''Sounds'' was a UK weekly pop/rock music newspaper, published from 10 October 1970 to 6 April 1991. It was known for giving away posters in the centre of the paper (initially black and white, then colour from late 1971) and later for covering heavy metal (especially the

new wave of British heavy metal The new wave of British heavy metal (commonly abbreviated as NWOBHM) was a nationwide musical movement that started in England in the mid-1970s and achieved international attention by the early 1980s. Journalist Geoff Barton coined the term i ...

(NWOBHM)) and

punk Punk or punks may refer to: Genres, subculture, and related aspects * Punk rock, a music genre originating in the 1970s associated with various subgenres * Punk subculture, a subculture associated with punk rock, or aspects of the subculture s ...

and Oi! music in its late 1970s–early 1980s heyday.

History

It was produced by Spotlight Publications (part of Morgan Grampian), which was set up by John Thompson and Jo Saul with Jack Hutton and Peter Wilkinson, who left ''

Melody Maker ''Melody Maker'' was a British weekly music magazine, one of the world's earliest music weeklies; according to its publisher, IPC Media, the earliest. It was founded in 1926, largely as a magazine for dance band musicians, by Leicester-born ...

'' to start their own company. ''Sounds'' was their first project, a weekly paper devoted to

progressive rock Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog; sometimes conflated with art rock) is a broad genre of rock music that developed in the United Kingdom and United States through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early 1970s. Init ...

and described by Hutton, to those he was attempting to recruit from his former publication, as "a leftwing ''Melody Maker''". ''Sounds'' was intended to be a weekly rival to titles such as ''Melody Maker'' and ''

New Musical Express ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music journalism, music, film, gaming, and culture website and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a 'rock inkie', the NME would become a magazine tha ...

'' (''NME''). ''Sounds'' was one of the first music papers to cover

. Mick Middles covered the

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...

music scene for ''Sounds'' from 1978 to 1982 writing about many of the up and coming bands of the time from

Buzzcocks Buzzcocks are an English punk rock band formed in Bolton, England in 1976 by singer-songwriter-guitarist Pete Shelley and singer-songwriter Howard Devoto. They are regarded as a seminal influence on the Manchester music scene, the independe ...

and

Slaughter & The Dogs Slaughter and the Dogs are an English punk rock band formed in 1975 in Wythenshawe, Manchester. Their original line-up consisted of singer Wayne Barrett McGrath, rhythm guitar Mick Rossi, drummer Brian "Mad Muffet" Grantham, lead guitarist Mi ...

to The Fall and

Joy Division Joy Division were an English rock band formed in Salford in 1976. The group consisted of vocalist Ian Curtis, guitarist/keyboardist Bernard Sumner, bassist Peter Hook and drummer Stephen Morris. Sumner and Hook formed the band after att ...

. John Robb joined in 1987 and used the term "

Britpop Britpop was a mid-1990s British-based music culture movement that emphasised Britishness. It produced brighter, catchier alternative rock, partly in reaction to the popularity of the darker lyrical themes of the US-led grunge music and to the ...

" to refer to bands such as

the La's The La's were an English rock band from Liverpool, originally active from 1983 until 1992. Fronted by singer, songwriter and guitarist Lee Mavers, the group are best known for their hit single " There She Goes". The band was formed by Mike Ba ...

the Stone Roses The Stone Roses were an English rock band formed in Manchester in 1983. One of the pioneering groups of the Madchester movement in the late 1980s and early 1990s, the band's classic and most prominent lineup consisted of vocalist Ian Brown, ...

and

Inspiral Carpets Inspiral Carpets are an English rock band, part of the late-1980s/early-1990s Madchester movement. Formed in Oldham in 1980, the band's most successful lineup featured frontman Tom Hingley, drummer Craig Gill, guitarist Graham Lambert, bassi ...

, although it did not develop into the Britpop genre/movement at that time (as these acts were grouped under labels such as

Baggy Baggy was a name given to a British alternative dance genre popular in the late 1980s and early 1990s, with many of the artists referred to as "baggy" being bands from the Madchester scene. History The genesis of indie-dance was the Balearic ...

