NOTE: The lovely journos from both NME and Rolling Stone did not reply to my e-mails about the bands and methods of writing featured in their respective magazines. If I hear back from any of them within the next few days, especially NME’s editor Conor McNicholas, I’ll make sure to add their comments within the body of the text. Thanks!

Should You Judge a Magazine by Its Cover?

A quick glance at the June 7, 2008 cover of NME (New Musical Express), the premier British rock weekly, published since the 1950s and widely regarded as one of the most vocal champions of new and breaking bands, reveals a look at the two young, stylish members of MGMT, a psychedelic, fun-loving American duo who just released their first album and are preparing for their upcoming tour of the annual British summer festivals. The tagline on the cover, a quote from one of the band members, reads, “Playing gigs naked is strange…but fun”.

On the other hand, the cover of the May 23, 2008 issue of Rolling Stone, the old guard of American music journalism, features the Eagles, one of the ‘70s biggest arena rock bands, famous for their 1976 album Hotel California, as well as for partaking in the worst of the 1970s music industry-related excesses. The band’s grizzled, well-past-middle-aged visages stare out at the reader, not so much imploring the reader to buy the magazine, but instead to take better care of their skin and cut back on his or her drinking. The tagline on this rag reads, “Bitter feud, big comeback”, inspired by the band’s recent resurgence in popularity following the release of a chart-topping new album. If it weren’t for the band’s weathered looks, this exact same cover wouldn’t have looked out of place ten or twenty years ago.

A lot of conclusions can be made between the covers of these two magazines, providing ample evidence of the startling differences between the American music press and its sarcastic, ne’er-do-well cousin, the British music press. Whereas the British weekly features a cutting edge new band that the mainstream may not yet be aware of on the cover, the American bi-weekly chooses to feature an old favorite, beloved by the middle-aged and their stoner children alike, rather than break any new ground or take a risk on an ‘edgy’ cover, lest they lose any readers in this already cut-throat magazine industry.

Does this mean anything in this day of blogs, downloads, and bands posting their thoughts and views on their own websites? Is Rolling Stone gearing their covers to older readers because they’re the only demographic still buying music magazines in steady numbers? The sales figures for both magazines are down dramatically over the past ten years, with magazines becoming outdated almost immediately because music news is now available 24/7 online?

Even though music magazines may be a dying art, true music fans (and aspiring nerdy music journalists) will continue to seek them out for in-depth coverage of today’s most relevant bands. The differences between the American music press, as personified by Rolling Stone, and the British music press, as personified by NME, are obvious to most music fans and worth noting.

Music Fans Speak Out

As the Internet exposes more music fans to press available outside of their local newsstands without forcing them to buy pricy import copies, it’s easier than ever to notice the fundamental differences between these two seemingly similar (both feature white, Anglo/American guitar rock bands, right?) yet noticeably different press forces, even in their online forms.

These two magazines are targeted toward the same audience, from music-loving teenagers to their still ‘hip’ or ‘with it’ parents. Though neither magazine wants to be pigeonholed by the type of music they report on, both tend to favor guitar-based rock/indie music.

Rolling Stone leans more toward the corporate, major label-based classic rock format with a few new bands thrown in for good measure – as seen on the example cover pictured above with the headlines about old standards R.E.M., Radiohead, and Coldplay. NME tries to be diverse, featuring bands that most would consider to be slightly left of center and independent (Black Lips, Mystery Jets, Foals), yet still featuring the big names that fans want to read about, like Metallica and the Killers.

Though critics everywhere tend to complain about how certain magazines hype up different new bands every week and then forget them within the month (NME) while others stick the old guard (Rolling Stone), do the fans notice any striking differences between the way music press on both sides of the Atlantic cover today’s most relevant music?

“British press is a lot more witty!” exclaims Camden, 19, an American student studying abroad in London for the term. “I was reading Rock Sound [a British magazine geared toward hard rock bands] about bands I’d never heard of and I was still giggling like mad. Even when they’re being serious, the interviews and reviews still have a sense of fun. Whereas US print tends read a lot more professionally, but not as entertaining, British music journalists always seem to have a lot more fun with what they do.”

Humor was mentioned more than once by the music fans interviewed from both sides of the Atlantic, as the British press is known for being much more sarcastic than its American counterpart. Sacred cows are few and far between in the British music press, with no artist or band safe from ridicule.

“I know little about the American press, but in general, the British press is sarcastic as hell,” says Rhian Galleozzie, 26, a health services worker and avid media consumer from Wales. “Tabloids, local newspapers, broadsheets, you name it. Let’s face it, we’re a pretty sarcastic people.”

“There is definitely a difference [between the two]!” explained Alia, 17, a music fan. “I think the UK press are much funnier, more likely to use slang, etc., and far more irreverent toward their subjects than the US, who seem as likely to fawn over Miley Cyrus (or what have you) as Patti Smith, with nary a tongue in cheek.”

Hype of the Century!

