Sounds (magazine)

Sounds was a British music paper, published weekly from October 10, 1970 – April 6, 1991. It was well known initially for giving away posters in the centre of the paper (initially black and white, but colour from late 1971) and later for covering Heavy Metal (especially the New Wave of British Heavy Metal (NWOBHM)) and Oi! music in its late 1970s-early 1980s heyday. Sounds was the first music paper in its coverage of punk and in the late eighties was maintaining its reputation for getting there first when John Robb covered Manchester and came up with the phrase 'Britpop' whilst writing for Sounds whilst Keith Cameron wrote about Nirvana as well after John Robb did the first ever interview with them.

One of the trinity of British music weeklies along with New Musical Express (NME) and Melody Maker, it finally folded in 1991 after the parent company United Newspapers, sold all their music titles to EMAP Metro and closed Sounds. Ironically its circulation was beginning to rise again significantly in the last few months of its life.

A legacy of Sounds was the creation of the Heavy Metal/Rock magazine Kerrang!, which was originally issued as a supplement before being spun-off as a separate publication, which continues to this day.

Contributors included Keith Altham, Garry Bushell, Geoff Barton, Phil Bell, Gary Cooper, John Gill, Tommy Udo, Barbara Charone, Caroline Coon, Andrew Courtney, Jonathan Knight, Antonella Gambotto, Jerry Gilbert, Vivien Goldman, Jonh Ingham, Alan Moore (aka "Curt Vile"), Jon Newey, Mick Middles, John Robb, John Peel, Edwin Pouncey (aka "Savage Pencil"), Penny Reel, Cathi Unsworth, Jon Ronson, Robin Gibson, Jon Savage, Peter Silverton, Sylvie Simmons, Steve Sommer, Penny Valentine, Mary Anne Hobbs, Mat Snow, James Brown (who went on to form Loaded (magazine)), Steve Lamacq, Kev F. Sutherland and Russ Carvell's UT strip, Keith Cameron, Leo Finlay, Steffan Chirazi, Chris Roberts, Valac Van Der Veene, Ann Scanlon, Neil Perry, Paul Elliott, Sandy Robertson, Dave McCulloch, Jane Suck (nee Jackman), Phil Sutcliffe, Tony Mitchell along with photographers Ross Halfin, Justin Thomas, Janette Beckman, Mary Scanlon, Steve Gullick, Leo Regan, Steve Double and Gus Stewart.

External links

• Comic strips that were published in Sounds by Alan Moore