Forgotten music magazines (UK, mid 80s)

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Last night I remembered the Hit, issue 1, summer(?) 1985. Paul Weller on cover, free 7 inch ep feturing Taste of Cindy by JAMC (before Psychocandy released, so a big deal for me at the time). Can't recall anything else. Was there an issue 2?

Also Underground: catering for the post-C86 indie fan, free tapes etc. How long did it last?

― bham, Wednesday, 31 August 2005 11:57 (twenty years ago)

With the Redskins and Simply red. All bands I liked at the time, but I wore out the J&MC track...

(Simply Red were slightly out of kilter beefheartian soul merchants at the time disclaimer disclaimer)

― mark grout (mark grout), Wednesday, 31 August 2005 12:00 (twenty years ago)

I think I've got that free 7" at home somewhere. Wasn't the Style Council's 'Walls Come Tumbling Down' on it?

― Onimo (GerryNemo), Wednesday, 31 August 2005 12:30 (twenty years ago)

Underground had some good freebies, i remember a 4AD/Mute tape that i played a lot.

― zappi (joni), Wednesday, 31 August 2005 12:30 (twenty years ago)

what happened to Jamming? Or No. 1?

― bham, Wednesday, 31 August 2005 12:34 (twenty years ago)

Jamming published my letter once!

― mark grout (mark grout), Wednesday, 31 August 2005 12:34 (twenty years ago)

No 1 was a Smash Hits knockoff/competitor, eh? how long did it last?

― m coleman (lovebug starski), Wednesday, 31 August 2005 12:43 (twenty years ago)

Quite a while. It got taken over by the BBC and evolved into the Top of the pops magazine, I believe.

― mark grout (mark grout), Wednesday, 31 August 2005 12:44 (twenty years ago)

Ah, Underground! I guess it was a sign of impending closure when they had five copies of a Fire Records compilation to give away to readers who correctly answered how many members there were in The Blue Aeroplanes... and only three or four people got it right (including me, heh).

I may be misremembering, though.

Also: The Catalogue!

― OleM (OleM), Wednesday, 31 August 2005 15:45 (twenty years ago)

FLEXIS!!!

― mark grout (mark grout), Wednesday, 31 August 2005 15:52 (twenty years ago)

Jamming exists in the 21st century as ijamming

http://www.ijamming.net/

― DJ Martian (djmartian), Wednesday, 31 August 2005 16:06 (twenty years ago)

Undgerground was great. Unlike most of the other mags they really tried to cover as much as possible - lots of very short profiles and tons and tons of very short reviews. This way they covered more than anyone else. I think they were the first ones to mention the Justified Ancients of Mu Mu.

The mention of their competitions reminds me that in the final issue I was informed I'd won a signed copy of "Green" by REM. It never arrived. The Frank Sidebottom double album did, though!

― everything, Wednesday, 31 August 2005 16:49 (twenty years ago)

Flexipop mag had... free flexi discs. Got a Jam flexi with the mag once, featuring unreleased material.

― drewo (drewo), Wednesday, 31 August 2005 17:43 (twenty years ago)

One of their last issues had a "save vouchers and get a non-flexi version of the Jam single". Which I managed to get.

― mark grout (mark grout), Thursday, 1 September 2005 07:10 (twenty years ago)

I think the HIT number 2 had Dexy's on the cover, as "Don't Stand Me Down" had just been released. Sep 85, I think ? They also featured the Independent Radio chart as opposed to Record Mirror's Gallup/BBC chart.

― darren (darren), Thursday, 1 September 2005 07:25 (twenty years ago)

Ok... who from the UK remembers House of Dolls magazine?

Alternative with a Gothy slant.. Used to come with 7" compilation EPs.

― Jack Battery-Pack (Jack Battery-Pack), Thursday, 1 September 2005 09:56 (twenty years ago)

i have, i think, 1 house of dolls (Wedding Present ep on front), that hit magazine with the Mary CHain ep, one Catalogue (UVS flexi, still unplayed) and, i think, an entire run of The Underground mentioned above (about a dozen, including issue 0 which was free in the related music paper one week). um, time to fire up the scanner?

― koogs (koogs), Thursday, 1 September 2005 17:16 (twenty years ago)

Underground and Catalogue were both great. The other one I used to get a lot was Spiral Scratch. Anyone remember that one? What happened to them?

― The Spiderwebbed Wilderness (Bimble...), Thursday, 1 September 2005 18:30 (twenty years ago)

I have forgotten the name of that 1984/5 mag that came with a free 12" record. I had issue two which had a Danse Society track on ('Red Light Shines', I think) , and, for a couple of minutes, I thought about becoming a goth. I saw another issue in a junk shop recently which had a Scott Walker 'Climate of Hunter' interview in!

― Jerry the Nipper (Jerrynipper), Thursday, 1 September 2005 20:19 (twenty years ago)

I remember doing interviews with a magazine called, I think, Lime Lizard.

― Momus (Momus), Thursday, 1 September 2005 20:30 (twenty years ago)

Momus, Lime Lizard was early 90s

― DJ Martian (djmartian), Thursday, 1 September 2005 21:02 (twenty years ago)

*cough* New Sounds, New Styles *cough*

― mike t-diva (mike t-diva), Thursday, 1 September 2005 22:58 (twenty years ago)

I have forgotten the name of that 1984/5 mag that came with a free 12" record

Me too...

― mark grout (mark grout), Friday, 2 September 2005 08:29 (twenty years ago)

Found it. It was called "Debut" and was rubbish.

― mark grout (mark grout), Friday, 2 September 2005 08:33 (twenty years ago)

Momus, Lime Lizard was early 90s

Hey, getting all the facts right means the mags aren't forgotten... you're off topic!

