Am currently reading and writing (I can never quite bring myself to use the W word, ‘working’, which is perhaps part of my problem), in the British Library, St Pancras. Much as I like the more historic Reading Room in the British Museum, this is the place to be for an atmosphere of bookish intensity, for research, for staying till 8pm, and for proper air conditioning. Summer seems to be lingering on into September, at least in London.
Sometimes I lurk in Humanities Two, the room with all the old music papers on the shelves: NME, Melody Maker, Sounds, Record Mirror. And all the old copies of Radio Times – a feast indeed. Melody Maker starts life in the 1920s as little reels of microfiche, then graduates to large binders of the proper issues, before the binders shrink ominously in the late 90s to tabloid format in a desperate attempt to appeal to the youth of the day. A kind of music paper Botox. And of course, then the binders stop shortly after that in 2000, the relaunch having failed to reverse declining sales. Seeing the shelved rows of MM binders suddenly shrink for the last few volumes after so many years is terribly sad. Still, certain unkind hacks at the magazine did actually wish me dead in print at one point.
Here I am, unaccountably alive despite their efforts, staring back at the Melody Maker coffin in a kind of pathetic triumph; and then I realise I’m mocked in turn by the younger pictures of myself within its pages. “Oh, get over it!” shouts back the younger me.
I take a peek on the microfiche collections to discover that New Musical Express starts life on October 4th 1946 as a four-page newspaper called “Accordion Times and Musical Express”. Though on the masthead logo, the words “Accordion Times” are somewhat dwarfed by the much larger “Musical Express” underneath. It’s clear where this publication is going: six years later it’ll be NME proper. The main news stories in late 1946 include rumours of a UK tour by Frank Sinatra.
The accordion-related content is merely a column, revealing that the former “Accordion Times” editor has decided to branch out his remit somewhat with this relaunch in order to improve sales. I’m reminded that current NME writer Peter Robinson also edits the pop-orientated website Popjustice. This includes an audio column by Martin White, featuring his accordion versions of pop songs. I wonder if Mr White and Mr Robinson are aware of the historical precedent for accordion columns in music papers? And will NME be marking the 60th anniversary next month of this initial incarnation?
