'''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 Keith Cameron wrote about
Nirvana before anyone else. ''Sounds'' was the first UK music paper to put Nirvana on the cover.
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, John Gill, Tommy Udo, Barbara Charone, Caroline Coon, Andrew Courtney,
Antonella Gambotto, Jerry Gilbert,
Vivien Goldman, Jonh (sic) Ingham,
Alan Moore (aka "Curt Vile"), Jon Newey, John Robb,
John Peel, Edwin Pouncey (aka "
Savage Pencil"), Penny Reel, Cathi Unsworth,
Jon Ronson, Robin Gibson,
Jon Savage, Peter Silverton, Sylvie Simmons,
Mary Anne Hobbs, Mat Snow, James Brown,
Steve Lamacq, Keith Cameron, Leo Finlay, Ann Scanlon, Sandy Robertson, Dave McCulloch, Jane Suck (nee Jackman), Phil Sutcliffe along with photographers
Penny Valentine, Steve Gullick, Leo Regan, Steve Double and Gus Stewart.
External links
★
Comic strips that were published in Sounds by Alan Moore