British music press, NME in particular, is well-known for hyping up the best new bands from the very beginnings of their career, after the release of an EP, a significant tour, or perhaps even before the band has even recorded a note.

Back in the early ‘90s, Melody Maker, the once sister paper of the NME, now since defunct, featured Suede, one of the bands that would come to define Britpop, on the cover of the magazine before the band had even released their first single, based on a few live shows alone. This sort of hype process has been repeated numerous times since, with varying results. For every White Stripes, there’s a Terris or Oceanside (Who? Exactly!) This build-up-to-break-down hype machine is all too prevalent among the UK media.

Whereas a few of the artists the British music papers have hyped from the start have gone on to have long-lasting, productive careers, like Coldplay and Amy Winehouse, countless others have fallen by the wayside, dumped into the bargain bin of music stardom.

By hyping up some new band as the ‘band to save your life’, ‘band of the century!’ or the band that will ‘release the great debut album since Oasis’ every other week, the British press can hope that their success rate at least ties or overshadows their failures. This may be due in part to the fact that the country is much smaller than the U.S., about the size of Connecticut, and easier for a band to tour, but new music seems to spread much faster, while it often takes the American press up to a few months to catch up with the music hype from the other side of the Atlantic.

“I still see ‘band of the century’, ‘band to save your life’-type comments in British press where US press is a lot more hesitant,” says Camden. “In the U.S., it’s more along the lines of ‘could this band save your life?’ or ‘the band that might rule the world.’”

Serious Journalism or Tawdry Gossip Rags?

Whereas NME will occasionally feature a politically-minded feature, like their recent campaign to Rock Against Racism, Rolling Stone is known for being as interested in featuring politics as it is in featuring music stories. This kind of serious, straight-to-the-point writing spans throughout the entire magazine, giving readers nothing but the facts with little embellishment or gossipy asides, except for the occasional news tidbit in the front of the magazine.

On the other hand, the British music press, like the UK press in general, is known for publishing glorified rumors, turning hearsay into front-page news. The saga of the current crop of British pop tarts – like Lily Allen and Amy Winehouse – is just the most recent example of the UK music press’ tendency to report on every little snippet of salacious gossip for readers’ pleasure or horror, as seen in NME’s Tabloid Hell feature.

“I can’t say I really follow the American music press very much (nor the British press really, ha) but from what I can tell, NME and the like here may be wittier but they tend to focus on really trivial, gossipy kind of things more than American magazines,” says Rose, 18, a British fan. “Also, American press tends to be a lot more directly back-looking when it comes to music, but then our press is just as bad by constantly hyping up generic indie bands.”

“One thing I’ve noticed is that British music journalism maybe focuses on the gossipy-type stories more than American music journalism,” says Lauren Roccia, 23, a production assistant at WXPN, a Philadelphia-based independent radio station. “Like recently, they [NME] posted in their Daily Gossip article a blurb about Lily Allen getting wasted at an awards show. I don’t know if a story like that would make it to Rolling Stone or Spin or whatever…you’d find it in US Weekly or something.”

However, some fans believe that the British press tends to be more in-depth and investigative than its American counterparts, putting much more research into its stories while maintaining its witty, sarcastic edge.

“I think British music journalism is much more researched and in-depth,” says Maria Schurr, 24, a graduate student at the New School and a frequent contributor to music fanzines. “For example, even in The Guardian or some other British newspaper or publication that doesn’t deal solely in music, the articles are way more insightful than something in, say, USA Today over here.”

Journalism is Journalism, Right?

Whereas both magazines may be legendary in their home countries, with both having illustrious histories from over 40 years in print, they’re both treated skeptically by the blogger media and press-weary consumers alike. It’s easy to be jaded while reading both magazines – Oh, NME has a new band to hype? What a surprise! Rolling Stone is doing another feature on Tom Petty and his ever-changing facial hair? Stop the presses!

However, maybe I’m just a traditionalist, but I think that reading both magazines, as well as numerous others from both countries, just provides a well-balanced music-related diet. I like reading Rolling Stone for its long, in-depth features, no matter how dry or humorless they may be (and also to see how bad the pop charts have gotten!), whereas I turn to NME for my weekly dose of snark and bonus pinups. They both have their own gifts to offer and should be appreciate for that.

What do you think? Should they both just give up the ghost and retire to the great periodical stand in the sky? Do you live by what the NME declares is cool to like this week? Or do I just think way too much about music magazines? Leave me a comment and let me know.

Sources

Idolator : for another in-depth look at the Eagles on Rolling Stone‘s cover
NME.com : the homepage of the famed British rock weekly
Rolling Stone : the online home of the American rock institution

I started this blog a long time (er, ten weeks) ago, for lack of a better topic to blog about in Online Journalism class. Though my posts haven’t always been “philosophical” or even “readable” most of the time, I had a good time posting a bunch of random crap and my favorite videos of the moment, and I hope that you, the readers (all…two of you?), had as much fun reading my entries as I did writing them.

