Magazines

This article is about the band, see the magazine for more meanings .

Magazines
Magazine 2011 in Kent, England
General information
origin	Manchester , England
Genre (s)	Post-punk , new wave , art-punk
founding	1977, 2009
resolution	1981
Founding members
singing	Howard Devoto
guitar	John McGeoch (until 1980; † 2004)
bass	Barry Adamson (until 2009)
Keyboard	Bob Dickinson (1977)
Drums	Martin Jackson (until 1978)
Current occupation
singing	Howard Devoto
guitar	Norman "Noko" Fisher-Jones (since 2009)
bass	Jonathan "Stan" White (2011)
Keyboard	Dave Formula (since 1977)
Drums	John Doyle (since 1978)
former members
guitar	Robin Simon (1980)
guitar	Ben Mandelson (1981)

Magazine is a British post-punk - band , which in 1977 by ex- Buzzcocks singer Howard Devoto was founded.

Band history

Howard Devoto had left the Buzzcocks in February 1977 with the intention of finishing his studies. However, the albums Low by David Bowie and The Idiot by Iggy Pop , which were released around the same time, prompted him to found a new band that should differentiate himself from punk rock and rather emphasize his poetic texts. He met guitarist and art student John McGeoch in April and began working on new songs. During the summer, he searched for musicians for the new band through an ad in the Virgin Record store in Manchester . He found her with Barry Adamson on bass, Martin Jackson on drums and Bob Dickinson on keyboards. The first Magazine concert took place on October 28, 1977 at Rafters in Manchester. In the first interviews, Devoto clearly differentiated the band from what punk was all about at the time, and with Paul Morley from the NME he also had a first proponent in the music press, which was then focused on punk. In late 1977 the band signed a contract with Virgin Records , which prompted the Melody Maker to dedicate a cover to Devoto as "Man for '78". Dickinson, who was more interested in classical and art rock, had already left the band at this point, so that the first single Shot by Both Sides , with a guitar riff still written by Pete Shelley , was only recorded in a four-person lineup. The single made it into the UK charts in February 1978. Magazines were invited to Top of the Pops , which at the time could facilitate commercial success. The appearance in which Devoto was made up in white and did not sing the end of the piece to the playback meant that the single did not rise in the charts after it aired on February 16, but fell off.

As a replacement for Robert Dickinson, keyboardist Dave Formula only joined in 1978 in time for the first album Real Life . While touring for the album, Martin Jackson left the band in July 1978 and was replaced by Paul Spencer for some appearances. In this line-up, magazines played their appearance on the British television program The Old Gray Whistle Test . With the new drummer John Doyle, who joined the band in October, the tour for Real Life was ended and in 1979 the second magazine album Secondhand Daylight , produced by Colin Thurston, was recorded. The band's sound became more experimental, more keyboard-heavy and overall a bit smoother. A development that was rather rejected by the music press and criticized as Prog . The band members then devoted themselves to other projects; McGeoch helped out in 1979 as a guitarist with Siouxsie and the Banshees and Visage , Adamson and Formula were already permanent members of Visage at that time.

In early 1980, the album The Correct Use of Soap , produced by Martin Hannett , followed, which climbed to number 54 in the English charts and was the last major success of magazine. McGeoch switched to Siouxsie and the Banshees entirely. His successor on guitar was Robin Simon, who left Ultravox in 1979 . After an international tour at the end of the year he got out again and Bob Mandelson took over his part. In early 1981, Magazines recorded their long-last album Magic, Murder and the Weather with this line-up. In May 1981 singer Devoto left the band to devote himself to solo projects. The band then broke up completely.

