Tuesday, September 27, 2005
The NME Years
Pedro45 spent a huge part of his years, his second "life", working at New Musical Express, at the time, the World's biggest selling music newspaper. Nick Hornby actually wrote in Hi-Fidelity that his all-time favourite job would have been to work at NME during 1977;; well, I was lucky enough to have fulfilled that criteria, and I stayed for fourteen years.
I wanted to try to write down some of the many, many, things that happened during that time, and I guess that this blog is as good a site as any to store my memories.
My initial post will be in the form of pen pics for a large number of the NME staff that I worked with. Some are quite famous (or infamous!) now - Danny Baker, Tony Parsons, Julie Burchill, Gary Crowley - and some should have been! I'll try to remember and record, through the drunken haze, what went on, some funny events, who did what, etc etc, so that it all makes a bit of sense.
First, let's get this clear - I was not a staff writer on NME. My job was to work in Advertisement Production, obtaining advert copy from clients/agencies, forwarding it to our printers or typesetters, checking the copy once it had been typeset or originated, then passing the pages for press at the printer/typesetter. I did this job with two other staff, and from 1980 onwards I was the manager of this function.
In 1977, when I joined NME, our advertisement offices were in Kings Reach Tower, an office block in London on the South Bank of the River Thames between Waterloo and Blackfriars Bridges. In 1984, we moved offices to Commonwealth House, at the Holborn end of New Oxford Street, then we went back to Kings Reach in 1988. The editorial offices of NME were in Carnaby Street until 1986, when they joined us in Commonwealth House, and then onwards to Kings Reach in 1988.
The make up (dummy, or flat plan, or imposition) was also my responsibility, and I had to check this twice a week at the editorial offices, so that adverts appeared in their paid-for positions, in conjunction with editorial requirements (fitting article length etc). Hence, I spent a fair amount of time with the editorial guys. I would usually try to time things so I could fit in a beery lunch or evening with editorial friends after I'd checked the dummy.
We also spent a fair amount of travelling time together up until 1983, as our printer was in Kettering, Northants. The three ad guys, plus anywhere between five and ten editorial writers would get up early each Tuesday, and we would usually catch the 8am train from St Pancras, meeting up in the buffet before jumping on the train just a few minutes before departure. The hour plus journey was enlivened by conversations, card games, snoring, jokes, and the reading of newspapers. Lunchtimes tended to be spent in one of Kettering's pubs, and return journeys, once the issue was completely passed for press, took place on one of the trains between 5pm and 10pm, depending how things had gone that day and how many beers we fancied.
Unlike many of the editorial guys, I did not get hordes of free records given to me by the record companies. My benefits came from dealing with promoters when placing their adverts; a quick "can I come along to that gig" was usually enough to get me and a few friends in to see bands (for free), so I was very lucky in that instance to see some fabulous bands in the late 70's and 80's.
I'll get back to writing some of the pen pics now, and I'll post them up here over the next few weeks. Enjoy!
I wanted to try to write down some of the many, many, things that happened during that time, and I guess that this blog is as good a site as any to store my memories.
My initial post will be in the form of pen pics for a large number of the NME staff that I worked with. Some are quite famous (or infamous!) now - Danny Baker, Tony Parsons, Julie Burchill, Gary Crowley - and some should have been! I'll try to remember and record, through the drunken haze, what went on, some funny events, who did what, etc etc, so that it all makes a bit of sense.
First, let's get this clear - I was not a staff writer on NME. My job was to work in Advertisement Production, obtaining advert copy from clients/agencies, forwarding it to our printers or typesetters, checking the copy once it had been typeset or originated, then passing the pages for press at the printer/typesetter. I did this job with two other staff, and from 1980 onwards I was the manager of this function.
In 1977, when I joined NME, our advertisement offices were in Kings Reach Tower, an office block in London on the South Bank of the River Thames between Waterloo and Blackfriars Bridges. In 1984, we moved offices to Commonwealth House, at the Holborn end of New Oxford Street, then we went back to Kings Reach in 1988. The editorial offices of NME were in Carnaby Street until 1986, when they joined us in Commonwealth House, and then onwards to Kings Reach in 1988.
The make up (dummy, or flat plan, or imposition) was also my responsibility, and I had to check this twice a week at the editorial offices, so that adverts appeared in their paid-for positions, in conjunction with editorial requirements (fitting article length etc). Hence, I spent a fair amount of time with the editorial guys. I would usually try to time things so I could fit in a beery lunch or evening with editorial friends after I'd checked the dummy.
We also spent a fair amount of travelling time together up until 1983, as our printer was in Kettering, Northants. The three ad guys, plus anywhere between five and ten editorial writers would get up early each Tuesday, and we would usually catch the 8am train from St Pancras, meeting up in the buffet before jumping on the train just a few minutes before departure. The hour plus journey was enlivened by conversations, card games, snoring, jokes, and the reading of newspapers. Lunchtimes tended to be spent in one of Kettering's pubs, and return journeys, once the issue was completely passed for press, took place on one of the trains between 5pm and 10pm, depending how things had gone that day and how many beers we fancied.
Unlike many of the editorial guys, I did not get hordes of free records given to me by the record companies. My benefits came from dealing with promoters when placing their adverts; a quick "can I come along to that gig" was usually enough to get me and a few friends in to see bands (for free), so I was very lucky in that instance to see some fabulous bands in the late 70's and 80's.
I'll get back to writing some of the pen pics now, and I'll post them up here over the next few weeks. Enjoy!
