Hate to say I told you so...

In what was supposed to have been my valedictory (posh word for last - I just can't help myself) post I mentioned that I felt the first stirrings of a Twang backlash could be felt in the air. Well, lo and behold, the NME gaves their album something of a mauling, and not a single review i've seen so far goes any higher than mediocre in its praise. Bit rich of the NME to take the band to task for presenting themelves as such yobs though, when the magazine itself has been more than a little complicit in the myth-making process. Anyway with that said, this really is, to quote the Libertines, the last post on the bugle from me. Au revoir!

And it's goodnight from him...

And so the time has come to bring this blog to an end. With the GCSE exam papers now in the possession of whichever desperate souls are marking them, it's time for a bit of what our American pals would call closure.

Mention of closure reminds me to mention that Pulp magazine, launched a couple of months ago, limped to a mere two editions before the publishers pulled the plug and called it a day, thus proving that launching a successful music magazine is pretty tough even when you've got a major TV show to spin-off from.

One of the other obsessions of this blog has been the NME's positioning of The Twang as the anointed heirs to Oasis' Yob Rocks in Chief mantle. Although there's another fawning live review in the current NME, I sense that the storm clouds of a backlash are already gathering and that the Twang could well be over by the end of the summer.

I hope this blog proved useful and even mildly entertaining in parts, indeed I like to think that the spirit of Smash Hits circa 1987 lived on a for a brief moment in these pages. Until we meet again...

Smash Hits RIP - 2

The web is awash with stuff about Smash Hits, from outpourings of grief from those distraught at the the idea of a life without the magazine, to things that are a bit more useful.

This - from the BBC - is VERY useful and prompts you with an activity that could have come straight from the GCSE exam.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/cbbcnews/hi/newsid_4690000/newsid_4690200/4690232.stm

It's also worth noting that although the magazine has gone, the Smash Hits brand lives on in the form of Digital radio and TV stations. This is their website:

http://www.smashhits.net/

Smash Hits RIP - 1

February 13th 2006 was a dark day in the history of British pop music as the mighty Smash Hits was published for the final time. During its 28 year history - particularly during its golden age of 1982-1988 - the magazine transformed the way that pop music was written about in this country. Gone were the stuffy, earnest questions of NME and Melody Maker that treated pop stars as visionary prophets, replaced with questions about what fruit they thought Friday was.

Several factors are thought to be responsible for the fact that the magazine has gone to that big WH Smiths in the sky, and an understanding of these is likely to prove vital for yoour chances of the succes in the exam.

Start be looking at the Wikipedia entry and reading these articles from the Guardian that co-incided with the magazine's valedictory issue!

http://arts.guardian.co.uk/news/story/0,,1700405,00.html

and

http://arts.guardian.co.uk/critic/feature/0,,1701291,00.html

More stuff t0 follow!

Popworld Pulp - New Mag Launched

In a staggeringly good bit of timing considering that the exam is hurtling towards us and it's a fairly good bet that they'll ask you to explain how you might launch a new music magazine, someone has gone and done exactly that by launching 'Pulp' a spin-off from the Channel 4 show Popworld. Many media bods have long believed that Popworld is the place where the original cheeky and irreverent spirit of Smash Hits magazine (RIP) now resides, so we'll see if Pulp maintains this.

As you can see by the choice of Klaxons as cover stars for the debut edition, they are squarely aiming at the NME crowd. Find out more about the magazine by a) buying a copy b) visiting their website at:-

http://www.popworld.com/pages/popworldpulp_home

and c) visiting this site where I'll be deconstructing the magazine and the issues it raises later this week!

The Twang 'Wide Awake' music video

And if you don't know what all the NME concocted fuss is about, this is it. It's like 1990 all over again.

The Twang - Pt 2

In a recent post I made some points about the NME's latest darlings The Twang, to the effect that their portrayal as a bunch of hooligans rampaging across the nation offers a great insight into how even a band such as this, who would probably come at you with a samurai sword - a key element in the mythology the press is building for them - if you dared suggest that they were in any way manufactured, are exactly that.

.

Last week they capped their meteoric, Stella fuelled rise through the rock firmament by getting their first NME cover, and it was even more blatant in its attempt to position and represent the band as inheritors of the Gallagher's Rock Thugs in Chief mantle.

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The cover lines spoke volumes. 'Getting wasted with Britain's best new band' screamed one, 'You want some?' offered another. The article itself was full of references to their hard boozing ways, while the obligatory pint glasses featured in many of the pictures. Don't be so naive to think that this isn't as carefully stage-managed a way to represent a band as anything Simon Cowell or Louis Walsh would devise for their charges.

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And let's face it, you can't be cool and have a Brum accent.

Thursday 29/3

As you should have sussed out by now i'm not here today. Look towards the front of the room and you will see someone - unless they've sent Mr Braithwaite to do the lesson- not wrapped from head to toe in cord.

While I'm away, i would like you to click on the post entitled 'Call that a website' and follow all the links that will help your revise the stuff on music press.

If you haven't completed your film evaluation or any of the coursework stuff i discussed on Monday then that is your first priority.

Your homework for Easter is to ensure all coursework is done and to download all the GCSE Media Podcasts from our sister blog www.cjmedicom.blosgspot.com . Help her achieve her ambition of being top of the pods!

That's all from me. Get courseworking/revising.

