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''Q'' was 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). ''Fun ...
magazine published monthly in the United Kingdom. It was founded in 1986 by broadcast journalists
Mark Ellen Mark Ellen (born 16 September 1953) is a British magazine editor, journalist and broadcaster who lives in West London. Early life Ellen was born in Fleet, Hampshire, England. Whilst at Oxford University in the 1970s, he briefly played bass alo ...
and David Hepworth, who were presenters of the BBC television music series ''
The Old Grey Whistle Test ''The Old Grey Whistle Test'' (sometimes abbreviated to ''Whistle Test'' or ''OGWT'') is a British television music show. The show was devised by BBC producer Rowan Ayers, commissioned by David Attenborough and aired on BBC2 from 1971 to 1988. ...
''. ''Q'''s final issue was published in July 2020. ''Q'' was originally published by the EMAP media group and set itself apart from much of the other music press with monthly production and higher standards of photography and printing. In the early years, the magazine was sub-titled "The modern guide to music and more". Originally it was to be called ''Cue'' (as in the sense of cueing a record, ready to play), but the name was changed so that it would not be mistaken for a snooker magazine. Another reason, cited in ''Q''s 200th edition, is that a single-letter title would be more prominent on newsstands. In January 2008, EMAP sold its consumer magazine titles, including ''Q'', to the
Bauer Media Group Heinrich Bauer Publishing (german: Heinrich Bauer Verlag KG), trading as Bauer Media Group, is a German multimedia conglomerate headquartered in Hamburg. It operates worldwide and owns more than 600 magazines, over 400 digital products and 50 r ...
. Bauer put the title up for sale in 2020, alongside ''Car Mechanic'', ''Modern Classics'', ''Your Horse'' and ''Sea Angler''. However, publication ceased in July 2020 as
Kelsey Media Kelsey Media is a magazine publisher and trade fair company based in Yalding, England. Founded in 1989, it has bought and sold many publications over the years, including former Bauer Media Group magazines ''Sea Angler'', ''Car Mechanics'' and ' ...
decided to buy a number of non-music titles from Bauer (''Sea Angler'', ''Car Mechanics'' and ''Your Horse''), making the 28 July 2020 issue (Q415) the last to be published. The end of ''Q'' was blamed both on lower circulation and advertising revenue caused by the
COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...
, as well as being "a symptom of an expert-free internet age."


