''Mojo'' is a
popular music
Popular music is music with wide appeal that is typically distributed to large audiences through the music industry. These forms and styles can be enjoyed and performed by people with little or no musical training.Popular Music. (2015). ''Fu ...
magazine published monthly in the United Kingdom, initially by
Emap, and since January 2008 by
Bauer. Following the success of the magazine ''
Q'', publishers Emap were looking for a title that would cater for the burgeoning interest in
classic rock
Classic rock is a US radio format which developed from the album-oriented rock (AOR) format in the early 1980s. In the United States, the classic rock format comprises rock music ranging generally from the mid-1960s through the mid 1990s, prim ...
music. The magazine was designed to appeal to the 30 to 45-plus age group, or the
baby boomer generation.
''Mojo'' was first published on 15 October 1993.
In keeping with its classic rock aesthetic, the first issue had
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan, born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Often regarded as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture during a career sp ...
and
John Lennon
John Winston Ono Lennon (born John Winston Lennon; 9 October 19408 December 1980) was an English singer, songwriter, musician and peace activist who achieved worldwide fame as founder, co-songwriter, co-lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of ...
as its first cover stars. Noted for its in-depth coverage of both popular and cult acts, it acted as the inspiration for ''
Blender'' and ''
Uncut''. Many noted music critics have written for it, including
Charles Shaar Murray,
Greil Marcus,
Nick Kent,
Jon Savage
Jon Savage (born Jonathan Malcolm Sage; 2 September 1953 in Paddington, London) is an English writer, broadcaster and music journalist, best known for his history of the Sex Pistols and punk music, ''England's Dreaming'', published in 199 ...
and
Sylvie Simmons. The launch editor of ''Mojo'' was
Paul Du Noyer and his successors have included
Mat Snow,
Paul Trynka and Pat Gilbert.
While some criticise it for its frequent coverage of classic rock acts such as
the Beatles
The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatles, most influential band of al ...
and
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan, born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Often regarded as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture during a career sp ...
, it has nevertheless featured many newer and "left-field" acts. It was the first mainstream magazine in the UK to focus on
the White Stripes, whom it has covered as zealously as it has many older acts.
''Mojo'' regularly includes a
covermount CD that ties in with a current magazine article or theme. It introduced the
''Mojo'' Honours list, an awards ceremony that is a mixture of readers' and critics' awards, in 2004.
In early 2010, ''Mojo'' was involved in a controversial move by its new parent company,
Bauer, to unilaterally impose a new contract on all photographers and writers, taking away their copyright, and offloading liability for
libel
Defamation is the act of communicating to a third party false statements about a person, place or thing that results in damage to its reputation. It can be spoken (slander) or written (libel). It constitutes a tort or a crime. The legal defi ...
or
copyright infringement
Copyright infringement (at times referred to as piracy) is the use of works protected by copyright without permission for a usage where such permission is required, thereby infringing certain exclusive rights granted to the copyright holder, ...
from the publisher onto the contributor. Two hundred photographers and writers from ''Mojo'' and Bauer's other music magazines, ''
Kerrang!
''Kerrang!'' is a British weekly magazine devoted to rock, punk and heavy metal music, currently published by Wasted Talent (the same company that owns electronic music publication '' Mixmag''). It was first published on 6 June 1981 as a on ...
'' and ''
Q'', were reported as refusing to work under the new terms.
Lists
More recently, the magazine has taken to publishing many "Top 100" lists, including the subjects of drug songs (''Mojo'' #109), rock epics (''Mojo'' #125), protest songs (''Mojo'' #126) and even the most miserable songs of all time (''Mojo'' #127). To celebrate 150 issues, the magazine published a "Top 100 Albums of Mojo's Lifetime" list (essentially 1993 onwards). The top five for this list were:
# ''
Grace
Grace may refer to:
Places United States
* Grace, Idaho, a city
* Grace (CTA station), Chicago Transit Authority's Howard Line, Illinois
* Little Goose Creek (Kentucky), location of Grace post office
* Grace, Carroll County, Missouri, an uninc ...
'' –
Jeff Buckley
Jeffrey Scott Buckley (November 17, 1966 – May 29, 1997), raised as Scott Moorhead, was an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist. After a decade as a session guitarist in Los Angeles, Buckley amassed a following in the early 1990s by ...
