Dance mag duds

[james]

I still think that this particular articles impact is over accentuated as we have discussed that alot of MM readers are possibly either too young to book thier own holiday to Ibiza or would go regardless of what was written.

may have a good point there too

i used to be an avid reader of mixmag too. but it is getting repetitive now - but i'm sure that's as much to do with the state of the club scene as opposed to MM itself. i can still remember coming back to UK after my first year of clubbing here in '95 and couldn't wait to buy the latest Ibiza Anthems, mixed by Judge Jules and Brandon Block - things haven't changed much in 10 years have they

on a positive note, MM have done a nice article on Manumission for this months issue. the 'mish is constantly striving to put on something new and it's nice to see people appreciate that (even though, so many on these forums didn't ;-) it seems manumission-bashing is a favourite past time of many here

 

[jamesthemonkeh]

I could very easily be wrong, but I think I first read about the connection between terrorists and Ibiza on this site, around April, but I cannot find the news story/forum post...so maybe I didn't, if I am correct, maybe Mixmag got some of that story from here?

 

[djchewie]

I could very easily be wrong, but I think I first read about the connection between terrorists and Ibiza on this site, around April, but I cannot find the news story/forum post...so maybe I didn't, if I am correct, maybe Mixmag got some of that story from here?

prob is a connection if u go down about 150 lines of enquiry...

if thats the case, then im bloody related to some kinda chinese lord.

so does that make me some sort of royal?

 

[stuie]

I've managed to move on to more 'grown-up' reads

 

[djchewie]

cant beat heat, or zoo or nuts....

all quality reads...

scaryily it is a valid cross section of society today... we got a woman who works for us from Chav central hemel... all she talks about is what X Celeb has got up 2 like it was her nextdoor neighbour or someink.

 

[Dr Mick]

For it to drop below 40,000 it has to lose 1/5 of its circulation which is a huge amount and I would doubt that it would be closed unless it stops making money. I think therefore it will go on irritating & entertaining people with its tabliodal headlines for some time to come.

Actually, Mixmag has lost about 75% of its circulation from its hey day of 2001 or thereabouts, when it sold 200,000-odd. Ministry mag got the chop at about the same circulation, even tho the publishers said it was still making money.

Btw I penned the original draft of "Dance Mag Duds" (in close consultation with my superiors of course ). The writers of Mixmag have already, er, personally conveyed their views about it and I can assure you they knew exactly what they were doing. "The Dark Side of Ibiza" was not a hastily or casually assembled issue.

 

[OllieW]

I was being flippant when I said how they came up with the article and I am sure they did know exactly what they were doing when the article was comissioned.

There's no doubt that times are hard for MM and I am sure this is true of pretty much all dance oriented publications. After all we have seen the demise of many clubs since 2001 and as we know the numbers in even the most successful events aint what they used to be.

Its easy to point to the circulation decline of titles like MM and say its a death nell but im not sure this is true. MM existed long before everything went mental and probably sold no more copies than it does now (possibly even less - I'm guessing here, I dont have the figures).

I dont think its any surprise that some publications have had to resort to shock tactics to sell issues - Doesn't make it right, I agree, but it is a natural reaction. Whoever is in charge will always want to work back towards the days when they sold more copies. The fact is that there once was a time when people would buy MM (or other dance mag) simply as a coffee table title. Most of these people never even went to clubs it was just the cool thing to have. Now of course this mag is more likely to be Kerrang!

The (unexplainable) rise of rock over the past few years has basically put out the fire dance created through the 90's. IMO dance will benefit from a few years in the background as I think things were getting waaaaayyy too over the top around 2001, accompanied by some pretty awful tunes and sloppy nights.

Frankly I thought the quality of tunes this year in Ibiza was among the best I have heard. The DJ's seemed to be happier to play more old tunes amongst the new which if you ask me makes things a little more interesting.

