RIP NME

[greenman]

To me that cover sums up the period just after Britpop when the indie music scene was so barren and dreary that Embrace had a career.

Again I think the period directly afterwards was actually very interesting, Ok Computer, 3 EP's, Mezzanine, Ladies and Gentlemen, Magical World of the Strands, Vanishing Point, etc.

Embrace represented an early warning of the potential for the likes of the NME(and the music business generally) desperately searching for a new Oasis(in popularity if not style), seemed like they did little else from the Strokes onwards.

[Dr Syntax Head]

I'd love to see an archive of the comedy pages in NME of the early 90s like Thrills and the like. I've looked but can't find any. There were some hilarious stuff.

I'd be a happy man if I could replace all the NME and Melody Makers I collected from 1990 to 1995 (I never missed an issue of each). I burnt them in a fire on top of a hill like a beacon of despair when Everett True slagged off Pearl Jam. I was young and self righteous ok.

[Serge]

Yeah, I wish I had kept hold of all of my NMEs/MMs (and smaller pile of Sounds) - I read it from the late '80s until about '96, though would then buy them sporadically for the next 2-3 years. I think I knocked it on the head as a regular thing when I moved to London - there were enough monthlies to keep me going by that point.

I did carry about one of the funny pages from NME in my wallet for a couple of years. There was a fake article saying that John McEntire had left Tortoise because he thought that Post-Rock was 'strictly for cunts', which I thought was one of the funniest things I'd ever seen.

[Ballad of Ballard Berkley]

When listening to the ace Chart Music podcast, it's amazing to think that the genial, rather softly spoken David Stubbs was responsible for the hilarious OTT invective of MM's Mr Agreeable column.

[Dr Syntax Head]

Mr Agreeable was brilliant. Cretinous useless negligible tosser.

[PaulTMA]

Thought it was completely without merit, bit like Stubbs himself but each to their own

[Better Midlands]

I worked in Our Price in 1989/90 and that was the only time I was really exposed to NME - I'm sure there was a lot of Manic Street Preachers, Sub Pop and Birdland.

[Ballad of Ballard Berkley]

Thought it was completely without merit, bit like Stubbs himself but each to their own

Fair enough, but the absurd yet often quite pointed fury of the Mr Agreeable column always made me laugh.

[Dr Syntax Head]

Yeah it made me laugh my head off, so...

This was the early 90s

I remember a running joke about Cass from Senseless Things that cracked me up. And that guy from Stereo Macs and his hand thing. 'Trying to fish his car keys out of a drain'.

[Danger Man]

Those were the days....

[Dr Syntax Head]

Free boobs on the cover and free boobs on the free internet

[bim sherman shirts]

Those were the days....

Actually enjoyed that post-Britpop/pre-Strokes phase of the NME. The new fangled web was threatening to steal their thunder so they had to do some proper work scrambling around for interesting stuff instead of inventing spurious scenes around their drinking pals in Camden. Though they still did that a bit too, of course.

Free CD with that issue was a belter. Campag Velocet's "Bon Chic Bon Genre", Stereolab, Public Enemy, Death In Vegas/Dot Allison's "Dirge" (before it got played to death), Royal Trux, LFO, Kevin Rowland, all sorts of goodies.

[Quote]

Their sales kept dwindling all through that period though, hence the change of direction towards 'the New Rock Revolution' and the follow on indie landfill era. The lack of anything major happening in Brit indieland did lead them to explore some more interesting avenues though, as well as attempting to hype some pretty dodgy groups (Terris, Gay Dad etc).

They had some good non-musical think pieces during that time too, about the disappointment of New Labour and the post-Oasis destruction of the (then) traditional generation gap, amongst others.

I think lots of old school NME writers felt rather guilty about the Britpop era and it's effects and tried to turn the clock back to the 'weirder' less commercial days, only the additional readers they'd accrued during Britpop largely didn't want to go with them.