(1994)
# ''
American Recordings'' –
Johnny Cash (1994)
# ''
OK Computer'' –
Radiohead (1997)
# ''
Time Out of Mind'' –
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan, born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Often regarded as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture during a career sp ...
(1997)
# ''
Definitely Maybe'' –
Oasis (1994)
In 2007, the magazine set out to determine "The Top 100 Records That Changed the World". The list was compiled and voted on by an eclectic panel of superstars, including
Björk,
Tori Amos
Tori Amos (born Myra Ellen Amos; August 22, 1963) is an American singer-songwriter and pianist. She is a classically trained musician with a mezzo-soprano vocal range. Having already begun composing instrumental pieces on piano, Amos won a full ...
,
Tom Waits,
Brian Wilson,
Pete Wentz and
Steve Earle
Stephen Fain Earle (; born January 17, 1955) is an American singer-songwriter, record producer, author, and actor. Earle began his career as a songwriter in Nashville and released his first EP in 1982. Initially working in the country music ...
.
Little Richard
Richard Wayne Penniman (December 5, 1932 – May 9, 2020), known professionally as Little Richard, was an American musician, singer, and songwriter. He was an influential figure in popular music and culture for seven decades. Described as the " ...
's 1955 hit "
Tutti Frutti" took the number one spot. Richard's record beat the Beatles' "
I Want to Hold Your Hand" (2nd) and
Elvis Presley
Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977), or simply Elvis, was an American singer and actor. Dubbed the " King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as one of the most significant cultural figures of the 20th century. His ener ...
's "
Heartbreak Hotel" (3rd). The magazine's editors claimed that "the 100 albums, singles and 78s that made up the list make up the most influential and inspirational recordings ever made". Hailing "Tutti Frutti" as the sound of the birth of rock 'n' roll, the editors went on to state that "one can only imagine how it must have sounded when the song exploded across the airwaves!"
The top ten on Mojo's 100 Records That Changed the World list are:
# "
Tutti Frutti" by
Little Richard
Richard Wayne Penniman (December 5, 1932 – May 9, 2020), known professionally as Little Richard, was an American musician, singer, and songwriter. He was an influential figure in popular music and culture for seven decades. Described as the " ...
# "
I Want to Hold Your Hand" by
The Beatles
The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatles, most influential band of al ...
# "
Heartbreak Hotel" by
Elvis Presley
Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977), or simply Elvis, was an American singer and actor. Dubbed the " King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as one of the most significant cultural figures of the 20th century. His ener ...
# ''
The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan'' by
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan, born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Often regarded as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture during a career sp ...
# ''
Autobahn
The (; German plural ) is the federal controlled-access highway system in Germany. The official German term is (abbreviated ''BAB''), which translates as 'federal motorway'. The literal meaning of the word is 'Federal Auto(mobile) Track' ...
'' by
Kraftwerk
# ''
King of the Delta Blues Singers'' by
Robert Johnson
# ''
The Velvet Underground & Nico
''The Velvet Underground & Nico'' is the debut album by the American rock band the Velvet Underground and German singer Nico, released in March 1967 through Verve Records. It was recorded in 1966 while the band were featured on Andy Warhol's Ex ...
'' by
the Velvet Underground and
Nico
# ''
Anthology of American Folk Music
''Anthology of American Folk Music'' is a three-album compilation, released in 1952 by Folkways Records, of eighty-four recordings of American folk, blues and country music made and issued from 1926 to 1933 by a variety of performers. The album ...
'' (various artists)
# "
What'd I Say" by
Ray Charles
Ray Charles Robinson Sr. (September 23, 1930 – June 10, 2004) was an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. He is regarded as one of the most iconic and influential singers in history, and was often referred to by contemporaries as "The Ge ...
# "
God Save the Queen" by
Sex Pistols
Other lists include a Top 50 of songs by a particular artist from time to time, usually compiled by a panel of music journalists and musicians. Featured artists have included
David Bowie
David Robert Jones (8 January 194710 January 2016), known professionally as David Bowie ( ), was an English singer-songwriter and actor. A leading figure in the music industry, he is regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the ...
