History
NME have included covermount albums for a long time. The Clash's release Capital Radio , which was released 9 April 1977, could only be obtained by sending away a coupon featured in one issue of the NME, and the red sticker from the cover of the band's debut album. The NME also released the much regarded compilation album C86 , documenting the birth of jangling indie pop, in 1986. Big Audio Dynamite II released their second album The Globe with a coupon, which had to be sent to the NME, to receive their first live album. In 1992–1993, NME released their own compilations, In a Field of Their Own and Ruby Trax , all containing exclusive recordings. Around this time, they started covermounting cassettes on their magazines, such as the Brat Pack series, and NME Xmas Dust Up in late 1994, a mix by The Chemical Brothers (their fourth and final release using their original The Dust Brothers). In 1997, Beat Up the NME , mixed by Fatboy Slim, was also a covermount. A list of the covermounts is below. In 2005–2007, the NME released more commercially sold compilations like those from 1992 to 1993, The Essential Bands series. Also, NME released a commercially available album, also featuring exclusive recordings like their 1992–1993 albums, NME In Association With War Child Presents 1 Love , as a charity album in 2002.
The cassette culture refers to the practices associated with amateur production and distribution of music and sound art on compact cassette that emerged in the mid-1970s. The cassette was used by fine artists and poets for the independent distribution of new work. This article focuses on the independent music scene associated with the cassette that burgeoned internationally in the second half of the 1970s.
Big Flame were a post-punk/indie rock three piece band, based in Manchester, England, and active from 1983 to 1986. The members were Alan Brown, Greg Keeffe (guitar) and Dil Green (drums). After a debut EP ("Sink") on their own Laughing Gun label, they joined the Ron Johnson roster for a series of mid-1980s singles as well as an appearance on the NME's C86 compilation.
Exit Planet Dust is the debut studio album by English electronic music duo the Chemical Brothers. It was first released on 26 June 1995 in the United Kingdom by Junior Boy's Own, Freestyle Dust, and Virgin Records, and on 15 August 1995 in the United States by Astralwerks. The album was recorded between August and November 1994, with "Song to the Siren" performed live. Its title is a reference to their departure from their earlier name the Dust Brothers.
Indie pop is a music genre and subculture that combines guitar pop with DIY ethic in opposition to the style and tone of mainstream pop music. It originated from British post-punk in the late 1970s and subsequently generated a thriving fanzine, label, and club and gig circuit. Compared to its counterpart, indie rock, the genre is more melodic, less abrasive, and relatively angst-free. In later years, the definition of indie pop has bifurcated to also mean bands from unrelated DIY scenes/movements with pop leanings. Subgenres include chamber pop and twee pop.
Covermount is the name given to storage media or other products packaged as part of a magazine or newspaper. The name comes from the method of packaging; the media or product is placed in a transparent plastic sleeve and mounted on the cover of the magazine with adhesive tape or glue.
The Blue Aeroplanes are an English rock band from Bristol, the mainstays of which have been Gerard Langley, brother John Langley, and dancer Wojtek Dmochowski. All three had previously been members of the new wave "art band" Art Objects from 1978 to 1981.
"Show You the Way to Go" is a song written by Gamble and Huff and recorded by the Jacksons for their 1976 CBS debut album, The Jacksons. Released as a single in early 1977, it was the only number-one song for the group in the UK. It was later covered by Dannii Minogue in 1992.
C81 was a cassette compiled for the British music paper NME in 1981 and released in conjunction with the record label Rough Trade. Featuring a number of contemporary musical acts and performers, it was intended to mark the first five years of the independent label movement in the UK record industry and Rough Trade itself. It was the first in a series of many cassette releases from the paper, including the C86 compilation of 1986.
"Chemical World" is a song by English alternative rock band Blur, included on their second album, Modern Life Is Rubbish (1993), and released in June 1993 by Food Records. The song was written by the band and produced by them with Stephen Street, Clive Langer, Alan Winstanley and Steve Lovell. It peaked at number 28 on the UK Singles Charts as well as number 27 on the US Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart.
