...magazines, that is. More specifically, music magazines. For casual reading, nothing for me beats a magazine. I probably spend too much money on them, but what the heck....
...I graduated from comic books to Guitar magazines years ago--big mistake. Not that publications like Guitar Player, etc aren't good or anything, they just never appealed to me. I'm not a gear head, and I find that's what most of the guitarists interviewed talk about. Let's face it, unless you have very wealthy, uber-supportive parents, you probably will never own an effects rack, super-tube combo stack amplifiers, top of the line , special reissue, custom, whatever it is you play at fifteen years old...at least I didn't. And reading articles about how other guitarists "shred" at this impressionable age didn't help me either. Plus, I really tried to get the "tabs" down, honest! It just seemed kind of shallow all by myself...a slow sinking feeling, that you will neither own, nor play as your guitar heroes do...
...on the other hand, I do enjoy reading about music--to an extent--biographies can be good, but not always. Borrow a friend's is my suggestion. But, this is about magazines. My favourite for the past ten years or so has been MOJO (check it out on the 'web'). Although it does tend to be kind of "old farty" at times (they had a real Beatles run for a while which almost turned me off completely), they seem to strike a good balance between past and present. Good reviews, snappy interviews, interesting features, etc. A good read, and well worth the 13-15 dollars it will cost you. Did I mention the free CD with every issue? Hit and miss, but mostly hit--good mixes based around a specific theme. Overall both the magazine and CD are good for when you want to think less, and you can drool over the gig listings in the back...
...recently, I picked up a few copies of NME, another British publication, this one weekly, since 1952! Years ago, I read a few issues, and found it completely unfamiliar, but this was before the information super highway. Back then, I didn't know ANY of the artists listed, as they were mostly up and coming. What a strange feeling...I felt like I had stepped out from a meditation retreat in a cave after 20 years! I have seen late 70's/ early '80s issues of NME as well--the writing is fantastic. I don't know much about "rock journalism"( an entirely different post!), but their staff at the time was very talented, and dynamic. They resisted the North American urge to intellectualize everything. Even the reviews were great-- "This is shit"--read one of them. It would be a good move, if the publishers have not already done so, to put the 'best ofs' for each year out in trade paperback...hmm....the new issues pass the bog-test, however...
..as for other music magazines, there are none that I read regularly. I used to read The Beat for all of my reggae needs, but it is now difficult to find (defunct?). Uncut from Britain also, has its moments, but generally, it is MOJO's poor cousin, with too much bad heavy metal. As far as North American publications, I avoid them. SPIN recently celebrated their 25th anniversary--oh, congratulations--the same goes for Rolling Stone, which seems these days to be more about politics. AP , from what I have seen, is well, crap. On the homegrown, Canadian side, erm...some of the weeklies are alright, if not a little insular...
...as an underlying theme of these posts, you can always check things out on the 'interweb' before you buy...
...oh, I forgot Creem, Punk, etc...good for their times, blew up/ folded before they got too silly. Haven't bought a copy of Maximumrocknroll in years, but I know it still exists--good on 'em. I have fond memories of picking up the newest two-month old issue at the Record Shoppe and getting my fingers inky with righteous angst...
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