Sooner or later I think it will be obvious to MM that a change of approach is needed but for now I still reckon whatever they, or anyone else prints shouldnt be viewed too harshly.

 

[Athcliath]

Not a huge fan of Mixmag but I have to say that this month's free Cox CD is excellent. More of the same please.

 

[Digger]

The (unexplainable) rise of rock over the past few years has basically put out the fire dance created through the 90's. IMO dance will benefit from a few years in the background as I think things were getting waaaaayyy too over the top around 2001, accompanied by some pretty awful tunes and sloppy nights.

Frankly I thought the quality of tunes this year in Ibiza was among the best I have heard. The DJ's seemed to be happier to play more old tunes amongst the new which if you ask me makes things a little more interesting.

How the f**k did 80s hairspray metal and talentless AC/DC rip-off merchants make a come-back among da yoot? We were supposed to have put those cowboys down for good from 88 onwards, for the benefit of humankind.

I went (embarrassing revelation coming up) to see The Darkness supporting Def Leppard (freeby plus curiosity, I promise) at the Brixton Academy just before those Lowestoft w**kers went stadium-sized and was amazed by the fact that, cheese and onion pie-sweaty old metallers aside, the average age of the audience was about 15. For Def Leppard and The Darkness, God help us! I can grudgingly admit that the support act's schtick was mildly amusing as a kind of pastiche - for about five minutes. But Def Leppard were the most boring bunch of cynical old hacks cashing in the absurd resurgence in popularity of one of humanity's worst musical mistakes. And if you traverse over to the "cool" end of guitar music, like The Strokes or White Stripes or whoever, it was all done a million times better in the 70s by people like Iggy and the Stooges. Give me Freeland's version of Seven Nation Army over the original every time.

So I agree that dance music should benefit from a few years in the background. More importantly, it can be reclaimed by the people who really love it and feel grateful for the original sense of excitement and liberation it brought, which still thumps out of the speakers whenever a good tune is played.

Here endeth the sermon.

 

[MarkSimpson]

I have cancelled my mixmag subscription in the last few days, not as a direct result of the article in question but I do feel it is symptomatic of the magazine's move away from music, clubs and informative pieces on drugs, plus a decent amount of funny stuff, towards sensationalism, glorifiying excessive drug use, more tits and less music. Replacing comprehensive club coverage and single reviews with the short-lived top 75 nights out and the top ten tunes in each style was a disastrous move. At the same time, the quality of free CDs has improved, but that's not enough to keep me interested. Unfortunately, the only remaining competition can be a bit dry, but I've decided to throw in my lot with IDJ for the time being on the grounds that DJmag is a bit too techy.

 

[Mimako]

Here's something to think about to all the Brits amongst us. In today's edition of Nyt (weekly "youth" supplement of the Nordic countries' largest newspaper Helsingin Sanomat) roughly one-fifth of the Finnish population could read the following text. It was part of this week's cover story about the trip to Ibiza of "Finland's most youthful person" that was selected by the same supplement last year. The youthful person was a 72-year-old granny btw, translation and italics my own:

"According to a recent study, over a third of British tourists aged 18 to 24 take ecstasy at least five times during their one-week trips to Ibiza. This is displayed at its saddest in Ibiza ditches where one can regularly see the upside down, scattered remains of rented Seat cars.

The Spanish, however, have a more pressing reason to try and root out the trade in pills: the Madrid bomb attack which killed over 200 people in spring was financed with ecstasy trade and the dreams of young Brits of a neverending party."

Does this ring a bell, Mixmag readers (and writers)? The same claim was repeated, unquestioned, in the supplement's editorial. I know for a fact that no one from the supplement had ever been to Ibiza before and could therefore easily rely on whatever crap is written about the island.

I suppose you Brits aren't too bothered with whatever any paper in a small and remote country writes about you. I'm just so saddened to read stuff like that just when the first Finnish package holidays in ten years are starting. Now whoever goes to Ibiza is labeled as a potential financier of terrorists. Same goes for any Brit partygoer who visits Finland in the near future, I suppose.

