2. What is NME?
The New Musical Express, popularly known by the NME, is a music
publication in the UK, published weekly since March 1952.
It firstly began as a music newspaper and then progressed into a
magazine the first change began in the 1980s, then officially changing
in 1998. NME was one of the first magazines to include a singles chart
In the 1970s it became one of the best selling British music newspaper
An online version of NME, NME.COM, was launched in 1996. It is now
the world's biggest standalone music site, with over 7 million users per
month.
3. How NME started
The paper's first issue was published on 7 March 1952 after the “Accordion
Times and Musical Express” (from October 4, 1946) was bought by London
music promoter Maurice Kinn, and relaunched as the New Musical Express.
During the 1960s the paper championed the new British groups emerging at
the time. The NME’s circulation peaked under Andy Gray (Editor 1957-
1972)The Beatles and The rolling stones were frequently featured on the
front cover.
By the early 1970s NME had lost ground to the ‘Melody Maker’ as its covers
of music had failed to keep up the pace with the development of rock music,
particularly during the early years of psychedelic and progressive rock. This
then lead to the possibility of the paper on the verge of closing by its owners
4. In 2002 the NME started publishing a series of
themed magazines reprinting vintage articles,
interviews and reviews from the NME archives.
The magazine special editions were called
‘NME originals’ with some featuring articles
from other music titles. Notable issues have so
far involved Radiohead, The Beatles, Punk
Rock, Gothic Rock, Britpop, The rolling stones,
Mod, Nirvana, and the solo years of The
Beatles.