Madchester Madchester was a musical and cultural scene that developed in the English city of Manchester in the late 1980s, closely associated with the indie dance scene. Indie-dance (sometimes referred to as indie-rave) saw artists merging indie musi ...

and indie-dance). Keith Cameron wrote about

Nirvana ( , , ; sa, निर्वाण} ''nirvāṇa'' ; Pali: ''nibbāna''; Prakrit: ''ṇivvāṇa''; literally, "blown out", as in an oil lamp Richard Gombrich, ''Theravada Buddhism: A Social History from Ancient Benāres to Modern Colombo. ...

after Robb carried out the first interview with them. The Obscurist Chart ran for about a year, first appearing on 5 September 1981 issue, as an alternative to the main, sales-driven record charts, allowing bands and music outside the mainstream to be recognised. The chart was started by Paul Platypus, who played with Mark Perry in The Reflections and compiled the first nine charts. The last chart appeared in 11 December 1982 issue. In 1987, Morgan-Grampian had been acquired by United News and Media (later to become United Business Media), first as part of the United Advertising Publications (UAP) division and later as part of the then CMP Information portfolio. A legacy of ''Sounds'' was the creation of the heavy metal/ rock magazine ''

Kerrang! ''Kerrang!'' is a British weekly magazine devoted to rock, punk and heavy metal music, currently published by Wasted Talent (the same company that owns electronic music publication '' Mixmag''). It was first published on 6 June 1981 as a one- ...

'', which was originally issued as a supplement before being spun off as a separate publication. ''Sounds'' was one of the trinity of British music weeklies, along with ''NME'' and ''Melody Maker'', that were colloquially known as 'The Inkies'. ''Sounds'' folded in 1991 after the parent company,

United Newspapers UBM plc was a British business-to-business (B2B) events organiser headquartered in London, England, before its acquisition by Informa in 2018. It had a long history as a multinational media company. Its main focus was on B2B events, but its pr ...

, decided to concentrate on trade papers like ''Music Week'' and so sold most of their consumer magazines titles to

EMAP Metro Ascential plc, formerly EMAP, is a British business-to-business media business specialising in exhibitions & festivals and information services. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index. History Ri ...

, with ''Sounds'' being closed at the same time as its sister music magazine, the more chart and dance music oriented ''

Record Mirror ''Record Mirror'' was a British weekly music newspaper between 1954 and 1991 for pop fans and record collectors. Launched two years after the '' NME'', it never attained the circulation of its rival. The first UK album chart was published in '' ...

''.

Contributors

Contributors included

Garry Bushell Garry Bushell (born 13 May 1955) is an English newspaper columnist, rock music journalist, television presenter, author, musician and political activist. Bushell also sings in the Cockney Oi! bands GBX and the Gonads. He managed the New York C ...

, Sandy Robertson, Giovanni Dadomo, Mick Middles,

Geoff Barton Geoff Barton (born July 1955) is a British journalist who founded the heavy metal magazine ''Kerrang!'' and was an editor of ''Sounds'' music magazine. He joined ''Sounds'' at the age of 19 after completing a journalism course at the London Col ...

, John Robb, Phil Bell, Mick Sinclair,

Caroline Coon Caroline Coon (born 1945) is an English artist, journalist and political activist. Her artwork often explores sexual themes from a feminist standpoint. Coon had her first solo painting exhibition at The Gallery Liverpool entitled "Caroline Coon: ...

Antonella Gambotto Antonella Gambotto-Burke (née Antonella Gambotto, born 19 September 1965) is an Italian-Australian author, journalist and singer-songwriter based in Kent, England, known for her writing about sex, death and motherhood. Gambotto-Burke is best k ...

Vivien Goldman Vivien Goldman (born 1952) is a British journalist, writer and musician. Early life and education Goldman was born in London in 1952, the child of two German-Jewish refugees from Nazi Germany. She studied English and American literature at the ...

, Jonh Ingham,

Alan Moore Alan Moore (born 18 November 1953) is an English author known primarily for his work in comic books including ''Watchmen'', '' V for Vendetta'', ''The Ballad of Halo Jones'', ''Swamp Thing'', ''Batman:'' ''The Killing Joke'', and ''From Hell ...

