Melody Maker

Leicester-born composer and publisher Lawrence Wright founded Melody Maker in 1926. Its original audience was dance band and jazz musicians. Melody Maker was published weekly. It retained its focus on jazz music into the 1950s, and was slow to include rock and roll in its coverage.

Melody Maker introduced a weekly singles chart in 1956 and an album chart in 1958. From 1964, it shifted its focus towards articles that treated music and musicians as serious subjects rather than simply entertainment, anticipating the rise of music criticism. Its core audience was older than the teen market of its rival the New Musical Express (NME). Its specialist approach to music was reflected in its advertising. Many groups advertised for musicians through the Melody Maker’s advert pages. As well as covering popular music, it continued to include folk and jazz in its pages. It also ran detailed reviews of musical instruments.

By the early 1970s, Melody Maker was mostly associated with progressive rock, although it also covered pop music and glam rock. It was widely considered to be the music newspaper of choice for musos, or those interested in music as a serious subject. Its pages contained early articles about Roxy Music, New York Dolls and David Bowie, helping to propel them to stardom. Through journalist Caroline Coon, Melody Maker increased its coverage of women musicians. Coon also spearheaded the paper’s coverage of punk rock.

In 1978, Melody Maker took a new direction, influenced by the writing of Paul Morley and Ian Penman at NME. Jon Savage, Chris Bohn and Mary Harron wrote serious articles about post-punk bands such as Gang of Four and Joy Division, increasing the papers coverage of new wave.

The early 1980s saw a brief return to Melody Maker’s more traditional, prog rock content, prompting several journalists, including Chris Bohn and Jon Savage, to leave the paper. From 1983, the paper was pop-oriented, featuring bands such as Duran Duran and Eurythmics more regularly, and showcasing emerging bands like The Smiths. In the 1990s, it was known for its coverage of indie music and the Seattle grunge scene, but also covered house, hip hop and rave. It retained its reputation for intellectual writing.

In 1999, Melody Maker relaunched as a glossy magazine, but closed the following year, merging into the NME.