― Momus (Momus), Friday, 2 September 2005 08:41 (twenty years ago)

Underground was all wanky design - I bet you it looks hilariously dated now.

― Raymond Douglas Dadaismus (Dada), Friday, 2 September 2005 08:49 (twenty years ago)

There were sporadic attempts at Scottish magazines, covering the great Scottish bands of the era: Fiction Factory, H20, Hipsway, errrrrrrr Scheme

― Raymond Douglas Dadaismus (Dada), Friday, 2 September 2005 08:51 (twenty years ago)

Set the Tone?

― mark grout (mark grout), Friday, 2 September 2005 08:57 (twenty years ago)

Oh, The List is endless

― Raymond Douglas Dadaismus (Dada), Friday, 2 September 2005 09:01 (twenty years ago)

I loved the No. 1 logo, with the triangle behind. I spent hours doodling it.

― brittle-lemon (brittle-lemon), Friday, 2 September 2005 09:03 (twenty years ago)

One of the Flexipop discs featured Adam & The Ants covering "YMCA" as "A.N.T.S.", with revised lyrics to match, eg. "Young man" became "Ant fan" etc. Oh, and the chorus goes "Put on a kilt, die your hair green, dance to Zerox Machine..."

― mike t-diva (mike t-diva), Friday, 2 September 2005 10:38 (twenty years ago)

wasn't there one called "Cut", and they had adverts on tv for it using that Fini Tribe track with the church bells on it? maybe this was a Scotland only thing...

― come to kelvin timber (timber) champs in DIY (Y) (joni), Friday, 2 September 2005 10:43 (twenty years ago)

Hit magazine lasted for ten issues. I had them all, probably still have.

I was pretty certain that they closed it because the didn't want to send me all those Swatch watches that I DEFINITELY won in issue 8's competition.

― Buffalo Stan (Buffalo Stan), Friday, 2 September 2005 10:50 (twenty years ago)

wasn't there one called "Cut", and they had adverts on tv for it using that Fini Tribe track with the church bells on it? maybe this was a Scotland only thing...

That's one of the Scottish ones, covering Horse, Carol Laula, all the greats

― Raymond Douglas Dadaismus (Dada), Friday, 2 September 2005 10:53 (twenty years ago)

I used to have all of the issues of "The Hit" as well, all I really remember about it was the 7" w/the jamc track on it, which I just about wore out at the time, and that it fairly heavily featured tony parsons.

I remember "underground" b/c I sent them some dates I ws playing for their gig listsings and they didn't print them, the cuntz.

I'm trying to remember the musician's magazine that ran for a bit during the eighties that eventually got rolled into "international musician and recording world" before that went belly up as well. They ran this great feature, "Jazz is Dead" that kicked up a fuck of a stink at the time.

― Pashmina (Pashmina), Friday, 2 September 2005 11:36 (twenty years ago)

Cut was like Scotland's answer to hot press.

they also had personals ala Select [proto indie/ alt dating], where alt-teenagers/ 20s would list several fav artists in the hope of finding love.

an indicative example would be something like this:

17 year old indie kid boy, in East Kilbride lives JAMC, Orange Juice, The Pastels, The Smiths, The Go-Betweens, Lloyd Cole, The Blue Aeroplanes seeks similar aged girl for friendship and love. Reply with picture and long letter. Box xxxx

― DJ Martian (djmartian), Friday, 2 September 2005 13:20 (twenty years ago)

I think I may still have a copy of Cut hanging about somewhere with Prefab Sprout on the cover from sometime in '88. It was ok, though a little staid. More like a Sunday newspaper arts supplement with a heavy music bias rather than a straight music mag.

― Billy Dods (Billy Dods), Friday, 2 September 2005 13:47 (twenty years ago)

I've got a fanzine called Underground from about 87 or so but I don't think it's the same magazine as the one you're talking about. I think this one was done by Subway Records (Subway/Underground - do you see?)

It had articles on the Buzzcocks, Blondie, Modern Lovers, and interviews with the Pixies, as well as somewhat lesser known bands such as the Rosehips, Bambi Slam etc. Some bloke gave it to me at a record fair in Reading because I bought a 53rd & 3rd Records compilation off him.

― Colonel Poo (Colonel Poo), Friday, 2 September 2005 14:00 (twenty years ago)

17 year old indie kid boy

That was you wasn't it Martian..?

― CharlieNo4 (Charlie), Friday, 2 September 2005 14:10 (twenty years ago)

Underground was all wanky design - I bet you it looks hilariously dated now.

Yeah, the layout was crap, even then. But by god they packed an awful lot into that mag...I used to have almost all the issues before my mum decided to chuck them out. Recently I decided to buy one just to remember what they were like and they had a section for demos they'd received and low and behold the Popguns were in that section! What a trip.

― The Spiderwebbed Wilderness (Bimble...), Friday, 2 September 2005 17:54 (twenty years ago)

one year passes...

Underground magazine from 1987

http://www.creativereview.co.uk/crblog/underground-press/

The current issue of Creative Review focuses on a month in the life of Michael C Place/Build. As part of the piece, we asked Michael to cite an important influence on him as a young designer. His answer: Underground, an independent music magazine that ran for 13 issues from 1987. We tracked down its art director, Rod Clark to find out more about the magazine.

― djmartian, Wednesday, 8 August 2007 13:43 (eighteen years ago)

I still have a bunch of issues of Underground. I loved that magazine.

― Capitaine Jay Vee, Wednesday, 8 August 2007 14:06 (eighteen years ago)

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