― Enrique (Enrique), Monday, 3 November 2003 14:28 (twenty years ago) link
For the better IMO, but that's another story ;)
― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Monday, 3 November 2003 14:30 (twenty years ago) link
Incidentally, I apologise to Uncut readers who might have watched John Cale on Later With Jools Holland on Friday night. The album really is much, much better than that. Why on earth come on and play the two worst tracks off the album?
― Marcello Carlin, Monday, 3 November 2003 14:31 (twenty years ago) link
― DJ Mencap (DJ Mencap), Monday, 3 November 2003 14:32 (twenty years ago) link
Q is a laggards music mag - it is slow on picking up new artists, it features high profile radio friendly rock bands, the front covers are boring.
Every year it holds a useless Awards event.
It exists as an Advertising medium for Major record companies to advertise to the casual 20something male. Before Mojo existed Q had a higher age profile - but these days this magazine is aimed squarely at 20something blokes that have music tastes that reflect playlisted Xfm or Virgin radio or MTV2 or Radio 1 Evening Session.
Each year it's album of the year choices are laughable.
My idea of a music magazine - is too inform me about music I am unaware of - Q is the opposite - there are NO surprises - it's predictable and lame - and therefore of interest.
It ignores much of the most creative contemporary music i.e cross reference with my blog.
― DJ Martian (djmartian), Monday, 3 November 2003 14:36 (twenty years ago) link
― DJ Martian (djmartian), Monday, 3 November 2003 14:37 (twenty years ago) link
― Marcello Carlin, Monday, 3 November 2003 14:38 (twenty years ago) link
― Jonathan (Jonathan), Monday, 3 November 2003 14:39 (twenty years ago) link
― Brian Bishop, Monday, 3 November 2003 14:40 (twenty years ago) link
Q bites because of the style it employs and the criteria it has for music.
― Enrique (Enrique), Monday, 3 November 2003 14:41 (twenty years ago) link
― Brian Bishop, Monday, 3 November 2003 14:41 (twenty years ago) link
― Ronan (Ronan), Monday, 3 November 2003 14:42 (twenty years ago) link
― DJ Martian (djmartian), Monday, 3 November 2003 14:43 (twenty years ago) link
― cis (cis), Monday, 3 November 2003 14:44 (twenty years ago) link
― lauren (laurenp), Monday, 3 November 2003 14:46 (twenty years ago) link
― Ronan (Ronan), Monday, 3 November 2003 14:50 (twenty years ago) link
When was the last time Q magazine - stuck their necks out and proclaimed look this a great new artist. No they are flaming laggards of the worst order - that reflect the status quo.
In the late 80s - MELODY MAKER - SET THEIR OWN AGENDA - they didn't wait for anyone else - they had GUTS, SELF CONVICTION, BELIEF, OPINIONS, ATTITUDES, IDEAS and IDEALS.
Q is the complete opposite !
― DJ Martian (djmartian), Monday, 3 November 2003 14:52 (twenty years ago) link
― Marcello Carlin, Monday, 3 November 2003 14:53 (twenty years ago) link
― DJ Martian (djmartian), Monday, 3 November 2003 14:54 (twenty years ago) link
― ilm (jdesouza), Monday, 3 November 2003 14:54 (twenty years ago) link
yes its obscurantism is getting a little wearing.
― jed (jed_e_3), Monday, 3 November 2003 14:55 (twenty years ago) link
― scott seward, Monday, 3 November 2003 14:55 (twenty years ago) link
Dude, you'd make a lovely editor but a poor businessman!!
― Enrique (Enrique), Monday, 3 November 2003 14:56 (twenty years ago) link
you want joyce, kafka and borges you do.
― Julio Desouza (jdesouza), Monday, 3 November 2003 14:57 (twenty years ago) link
― weasel diesel (K1l14n), Monday, 3 November 2003 15:00 (twenty years ago) link
― Marcello Carlin, Monday, 3 November 2003 15:06 (twenty years ago) link
And, for the record, I'd wager certain classical music is inarguably "timeless". And there's nothing wrong with that. There's nothing wrong with music being disposable, fleeting ephemera as well, but what's wrong with something exuding an ageless beauty?
― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Monday, 3 November 2003 15:13 (twenty years ago) link
― RJG (RJG), Monday, 3 November 2003 15:15 (twenty years ago) link
― lauren (laurenp), Monday, 3 November 2003 15:16 (twenty years ago) link
I disagree - there are more than enough people that are not being catered for by the teenager oriented rock tedium of the weekly NME and also don't want to wait a month for something to read [The Wire, Terrorizer, Jazzwise, Jockey Slut, Knowlege, Uncut etc]
If a publisher - launched a new diverse agenda setting fortnightly music magazine - in the UK - then i reckon sales of 50,000 - 75,000 - could be achieved within a year.
