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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). ''Funk ...
magazine published monthly in the United Kingdom. It was founded in 1986 by broadcast journalists Mark Ellen and David Hepworth, who were presenters of the BBC television music series '' The Old Grey Whistle Test''. ''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 Snooker (pronounced , ) is a cue sport played on a rectangular table covered with a green cloth called baize, with six pockets, one at each corner and one in the middle of each long side. First played by British Army officers stationed in Ind ...
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. 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 identified ...
, as well as being "a symptom of an expert-free internet age."


Content

The magazine had an extensive review section, featuring: new releases, reissues, 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, but these magazines stopped in 2018, with its sister magazine, '' Mojo'' (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 or books. The January 2006 issue included a free copy of "The Greatest Rock and Pop Miscellany … Ever!", modelled on '' Schott's Original Miscellany''. 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''. The magazine had a relationship with the
Glastonbury Festival Glastonbury Festival (formally Glastonbury Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts and known colloquially as Glasto) is a five-day festival of contemporary performing arts that takes place in Pilton, Somerset, England. In addition to contempo ...
, 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 Dire Straits were a British rock band formed in London in 1977 by Mark Knopfler (lead vocals and lead guitar), David Knopfler (rhythm guitar and backing vocals), John Illsley (bass guitar and backing vocals) and Pick Withers (drums and pe ...
and Phil Collins) to the Britpop 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'' magazine as well) covering the same genre of music; ''Select'' was shut in late 2000, with ''Q'' continuing. In January 2008, '' Mojo'' was launched by EMAP as a rival to '' Uncut Magazine'' 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, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first known for its co ...
''-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'' 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, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first known for its co ...
'' (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 ...
'' staff shining through), with Tom Hibbert'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, Ronnie Biggs 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'' staff writers, such as Andrew Collins, Danny Kelly, Stuart Maconie, and Charles Shaar Murray joined Paul Du Noyer and Adrian Deevoy over at ''Q''. Music coverage in IPC's 'inkie' indie weekly was becoming more serious after Melody Maker closed down and so names like Maconie felt more at home at a publication that would still run tongue-in-cheek 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, Q Radio 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 radi ...
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 advanc ...
networks in the UK and online.
Coldplay Coldplay are a British Rock music, 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 (manager), Phil H ...
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 We ...
alongside the now-closed
Kerrang! 105.2 Kerrang! Radio is a specialist digital rock music radio station owned and operated by Bauer and forms part of the Kiss Network. As of September 2022, the station has a weekly audience of 341,000 listeners according to RAJAR. Stations Hist ...
after moving from London in 2009. The station was closed in mid-2013 after owners Bauer Media decided to use the station's bandwidth on various platforms (DAB, Digital TV) to launch Kisstory, a spinoff of their Kiss brand. There was a '' Q TV''
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, wit ...
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 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 A newspaper is a periodical publication containing written information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide ...
'', 11 April 2013. Retrieved 17 January 2021
Direct reporting to Publishing Director Rimi Atwal of Bauer Media Group, 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.


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 * B ...
'' 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, prim ...
'', Marillion singer Steve Hogarth 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, prim ...
''
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