In lieu of writing something monumental, just watch Patrick Wolf (if you’re like me, for the millionth time) and think of better things:

If you ever need to get in touch with me, to see what I’m up to or to badger me about something completely unrelated to music, my e-mail address is alissa dot harris at gmail dot com (ooh, can’t write it out normally or I’ll get a bunch of spam) and I’m on Facebook, like every other damn college kid.

Also, Brian Bell, I take back all of my “disgruntled hobo” jokes made in the last Weezer post, now that I’ve seen you can work the whole “homeless millionaire” look on video.

Twice a month or so, Stereogum takes a break from its usual programming (slamming records that haven’t even been released yet, constantly fanboying over Death Cab for Cutie, etc.) and runs perhaps the most brilliant feature on a blog today: The Old Stand. They find an old music magazine in a musty basement, dust it off, and post scans and commentary on the vintage articles for the readers’ enjoyment. Maybe it’s just because I’m a archivist-in-waiting, but I can’t help but squeal with glee when a new Old Stand is published. I have at least 2,000 old music magazines sitting around in my own musty basement (a good portion older than I am, but then again, I’ve always sworn I was born too late) and absolutely adore seeing readers’ responses to these little nostalgia nuggets.

If you’re up for a trip down memory lane – or even a first-time stroll in certain time periods, if you’re like me and born way past what you believe to be music’s heydey – make sure to read and savor these posts while you can.

(Source: Stereogum)

This brings us to the hot topic of the moment then: what’s shaping up to be the indisputable song of Summer 2008?

My personal choice for the song of the summer is Sam Sparro’s dark electro jam “Black and Gold”, a blue-eyed soul masterpiece from the openly gay British star-in-waiting. It’s not all sunshine and light, but then again, neither was “Umbrella”, and we all know what happened there.

Post your own suggestions for “hottest jam” in the comments!

(Source: Idolator)

Infamous boy band manager Lou Perlman, former manager of teen pop behemoths ‘N Sync and Backstreet Boys, has been sentenced to 25 years in prison for “four federal charges: two counts of conspiracy, and one each of money laundering and using false statements in a bankruptcy proceeding” However, the judge was willing to be lenient on Perlman if he’s able to pay up: for every $1 million Pearlman returns to investors, the judge will cut the sentence by one month.

We can finally cue up all of those “bye bye bye” to freedom jokes we’ve all been waiting for, yes!

(Source: City News Canada)

PS: Oh noes, the Red Hot Chili Peppers are disbanding for a year. Frat boys and fans of ‘mind-melting’ drum solos are crying into their herbal tea right now.

Much to the disappointment of mall punks and 13 year old Bop readers alike, Fall Out Boy bassist (and unlikely tabloid figure) Pete Wentz married “singer” Ashlee Simpson over the weekend. As much as I laugh at how ego-centric Wentz has become since hitting the big time (and let’s not even get started on his pioneering of ‘guy-liner’) and at how Ashlee’s career is pretty much beyond repair, I have to admit that I like them as a couple. They both look genuinely happy together, they look eerily similar in photos (I’d bet that Pete takes more time in the bathroom getting ready though!), and now there’s even a baby on the way!

I know I promised that this wouldn’t turn into one of those countless gossip blogs, but this is at least somewhat music-oriented, and let’s just say that – besides American Idol – it’s been a rather slow news week thus far.

(Source: MTV News)

I don’t even need to describe this video further, all you need to know is that (a) this is the best song off of ‘Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!!’, (b) Nick’s fly porno mustache is in full display and it goes nicely with ironic tourist t-shirts, and (c) it’s a goddamn Nick Cave video, therefore you should stop whatever the hell you’re doing and watch it.

Also, if you’re a cool kid, you’re already attending The Bad Seeds’ October 4th show at the WaMu Theatre at Madison Square Garden (I know I am!) as it’s sure to be a religious experience.

Yet whenever I put my iPod on shuffle, it always seems to find one of the three songs I have by the Vines, and I get to thinking: Whatever happened to the band? I know they had follow-up albums that absolutely bombed, but are they still a band? Do they still have fans? Well, it seems like the fine folks at the Guardian seemed to have been thinking about the exact same thing I did. This weekend, the paper published a piece called ‘Next Big Heroes to Nigh-On Zeros‘ charting the rise and fall of bands like the Vines, wondering if the incessant hype that greeted the band upon its inception played a part in their eventual downfall. It makes for interesting reading, even if you don’t follow the hype machine built up around bands. It’s also fun to try and predict what overhyped bands of today will be forgotten in five years’ time. My bets are on MGMT and Vampire Weekend!

(Source: Idolator)

Pictured above is a screencap from “Idhi Oka Idi Le”, a duet from classic Tollywood stars Radha and Chiranjeevi. I’ve seen a lot of so-bizarre-they’re-scary music videos in my time, but this takes eccentricity to a whole new level. I’m not a drug-taker, but while watching this, I feel like I’ve taken the worst possible acid and now I’m seeing mounted animals dance. Please, if you have four minutes to spare, watch this video and have your mind blown.

(Source: Coilhouse)