MAGAZINE ARCHIVE : Q – MARCH 2011

Liam Gallagher is the cover star of Q as he prepares to launch the debut album of Beady Eye, a band comprising of the non Noel Gallagher members of Oasis.

If you look closely, in Liam’s shades, you can see the other members of Beady Eye in his reflection.

In “Q Mail”, Simon Hunt e-mails to respond to previous correspondence complaining about Take That appearing in Q, while cheekily asking when Justin Bieber will be appearing on Cash For Questions.

Jonathan Paul from Leicester contacts Q to complain about their ignoring of Ian Matthews and Chris Edwards in Kasabian articles, in comparison to Serge Pizzorno and Tom Meighan.

Q50 is a feature of the 50 songs you should download this month. Top of the pile was The Beat Goes On by cover stars Beady Eye.

Gary Lightbody of Snow Patrol gets a guest submission, choosing Coal by The Mariner’s Children.

In news, Alex Turner records solo songs for a movie soundtrack, Green Day release a live album, The Kills are reforming and Beth Ditto is going on a solo career.

Featuring forthcoming albums, Glasvegas get a double page spread for their as yet titled new album.

Also working hard in the studio were Hard-Fi, with a propsed release date given as “Summer 2011”

Q dedicates a full page to a phone interview with Plan B, where he reveals that Forrest Gump is the one movie that makes him cry.

Tipped for greatness this month are The Joy Formidable, Miles Kane and MNDR.

Shaun Ryder is the subject of this month’s Cash For Questions, answering questions about Tony Wilson, UFOs and Reality TV.

In ads, Paul McCartney stars in an advert for PETA.

There are nine pages dedicated to cover stars Beady Eye, with Liam Gallagher claiming that “People will be calling their kids Beady Eye by the end of the year”

It’s not all about Liam, as Gem, Andy and Chris get profiled, looking at their musical CVs pre Oasis.

Junior Gallagher had gotten the first blow in to release post Oasis music, but Senior Gallagher (Noel) was at work on his debut solo album, with 17 tracks believed to have been recorded, one of which has Miles Kane on guitar, and was set for release in late summer.

Noel’s (using the name of Noel Galagher’s High Flying Birds) self titled debut album was eventually released in October 2011.

KT Tunstall gets a full page interview, where she denounces her stepdad, who was a BNP candidate.

Riding high on the success of Rolling In The Deep, Adele gets a four page profile.

Cee Lo Green is gets interviewed by Q, where he discusses his favourite albums.

Another band riding high in the charts, were Noah and the Whale, who got a three page feature.

2011 was the year that saw the 20th anniversary of the death of Freddie Mercury, and Q interviews Roger Taylor and Brian May, ahead of a feature about unseen Queen photographs being made public for the first time.

In reviews, Beady Eye’s debut album Different Gear, Still Speeding gets four stars.

Also getting four stars was Clare Maguire’s debut album Light After Dark and Hotel Shampoo by Gruff Rhys.

If Bruce Springsteen is your thing, Q has a handy guide for those wishing to explore his vast discography.

Concert Reviews sees Paul McCartney get a five star review for a concert at 100 Club in London just before Cristmas 2010.

Also getting five stars were The View for their pre Christmas gigs in Sheffield and Stoke.

MAGAZINE ARCHIVE : NME YEARBOOK 2005

Rather misleading title this week, as NME brings out a yearbook to look back at 2005, than forward. The cover stars, are a series of stars from the year, such as Oasis, Arctic Monkeys, Coldplay, and Green Day.

The review of the year, unsurprisingly, begins in January, with the year starting off with a feud between The Killers and The Bravery.

The Killers get four pages looking back on their year, and the ten things that made it such a successful year, including the obvious one, “Have more than one good song”

February’s story of the month was the NME Awards. Curiously, with their lead story each month, NME include a selection of choice quotes from various music bloggers.

Ricky Wilson of Kaiser Chiefs gets four pages talking about the big news stories of 2005, including the return of Doctor Who, which he approved of, but not the choice of doctor.

“I would have went for someone a bit more leftfield, like Harry Hill. Or Eddie Izzard”

In March, the Feud Of The Month was within Snow Patrol, as Bassist Mark McClelland was sacked.

Meanwhile, Bono declared himself a fan of The Futureheads.

By May, Make Poverty History wristbands were the Fashion Item Of The Month, while the feud between The Killers and The Bravery escalated to be Feud Of The Month for May.

But the big news, was that The Darkness lost “Their only cool member” with the departure of Frankie Poullain.

Piers Morgan gets four pages, where he reviews the stories that filled the biggest amount of column inches in the tabloids.

A series of stars get Q and A’d about their year. The best thing someone said to Richard Archer from Hard-Fi was when somebody informed him that Brentford had went top of the league.

Coldplay get six pages, most of it photos, as they present their favourite photos from their year, which saw them release their third album.