[manticore]

I bought it religiously from 1978 to about 1982. In amongst the hype and promotional stuff it had some interesting discussions and reflections about groups like the Gang of Four, The Slits and The Fall. It was sometimes genuinely disrespectful of the music business, which I liked. It was the only place to read about the groups I heard on Peel.

Then it got bored and started talking about groups like Dollar and The Thompson Twins as if there was something interesting to say about them, and I stopped buying it except for the Christmas editions, then gave up on them as they really didn't seem to have the same sort of taste as me.

[Ferris]

I once got a 4 star review in NME, and had a night out at Koko at their expense. I took a lot of cheap speed, drank 8 pints, then fell asleep in the wings and was thrown out by a burly security man.

For this, I will always be eternally grateful to the magazine.

RIP.

[imitationleather]

That speed must have been absolute dogshite if you fell asleep the same night you took it.

If I were you I'd hold a massive grudge against the NME and be dancing a jig over their demise.

[Ferris]

Took it early in the night to get through a gig. Woke up after being thrown out, then went on a mad one around Swiss Cottage with some hangers on. Inadvertently stole a bass guitar distortion pedal, and used it for a couple of years after.

What I'm saying is - NME will be missed.

[Glebe]

I remember the thrill of going out for stroll with a mate or two on the dole back in the day, and picking up NME and Melody Maker in a newsagent and hoping there was an interview with Frank Black or summit.

[Jockice]

I used to like Portrait Of The Artist As A Consumer, in the early 80s, in which you would find out what the stars liked to eat, what deodorant they used etc.

Of course it soon ended up just as a list of what their favourite records were. Which was dull.

[Head Gardener]

I once got a 4 star review in NME

RIP.

did you have an album out?!

[SteveDave]

The final cover is a thing of beauty and will be pored over for weeks to come.

[phantom_power]

Not sure how but this sums up my dislike of 00s indie and the NME - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UzE9YvJpsSg

Ha! The best bit of that is Klaxons saying they deserved to win because they were forward-looking

[jobotic]

My copy of Spiderland has Albini's review in it, which I cut out of MM (I think). Pretty sure The Fall family tree thing I had on my wall 26 years ago was from the NME though.

So yeah, cheers,

[sweeper]

I can't believe this is news. Why does anyone care about a free magazine with adverts in it going out of print? Where this many tears shed when Loot went out of circulation?

[shiftwork2]

I will keep a look out for the final edition today.  That will be my first issue since the end of my 'Christmas / NY issue only' wind-down that happened in the late 90s.  RIP.

[Head Gardener]

I remembered this morning that my show was once featured in the NME, ah those heady pre-internet days of Cable Radio,
and I'm still on the same time tonight pop-pickers!

[ajsmith2]

I remembered this morning that my show was once featured in the NME, ah those heady pre-internet days of Cable Radio,
and I'm still on the same time tonight pop-pickers!

Have to admit. despite me not liking that era, that was a really good cover CD, the only one I remember really enjoying and opening me up to good new music the way these things are supposed to. The Quasi, Elliot Smith and Jurassic 5 tracks in particular. I remember spinning that a lot in college.

[ajsmith2]

I can't believe this is news. Why does anyone care about a free magazine with adverts in it going out of print? Where this many tears shed when Loot went out of circulation?

Cos of what it was, not what it is.

[ajsmith2]

I will keep a look out for the final edition today.  That will be my first issue since the end of my 'Christmas / NY issue only' wind-down that happened in the late 90s.  RIP.

I got it this morning. It's just a regular issue, with no mention of it's demise. The final page of content is a 'music of my life' bit with Moby. The end.

[jobotic]

I can't believe this is news. Why does anyone care about a free magazine with adverts in it going out of print? Where this many tears shed when Loot went out of circulation?

Thanks very much. You've just reminded me of the demise of Adscene. Now I'm in pieces again.