Content

The magazine had an extensive review section, featuring: new releases,
reissue In the music industry, a reissue (also re-release, repackage or re-edition) is the release of an album or Single (music), single which has been released at least once before, sometimes with alterations or additions. Reasons for reissue New aud ...
s, compilations, film and live concert reviews, as well as radio and television reviews. It used a star-rating system from one to five stars; indeed, the rating an album received in ''Q'' was often added to print and television advertising for the album in the UK and Ireland. While its content was non-free they hosted an archive of all of their magazine covers. Much of the magazine was devoted to interviews with popular musical artists. It also compiled lists, ranging from "The 100 Greatest Albums" to "The 100 Richest Stars in Rock", with a special edition magazine called "The 150 Greatest Rock Lists Ever" published in July 2004. ''Q'' also produced a number of special editions devoted to a single act/artist like U2 or
Nirvana ( , , ; sa, निर्वाण} ''nirvāṇa'' ; Pali: ''nibbāna''; Prakrit: ''ṇivvāṇa''; literally, "blown out", as in an oil lampRichard Gombrich, ''Theravada Buddhism: A Social History from Ancient Benāres to Modern Colombo.' ...
, but these magazines stopped in 2018, with its sister magazine, ''
Mojo Mojo may refer to: * Mojo (African-American culture), a magical charm bag used in voodoo Arts, entertainment and media Film and television * MOJO HD, an American television network * ''Mojo'' (play), by Jez Butterworth, made into a 1997 film * ' ...
'' (also owned by Bauer) continuing to produce specials devoted to artists like
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 ...
. Promotional gifts were given away, such as cover-mounted
CDs The compact disc (CD) is a digital optical disc data storage format that was co-developed by Philips and Sony to store and play digital audio recordings. In August 1982, the first compact disc was manufactured. It was then released in Octo ...
or books. The January 2006 issue included a free copy of "The Greatest Rock and Pop Miscellany … Ever!", modelled on ''
Schott's Original Miscellany Ben Schott (born 26 May 1974) is a British writer, photographer, and author of the ''Schott's Miscellanies'' and '' Schott's Almanac'' series. Early life and university Ben Schott was born in North London, England, the son of a neurologist ...
''. Every issue of ''Q'' had a different message on the spine. Readers tried to work out what the message had to do with the contents of the magazine. This practice (known as the "spine line") has since become commonplace among British lifestyle magazines, including ''Q''s sister publication ''
Empire An empire is a "political unit" made up of several territories and peoples, "usually created by conquest, and divided between a dominant center and subordinate peripheries". The center of the empire (sometimes referred to as the metropole) ex ...
'' and the football monthly ''
FourFourTwo ''FourFourTwo'' is a football magazine published by Future. Issued monthly, it published its 300th edition in May 2019. It takes its name from the football formation of the same name, 4-4-2. In 2008, it was announced that ''FourFourTwo'' had ...
''. The magazine had a relationship with the Glastonbury Festival, producing both a free daily newspaper on-site during the festival and a review magazine available at the end of the event. This was first started as a '' Select'' magazine spin-off, though as ''Q'' moved its focus away from stadium rock and 'CD-quality' acts of the 1980s (like Dire Straits and
Phil Collins Philip David Charles Collins (born 30 January 1951) is an English singer, musician, songwriter, record producer and actor. He was the drummer and lead singer of the rock band Genesis and also has a career as a solo performer. Between 1982 and ...
) to the
Britpop Britpop was a mid-1990s British-based music culture movement that emphasised Britishness. It produced brighter, catchier alternative rock, partly in reaction to the popularity of the darker lyrical themes of the US-led grunge music and to the ...
and
indie rock Indie rock is a Music subgenre, subgenre of rock music that originated in the United States, United Kingdom and New Zealand from the 1970s to the 1980s. Originally used to describe independent record labels, the term became associated with the mu ...
stars of the 1990s, it was decided that EMAP did not need two monthly titles (and ''
Raw Raw is an adjective usually describing: * Raw materials, basic materials from which products are manufactured or made * Raw food, uncooked food Raw or RAW may also refer to: Computing and electronics * .RAW, a proprietary mass spectrometry dat ...
'' magazine as well) covering the same genre of music; ''Select'' was shut in late 2000, with ''Q'' continuing. In January 2008, ''
Mojo Mojo may refer to: * Mojo (African-American culture), a magical charm bag used in voodoo Arts, entertainment and media Film and television * MOJO HD, an American television network * ''Mojo'' (play), by Jez Butterworth, made into a 1997 film * ' ...
'' was launched by EMAP as a rival to ''
Uncut Magazine ''Uncut'' is a monthly magazine based in London. It is available across the English-speaking world, and focuses on music, but also includes film and books sections. A DVD magazine under the ''Uncut'' brand was published quarterly from 2005 to 2006 ...
'' and focused on all the rock stars, now viewed upon as being heritage and classic, that ''Q'' originally featured in its pages in 1986. In late 2008, ''Q'' revamped its image with a smaller amount of text and an increased focus on subjects other than music. This "''
Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...
''-isation" led to criticism from much of the traditional ''Q'' readership, especially given that the total number of pages per issue had by then effectively halved since the earlier years of its publication. In July 2020, Bauer published a Special Collector's Issue of the magazine (Q414), which it had intended to be the last edition before deciding to attempt to sell the publication to another media group. This issue was more of a 'throwback' publication, similar to what ''
Mojo Mojo may refer to: * Mojo (African-American culture), a magical charm bag used in voodoo Arts, entertainment and media Film and television * MOJO HD, an American television network * ''Mojo'' (play), by Jez Butterworth, made into a 1997 film * ' ...
'' had been doing, and featured articles and acts from 34 years of ''Q'' magazine. However, with other firms, such as Long Live Vinyl's owner Anthem Publishing, ending the publication of a number of monthly music magazine titles, a buyer could not be found for the title, with editor Ted Kessler announcing that issue Q415 would be the last, on 20 July 2020.


