Hot Press sucks blue chunks

judas101

hotpress is only good for gig guides imo

John

judas101 wrote:

hotpress is only good for gig guides imo

Even then it's not worth buying when you can get most of the info on the web for free and more promptly.

egon spengler

rarely read it. badly written and conceited.

DerekD Goldfish

Hot Press is dreadful but then most music magazines are
at least it hasnt called the artic monkeys album the 4th best of all time one week after its release.

Foggy Notions is great

orangerooster

Wouldnt even take it free, and actually didnt when it was offered to me by one of those reps in college (it was also a month old issue, thanks for that hotpress :rolleyes: ). Every last thing about that magazine is a complete sham, nothing of note to read in it.

Beats

Time often has the effect of blunting the relevance and creativity which may once have driven a good publication. In the case of Hot Press , same editor, same faces and same hype have lead to the creation of a magazine without any substance to make it relevant.

Haven't read it in years, and yet occasionally when I do picked it up , I recognise that nothing has changed, from it's chaotic layout, to it's featureless features, to it's PR supported pages and same support. Yawn........

ThatBloke

Everything I want to say has already been said more eloquently than I could hope to manage so I'll just throw one in from left-field: The paper size annoys me, it's just awkward, never sits right in your hands and is hard to fold over.

Randolph Carter

Okay, so I write for Hot Press, so I'm hardly impartial. And, sure, I can understand why mixing politics and music might not be to everybody's taste.
Still, for anyone to claim the magazine is badly designed or that it has no good writers is simply absurd. I can't help thinking it's back to the old 'it must be crap because it's irish' nonsense... i thought we were past all that...Bet most of you support English football teams, as well

Blue Peter

I can't help thinking it's back to the old 'it must be crap because it's irish' nonsense

A lot of people on this thread read and enjoy Foggy Notions, which is Irish and good.

Bet most of you support English football teams, as well

What's that got to do with the price of eggs?

Randolph Carter

well, i'm not going down the hot press v foggy notions avenue... i'll just repeat my point: saying hot press isn't well laid out or lacks good writers is just nonsense...which you'd know if you ever actually read it...people slag it 'cos it's been around for a long time and is there to be knocked... try and be more original, why don't you

tbh

Randolph Carter wrote:

And, sure, I can understand why mixing politics and music might not be to everybody's taste.

If the subject matter is engaging and relevant, then it doesn't matter what the subject is. It's not that I don't like Hot Press because it mixes politics and music, it's because of what is written about both.

Randolph wrote:

Still, for anyone to claim the magazine is badly designed or that it has no good writers is simply absurd

why?

I can't help thinking it's back to the old 'it must be crap because it's irish' nonsense... i thought we were past all that...Bet most of you support English football teams, as well

with respect, thats why Hot Press is so bad, IMO (note, I.M.O). It's not crap because it's Irish, it's crap because its crap. I read a lot of Irish magazines, and enjoy most of them. Most people who've posted here don't like Hot Press.
So, you can
1. Decide that it's going to stay the same, no matter what people say (see Church, Catholic)
2. Bury your head in the sand and say that Irish people don't know whats good for them
3. Try to give the people what they want.

Slagging off the (potential) readership isn't a great move, but it is a good example of why no-one reads hot press anymore.

tbh

Randolph Carter wrote:

well, i'm not going down the hot press v foggy notions avenue... i'll just repeat my point: saying hot press isn't well laid out or lacks good writers is just nonsense...which you'd know if you ever actually read it...people slag it 'cos it's been around for a long time and is there to be knocked... try and be more original, why don't you

yes. Hot Press Staff are right, and the paying public are all wrong. :rolleyes:

Randolph Carter

a) i'm not a staffer

b) how many of you are actually regular readers of HP...? not many, i suspect... go read the new bands/ arctic monkeys piece in the last issue..then come back and tell me, with a straight face, that the magazine crap...

tbh

i'm not a staffer

Ok, fair enough. You do write for them tho, and I think most people will say "same difference". You're not impartial, lets put it like that.

b) how many of you are actually regular readers of HP...? not many, i suspect... go read the new bands/ arctic monkeys piece in the last issue..then come back and tell me, with a straight face, that the magazine crap...

I used to be a regular reader. I'm not buying it anymore, disappointed too many times. Send me a free copy and I'll tell ya what I think. By the way, all (or at least, most of) the articles should be good, not just one or two.

Beastieboy

I've read hotpress a number of times it never impressed, and have come to think of it as a constant disappointment and a waste of money

Amazotheamazing

Sorry, but there's no defending Hot Press, especially by playing the "you hate us cause we're Irish" card.

John

That is one of the weakest defenses of Hot Press I've ever seen.

Not badly laid out? Tell me why half the articles start on page 20 and continue on page 70 between all the sex chat lines ads?

