So its happened again the great paper shredder in the sky has called time on the much loved Q magazine – it has gone the way of many before it – no one is indestructable and its credit its lasted as long as is has in todays world.
I’m sure across the UK today many journalists and writers are feverishly smashing away at keyboards, bemoaning such an end whilst waiting for the next train guy to appear on their twitter timeline.
So why? And what next?
Music papers used to be the standard barer, the stick that decided whether Bush were good or just crap (here I go again) – they created stars, scenes, fads, they built them up and they knocked them down. Many would say its been a long time coming and they deserved it. I wouldn’t go along with this but there is a strong argument for it.
Every wednesday we all waited for that weeks NME, Melody Maker, Sounds, Smash Hits, etc – it gave us the news we wanted, pictures, interviews, free tapes – it was exciting and it meant something.
The writers themselves were great – the good ones even went onto other things when they realised (I assume) that the ship(s) were sinking. Broadcasting is our gain – Mary Anne Hobbs, Stuart Maconie, Danny Kelly, James Brown all went onto great things – others became great novelists – Caitlin Moran, Jon Savage and tons more – these are just off the top of my head. We still have great music writers – Simon Price, John Robb, Peter P – but could I tell you any from now – No.
But the future is now and we just don’t really need them. Why wait for a month for Q to report on something that we found out last week. Yes its still good to read an interview with your favorite artist but even that is almost redundnant – we can ask them ourselves. Live on Twitter/IG/You Tube – the artist is there joining in with us, laughing with us, telling us about the album, tour, what team they like – social media whether we like it or not has nailed the coffin shut for most magazines. Well almost.
So who do we blame? We want to blame someone don’t we, its in our DNA – lets blame the kids that’ll do. They don’t want magazines they don’t need posters, they just don’t need it. Yes the youth has some part to play in this – kids don’t really read is what they will say. My wife works with young kids in a deprived area school, its not just the reading that’s the issue – its the lack of attention span, some can’t write let alone read, some can barely talk – this is a deep rooted issue that harks back to some form of pre-victorian days.
But what about us – what about the middle aged man writing this.
I don’t want to pay a fiver or so for a magazine – whats the point – if the future is here and putting out content is free (as this is) or cheap (maybe it isn’t) to produce then why charge a fiver (or close to) for something that’s out of date and will sit in my man cave gathering dust.
I get it – it has to be sustainable – everything has a price. blah blah blah but I struggle with it I really do.
What about the content – well lets say I stopped completely following NME last week because of it and #bushgate (leave it Tanner) – it has no relevance to what I want to read or know about. Good luck to it but its days are numbered.
So lets not blame anyone – lets just take stock and say this is how it happens in the order of things – its had its day in the sunshine – Q may rise again – I hope so maybe online maybe something else – I hope all those that will lose jobs find something soon and continue the good work.
But for now lets support the counter culture if it can be called that – the cottage industry, the rise of the solo blogger with something to share, the fanzine makers.
Ultimately we are all Magazines now – we all tweet our thoughts, share experiences on music, TV, gigs, people, everything. This is how we are now. I don’t need Q anymore and I doubt anyone else does.
But I will raise a toast to Q and thank them for what they did and how they entertained me and inspired me.
Its up to us all now.
PNL
Michael
The Rebirth Of Cool 