Black British Music Magazines
A brief history of the publications that shaped the Black music narrative — in the UK and beyond — by Chantelle Fiddy.
Bob Marley featured on Black Music Magazine cover, London (1974-07)Bob Marley: Legend
Long before websites, blogs and social media, it was magazines that kept the British Black music fan supplied with the latest on new artists, pivotal moments and the imported releases actually worth spending your cash on.
From the 1946-launched Pick Up (known today as Jazz Journal, Britain’s longest published jazz magazine) to the 1966-launched Home Of The Blues, (known today as Blues & Soul).
Black Music Magazines Through The Last 40 Years (2022) by Laura BrosnanTRENCH
It was blues, jazz and soul music that piqued the interest of music writers early on, spurring further titles including Blues World, Blues Unlimited, Hot Buttered Soul and R&B Monthly.
Bob Marley featured on Black Music Magazine cover, London (1974-07)Bob Marley: Legend
While most reading material of the era came from humble indie roots, one of the largest publishers of the era, IPC, launched the boldly-titled Black Music Magazine in December 1973.
Black Music Magazines Through The Last 40 Years (2022) by Laura BrosnanTRENCH
With Stevie Wonder as the first cover star, it was the writer Carl Gayle who’d helped IPC identify the market for a reggae-focused magazine, introducing patois to a British audience.
They were one of the first to cover African music with the 'Afroheat' column, and featured political and notable works from the likes of Linton Kwesi Johnson, Fela Kuti, Gil-Scott Heron, Huga Masekala and more, before shutting up shop in 1984.
As technology improved, the face of Black British music magazines inevitably changed. Glossier, for a start. Hip-Hop Connection, which began life as a phone hotline where rap fans could find out about upcoming events, was launched as a magazine in 1986 by Chris Hunt.
Defying economics, it became the longest-living hip-hop title in the world. TOUCH magazine, with Jaimie D’Cruz at the helm, followed in the early 1990s, growing out of a title called Free! It cost £1 per issue.
Bristol-based Knowledge (aka K Mag) had supplied the D&B community from 1994, with sister publication Deuce dedicated to all things Black music arriving around 2002 with a focus on UK bass music. In London, it was RWD who repackaged Black youth culture.
With its origins as Sass Magazine, RWD launched in 2001 with a £5,000 grant from The Prince's Trust. Distributed across record shops nationwide, queues forming to nab a free copy, it walked hand-in-hand with the emergence of grime.
Black Music Magazines Through The Last 40 Years (2022) by Laura BrosnanTRENCH
Now, RWD has transitioned to become a successful talent agency and award-winning content creators.
While physical magazines might be in short supply today, relative newcomers like TRENCH—founded by Joseph ‘JP’ Patterson—continue to document the culture daily, online, and sporadically in prints.
This digital work has been produced in collaboration with PRS Foundation and POWER UP. The article first featured in TRENCH x Union Black's Chapter One: Game Changers zine.
Words by Chantelle Fiddy
Photography by Black Music Magazine, Kalakuta Museum, Laura Brosnan [Frank Archives].
Videos by Craigspoplife and Olivertography.
Commissioned by TRENCH
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