Good writers? Sam Snort aside the writers are dull-diddly-ull. There's all this posturing about that they're edgy, on the ball and political but still up for a game of football at the end of the day and it just seems to bloody false and contrived. Hot Press tries to cover every base it can but wears thin all over the place.

I used to subscribe to Hot Press. For two years. I stopped reading it because it was a total waste of money. Half of the gig announcements were so late that I already had my ticket for a sold out show before the issue had gone to print. An ignorance of any music that is even slightly out of the general scope of slightly edgy mainstream and cool indie is rampant (favourite line from a couple of years ago about Neubauten playing a gig here: "Think Kraftwerk being beaten up by Motorhead", WTF!!?!). I flick through it the odd time in the shops or pick up a free one the odd time in college and never have I thought: "Hot Press has gotten really good, I think I'll buy it." It is a perpetual disappointment thanks to its shoddy journalism. It's nothing to do with being Irish. I'm proud of all things GOOD and Irish and I'm embarrassed by things like Hot Press.

Crucifix

I read Hotpress regularly by virtue of a free subscription my brother won (funny because he works there). I don't consider it is a bad as some people are making out, but to be fair I wouldn't pay money for it (but I don't buy any magazines, music or otherwise).

ThatBloke

Randolph Carter wrote:

try and be more original, why don't you

Ah sweet irony...good to see you again, where have you been?

EdPower

such vitriol! my goodness... i can't help but think your issues with hot press go beyond anything in the actual magazine...what exactly those issues are –*and i'm not being smart – i honestly can't imagine....look, clearly it is fashionable to pan hot press...you people want to be fashionable...well, okay... let the hate out...you'll feel better for it, i'm sure ...my point was....none of this is any reflection of the actual magazine – and i think i can stand over my assertion that nobody here is actually a regular reader and is thus ranting from an informed standpoint . the truth – which you clearly aren't interested in – is that hp has some very good writers and is rather nice to look at (the complaints about article run-ons is a red herring by the way, as it is standard in many non-glossy publications) ...but hey.... you guys don't want to hear that...so, i'll leave you to your bitter alternative universe....

tbh

EdPower wrote:

such vitriol! my goodness... i can't help but think your issues with hot press go beyond anything in the actual magazine...what exactly those issues are –*and i'm not being smart – i honestly can't imagine....look, clearly it is fashionable to pan hot press...you people want to be fashionable...well, okay... let the hate out...you'll feel better for it, i'm sure ...my point was....none of this is any reflection of the actual magazine – and i think i can stand over my assertion that nobody here is actually a regular reader and is thus ranting from an informed standpoint . the truth – which you clearly aren't interested in – is that hp has some very good writers and is rather nice to look at (the complaints about article run-ons is a red herring by the way, as it is standard in many non-glossy publications) ...but hey.... you guys don't want to hear that...so, i'll leave you to your bitter alternative universe....

If Hot Press pay you to write for them, then I'll stick to ignoring it, thanks.

dalk

EdPower wrote:

look, clearly it is fashionable to pan hot press...you people want to be fashionable...well, okay...

By definition, dont things come in and out of fashion? So surely there was a time when it was not 'fashionable' to pan Hot Press? Only the problem is, that i am hard pressed to think of a time when most of the people i know didnt think HP was sh1te... And i've had the misfortune to have read issues of HP since the 80's. Unless of course i've had particularly bad luck in the issues i've read? Its always been consistent, i'll give it that.

Still its scary to think, that if my opinions arent being dictated by fashion, maybe i arrived at them all by myself? :eek:

EdPower wrote:

...but hey.... you guys don't want to hear that...so, i'll leave you to your bitter alternative universe....

A bitter alternative universe with no HP... now that would be heaven

Dick Darlington

It's understandable that somebody out there likes Hot Press and is going to stand up for them, writing for them or not.

I've a free subscription so I do read it and don't know of any magazine that's in any way respected that does that thing of finishing articles at the back.

Using an Arctic Monkeys article as an example of how good the magazine is makes no sense, every magazine of any kind in Europe seems to be on that bandwagon and Hot Press were far from the 1st people to champion them.

This fortnights edition features an interview with Bellx1's Paul Noonan where he's pressed on the subject of Uaneens death ! It even references it on the front cover, and where was the review of Flock when it came out?

EXAMPLE: reviewing The Mars Voltas new album- Francis The Mule !!!!!!!!!!

Smurfpiss

Yeah i'm totally cool with non-employed by/related to/sleeping with hot press fans actually defending the magazine, but saying that we don't have a clue or that we are just following a fad by hating them is frankly insulting our intelligence. just like this magazine is.
Although I will say this, there is not much hope for anybody pro hotpress in this thread...4 pages of pure hate and vitrol!

so how about suggestions to improve this loo roll? (NOT involving death squads!)
for example...give up clinging on to being edgy and rocky.
you give westlife the coverstory FFS. you have a trollop giving horrendous sex advice involving one's anus. (get rid of her btw!)
Go down the line of the ticket (not a bad read) or the culture (could be worse)
i'd say drop the politics..tbh the articles are either trying to be controversial, stating the obvious or just so idealistic that they're not worth reading.

