Rather than green peppers and a six pack, the bag contained 20 or so rock magazines from the past year. MainlyMOJO and Uncut, but there were a couple issues of relix in there too. She works at a popular cafe in downtown Indianapolis and apparently one of the regulars gave her a bag of his old magazines as a gift. I’ve met him. A nice guy, to be sure, and a nice enough gesture as he knows we’re big fans of music.
When she and I moved to a new apartment this past summer, we threw away 6 months worth of the Atlantic and Rolling Stone. I suppose his way is a better way to deal with old magazines. However, let me list some of the covers and see if you notice a theme here:
- Paul Simon
- Neil Young
- The Kinks
- The Who
- Queen
- Allman Brothers
- Bob Dylan
Now, when I said old magazines, I wasn’t talking classic issues of Rolling Stone from 1976–no, all these magazines are from the past 12 months! The only issue with a recent band on it has the Fleet Foxes on the cover. The issue with the next most recent band? It’s the March 2011 MOJO with Nirvana on the cover. Nirvana.
Now don’t get me wrong, I love Nirvana and it was the first article I read from the entire stack, but how can these magazines coast on the old legends so hard, month in and month out?
The February 2011 issue of Uncut is apparently the “Ultimate 2011 Preview” issue. You know who’s on the cover? The Allman Brothers. MOJO‘s “Ultimate Review” for 2010 has Freddie Mercury on the cover.
Seriously. So ultimate.
So the question for you, dear readers, is this: What’s a good music magazine nowadays? One that, while it may tip its hat to the legendary figures of the past, doesn’t fetishize them either. Sub-question: What do you do with your old magazines?
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