Oasis gig at City Of Manchester Stadium, their first at the venue since it opened in 2003 was Gig Of The Month for July, but it was another gig, Live 8, which was the Story Of The Month.

Kasabian get a two page feature where they list their Top Ten gigs they attended in 2005, with The Prodigy at V Festival being the best.

Across the page, they list their Top Five gigs played, with Glastonbury coming out on top.

Four pages get dedicated to lyrics, as acts such as Kaiser Chiefs, Hard-Fi and Razorlight discuss the lyrical content of some of their big hits from the year.

Where in 2005 could you find the coolest bands on the planet? Yorkshire.

Yorkshire was so cool in 2005, that NME did a full page on how cool it was.

Like Coldplay, Bloc Party get a four page photo diary, looking back at their year.

By October, The Killers had moved on from The Bravery, and were now feuding with Fall Out Boy.

2005. The year of The Killers having feuds.

50 YEARS OF TOP OF THE POPS : JAN 17 – JAN 23

We begin this week by celebrating the birth of a Rolling Stone called Mick, but not that one. Mick Taylor, a Stone from 1969 to 1974, here in one of their last TOTP studio appearances before they became too busy/big for the show, then too low charting.

17th January is a birthday for not 1, not 2, but 3 1980s stars. Paul Young (1956) being introduced here by Simon Le Bon.

Meanwhile, three years later (or, 1959) saw the birth of Susanna Hoffs. As a treat, here’s The Bangles performing Eternal Flame in 2001, shortly after Atomic Kitten took a cover of it to Number 1.

And finally, in 1964, Andy Rourke. You know, one of the two in The Smiths that wasn’t Johnny Marr or Morrissey.

Onto more recent times, Ricky Wilson from Kaiser Chiefs (and, um, The Voice) turns 36 this week.

While Calvin Harris turns 31 this week.

It’s a busy week for birthdays, with Tom Bailey of Thompson Twins turning 60. Here’s Mike Read introducing them by playing Harmonica.

Sir John Mills grandson is 41 this week. You may know him better as the singer from Kula Shaker.

Meanwhile, here’s Hard-Fi living for the weekend in 2005

Meanwhile, Robert Palmer would have been eligible for a bus pass this week if he was still alive. Here’s a random find of him performing with The Power Station, introduced by Harry Hill.

Nicky Wire from the Manics is 45 this week. Here they are performing Everything Must Go. Is it me, or does the drum loop slightly rip off Be My Baby?

The birthdays keep coming, Gary Barlow (1971) and Emma Bunton (1976)

Now to some would be birthdays, first Malcolm McLaren

And Michael Hutchence, who would have been 52 this week.

Sporting some dodgy gym gear in 1987

Performing ‘Taste It’

And finally, being introduced by his ex, Kylie Minogue in 1997, the year he later died.

Almost near the end of this week’s Birthday Bonanza, one last one, Andrew Roachford, or just plain Roachford.

Though, you can’t hear ‘Cuddly Toy’ without thinking about this.

And finally, we end on a sad note, as this week saw the 18th anniversary of the death of the London Boys. This song, is just fantastic.

THE SOUND OF 2011 : 81-100

So, here it is, that time of year when we look back at the year just past.

Every Thursday night between now and December 22nd, i’m going to give you the definitive list of the 100 Best Songs Of 2011. This week is 81-100

Why Thursday I hear you ask? Well, when I blogged on Bebo, Thursaday was the day I posted my Top 5 songs that week, so I might as well keep it going on WordPress, even though I now blog my Top 5 songs of the week on a Friday morning, purely because ‘The Friday Five’ sounds better than ‘The Thursday Five’

For those needing a refresher, the previous winners are

2010 Marina and the Diamonds – Shampain
2009 Little Boots – New In Town
2008 Sons and Daughters – Darling
2007 Feist – 1, 2, 3, 4
2006 Kasabien – Empire

So, who will win in 2011?

He’s 81-100

81. Adele – Set Fire To The Rain
82. Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds – Stranded On The Wrong Beach
83. Two Door Cinema Club – Undercover Martyn
84. Ed Sheeran – Lego House
85. Beady Eye – Four Letter Word
86. Noah and the Whale – Life Is Life
87. Take That – Kidz
88. Yasmin – Finish Line
89. Noah and the Whale – Tonight’s The Kind Of Night
90. Rihanna – We Found Love
91. The Kooks – Is It Me?
92. Nikki Minaj ft Rihanna – Fly
93. Arctic Monkeys – The Hellcat Spangled Shalala
94. Talay Riley – Make You Mine
95. Calvin Harris ft Kelis – Bounce
96. Marina and the Diamonds – Radioactive
97. Rizzle Kicks – Down With The Trumpets
98. White Lies – Better Than Us
99. Hard-Fi – Good For Nothing
100. Nikki Minaj : Supperbass

Sound Of 2010

Sound Of 2009

Sound Of 2008

Sound Of 2007

Sound Of 2006