― DJ Martian (djmartian), Monday, 3 November 2003 15:16 (twenty years ago) link
Hmmm, perhaps that's another thread, in fact.
― CharlieNo4 (Charlie), Monday, 3 November 2003 15:17 (twenty years ago) link
Also ILM does like some magazines, Muzik was very popular until it went bust! (as I always say in these cases)
― Ronan (Ronan), Monday, 3 November 2003 15:18 (twenty years ago) link
― DJ Martian (djmartian), Monday, 3 November 2003 15:18 (twenty years ago) link
― Momus (Momus), Monday, 3 November 2003 15:19 (twenty years ago) link
Martian (and anyone else), what d'you know about Bullit? I know it used to be North-East only, and it's music and film-oriented (perhaps going for the Uncut market) but possibly a younger audience, and a fairly modest initial print run, but more details are extremely scant.
― CharlieNo4 (Charlie), Monday, 3 November 2003 15:20 (twenty years ago) link
― Marcello Carlin, Monday, 3 November 2003 15:22 (twenty years ago) link
i will save my venom for the "Why does everyone in the world hate all those awful american music magazines".
― scott seward, Monday, 3 November 2003 15:23 (twenty years ago) link
This is prob something suzy knows about better -- but the money in publishing (and obv it's not a fanzine and breaking even -- it has shareholders to please) comes from advertising. You might be right, though I gotta tell ya, I'm 23 and lame as fuck about new music -- and I'm more clued-up than most ppl I know, being ex-NME reader and all.
― Enrique (Enrique), Monday, 3 November 2003 15:24 (twenty years ago) link
― DJ Martian (djmartian), Monday, 3 November 2003 15:27 (twenty years ago) link
― Marcello Carlin, Monday, 3 November 2003 15:32 (twenty years ago) link
― Enrique (Enrique), Monday, 3 November 2003 15:36 (twenty years ago) link
no mercy for the pop music thingy ;)
if Q mag was so terrible it would have gone bust already.
― Julio Desouza (jdesouza), Monday, 3 November 2003 15:42 (twenty years ago) link
Well, the case I was resting was my assertion that people seem to hate it, and point that has been handily proved herein. I'm still waiting for a reasonable answer, though.
― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Monday, 3 November 2003 15:43 (twenty years ago) link
― Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 3 November 2003 15:43 (twenty years ago) link
It never was about 'breaking' new bands. I was told this categorically by the Q editor once while raving about Belle & Sebastian. He said that I was too much of a 'championer' to ever write for Q, which prefers to wait a while before writing about bands. Of course, this was before they missed the boat woefully on The Strokes - they're now only two months or so behind NME when it comnes to new music.
In recent months, however, Q has nosedived pitifully. Last month there were three advertorials for stuff like cars and razors. One even appeared smack in the middle of a feature about Muse (I know, it was probably a beter read). Together with its irrelevant awards show (how contrived was that?), and the blurbs for the TV channel, Q has lost the few shards of credibility it ever had.
It was for this reason that many editorial staff left to set up 'Word magazine which is an infinitely better read, albeit something of a 40-somethings fanzine. 'Mojo' also cnotinues to be a good read for those of us who like to metaphorically kick off their tight shoes and luxuriate in a 10-page Mitch Ryder retrospective (ie, me).
As far as breaking new bands is concerned: for coroporate, XFM-playlisted skinny indie types it's still NME all the way. For corpse-painted metal loons and hapless British emo chancers, there's always Kerrang! As ever, the truly interesting stuff exists on the margins and one can do worse than listening to John Peel to find it.
― Persecution Smith, Monday, 3 November 2003 15:50 (twenty years ago) link
When you're listening to it, how do you know it's timeless? The only sensible definition of 'timeless' I can think of is that people have always enjoyed it and you think they always will. How do you know?
― Tim (Tim), Monday, 3 November 2003 15:51 (twenty years ago) link
― jed (jed_e_3), Monday, 3 November 2003 15:53 (twenty years ago) link
Jesus! ALRIGHT, PEDANTS! Of course I don't know that it's definitively timeless, but the mere fact that people are still listening to stuff by Bach, Beethoven and the rest of those fat, long-haired Western Europeans centuries after they first scribbled down their tunes certainly lends creedence to the notion of the high quality of the music in question. It has legs. Its appeal has real longevity. Will people still be listening to, say, Wilco in two hundred years? I sort've doubt it, but ya never know.
― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Monday, 3 November 2003 15:57 (twenty years ago) link
My thoughts exactly. I wonder how Bullit'll differentiate itself? I'm hoping it'll be adventurous with its cover features at least; I mean, even Hot Hot Heat or The Rapture on the cover would be preferable to yet another Stripes/Strokes/Eminem/a n other already overexposed band.
― CharlieNo4 (Charlie), Monday, 3 November 2003 15:57 (twenty years ago) link
― jed (jed_e_3), Monday, 3 November 2003 15:57 (twenty years ago) link
The magazine in Darlimg Nikki was probably not Q.
― Wuhan!! Got You All in Check (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Wednesday, 20 May 2020 07:16 (three years ago) link
cover of the last issue answers the thread question nicely
― come out you melts and bams (Noodle Vague), Wednesday, 20 May 2020 08:23 (three years ago) link
begging to be polled. somehow.
― Hey, let me drunkenly animate yr boats in about 25 to 60 days! (Le Bateau Ivre), Wednesday, 20 May 2020 08:37 (three years ago) link
i like it when you tag crappy old pop stars with their first names only because they're our friends
― come out you melts and bams (Noodle Vague), Wednesday, 20 May 2020 08:48 (three years ago) link
I thought Q was good in the late 80s and early 90s. It once got the Trouser Press record Guide’s endorsement.
― Boring, Maryland, Wednesday, 20 May 2020 15:15 (three years ago) link
I wish Geeta still posted here
― an incoherent crustacean (MatthewK)
geeta's presence on this board was fleeting, ephemeral, something to enjoy one day and forget the next
― Kate (rushomancy), Wednesday, 20 May 2020 15:17 (three years ago) link
I have some bad news about @QMagazine. The issue that comes out on July 28 will be our last. The pandemic did for us and there was nothing more to it than that. I have attached our final cover and my editor’s letter for context.On the plus side, we’re all available for work. pic.twitter.com/rm8qOcUBtB— Ted Kessler (@TedKessler1) July 20, 2020
― Scampidocio (Le Bateau Ivre), Monday, 20 July 2020 13:52 (three years ago) link
I haven't read it in a few years, mostly because it seems to have nearly disappeared from shelves around here, but that was formative for me in the 1990s. Really sad news.
I'm guessing this is a direct result of advertising budgets getting slashed in the pandemic?
― soaring skrrrtpeggios (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Monday, 20 July 2020 15:16 (three years ago) link
The reader-submitted interview questions feature yielded some amazing results. Bobby Gillespie and Ian Brown’s were jaw-dropping
― beamish13, Monday, 20 July 2020 19:18 (three years ago) link
aw man, that's sad
― josh az (2011nostalgia), Monday, 20 July 2020 19:57 (three years ago) link
good riddance to this fucking pile o' shite.
― calzino, Monday, 20 July 2020 21:09 (three years ago) link
^ The genuine voice of the British
― Sonny Shamrock (Tom D.), Monday, 20 July 2020 21:12 (three years ago) link
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EdYHPSeWsAYRQSD?format=png&name=small
― calzino, Monday, 20 July 2020 21:14 (three years ago) link
aka Pyjama Boy and the Wifebeater
― Sonny Shamrock (Tom D.), Monday, 20 July 2020 21:15 (three years ago) link
what's wrong with being sexy?
― À la recherche du scamps perdu (Noodle Vague), Monday, 20 July 2020 21:15 (three years ago) link
The Beatles!
Plus! Paul Weller
― calzino, Monday, 20 July 2020 21:17 (three years ago) link
somewhere in Equatorial Guinea is a landfill site full of 80,000 tons of Q FREE CD!(s).
― calzino, Monday, 20 July 2020 21:22 (three years ago) link
Q has never been my thing but it doesn't seem a good thing that it is going.
― djh, Monday, 20 July 2020 21:27 (three years ago) link
why? will a dearth of Noel Gallagher magazine covers in W H Smiths bring a famine or something?
― calzino, Monday, 20 July 2020 21:33 (three years ago) link
Like I said, haven't read a single issue in years and, by 2010, it was so far away from what I'd look for, but at this point the death of almost any print publication dedicated to music is kind of a disappointment, esp considering the larger implications for other magazines.
― soaring skrrrtpeggios (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Monday, 20 July 2020 21:38 (three years ago) link
brit-pop industrial complex would have been supported by the state if you cunts had voted for Corbyn!
― calzino, Monday, 20 July 2020 21:40 (three years ago) link
Well, I don't generally believe people losing their jobs is a good thing - and there will be decent people losing their livelihoods.
For all the tedious Gallagher (or whoever) covers, I'd also guess that lots of other groups, who are easier to care about, will be affected by this.
