spook's Review of NME Magazine
24th Dec 2003
Overall Rating
- Value for money
The pictures are nice. Occasionally they give out free CD's.
Bad Points
Most of the content. The smug attitude of the writers. The fact that they only ever feature about 3 different bands for months on end....
General Comments
The NME was, at one time, a marvellous music paper which did in depth features on a variety of bands, featured dozens upon dozens of reviews of gigs, cd's, books, etc. and generally did a great job of covering the world of indie/alternative/guitar music. Over the last couple of years, however, the price of the magazine has gone up while the writing has gone downhill, the magazine has shrunk in size, most of the content has turned into ads and yet the NME has become cocky and arrogant about it's own abilities.
The NME consistently claims to have invented the wheel and tries to create coherent music scenes where none exist. As a result they pick 2 or 3 bands of the moment (Strokes, White Stripes, Vines and the Libertines are the current choices) and rotate their faces on the cover for months on end. Subsequently, these days they only ever cover a few acts, leaving those dozens upon dozens of undiscovered gems they profess to want to tell us about out in the cold.
If you want a decent music magazine do not buy the NME.
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On average, people found this review very helpful
Members' Comments onspook's Review
Gagnor Regis
on 9th Sep 2005
Nme Charts
I agree with Spook. NME was fantastic in the late seventies early eighties. It had brilliant writers, championed everything that was great going on in underground music. It is pants now basically, a comic for a comic generation.