The Life and (Uncertain) Times of British Music Publications
New Musical Express, the U.K. music weekly, has reportedly shuttered its print operations
An era in the world of British music journalism recently came to an end when it was reported that Britain’s venerable music weekly, New Musical Express (NME), was publishing its last-ever print edition after 66 years. In 2007, I wrote about the state of the British music publications from an American perspective as part of a class assignment for the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism. Here is an edited and updated version of that story, which has never been published and seems fitting now in light of these current events.
At first glance, the October 20, 2007, issue of New Musical Express, looks more a tabloid-ish teenybopper magazine than a music one. Featured on it are young male rock stars, an in-your-face headline, splashy typography, names of unfamiliar music acts, and Day-Glo-like graphics. Inside, NME (which the magazine is commonly referred to as) is filled with stories and reviews including a profile of Swedish female pop act Those Dancing Days; a review of Radiohead’s then-recent album In Rainbows; and a NME writer’s first-person account of what it’s like to work security at a rock show. In the readers’ letters section are photographs of fans with rock stars…
