Q magazine closes...

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by mretrain, Jul 20, 2020.

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  1. mretrain

    mretrain Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    London
  2. Vern

    Vern Forum Resident

    Location:
    London
    I never bought the magazine but know it's been an established print music voice. Terribly sad. I hate what the pandemic did and does to the world.
     
  3. rediffusion

    rediffusion Forum Resident

    Sad news. It was amazing when Danny Kelly was the editor in the 90s.
     
  4. MikaelaArsenault

    MikaelaArsenault Forum Resident

    Location:
    New Hampshire
    That’s a shame to hear about.
     
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  5. Bobby Morrow

    Bobby Morrow Senior Member

    It was the best music magazine on the market when it launched in 1986. I still have many of those early issues. It’s been a shadow of its former self for years now, but I’m still sad to see it go. Copycat mags like Vox and Select lasted nowhere near as long.
     
  6. Thorpy

    Thorpy Forum Resident

    Location:
    Ripley, Surrey, UK
    100% agree Bobby - I have issues 1 to 50 here at home and the depth and quality of the writing is astounding looking back at them; obviously it was possible to focus on a release / artist to that degree in a pre-internet world, but I do feel that music reviews and articles suffered badly as they became less detailed and often just regurgitated press release info (i.e. without any opinions about the actual music!) For me it was The Word magazine closing that saw the end of that previous era in music journalism for good.
     
  7. coffeetime

    coffeetime Senior Member

    Location:
    Lancs, UK
    Bought the occasional issue up until 5 years ago or since, but haven’t bought since. The digital version of the magazine has been included as part of Apple News+ and I’ve flicked through it occasionally, but haven’t come across anything that would have persuaded me to buy it. Any new (to me) artists I’ve subsequently tried out as a result of reading have disappointed.

    I bought Floyd’s Later Years and Beatles Abbey Road SDEs last year. In the case of the former, I remember thinking that the accompanying/promotional David Gilmour interview podcast would’ve once upon a time been the source for several magazine features in an issue all but dedicated to the band/era/release. In the case of the latter, what would have been an exclusive magazine articulated & photos were in the set itself. Likewise with the McCartney Archive book essays. Between this forum, YouTube unboxing/reviews and other dedicated music news/reviews websites, the physical magazine for music has all but passed. The only one I make a point of reading now is BBC Music for classical stuff. And I read that digitally.

    All of which I think makes me part of the problem, not the solution.

    Condolences to those being made redundant though; outlets for paid for, quality writing are becoming fewer and further between, and that was before the current situation massively accelerated what was already becoming a trend.
     
  8. Squiggsy68

    Squiggsy68 Forum Resident

    I started reading it in 1989, but stopped in around 2005 - it wasn't doing it for me anymore but I'm still sorry to see it go. Though not as sorry as I was when The Word stopped - that had everything that was good about Q plus went a bit more in depth. I think it was the lack of diversity in Q that ultimately turned me off.

    Love Live Vinyl has gone as well - I have all 37 issues of its short lifespan. To be honest that was pretty glossy, but it did do things that other magazines didn't, big features on cover designers, tours of towns with a guide to their record shops etc.

    Leaves me with Record Collector (which I adore - it's had me reading about genres that I really didn't know anything about), Mojo and Uncut (which I'm hoping might hang on a bit longer given what I expect the demographic is, and the associated preference for print magazine).
     
  9. chrism1971

    chrism1971 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Glos, UK
    There was a period when REM were on every other cover.
    I have to admit I gave up on Q after the first 2-3 years. Others seemed to be more respectful of the music (and musicians).
     
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  10. JuanTCB

    JuanTCB Senior Member

    Location:
    Brooklyn, NY
    Picked up the Supergrass issue from earlier this year and couldn't believe how skimpy it was. Q's been a shadow of itself for years but it was so much fun in the '90s - part of my little American Britpop zietgeist, for sure. And the photo captions were always hilariously bitchy. I'll miss 'em.
     
  11. SuddenSam

    SuddenSam Forum Resident

    Location:
    Littleton, MA. USA
    I let my subscription lapse about six months ago, and am feeling some guilt over that today. Sad to think that the few remaining music mags could suffer the same fate. I look forward to Mojo and Uncut each month and worry that there will soon be fewer and fewer options to read well-written and informed stories/reviews.
     
