One of the big things that has come up across our social channels when discussing music magazines around the latest season of the Drowned in Sound podcast is how important cover CDs and tapes have been to informing your tastes and even exposing you to entire genres you would love have heard before.
I can vividly remember having about 5 albums in my collection by a draw of magazine tapes from Select, Vox and NME, and then years later loads of Rock Sound cover CDs.
Not sure why, but one big tune that stuck with me was Spacehog’s In the Meantime, which I listened to on repeat. I also have a free DFA remixes compilation in my DJ bag at all times.
Obviously with streaming now dominating the covermount isn’t such a big thing any more but I don’t feel like the same magic of discovery comes from publication playlists. Am I wrong? I love curating DiS’
Anyway this thread was partly inspired by these posts in the Q thread which really struck me as a wider topic for discussion and celebration of covermounts
Can’t seem to find images of the cds themselves but rock sound ones with Mars Volta, Mogwai, Mountain Men Anonymous, Neurosis and others. And one with Opeth’s “Blackwater Park” but not sure if that was rock sound or not
Both on The NME in 1994. That one had some great bands on it. Always loved Banana Co. and Vaseline.
This one was on The NME in September 1994 and have fond memories of moving into Halls and starting uni whenever I hear Dinosaur Jr’s Feel The Pain
Heard both those tapes to death in 1994 and had a tape player where you could do a repeat/loop thing and so despite those tapes being fairly short I’d have them on for an hour at a time often.
I know this period was terrible for the NME in terms of sales, but it was genuinely mind-expanding for a few years, and this CD turned me on to so much good stuff.
I used to love the ones that had exclusive tracks particularly the select and nme ones. These introduced me to so many great bands too. One tape that quickly comes to mind was a brilliant journeys by dj one that was mixed by Jon carter I think that came with select. Amazing stuff.
That 2005 one is excellent - got me into The Cribs (my fav band of all time), my first gig was Be Your Own PET off the back of that, The Long Blondes and Lupen Crook had great demos around that time
I used to work in the magazine section of WHSmiths and used to pilfer the covermount CDs (and sweets and all sort of things) from magazines just before they were sent back. Ended up with loads from Rock Sound
I bought every issue of NME, Kerrang and Alternative Press so didnt need to steal those…