Po! are an indie rock band formed in Leicester, England in 1987, with releases dating up to 1998 on Rutland Records, Sunday Records in the US and Elefant Records in Spain.
Ruby is a Scottish electronic music act that was formed as a collaboration between singer Lesley Rankine and multi-instrumentalist Mark Walk in 1994, and is now positioned as a solo vehicle for Rankine. Ruby's sound includes electronic, trip hop, noise, industrial, and jazz, among others. Rankine and Walk named the group Ruby after learning that this was the name of both their maternal grandmothers.
1992 – The Love Album is an album by English band Carter the Unstoppable Sex Machine. Released on Chrysalis Records, following the demise of Rough Trade Records, the album achieved commercial success and became the band's first and only Number 1 album on the UK Albums Chart. It also contained their only Top 10 hit, "The Only Living Boy in New Cross", which reached No. 7 on the UK Singles Chart. The album also included two further singles, "Do Re Me So Far So Good" and "The Impossible Dream". An earlier single, "After the Watershed" was originally planned to be included on the album, but due to an injunction from the publishers of The Rolling Stones over a line in the lyrics quoted from their single "Ruby Tuesday"), the band had to credit the composition to Morrison / Carter / Richards / Jagger. It was omitted from the album as they would otherwise have had to forgo publishing royalties for every copy of the album sold.
The Servants were an indie band formed in 1985 in Hayes, Middlesex, England by singer-songwriter David Westlake. The band was the original home of Luke Haines.
Sgt. Pepper Knew My Father is a 1988 multi-artist compilation LP/cassette of 1980s artists recording new versions of the songs on The Beatles album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. The album was produced by the New Musical Express to raise money for Childline, the charity founded by the BBC1 consumer programme That's Life! It was also intended to celebrate the 21st anniversary of the original release of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band on 1 June 1967. Apart from separate tracks on some artists' own re-releases/compilations, the only release it ever saw on compact disc was a promotional recording.
NME in Association with War Child Presents 1 Love is a charity album by various artists. New Musical Express is a popular music magazine in the United Kingdom which has been published weekly since March 1952.
Ruby Trax - The NME's Roaring Forty is a compilation album released by the 'rock inkie' (newspaper) NME in 1992 to commemorate 40 years of publication. The album features 40 cover versions of classic Number 1 songs by popular bands of the era, though as the NME based it on the NME's own chart, some songs did not reach number one on the British Market Research Bureau/Gallup chart. It was released in the following formats: three LPs (NME40LP), three CDs (NME40CD) or two cassettes (NME40MC), all having a total of 40 songs.
"Velocity Girl" is a song by British alternative rock band Primal Scream, originally released as the B-side to their second single, "Crystal Crescent", in 1986. The song has been noted for its influence in indie pop, with Pitchfork Media saying that it reduced "the pop song to its subatomic essence: quick, breezy, quirky, and above all, exquisitely small". The song was partly inspired by the actress, model and Warhol superstar Edie Sedgwick.
C86 is a cassette compilation released by the British music magazine NME in 1986, featuring new bands licensed from British independent record labels of the time. As a term, C86 quickly evolved into shorthand for a guitar-based music genre characterized by jangling guitars and melodic power pop song structures, although other musical styles were represented on the tape. In its time, it became a pejorative term for its associations with so-called "shambling" and underachievement. The C86 scene is now recognized as a pivotal moment for independent music in the UK, as was recognized in the subtitle of the compilation's 2006 CD issue: CD86: 48 Tracks from the Birth of Indie Pop. 2014 saw the original compilation reissued in a 3CD expanded edition from Cherry Red Records; the 2014 box-set came with an 11,500-word book of sleevenotes by one of the tape's original curators, former NME journalist Neil Taylor.
The Great Leap Forward is a band formed by former Big Flame member Alan Brown, when his previous band split up in 1987. After several releases the project was put on hold in 1990, but revived in 2008 with subsequent album releases in 2008, 2012 and 2021.