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  12. Orthogonian Blues

    Orthogonian Blues A man with a fork in a world full of soup.

    Location:
    London, UK
    Q was quite good, I suppose, for introducing me to established acts that I didn't know much about when I was first exploring the world of rock and pop.

    I guess that it never managed to find a new place as the music and press industries became 'digital first'.

    And now with this pandemic, I can see magazine racks in shops becoming very thinly populated.

    The last mag I bought regularly was The Word, which I still miss.
     
  13. rs4951

    rs4951 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Ireland
    Have a lot of old issues in the garage but have not bought it in a long time. Like many, l loved it but it got thinner and stale - or maybe I just changed.
    Still sad to see it go, yet another thing from my younger life that will now be a memory rather than something I have the option reconnect with..even if that was unlikely.
     
    groundharp likes this.
  14. Orthogonian Blues

    Orthogonian Blues A man with a fork in a world full of soup.

    Location:
    London, UK
    There was a time when I spent a good chunk of my income on magazines - current affairs mags, music mags, gaming and tech mags, 'mens lifestyle' mags (which I only bought for the articles, of course!)

    Apart from the current affairs mags, all of the other titles I used to get regularly are now gone.
     
  15. Bobby Morrow

    Bobby Morrow Senior Member

    Q was helped massively by the growth of the CD market in the mid-80’s. Looking at the early issues, it’s interesting to see how many of the new releases weren’t available on CD initially. Just LP and cassette.

    I remember the first issue had a free booklet that reviewed a lot of earlier albums.

    And of course Paul McCartney was on the cover which must make it a collectors piece.

    :D
     
  16. BradOlson

    BradOlson Country/Christian Music Maven

  17. Ghost of Ziggy

    Ghost of Ziggy Forum Resident

    Location:
    Hell
    Sad, bought it for many years until the early 00’s, until they lost the plot.
     
  18. Jim Walker

    Jim Walker Senior Member

    Location:
    southeast porttown
    I have a few old issues mixed in with other mags I've saved. It was a worthy magazine in the
    early going as far as what interested me, and I carried on with it intermittently 'til the
    millennium. They made a good go of it... RIP Q Magazine.
     
    melstapler likes this.
  19. pghmusiclover

    pghmusiclover Senior Member

    I remember seeing the first issue in my local import store and picked it up because it looked so cool! I loved it for many years because the reviews included all sorts or releases, not just the new, hip releases! It turned me on to many great releases over the years and it helped me to know when to look for new releases by “import” favorites!

    I was a faithful reader (and purchaser) up until a few years ago...
     
  20. Timos

    Timos Forum resident

    Good.

    It used to be great, but in my eyes at least the magazine went downhill in the early 2000's very rapidly. The last issue I bought contained an in-depth interview with Britney Spears, an article on the merits of boy bands, and had started to do a small feature on how music stars were styling themselves. From around that time as well, it seemed that every other cover of the magazine promised yet another 'The Whatever-ist Albums Of All Time!' lists. Either that or the umpteenth sycophantic article on Radiohead or Muse.

    I realised this was far from the publication that formed a large part of my musical education from 1993 onwards, and bowed out. Don't get me wrong, through Q I got into Led Zeppelin, Neil Young and Steely Dan (among others) and I remember some of the reviews were beautifully written - but that was then.
     
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  21. Brother_Rael

    Brother_Rael Senior Member

    That's sad to hear - I remember buying the first issue, from John Menzies in Edinburgh's Princes Street, with Paul McCartney on the front cover. It used to be David Hepworth and Mark Ellen's baby before they went to The Word magazine (now a podcast). Haven't bought it in years as my tastes moved away from the magazine's.
     
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  22. Derek Slazenger

    Derek Slazenger Specs, rugs & rock n roll

  23. Devin

    Devin Time's Up

    Even though the mag had become a shadow of its former self this is sad news. Still have quite a few older issues on my shelf, mostly Oasis related. Rest in peace Q.
     
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  24. Exitmusic

    Exitmusic Forum Resident

    Location:
    Leicester U.K
    It used to be an enjoyable read but soon the covers were either Oasis,an anniversary of a particular album or a list,it is shame to see it go though and hopefully the writers get another job soon.
     
    Porkpie and coffeetime like this.
  25. BlueJay

    BlueJay Forum Resident

    There's still Mojo. But for how long I wonder.
     
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