In July 2008 it was announced that magazine would like to perform together again in February 2009 for two concerts in London, Manchester and Glasgow. Due to the great interest on the part of fans and the press, the tour plan was expanded to include several very successful concerts and TV appearances. Magazine and Dave Formula are currently managed by the London label wire-sound. In October 2011 the band released the album No Thyself with Norman Fisher-Jones alias Noko on guitar and Jonathan "Stan" White on bass, the first track of which Pete Shelley co-wrote. Magazine has been inactive since the album was released.

style

Magazine was one of the first bands to be characterized by a high willingness to experiment, which would later become typical of post-punk. They combined the energy and anger of punk with more poetic texts and the use of keyboards, which was unusual for punk conditions at the time. Musically, Magazine moved between abrupt chord changes and gloomy but atmospheric soundscapes.

Cover versions

Magazine's songs have been covered by several well-known artists: A Song From Under The Floorboard by Simple Minds and Morrissey , Shot by Both Sides by Radiohead and Jarvis Cocker, and The Light Pours out of me by Ministry , The Mission and Peter Murphy .

Discography

All recordings were published by Virgin.

Albums

year	title	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChartsChart placements (Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes)	Remarks
		UK
1978	Real life	UK29 (8 weeks) UK	Re-release in 2007
1979	Secondhand Daylight	UK38 (8 weeks) UK	Re-release in 2007
1980	The correct use of soap	UK28 (4 weeks) UK	Re-release in 2007
1981	Magic, Murder and the Weather	UK39 (3 weeks) UK	Re-release in 2007

more publishments

• 1980: An Alternative Use Of Soap (USA Edition, with 2 other titles)
• 2011: No Thyself

Live albums

year	title	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChartsChart placements (Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes)	Remarks
		UK
1980	Play	UK69 (1 week) UK	Re-release in 2009

more publishments

• 1993: BBC Radio 1 in Concert
• 2009: Real Life & Thereafter
• 2009: Live And Intermittent (Restored And Remastered) (08.79 + 09.79 + 09.80)

Compilations

• 1982: After The Fact
• 1987: Rays and Hail 1978–1981: The Best of Magazine
• 1991: Scree - Rarities 1978-1981
• 2000: Where the Power Is
• 2000: Maybe It's Right to Be Nervous Now
• 2008: The Complete John Peel Sessions
• 2009: Touch & Go: Anthology 02. 78-06. 81

Singles

year	Title album	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChartsChart placements (Year, title, album , rankings, weeks, awards, notes)	Remarks
		UK
1978	Shot By Both Sides Real Life	UK41 (4 weeks) UK	B-side: My Mind Ain't So Open
1980	Sweetheart Contract	UK54 (3 weeks) UK	EP Sweetheart Contract, Feed The Enemy, (live) Twenty Years Ago (live), Shot By Both Sides (live)

more publishments

• 1978: Touch and Go / Goldfinger
• 1978: Give Me Everything / I Love You You Big Dummy
• 1979: Rhythm of Cruelty / TV Baby
• 1980: A Song From Under The Floorboards / Twenty Years Ago
• 1980: Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin) / The Book
• 1980: Upside Down / The Light Pours Out Of Me
• 1981: About The Weather / In The Dark / The Operative
• 2011: Hello Mr Curtis

Video albums

• 1989: Magazine
• 2009: Real Life & Thereafter

literature

• Howard Devoto: It Only Looks As If It Hurts - The Complete Lyrics 1976-90 . Black Spring Press, 1994, ISBN 0-948238-08-9 .
• Helen Chase: Magazine . Northumbria Press, 2009, ISBN 978-1-904794-36-3 ( band biography including all lyrics ).
• Simon Reynolds: Rip It Up And Start Again . Hannibal Verlag, Höfen 2007, ISBN 978-3-85445-270-6 (Chapter 2: Outside of Everything: Howard Devoto and Vic Goddard ).

Web links

• Magazine on myspace
• Wire-sound website with news and information on magazines
• Magazine at Allmusic (English)

Individual evidence

1. ^ Howard Devoto makes a comeback with his inspirational band, Magazine. The Telegraph on Feb. 11, 2009
2. ↑ Artist Biography by Stephen Thomas Erlewine
3. ↑ www.wire-sound.com
4. ↑ ^{a b c} Chart sources: UK