down with nme
One of the highlights of my working week has become the arrival of each issue of the NME. In the ’90s, for a Yank like me NME was a ridiculous fetish object, the Rosetta Stone for all that was glorious about Brit-pop (I was a big Brit-pop fan), the arbiter of what mattered today and what would matter tomorrow. Today of course, as has been well documented, the NME is a punchline to a joke that no one even seems to care about anymore. Its relevance has never been lower, and rumors abound about its demise.
But who cares when each NME is the funniest five-minute read I get all week? The hyperbole, the exaggerations, the batshit opinions: all of it is amazing. For someone who is well up on what’s happening musically in NYC, for instance, it’s always such a treat to read one of NME’s profiles of NYC bands: breathless exaltations about them being the hottest thing in NYC, “their shows impossible to get into, always held in illegal lofts where you have to have taken yoga with Karen O to even have a chance of getting in,” stuff along those lines when, in reality, no one here cares about them, and they play at Union Pool or the Cake Shop or any number of other totally normal music venues and often they are terrible. (Telepathe, easily the worst band in NYC, fits this bill so perfectly. The NME — and, increasingly, the US press — is constantly raving about them (they do have one good song) when they are, without question, one of the worst live band’s I have ever seen. Seriously, they are a constant namecheck for a laugh among folks I know.)
It literally takes about five minutes to get through an entire issue. Look at pictures, scan for bands that sound mildly interesting, laugh at the ridiculousness and you’re done. I do have to give some credit, though, for a few discoveries. This week, for instance, Glasvegas mentioned the very-good Thomas Tantrum record that Joe is now hooked on, and tomorrow’s 17 Dots show on East Village Radio opens with a song by a San Francisco band who I found in an NME issue.
Anyway, I guess there’s not much of a point to this, and I’m sure that you Brits will have an entirely different reaction to everything I’ve said here (and I’m eager to hear it!). For now, I’m just killing time until the inevitable Pains of Being Pure at Heart feature, half of which Alex and I have already written in IM. (”At an underground milk bar on a gated street in Williamsburg where the Strokes play Ladyhawke covers sits the feyest band in all of New York City…” And it goes on from there.)
While at Uni in Adelaide, South Australia in the late 80s I discovered the NME and it became somewhat of a music bible and crystal ball. In my mind it seemed more switched on and for “music” and “art” rather than “the industry”. The biggest thing I have to thank the NME for is Fugazi. A review of their first EP was so amazing I had to hear it.
I gave up on reading it a few years later, it seemed to revolve around haircuts.
Yancey: “when, in reality, no one here cares about them” A.R.E. Weapons come to mind.
Funnily enough, I really like ARE Weapons! But agreed.
Admittedly, Telepathe are kind of shit live, but if you actually listen to their recorded stuff, it’s pretty damn good. It’s just a shame they aren’t better live.
I’m a Brit who grew up on a diet of NME and Melody Maker and used to scrutinise each issue for up and coming bands. This was in the late 80s, early 90s, pre-Brit Pop era. These magazines were my bibles alongside the Teletext music reviews on indie/alternative day, The Chart Show on the weeks when it was the indie chart and my local independent record store.
I have to say that I agree with this article pretty much; NME has gone to the dogs. If you want to find out about decent, non-commerical music this isn’t the place to go. To be honest I’m not sure what things are like Stateside but in the UK there really aren’t many decent indie mags anymore. There’s Clash magazine, which I read quite a bit but there’s too much fashion in there for my liking. Nowadays I find out about new bands through Hype Machine blogs and eMusic.
I guess I’m no longer the target market for NME though, being in my 30s so maybe it’s just me but I don’t think so.
Stateside I used to love Spin from say 92-99. I discovered so many great things in Spin, but definitely not so much anymore. Like Gekko I’ve never been sure if it changed or I outgrew it; probably some of each, but there was a very noticeable shift when Bob Guccione Jr. left as editor.
The only music magazine that I love now is The Wire, but it’s prohibitively expensive here so I usually only get the year end episode, and browse through everytime I’m in a bookstore.
I recently subsrcibed to Fader and it’s pretty good; lots of variety, and I like that they give you hip-hop/reggae and indie stuff. The last one had a great article/intierview with High Places.
Other than that I have my three blog/websites: 17dots, Pitchfork and Tiny Mix Tapes.
Adamm you are totally right in mentioning Fader. I find out about so much new music from the magazine and the blog. They are so on top of stuff it’s funny sometimes; they did a huge feature on a NYC band called Amazing Baby (they are so-so) recently after their second or third show. Ever. So yeah, take those things with a grain of salt, but they get it right more often than most.
Here’s the honest truth for me: I hate reading about music. I find so much of it exhausting, and having little relation to what I like about music or music itself. Instead I rely on friends, going to shows and my own ears, primarily. Certainly I check Fader and Pitchfork and NME, but by and large I try to figure out stuff for myself as best I can. I realize I am fortunate in that my job kind of entails that, but it really is hard to find outlets/opinions you can trust.
See, I love reading about music, if the writing is good, although I generally enjoy a story much more than a review. I love the period of time between when I read about something and actually hear it, because in that period of time I imagine it and hear it in my head.
I also don’t have your job or live in [insert big city with cool music scene] so reading and imagining is often the best I can get.
My mind immediately jumps to Scroobius Pip vs Dan le Sac’s “Thou Shalt Always Kill” (which showed up on Emu a few weeks back) in which he decrees: “Thou shalt not read NME” moments before saying “Thou shalt not stop liking a band just because they have become popular.” (He kinda nails me there.)
i’m actually not 100% dissing nme though! i kinda meant the title of this post to be “i’m down with the nme,” too. i sympathize at least: trying to manufacture shit that will matter to people is not easy.
if yr after an emusic friendly uk mag then go for Plan B, it’s a perfect fit staffed mainly by the guys who used to write for NME & Melody Maker when they were decent
The guys in the US office get Plan B sent over Andy – they’re very good at staying on top of things. A couple of Plan B-ers write for eMu too – and I contribute to Plan B very infrequently.