,
Pink Floyd
Pink Floyd are an English rock band formed in London in 1965. Gaining an early following as one of the first British psychedelic groups, they were distinguished by their extended compositions, sonic experimentation, philosophical lyrics an ...
,
The Beach Boys,
The Who
The Who are an English rock band formed in London in 1964. Their classic lineup consisted of lead singer Roger Daltrey, guitarist and singer Pete Townshend, bass guitarist and singer John Entwistle, and drummer Keith Moon. They are considered ...
,
Bruce Springsteen
Bruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen (born September 23, 1949) is an American singer and songwriter. He has released 21 studio albums, most of which feature his backing band, the E Street Band. Originally from the Jersey Shore, he is an originato ...
,
Neil Young
Neil Percival Young (born November 12, 1945) is a Canadian-American singer and songwriter. After embarking on a music career in Winnipeg in the 1960s, Young moved to Los Angeles, joining Buffalo Springfield with Stephen Stills, Richie Fu ...
, among many.
Special editions
After the success of an all-Beatles issue published to mark the release of ''
The Beatles Anthology
''The Beatles Anthology'' is a multimedia retrospective project consisting of a television documentary, a three-volume set of double albums, and a book describing the history of the Beatles. Beatles members Paul McCartney, George Harrison ...
'' in 1995, many stand-alone, special editions of ''Mojo'' have been produced, devoting an entire magazine to one artist or genre. Three of the most successful were the series (produced by then special editions editor
Chris Hunt) telling the story of the Beatles – one thousand days at a time. Featuring contributions from many of the world's leading rock critics and Beatles experts, such as
Hunter Davies,
Mark Lewisohn,
Richard Williams,
Ian MacDonald,
Peter Doggett and
Alan Clayson, the three magazines were published between 2002 and 2003, before being collected together by editor-in-chief Paul Trynka and published as the book ''The Beatles: Ten Years That Shook The World'' (Dorling Kindersley, 2004).
Other special editions have focused on
Pink Floyd
Pink Floyd are an English rock band formed in London in 1965. Gaining an early following as one of the first British psychedelic groups, they were distinguished by their extended compositions, sonic experimentation, philosophical lyrics an ...
,
Psychedelia,
Punk and the Sixties. ''Mojo'' has also published four editions of "The MOJO Collection: The Greatest Albums Of All Time" (
Canongate Books), originally edited by the magazine's founding features editor,
Jim Irvin
Jim Irvin is an English singer, songwriter, music journalist and podcast host.
Early life
Born James Lawrence Irvin and raised in west London.
Career Furniture
Irvin was the singer in the English new wave band Furniture, who released single ...
, and a series of short, definitive biographies under the imprint Mojo Heroes, starting in 2002 with ''Neil Young: Reflections In Broken Glass'', written by
Sylvie Simmons, a longtime Mojo contributing editor.
Mojo Radio
The company behind the magazine, Bauer, also produced a digital
radio station
Radio broadcasting is transmission of audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a land-based radio ...
.
This station was called Mojo Radio, and was transmitted on the
digital television
Digital television (DTV) is the transmission of television signals using digital encoding, in contrast to the earlier analog television technology which used analog signals. At the time of its development it was considered an innovative adva ...
networks in the UK (
Freeview Freeview may refer to:
*Freeview (Australia), the marketing name for the digital terrestrial television platform in Australia
*Freeview (New Zealand), a digital satellite and digital terrestrial television platform in New Zealand
*Freeview (UK), a ...
channel 721 and
Sky Digital channel 0182, though not
Virgin Media) and online. The output of the station was based on that of the magazine. It was announced on 5 November 2008 that Mojo Radio would cease broadcasting on 30 November 2008, in order to save Bauer the financial outlay.
''Mojo Rocks''
The magazine's current editor-in-chief, Phil Alexander, has a regular show on the UK digital radio station
Planet Rock entitled ''Mojo Rocks'', in which he follows a ''Mojo''-inspired playlist.
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mojo
1993 establishments in the United Kingdom
Bauer Group (UK)
Bauer Radio
Defunct radio stations in the United Kingdom
Magazines established in 1993
Magazines published in London
Monthly magazines published in the United Kingdom
Music magazines published in the United Kingdom
Periodicals with audio content