The Twang

Music magazines perform many crucial functions for record companies and music consumers and many would argue that this double role leads to tension and conflict. For us, the consumers, music mags act as a filter, sifting the good from the bad; record companies meanwhile need the music mags to endorse their products with rave reviews and help them flog their music. Accusations that this leads to music magazines being too eager to hype new artists on behalf of the record companies have long been a feature of the industry. Music journalists, particularly ones employed by a magazine that has the words 'new music' on the masthead, would counter that they have a duty to shine a spotlight on emerging talent.

Which brings us to The Twang, the latest act to be given the full hype treatment. Initially kickstarted by NME, monthly magazines and national newspapers are also now clambering aboard the bandwagon. The Twang not only demonstrate the power of music mags in launching new acts, they also show how magazines help shape the image of bands through the way that they are represented. In the case of The Twang that means always emphasising their laddish credentials as successors to the Gallaghers crown of Ultimate Rockn'Roll bad boys.

Every reference to The Twang is closely followed by mention of their snorting and brawling antics on tour, and the band are rarely pictured wothout a can of Stalla to hand. Music magazines sell us an image of rock n' roll behaviour that is based on rebellion and excess, and the Twang are happy to play along, building a myth of themselves as rock n' roll outlaws.

Meanwhile the NME hopes that by helping raise the bands profile at the beginning, they'll be rewarded down the line, when a Twang exclusive or front cover will shift more copies of the magazine. The record company win; the NME win; the band win; but does the consumer?

Music Mags Through The Ages PowerPoint

Does what it says on the tin. Very NME centric, but that aside should prove useful. Click on the link to download a copy

Music Mags Through The Ages PowerPoint

Call that a website..?

OK, so I've been a bit slack in recent weeks and haven't added anything of note to this blog, and meanwhile Mrs James has conquered the blogosphere with her all singing, all time-telling, all podcasting work of genius.

Still, this is a link that you MUST follow! I'll stick it on the links on the other side as well. It's stuffed full of useful ideas and information and at a stroke almost renders all my work here redundant. Almost. As the Beastie Boys said Ch-ch-ch-check it out!

http://www.mediaedu.co.uk/page34/2007controlledtest.html

An essay on music blogs

If you have plenty of time to spare - like the next three hours - and you've always wondered how music blogs are filling a niche that traditional music publications have ceased to cater for, then it's your lucky day!

The article linked to here is heavy-going at times, but if you've got your eyes trained on that A* glittering above you in the heavens, then you owe it to yourself to pay a call:

http://www.marathonpacks.com/2006/09/on-shifting-focus-bit.html

Myspace

Chances are that you many of you will already know far more about Myspace than I ever will. You've probably got your own page and have about 1637 digital friends, all of whom you chat regularly to on-line, none of whom you would ever want to spend a second with in the real world. Myspace is the most famous of the 'social networking' sites on the web; online meeting places where you can chat, blog, upload videos, photos and music, and basically 'hang-out'. (The inverted commas are to denote that I know nobody actually uses this phrase. Irony is slippery to pin down on the screen.)

In 1996, powerful media honcho Rupert Murdoch (owner of the Sun and SKY TV in the UK) splashed out approx £300 million to buy Myspace. Suddenly people over the age of 18 were aware of its existence.

So what does all this have to do with music magazines? Well, Myspace is another threat to the supremacy of music magazines. Why wait to hear the views of your favourite artist in an interview in NME that might be out of date by the time it actually goes to print, when you can read what they blogged that very morning, and without any interference from a pesky journalist poking their nose into your private business or wanting to know why your new album's a bit on the ropy side? Not only that but you can hear their new songs, watch their video and even make 'friends' with them.

These days, setting up a Myspace page is a compulsory act for all new bands, many do it before they've even finished writing their first songs. It allows you to reach your fans directly, sidestepping the traditional media in the process. In other words, another smack in the face for a music press that is already on the ropes.

To learn more, check out trusty old Wikipedia's entry on Myspace:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myspace

Lily Allen is often referred to as the first star to be created by Myspace. This might be a bit of an exagerration, but Myspace definitely stirred up a lot of hype for her, particulary her blog in which she tends to be rather rude about other pop stars. Check out her site as an example of what the music magazines are up against.

NB Don't bother trying the link in school, Myspace is blocked. Spoilsports.

http://www.myspace.com/lilymusic

Pitchfork

Scan the list of links on the left on this page and you will be met with some familiar names - NME, Q, Kerrang! - that kind of thing, and then you will meet the word 'Pitchfork'. Click on the link and you will be welcomed into a strange land where bands have names like !!! and PAS/CAL, and where nobody seems to care about Coldplay. Full of weird and exotic sounding bands it may be, but Pitchfork is actually one of the most influential of music web-sites, responsible for giving bands such as Arcade Fire (what do you mean who?) their first spot of media attention.

It's likely that the exam will ask you to show some awareness of the fact that many print publications are struggling to keep up with their on-line competitors. Take a look at how busy the Pitchfork homepage is and bear in mind that it's updated on a daily basis. You may want to visit our old friend Wikipedia to find out what it has to say about Pitchfork. Click on the link at the end to do so.

And who knows !!! could be the band that alters the course of your very existence...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pitchfork_media

Testing 3,4,5

So what if we're not yet cooking with gas, we have at least located where the oven is, we've mixed the pastry, and we've almost prepared a sumptuos filling. The TMAC GSCE Media Studies Blog pie will be yours to savour in 5, 4, 3, 2...