Essentially, give up trying to cover so much ground. you just end up looking like a knob's version of Ireland's own...

smackbunnybaby

some more opinions on the magazine in question

http://boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=280198&highlight=hot+press

Prezatch

EdPower wrote:

such vitriol! my goodness... i can't help but think your issues with hot press go beyond anything in the actual magazine...what exactly those issues are –*and i'm not being smart – i honestly can't imagine....look, clearly it is fashionable to pan hot press...you people want to be fashionable...well, okay... let the hate out...you'll feel better for it, i'm sure ...my point was....none of this is any reflection of the actual magazine – and i think i can stand over my assertion that nobody here is actually a regular reader and is thus ranting from an informed standpoint . the truth – which you clearly aren't interested in – is that hp has some very good writers and is rather nice to look at (the complaints about article run-ons is a red herring by the way, as it is standard in many non-glossy publications) ...but hey.... you guys don't want to hear that...so, i'll leave you to your bitter alternative universe....

I really hope you don't have anything to do with Hot Press. God help its readers if you do because that is painful to read.

:v: ...-..!!.-(...:..._)!- -.....*.._.....(

john_henry

i see niall stokes is sending the troops out. what are the odds that RandolphCarter is Stuart Clarke?? this is like Prime Time when Fianna Fail send out the lower level goons to try and defend their latest ****-up. as for regular readers, i have the misfortune to have to work part-time in a shop and read HP for free all the time, and i still feel the need to go have a shower afterwards. everything about HP is truly repellant. burn in hell niall stokes.

Robbo

Randolph Carter wrote:

b) how many of you are actually regular readers of HP...? not many, i suspect... go read the new bands/ arctic monkeys piece in the last issue..then come back and tell me, with a straight face, that the magazine crap...

I'm a regular reader. I really don't know why, but I feel some strange compulsion to buy it. Perhaps on a subconscious level I really like Olaf Tyransen's repeated attempts to style himself as some form of rip-roaring, coke-snorting, petrol-drinking outlaw journalist when he's just emailing home boring travel stories from a cliched destination. But fair play to him for getting paid for it.

The Arctic Monkeys article? Well that must have been the product of at least 3, maybe even 5, minutes of allotted time on the phone to them.

With regards the "new Irish Acts" thing, is this just an attempt to grab a hold of any balloon in the hope that one will rise and HP were "there at the beginning, championing the cause"? And kudos on getting behind Maximo Park, hello and welcome to 2005.

ThatBloke

I have to say I don't mind Olaf's writing, he's one of the few redeeming features of the mag. Met him a couple of times, he's a pretty nice guy too.

nlgbbbblth

ThatBloke wrote:

I have to say I don't mind Olaf's writing, he's one of the few redeeming features of the mag. Met him a couple of times, he's a pretty nice guy too.

I've met him twice and thought he was a patronising, snide and condescending w*nker.

It is an appalling magazine. I read the majority of the issues as somebody I work with buys it and leaves it in the canteen.

Back in the mid-1980s it was a little better but never was at the races when it came to music journalism.

Blue Peter

go read the new bands/ arctic monkeys piece in the last issue

Brilliant. A great example of how "on the ball" Hot Press are. I read about Arctic Monkeys in the Guardian about 18 months ago. Hot Press even had "Fake Tales of San Francisco" as single of the week about 3 months after the limited pressing had sold out.

What's the point of a music magazine that's so far behind the pack and devotes itself to telling you about bands that already have mass crossover success?

What's in next month's issue? Interpol tipped for the top?

Losers TBH.

Randolph Carter

dear me...the bile continues to fly....if any of you care, my original point was that – contrary to all the sub-juvenile ranting - the new bands/ Arctic Monkeys pieces were well written and laid out...i made no claims about their being first on the ball... the Guardian was first to pick up on Arctic Monkeys?...well, it's an UK newspaper..they're a UK band... so what a massive surprise that was...look, there are magazines I'm not especially a fan of... i just don't buy them... you hipster folk seem to resent the fact that HP even exists...

ThatBloke

I don't resent the fact that it exists. A good Irish music magazine could/should help build the Irish music scene into something approaching respectability. Unfortunately Hot Press is not that magazine.

Smurfpiss

I resent that it exists. I mean if it wasn't there something else would fill the void. It can hardly be worse can it?
Randolph Carter: If you're going to defend journalism and accuse us of being sub junvenile at least have the decency to use proper syntax.

nlgbbbblth

Randolph Carter wrote:

the Guardian was first to pick up on Arctic Monkeys?...well, it's an UK newspaper..they're a UK band... so what a massive surprise that was...

I wouldn't have thought it a massive surprise.