1. History of music magazines

2. Melody Maker
During the early 1920s, music press
documented factual information
on the music industry and record
sales informations.
Melody Maker began in 1926 and
at the beginning was famous for
their coverage of all aspects of
the jazz scene.

3. Billboard
In 1936, Billboard published
the first ‘music hit parade’
that gradually evolved into
their famous charts from
40s onwards, with airplays
and record sales charts. The
Billboard charts have since
produced the basis for chart
countdown slots on radio
shows.

4. Inkies
With the music press focusing on
releases and sales accounts, the
‘inkies’ became popular. Music inkies
extended information on music into
articles and interviews with artists.
They also provided detailed coverage
of independent label and non-
mainstream artists. For example, in
the 70s inkies were the only source
of information on indie music.

5. NME
With the arrival of NME in the mid
50s, music newspapers assumed a
more youth-orientated format.
They still had the tabloid
newspaper format and
monochrome ‘newspaper print’
but they now featured weekly
information on record releases and
articles on artists and their music.
During the 60s and 70s NME and
Melody Maker were the only
updated source of information on
the music scene.

6. Fanzines
Rock fanzines emerged in 1960
expressed the desire to
document a ‘scene’ that is often
too new for the music press to
comment on. Fanzines are often
the first to document a new
movement. For example, punk
fanzine Sniffin’ Glue was the first
British publication to document
the punk movement.

7. Rolling Stone
During the 60s, advertisers and
music companies’ interests
were put before the music fan’s
interests. Rolling Stone was first
published in 1967 and it saw
music as part of a culture and
had articles about music and
social changes and music’s
power to articulate political
concerns.

8. Smash Hits
Smash Hits, first publish in
1978, was the first genre-
specific magazine. With its
pop emphasis, it was the first
publication specifically
targeting teenagers, with its
backstage gossip and
‘personality’ interviews.

9. Kerrang!, Mixmag, Classic Rock
In the 80s and 90s magazines with a
similar template as Smash Hits,
but more music orientated
emerged. Genre-specific
magazines such a Kerrang!, with a
rock focus; Mixmag, covering
dance and club music; The Source,
exploring hip-hop and rap; and
Classic Rock, focusing on older
rock bands.