NYC punk package, wasn't she? And that was that bizarre Amy Winehouse cover story a couple of years ago ..

ithappens hits the spot :

debbie harry : #63
amy winehouse : #170

so, who's the last one ..

Mo Tucker?

Hang on: Yoko!

actually, thats a good point re yoko.

but dont recall seeing her gracing one amongst the pile i have

i could have sworn she did !

unless that the one that ended up in bristol harbour.

Janis?

That leaves Sandy Denny and Madonna.

ok, she is on a cover with john.

therefore not part of this gang (solo covers)

same goes for abba.

xpost : bravo - janis .. #79

which is pretty shocking i think.

i mean it was something i was aware of, but to see the stats so black and white it really drives it home.

also, out of 150 issues, 15 of them are beatles/related (more if including oasis .. )

Compare it to any other British music publication of the era you'd get an equivalent percentage I reckon.

"of the era" = back in the sixties?

The 60s were a lot less obnoxiously 60s-ish than the last 20 years.

true.

ok, shall we do black solo artists next ?

i suspect the list will be even more limited ..

Michael Jackson

Curtis
Jimi Hendrix

I might just be speaking for myself here but I reckon ILM is not short of "is the music press and its audience a bit racist?" threads.

Amazed there's not a Joni cover in there.

re rascist point.

i aint saying that at all.
especially for mojo given the artists covered over the years.
just the cover choices are always so predictable/limited.

re joni : agree.

was looking at this for the first time in forever at the newsstand the other day (ok, truth be told it was a borders, but that doesn't sound as romantic). anyhow there are some pretty good pieces in the current issue devoted to the heyday of elektra. they shoulda put a shirtless jac holzman on the cover instead of jim morrison, though

have to admit, i had a little emotional moment as the man who got my mojo magazine archive for 99p drove away into the sunset.

xpost I dunno, all the Borders' are gorn in the UK, so...

Has Mojo just stopped doing a cover mounted cd after like a decade and whatever.
Wasn't sure what to think when I saw a new edition with no cd on its front.
Monkees as cover stars.,
Oh yeah finally got the Album Classics set of solo Michael Nesmith cos i wanted to check my credit card was working on Tuesday morning thanks to the nonsense with 3 not topping up my phone

That used to blow my mind how magazines and sometimes newspapers in the UK had CD's in them. Especially felt that way the first time I ever visited the UK was around 2007 or 2008, when publishing was already collapsing in the U.S. I also noticed a LOT more people reading magazines and especially newspapers everywhere I went, so I guess that helps prop up the cost of doing so.

a few years ago i decided to call it quits re mojo (same stories, same bands, no longer relevant to what i listen to etc etc)
so, i went online and logged into my account place, and cancelled my sub.
for about 9 months after i was still getting it sent to me.
do like the whole subscribers covers thing though.
they are much better than the covers with all the text all over the place.
also, i do miss the monthly drop through the letterbox and the quick flick through to find the odd reviews for electronic music ...

I think Mojo are testing the waters with regard the free cd withdrawal.

There’s a note in the mag about it, production costs, etc. Think there’ll be one next month.

But. Didn’t do Flexipop any good!

right, I've just seen th ecover.
Maybe the format is getting less popular. A download code or some music platform playlist might substitute but doesn't work with th eway I listen to those things. Not sure if it would get the multiple plays these things do for me .

Something that still makes me chuckle from the cover of Viz "Free Prince CD for Eddie Reader! If you are Eddie Reader, don't hesitate to contact us today to claim your FREE Prince CD"

I remember when Mojo didn’t always have a CD!

I do too it's just a very long time ago. IK remember when they started being an occasional thing and normally seemed to be done quite well. Which might be why it became a standing thing

I thought the CD production costs were covered by the ludicrous amount magazines charge the artists/labels for inclusion, maybe not then

I have kept 2x MoJo CDs, both great compilations

https://www.discogs.com/release/2088114-The-Amorphous-Androgynous-A-Monstrous-Psychedelic-Bubble-Exploding-In-Your-Mind

https://www.discogs.com/release/782404-Various-Made-In-Britain

Yes, and also these ‘artist compiled’ jobs:

https://www.discogs.com/release/6137554-Various-Its-A-Wonderfull-Life-A-Journey-Into-Sound

https://www.discogs.com/release/2290694-Various-Step-Right-Up

Hmm, what to have as a closing track?

I still have a “Drugs in Music” one from nearly 20 years ago. It came in a plastic baggie. But for the last decade or so those CDs have been not of interest to me. All those “Current Indie Bands Play ‘Revolver’” are just landfill.

Yeah, you have to keep an eye on them for the occasional goodie.

This is my all-time favorite Mojo comp, an excellent addendum to the Nuggets box:
https://www.discogs.com/release/520015-Various-Instant-Garage-Music-Guide-Vol1