― djh, Monday, 20 July 2020 22:48 (three years ago) link
it's always a good feeling when people you can't fucking stand lose their jobs, anyone who says different is lying!
― calzino, Monday, 20 July 2020 23:14 (three years ago) link
lol
― Sonny Shamrock (Tom D.), Monday, 20 July 2020 23:20 (three years ago) link
Dipped back into Q again during Ted Kessler's recent stint as editor and it had massively improved from the dark and increasingly vacuous days post-2000, seemed to be gearing itself back towards it's better years, even if it was sadly too late.
― PaulTMA, Monday, 20 July 2020 23:25 (three years ago) link
At my barber it is either this or a men's "health" magazine.
― Sam Weller, Tuesday, 21 July 2020 11:35 (three years ago) link
thank fuck for phones, Kindles, staring absently into the void
― À la recherche du scamps perdu (Noodle Vague), Tuesday, 21 July 2020 11:48 (three years ago) link
rip big man, heaven needed a magazine i assumed had stopped production at least a decade ago― a denim head and an aficionado of Japanese craftsmanship (bizarro gazzara), Monday, 18 May 2020 20:31 (two months ago) bookmarkflaglink
― a denim head and an aficionado of Japanese craftsmanship (bizarro gazzara), Monday, 18 May 2020 20:31 (two months ago) bookmarkflaglink
― scampo, foggy and clegg (bizarro gazzara), Tuesday, 21 July 2020 11:58 (three years ago) link
It was often great the last few years. Fascinating behind the scenes stuff here from Ted Kessler
https://www.qthemusic.com/articles/almost-famous-ted-kessler
― piscesx, Tuesday, 21 July 2020 13:58 (three years ago) link
Who do the ilxors seemingly hate Q Magazine?
― soaring skrrrtpeggios (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Tuesday, 21 July 2020 14:06 (three years ago) link
― À la recherche du scamps perdu (Noodle Vague)
being stared into absently by the void
― Kate (rushomancy), Tuesday, 21 July 2020 14:12 (three years ago) link
lol yeah that too
― À la recherche du scamps perdu (Noodle Vague), Tuesday, 21 July 2020 14:16 (three years ago) link
I'd agree with Ted Kessler that Andrew Harrison's appointment marked a significant uptick, after the grim listicle days. I settled into buying Q about 3 or 4 times a year to read on long train journeys, and the innards were always better than the covers suggested. Sylvia Patterson's stuff stood out, and having invented the "stars answer readers' questions" concept, they continued to execute it well. The reviews section was always the weakest section, though. Way too cautious. There's no accolade thinner than a four-star album review in Q.
― mike t-diva, Tuesday, 21 July 2020 18:33 (three years ago) link
They used to give pretty much every album three stars iirc
― Maresn3st, Tuesday, 21 July 2020 18:52 (three years ago) link
I have every q mag from sept 1989 to mid 2003 in a bookshelf; they are alongside every mojo from 1994 to the same end point. From an american viewpoint, or at least my own, from 1989 to 1995, the dad-rock-orientation seemed a million times better than that of Rolling Stone, and I aspired to write in that manner, although a lot less PG Wodehouse-ish. to me, it was a magazine that was simply concerned with the width and breadth of anglo and american popular music. Ear Xtacy in louisville Ky did not carry NME or the Melody Maker, and I probly would have not wanted to read it if it did. I have no doubt that this sounds clueless to english ILXors.
And so in 1995, around the time that Q (and every other english music magazine or newspaper) got in the tank for brit-pop, I worked for TimeOut NY for the first four years of its existence (Tony Elliott, TimeOut's founder/publisher, died this week; he was a great guy) and the tone that i had cultivated worked well there. And then in 2000-2001, after I was fired from TONY, my fondest hope would have been to work for an american version of Q. I got my wish: I worked for Blender, which was easily the worst experience of my life. Shortly after beginning to work there, I did not want to read Q any longer, seeing as the Blender EiC was a former Q editor, and having an entirely unpleasant working relationship with an individual who strongly disdained americans and touted the Q formula (and english writers in general) as an unassailable ideal utterly extinguished my former enthusiasm.
For a long time afterwards, during my time at that mag and after I was fired, I strongly disliked english people, as well as the Q formulas and the accompanying editorial tone. Once I got over that, I still was not going to start buying it again, particularly as they would go back to the well over and over again for Oasis, Blur and Radiohead, and could only muster a head of steam for the Strokes and other G/B/D acts that they felt their readership would understand… I guess that Kasabian cover above speaks to that… was Q all about landfill indie in the late 00s?
― veronica moser, Tuesday, 21 July 2020 20:36 (three years ago) link