(a.k.a. "Curt Vile"), Lizo Mzimba,

John Peel John Robert Parker Ravenscroft (30 August 1939 – 25 October 2004), known professionally as John Peel, was an English disc jockey (DJ) and radio presenter. He was the longest-serving of the original BBC Radio 1 DJs, broadcasting regularly fr ...

Barbara Charone Barbara Charone is a UK-based American public relations officer for musical artists and Board Member of Chelsea F.C. Formerly a journalist and music critic, she wrote regularly for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'', the ''NME'' and ''Rolling Stone'' while ...

, Edwin Pouncey (a.k.a. "

Savage Pencil Edwin Pouncey (born June 1951), also known by the ''nom de plume'' Savage Pencil, is an English comics artist, musician, and music journalist. Biography As Savage Pencil and otherwise, Pouncey has contributed to magazines such as ''Sounds'' ...

"), Cathi Unsworth,

Jon Ronson Jon Ronson (born 10 May 1967) is a British-American journalist, author, and filmmaker whose works include '' Them: Adventures with Extremists'' (2001), '' The Men Who Stare at Goats'' (2004), and ''The Psychopath Test'' (2011). He has been des ...

Jon Savage Jon Savage (born Jonathan Malcolm Sage; 2 September 1953 in Paddington, London) is an English writer, broadcaster and music journalist, best known for his history of the Sex Pistols and punk music, ''England's Dreaming'', published in 1991. ...

Sylvie Simmons Sylvie Simmons is a London-born, California-based music journalist, named as a "principal player" in Paul Gorman's book on the history of the rock music press ''In Their Own Write'' ( Sanctuary Publishing, 2001). A widely regarded writer and ro ...

Penny Valentine Penelope Ann Valentine (13 February 1943 – 9 January 2003) was a British music journalist, rock critic, and occasional television personality. Biography Penny Valentine was born in London, of Jewish and Italian ancestry. In 1959 she became ...

Marguerite Van Cook Marguerite Van Cook (née Martin) (born 1954) is an English artist, writer, musician/singer and filmmaker. She was born in Portsmouth, England and now resides in New York City on the Lower East Side, in the East Village. She attended Portsmouth ...

Mary Anne Hobbs Mary Anne Hobbs (born 16 May 1964) is an English DJ and music journalist from Lancashire, England. She currently hosts the BBC Radio 6 Music weekday mid-morning show, Monday to Friday, 10:30am1pm, and her ''6 Music Recommends'' show, Wednesday ...

, Mat Snow, Johnny Waller, James Brown (who went on to form '' Loaded''),

Andy Ross Andrew Ross is an American musician. He has been the guitarist, keyboardist and vocalist for the rock band OK Go since 2005. He is also behind a solo project, Secret Dakota Ring, which released albums in 2004 and 2008. Ross is also co-founder of ...

(who wrote as "Andy Hurt" and went on to form Food Records),

Steve Lamacq Stephen Paul Lamacq (born 16 October 1964), sometimes known by his nickname Lammo (given to him by John Peel), is an English disc jockey, currently working with the BBC radio station BBC Radio 6 Music. Early life He attended The Ramsey Acade ...

, Kev F. Sutherland and Russ Carvell's '' UT'' strip, and photographers Michael Putland, Ian Dickson, Jill Furmanovsky, Andy Phillips, Steve Payne, Virginia Turbett, Tony Mottram, Ross Halfin and

Janette Beckman Janette Beckman is a British documentary photographer who currently lives in New York City. Beckman describes herself as a documentary photographer. While she produces a lot of work on location (such as the cover of The Police album '' Zenyat ...

Notes

References

External links

Comic strips that were published in ''Sounds''
by Alan Moore
Reviews and features published in ''Sounds''
by Mick Sinclair
Photos published in ''Sounds''
by Simon Clegg {{Authority control 1970 establishments in the United Kingdom 1991 disestablishments in the United Kingdom Defunct magazines published in the United Kingdom English-language magazines Magazines established in 1970 Magazines disestablished in 1991 Magazines published in London Music magazines published in the United Kingdom Weekly magazines published in the United Kingdom