Notable articles

In the early days of publication, the magazine's format was much closer in tone to that of ''
Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...
'' (though with some of the characteristic humour of former ''
Smash Hits ''Smash Hits'' was a British music magazine aimed at young adults, originally published by EMAP. It ran from 1978 to 2006, and, after initially appearing monthly, was issued fortnightly during most of that time. The name survived as a brand fo ...
'' staff shining through), with
Tom Hibbert Tom Hibbert (28 May 1952 – 28 August 2011) was an English music journalist and film critic. In the 1980s and 1990s, he was a regular writer for music magazines such as ''Smash Hits'', '' Q'' and ''Mojo'', and reviewed films for ''Empire'' magaz ...
's "Who The Hell..." feature (including interviews with people like
Jeffrey Archer Jeffrey Howard Archer, Baron Archer of Weston-super-Mare (born 15 April 1940) is an English novelist, life peer, convicted criminal, and former politician. Before becoming an author, Archer was a Member of Parliament (1969–1974), but did not ...
,
Robert Maxwell Ian Robert Maxwell (born Ján Ludvík Hyman Binyamin Hoch; 10 June 1923 – 5 November 1991) was a Czechoslovak-born British media proprietor, member of parliament (MP), suspected spy, and fraudster. Early in his life, Maxwell escaped from N ...
,
Ronnie Biggs Ronald Arthur Biggs (8 August 1929 – 18 December 2013) was an English criminal who helped plan and carry out the Great Train Robbery of 1963. He subsequently became notorious for his escape from prison in 1965, living as a fugitive for 36 ye ...
and Bernard Manning) and film reviews. However, after EMAP started to publish a new magazine called ''
Empire An empire is a "political unit" made up of several territories and peoples, "usually created by conquest, and divided between a dominant center and subordinate peripheries". The center of the empire (sometimes referred to as the metropole) ex ...
'' in 1989 (the idea being that ''Empire'' would be 'Q with films'), the movie reviews migrated to the new publication, with ''Q'' becoming a magazine focused on music (one found for sale alongside ''Select'' and '' Vox'' in various magazine racks). In the 1990s, former ''
NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming, and culture website and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a 'rock inkie', the NME would become a magazine that ended up as a f ...
'' staff writers, such as Andrew Collins, Danny Kelly,
Stuart Maconie Stuart Maconie (born 13 August 1961) is an English radio DJ and television presenter, writer, journalist, and critic working in the field of pop music and popular culture. He is currently a presenter on BBC Radio 6 Music where, alongside Mark ...
, and
Charles Shaar Murray Charles Shaar Murray (born Charles Maximillian Murray; 27 June 1951) is an English music journalist and broadcaster. He has worked on the ''New Musical Express'' and many other magazines and newspapers, and has been interviewed for a number of ...
joined
Paul Du Noyer Paul Du Noyer (born Paul Anthony Du Noyer; 21 May 1954) is an English rock journalist and author. He was born in Liverpool, Lancashire, and educated at the London School of Economics. He has written and edited for the music magazines '' NME'', ' ...
and Adrian Deevoy over at ''Q''. Music coverage in IPC's 'inkie' indie weekly was becoming more serious after
Melody Maker ''Melody Maker'' was a British weekly music magazine, one of the world's earliest music weeklies; according to its publisher, IPC Media, the earliest. It was founded in 1926, largely as a magazine for dance band musicians, by Leicester-born ...
closed down and so names like Maconie felt more at home at a publication that would still run
tongue-in-cheek The idiom tongue-in-cheek refers to a humorous or sarcastic statement expressed in a serious manner. History The phrase originally expressed contempt, but by 1842 had acquired its modern meaning. Early users of the phrase include Sir Walter Scot ...
articles such as "40 Celebs About Whom We Only Know One Thing" and "Do I Have To Wear This, Boss?" (Du Noyer's feature about every band having a member who looks out of place in the line-up). In 2006, ''Q'' published a readers' survey, "The 100 Greatest Songs Ever", which was topped by Oasis' " Live Forever". ''Q'' has a history of associating with charitable organisations, and in 2006 the British anti-poverty charity War on Want was named its official charity. In the April 2007 issue, ''Q'' published an article listing "The 100 Greatest Singers", which was topped by
Elvis Presley Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977), or simply Elvis, was an American singer and actor. Dubbed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Elvis Presley, one ...
.
Lady Gaga Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta ( ; born March 28, 1986), known professionally as Lady Gaga, is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. She is known for her image reinventions and musical versatility. Gaga began performing as a teenag ...
posed topless in a shoot for the April 2010 issue of the magazine, which was banned by stores in the United States due to the singer revealing too much of her breasts.