Should have thought about what you wrote, Mixmag

 

[kosmos]

I was an avid MM reader for years until about 2001 (at great expense over here) - it really took a turn for the worse about then, lots of k@k editorial attitude and shody writing, they canned regular features that made the mag useful and interesting reading. They lost the plot along with a lot of club land, most likely reason being their perspective of reality dissapearing up their noses. Way too much drug bravado and opinionated. Yes, some of those mix CD's were good, perhaps the only redeeming feature in the last few isues I bought (stll enjoy that Timo Mass one)

I was gutted when Muzik closed, that was a real pity but still enjoy DJ Mag (like that good interview with Morillo recently), so what else is there?

I personally think MM is giving the scene a bad rap. Its time to bow out. Times have changed (and its got nothing to do with the rise of cock rock). It had its hey day along with Gatecrasher @ the Replublic, when UV Lee and crew used to rule the balcony.

Also worth mentioning that partaking in illegal drugs anywhere generally means supporting criminal networks (that's part of the argument for decriminalisation). Also MM should have noted Spain has one of the most progressive drug policies in Europe, if not the world.

 

[Matthew Charles]

I have just read this thread for the first time from top to bottom and have to admit my head is in a bit of a spin, there is a lot of well thought out points so please bear with me while I put my ten penith in.

Firstly as someone who stopped reading mixmag around sept 2001 and recently returned to it I have to agree it has turned into populist title. The front covers used to be graced by Daft Punk, Basement Jax and the like now in the past three months we have had that ibiza story, mike and claire and that bird from Boys and Girls. I don't think it is entirely correct in just saying we have grown out of it, the content has definetley changed. This is unfortunate as other mags who focussed on the music (Muzik funnily enough) have fallen by the way side. However I do think it serves a purpose. The reason Rock n Roll was sexy was because it was s*x, d*&gs rock n roll. New people are not going to get involved in the scene if it is entireley populated by nerdy trainspotters searching out the latest mix by the latest computer genius in outer mongolia. I know this is not representative of the scene but if that is all thats in the mags then how are new people supposed to know (Look at Northern Souls past rep in the press). As Morrillo mentioned in his DJ mag interview we need personalities and unfortunatly or fortunately depending how you look at it with personalities comes interest in their lives where they came from how they got here and where they get pissed. i.e filling a gap in the market.

However can't make my mind up about what that article will have done to ibiza numbers. Having been involved in this scene for 13 years now I can take it with a pinch of salt (as most seasoned clubbers probably have) but tabloid journalism could stop new people coming to the island and by that I mean non clubbers. I have a similar story to the one previosly mentioned. On my return flight after working for the summer in 2001 I was next to two elderly ladies. We got chatting, as you do, and found out they came on a last minute deal. They were not completely lookin forward to it but it was in their budget so they came. They could not tell me how nice a time they had and would be back the following year. These types of tourists are needed to keep the island afloat. As much as we would like to think it could Ibiza cannot and will not survive on clubbers alone, we need to live together in harmony . Perhaps MM should have thought about the bigger picture first.

Anyways I'm still slightly confused . for what its worth I still read MM for the tabloid side of things and read M8 (the only other mag not mentioned here) for the music side. A little over a year ago M8 was in a similar situation as MM all tits, arse and how funked you were that weekend but they have a new editarial team who have given it a more grown up feel in the most part (gave away a free water pistol last month?) and a healthy interest in the music. Recent covers being Armand Van Helden, Defected in Miami, Mauro Piccoto. Have a read and voice your opinions.

 

[Ville]

one hilarious quote from the Nyt-magazine:

" The Ibizan Kings are not the super models in the vip rooms but ordinary, middle-class, chubby Brit-morons...."

 

[tigerw30]

Most music journalism is people who can't write interviewing people who can't talk for people who can't read - Frank Zappa