On the latest edition of the Drowned in Sound podcast intersectional journalist Emma Garland touches upon the wonders of Plan B magazine. Which led me to discovering it’s all archived online
Rock Sound
Probs still going, idk. But it used to be incredible. Would have Reuben on the cover and tell you Botch were the best band ever. Their CDs changed my life
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Can’t remember the name. Think it was a5. Found oceansize and amplifier through it. Was kind of like the box tv channel.
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Channel Four teletext was excellent for its album reviews. The only place for up to date music news too before the internet.
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Sounds
SFX
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Was that maybe Circuit magazine that was 7inch size? The guys behind it ended up starting Bang!
Plan b
Used to bloody love that magazine. Just the best.
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Adored Careless Talk Costs Lives which preceded and Steve Gullick’s spin off Loose Lips Sink Ships. Really want to bring back DiS as magazines like these.
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Used to quite enjoy Rock a Roller too, although they really had a type which they enjoyed and promoted so it really just ended up being a pamphlet designed to convince you that low tuned guitars going CHUGGA CHUGGA and some dude howling about eldritch horrors was cool which I already knew anyway.
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Sounds
House of Dolls
Lime Lizard
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Sandman, which was a short-lived free magazine in the early 00s. It started off just covering the Sheffield music scene and then branched out to cover more of the north
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Early 90s NME and Melody Maker, Brit-pop era Select, and early 2000s shoulda woulda coulda BANG, gone too soon.
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Lime Lizard
Pre-1999 Q was good. I really liked Word as well, even if it wasn’t entirely music.
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I used to buy the NME, Sounds and Melody Maker from the mid 80s to the early 90s. I miss them from that era.
I think most of my favourite magazines outside of music are about a culture rather than a specific interest. I think magazines have been built around advertisers as much as readers they can market to. But I think skate mags were great for music coverage and I think it’s telling that various trainers and energy drinks became part of a culture that had magazines, rather than the way booze sort of tried to landgrab venues and headline space on festivals whilst becoming a monopoly on the warm foamy lager option.
Anyway lots and lots of thoughts but curious if other people have examples of magazines in other fields where they’re not just about a particular topic but it all feels part of the same world. And whether you’d rather magazines stuck in their lane…?
I discovered Select three issues before it folded. Those cover CDs gave me a lot. Was really quite upset at the time.
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Nuts. Basically curated my record collection…
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Same. Found so much music from those CDs. Some I still listen to to this day.
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Sounds, Lime Lizard, MRR.