Other Q brands

After a few years as a radio
jukebox A jukebox is a partially automated music-playing device, usually a coin-operated machine, that will play a patron's selection from self-contained media. The classic jukebox has buttons, with letters and numbers on them, which are used to sele ...
,
Q Radio Q Radio was an online, DAB and DTV radio station, broadcasting on digital television across the UK and online. The station launched in June 2008 as an alternative to the UK's rock and alternative stations, with a strong relationship with Q ...
launched in June 2008 as a full-service
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 ...
with a complete roster. Shows and presenters include ''Drivetime with Danielle Perry'' and ''Q the 80s with Matthew Rudd''. The station 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 and online.
Coldplay Coldplay are a British rock band formed in London in 1997. They consist of vocalist and pianist Chris Martin, guitarist Jonny Buckland, bassist Guy Berryman, drummer Will Champion and creative director Phil Harvey. They met at University Col ...
were involved with the launch of the station by giving an exclusive interview on Q's flagship programme ''QPM'' on the launch day. It was based in
Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...
alongside the now-closed Kerrang! 105.2 after moving from London in 2009. The station was closed in mid-2013 after owners
Bauer Media Heinrich Bauer Publishing (german: Heinrich Bauer Verlag KG), trading as Bauer Media Group, is a German multimedia conglomerate headquartered in Hamburg. It operates worldwide and owns more than 600 magazines, over 400 digital products and 50 ra ...
decided to use the station's bandwidth on various platforms (DAB, Digital TV) to launch
Kisstory Kisstory is a British digital radio station owned and operated by Bauer as part of the Kiss Network. Playing "old skool and anthems", it is a sister station to Kiss. As of June 2022, the station has a weekly audience of 2.1 million listeners, ...
, a spinoff of their
Kiss A kiss is the touch or pressing of one's lips against another person or an object. Cultural connotations of kissing vary widely. Depending on the culture and context, a kiss can express sentiments of love, passion, romance, sexual attraction, ...
brand. There was a ''
Q TV Q was a UK music channel based on Q Magazine, launched on 2 October 2000. It was operated by Box Television, and specialised in indie, rock and alternative. It was available in the UK on Sky channel 364 and Virgin Media channel 338. In Ire ...
''
television channel A television channel is a terrestrial frequency or virtual number over which a television station or television network is distributed. For example, in North America, "channel 2" refers to the terrestrial or cable band of 54 to 60 MHz, with ...
in the UK, which launched on 2 October 2000 and closed on 3 July 2012. ''Q'' held a yearly awards ceremony called the
Q Awards The Q Awards were the UK's annual music awards run by the music magazine '' Q''. Since they began in 1990, the Q Awards became one of Britain's biggest and best publicised music awards. Locations for the awards ceremony included Abbey Road Studios ...
from 1990 until 2019. The Q Awards came to an end along with the publication itself.


Decline

In February 2012 Andrew Harrison was recruited as editor, replacing Paul Rees during a difficult period when on-line publishing had led to a 17% decline in the magazine's circulation in the first half of 2012. It had fallen to 64,596 units; a reduction in volume described by ''The Guardian'' as "the worst performance of any music magazine in the period".Cardew, Ben.
Q editor Andrew Harrison steps down
. ''
The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
'', 11 April 2013. Retrieved 17 January 2021
Direct reporting to Publishing Director Rimi Atwal of
Bauer Media Group Heinrich Bauer Publishing (german: Heinrich Bauer Verlag KG), trading as Bauer Media Group, is a German multimedia conglomerate headquartered in Hamburg. It operates worldwide and owns more than 600 magazines, over 400 digital products and 50 r ...
, Harrison's brief was to "refocus" and revive the magazine, and to that end he took on a number of new journalists and launched their iPad edition, but decided against a rebranding. Under his tenure, ''Q'' was named "Magazine of the Year" at the 2012 "Record of the Day" awards. He left just 14 months later, according to ''the Guardian'', "as print music magazines continue to endure torrid times" and even free titles were failing to compete against blogs and platforms dependent on
online advertising Online advertising, also known as online marketing, Internet advertising, digital advertising or web advertising, is a form of marketing and advertising which uses the Internet to promote products and services to audiences and platform users. ...
.


Criticism

According to the global business magazine ''
Campaign Campaign or The Campaign may refer to: Types of campaigns * Campaign, in agriculture, the period during which sugar beets are harvested and processed *Advertising campaign, a series of advertisement messages that share a single idea and theme * Bl ...
'' in 2008, ''Q'' had been criticised for "playing it safe" with its album reviews and cover mounts. In a 2001 interview 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, primar ...
'', Marillion singer
Steve Hogarth Steve Hogarth (born Ronald Stephen Hoggarth, 14 May 1956 in Kendal, Westmorland) also known as "h", is an English singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. Since 1989 he has been the lead singer of the British rock band Marillion, for which ...
criticised ''Q''s refusal to cover the band despite publishing some positive reviews:
I don’t understand why ''Q'' Magazine won't write about us. The most memorable review they gave us was of '' Afraid of Sunlight'' which said, "If this were by anything other than Marillion it would be hailed as near genius". And they still wouldn't give us a feature. How can they say, "this is an amazing record ... no, we don't want to talk to you"? It's hard to take when they say, "here's a very average record ... we'll put you on the front cover". Why don't they just stop pretending that it's all about music and admit it's really about money? Then put the top-selling five bands on the cover and tell everyone else to fuck off.Dave Ling (May 2001
Interview with Steve Hogarth
''
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, primar ...
''
In 2005, after winning the Q Legend award at the Q Awards, New Order bassist Peter Hook called the magazine "two-faced cunts who give us bad reviews".


References


External links


Official ''Q'' website


{{Authority control Music magazines published in the United Kingdom Bauer Group (UK) Bauer Radio Monthly magazines published in the United Kingdom Magazines established in 1986 Magazines disestablished in 2020 Defunct magazines published in the United Kingdom 2020 disestablishments in the United Kingdom Magazines published in London Companies disestablished due to the COVID-19 pandemic