Music Magazines - Do You Keep Them?

I’ve been buying various music magazines (mainly Mojo, Uncut and Record Collector) for over 20 years. I don’t buy every issue of any of them, but often one of them has something of interest, so over the years i’ve built up quite a collection.

My problem now is that I don’t have enough room to store all of them in addition to the hundreds of Cd’s, dvd’s And books I own.

However, I don’t want to get rid of them. Often, there’s material i’ve never seen anywhere else (eg the October 1996 Mojo with interviews covering Beatles Anthology 3.

Do you keep music magazines? If so, where? Have you had issues with storage?

 

when my brother jeff was the editor for goldmine I kept all of the issues but when I was moving I weeded out about 50 to keep. I gave away the rest to a member here who came and picked them up.

 

I used to but realized I'd never revisit most of them. I bring my old Mojo and Downbeat mags to the free table at the public library.

 

I’ve got more than I should have.

The first (probably) hundred issues of Q... Quite a lot of 70s and 80s Record Mirrors and Smash Hits... ‘Favourite’ issues of other music mags I’ve accumulated over the decades. I used to have a lot of movie magazines like Total Film and Empire too, but have whittled them down.

Have stopped buying them mostly now. Partly space issues. Partly the cost of them. I was looking at an Uncut special on Fleetwood Mac last week that went for £10.99! I can get hardback books for less.

 

I haven't bought music magazines (or any other magazines) in 20 years. I had boxes of them, when I moved I threw out almost all of them. Most of what is left is 1980s and 1990s Living Blues, I still have too many and I have to weed through them and narrow down to a small pile. In the internet age I have found magazines to be completely disposable and not worth purchasing or saving. Images usually readily available, articles and reviews outdated and often easy to find online.

 

I’m now buying the digital versions of Mojo and Uncut, I still get to read the articles and don’t have to worry about shelf space or clutter since the magazines can be stored on the apps’ cloud and are easily accessible. Only buy the actual magazine if it looks like it’s worth having the physical copy, i.e., last years’ Sgt. Pepper Mojo issue.

 

In the 90s and up to the mid-2000s, I bought Mojo and Record Collector. Still have those Mojos- I reread them once in a while- but I got rid of the RCs when I moved last time. I wasn’t on this forum yet or I’d have given them to someone here!

 

Like on that tv show Horders?

 

Yes, any thing prior to the 90s, rarely thereafter, in fact rarely even buy any magazines nowadays, books , yes.

 

I have maybe a half dozen older music magazines, which have articles of lasting interest for me, and somewhere I have an old ZigZag from 1974, which I bought at Reading Festival - that one's definitely a keeper. I regularly buy Ugly Things and Shindig!, and both of them I keep, and will keep them for as long as I can, because they're always worth re-reading from time to time. Wouldn't keep a magazine if I didn't think I'd want to re-read it some time in the future.

 

As with music media, these things pile up. I have choice copies of magazines with my heroes in it. I had a 1976 Creem with Dylan on the cover. Pretty sure it was accidentally tossed in the recycle bin.

Best thing to do is box them up and tape the box shut. Then come to terms with how bad you want to keep the boxes.

 

I have quite a few of the first 200 (or so) Mojos and it's ridiculous how much thicker/heavier the paper and the magazine was compared to the current issues.

 

When I moved about 4 years ago I “divested” myself of all my old periodicals.

I sort of had to, my wife took advantage of the moving stress and my moment of weakness.

I must say I haven’t missed them.

 

Yes. Thousands. My wife reminds me regularly. I started in the early 60s and didn't taper off for 30+ years. I have complete or near complete runs of dozens of music magazines (including guitar and recording mags). Reasonably well organized, I've started the process of finding a new home for some of them. Most are like new........

 

They’re all in plastic boxes in my garage. I never read them but I can’t bear the thought of throwing them away.

 

I've only kept the Uncut Music Guides and similar magazines. I just don't have the space to keep everything.

 

To combat the problem, I resorted to cutting out the pages of articles/interviews/reviews that interested me, then I clamped them together with those stiff plastic spines. Worked a treat. I created many super-best-of magazines and reduced the storage volume enormously. The thing is, once they were all nicely bound and filed away, I never went back and read any of them.

 

I got given a pile of NMEs from around 1975 - 77 but they were tatty. I cut out the articles I wanted and placed them inside the album from the time of the article, along with the adverts for the LP. They are nice extras, but like you I've never gone back to them!

 

I am currently in the same position. I have decided to no longer buy monthly music mags - just the Ultimate Music guide issues of particular artists.

I have boxes full of almost every Q issue from 2000 - 2017 (plus some assorted MOJOs and NMEs) that anyone is free to pick up (for free) from my house! Can't bear to toss them in the garbage.

 

Yes but I thinned them down to articles of interest

 

Yes... it's getting ridiculous.
TOO many Beatles, Dylan, King Crimson, and other assorted.
Going back to the 60's .. RS, Mojo, Uncut, Life, Look, etc.

 

Fast forward in 50 years’ time...

In the “Things You Found Inside An LP Jacket” thread, someone will post:
“I bought a bunch of 70’s albums and discovered neatly trimmed NME articles slipped inside, along with the adverts for the LP!”

Then, maybe:
“I didn’t bother reading nor keeping them, they were so yellowed, so I just tossed those scraps away!”

More likely:
“I thought it was so amazing (and quaint) that someone treasured and enjoyed this long-ago forgotten and unnecessary physical media, that they even took an enormous amount of time to physically cut and match ancient printed material (now outlawed due to the exorbitant cost and value of Wood paper pulp stock)!

I guess that old saying is so true...
‘There was nothing to do in the early 21st Century’ !!!

Since so many flat plastic records were damaged in The Iceberg Floods, a local museum has expressed interest in this unique collection! “

 

I binned most of mine a few years back when I moved. Was like chucking old friends in a skip.

I’d strongly recommend Readly for U.K. readers. Mojo, Uncut, Q, Prog, Classic Rock and more all on there...

 

I used to. Sold quite a few to a record store and recycled most of the rest.

 

Yep. I have tons of Mojos and Uncuts in my attic