#Record Mirror

[lisamarie-vee]

[80sheaven]

Human League on the front cover of Record Mirror, Aug 1981.

[freddiemercurylegendabovelegends]

Today, on 25th January, 1975 - Queen Story!

Readers of Record Mirror chose Queen as:

👉 2nd best novice group

👉 9th best International group

👉 and 'Killer Queen' as 2nd best single

📸 Pic: Summer 1975 - Queen rehearsing for the album A Night at the Opera, at Ridge Farm, Surrey

👉 The dog holding belonged to the Andrews family, who owned the farm

[sowhatifiliveinfukuoka]

Record Mirror

Billy Joel (1979-01)

[theclasharchives]

strummer still missing! in record mirror newspaper on may 8th 1982

[thislovintime]

Peter Tork and Reine Stewart at a preview screening of Easy Rider, June 1969.

“Guess Who? You can recognize this man — if you look carefully — by the nose and the eyes. The chin, upper lip, forehead, body, and sides of face have changed, altered from when he was the dreamy Monkee causing the hearts of umpteen teens to flutter. You guessed: Peter Tork, ex-Monkee (the rest of them, a trio now, are in the RM charts this week) is seen here photographed in Hollywood on the seventeenth of June. He’s attending a preview of the movie ‘Easy Rider.’ The girl? Just a friend… a close friend, but there’s no names, no talk of marriage, no nothing.” - Record Mirror, July 5, 1969

(More about Peter writing what was almost the theme song for "Easy Rider" here.)

“Peter merely likes being with people he likes… he doesn’t care one jot about their background or anything at all. He just believes in being a human being. He’s going very strong for Reine — that, we do know. But let’s leave the marriage scene open until he himself tells people what Is going on.” - Jackie Richmond, The Monkees Monthly, February 1969

[reflectismo]

When John Lennon was murdered 18 months ago all a distressed Paul McCartney could say was: "It's a drag."

For this seemingly cold response Macca was scorned by the Press, the fans and —perhaps most importantly — by Yoko.

"It was all I could say when I was asked for a quote right after he was killed," he says with a serious expression. "To me, looking back on it I was just stunned.

"I could have tried for a sentence and really tried to put it all into words. ‘It's a drag' in cold print looked awful. I hate all that because I don't ever mean it like it comes out in print.

"I was talking to Yoko recently and she said 'People don't like you because of certain things, like that quote you were asked to give when John was killed.' I explained to her why I said that and she was then really happy to hear that I didn't really mean it that way."

How did he really feel?

"I can't remember. I can't express it. I couldn't believe it. It was crazy. It was anger. It was fear. It was madness. It was the world coming to an end. And it was like will it happen to me next? I just felt everything.

"My response at the time was also not to do any live shows. I was terrified after John's death because it's a horror for such a thing to happen. I'm definitely not thinking statement-wise that I won't ever play live again. l do it when it grabs me. Sometimes I really miss performing though. I don't at the moment because of the work involved on the album. Then after the album I’m trying to do a film based on the album.

"From talking to Yoko I’ve learnt a lot of other things I never realized about John. Like that period when he really slagged me off. A lot of that he didn’t really mean. He was just taking the mickey out of me.

That was John, and that's what I liked him for. He cared less…actually, he probably cared a lot more. This is the strange thing I’m finding.

"Because of my image, well, you'd think I was the one who really manoeuvred everything — the perfectionist and so on. I’m finding out many things these days about John where he was more a perfectionist than I would ever be. He took all the papers and all the cuttings he was in, and got very much into it."

Paul’s relationship with John during the Beatles' more successful years was tighter than superglue. This obviously deteriorated.

"We were pretty close in the beginning," he confirmed. "But I think the anchor that had held us all together was still there. We were still very keen on each other, like loved each other I suppose in a way because we had been mates that long. To me he was a fella and you don't get that close with fellas. You get drunk with them and tell them something you wasn't gonna tell them. That's it.

"I think one of the best things that ever happened to John from his personal happiness point of view was that he and Yoko were very much their own couple. It wasn't too easy for all of us because he was sort of leaving us and going off on a new life. I talked to Yoko the day after he was killed and the first thing she said was 'John was really fond of you.' She had almost sensed that I was wondering whether the relationship had kind of snapped. I believe it was always there. He was very jealous and so was l and it was all stupidity on the surface. The last telephone conversation I ever had with him, we were still the best of mates."

— Paul McCartney interviewed by Ray Bonici for Record Mirror Magazine. (April 1982)

[beatlesbeforepepper]

Merry Christmas from The Beatles (Record Mirror, December 1963)

[thedepartmentofdiscoveries]

[lisamarie-vee]

[80sheaven]

Adam Ant of the front cover of Record Mirror in March 1981.

[freddiemercurylegendabovelegends]

September 1976 - Freddie Mercury with journalists Julie Webb, New Musical Express, and David Hancock, Record Mirror

👉 September 1976, London, UK - Queen at Les Ambassadeurs (Club & Casino), where they were presented with Silver, gold and Platinum discs for sales in excess of one million of their hit single 'Bohemian Rhapsody', which was No 1 for 9 weeks

[sowhatifiliveinfukuoka]

Record Mirror

Kate Bush (1979-01)

[magneticelectric]

Andrew Ridgeley, Kate Garner and Shirlie Holliman - Record Mirror ‘Star Style’ 1983.  

[thislovintime]

Peter Tork and his grandmother, Catherine McGuire Straus (in photo 2 at the premiere of Head, 1968; photo by Art Zelin/Getty Images).

“One of my favorite people in the world is my ‘Grams,’ Mrs. Catherine McGuire Straus. She lives in Manhattan in the West 50’s. She calls Colgems regularly to check on our record sales, keeps an enormous scrapbook on the activities of the Monkees (favoring me a little bit, of course), and she visits all the record stores regularly to make sure that they are well stocked with Monkees singles and LP’s.” - Peter Tork, 16’s The Monkees: Here We Are (1967)

Many are no doubt familiar with Peter’s grandmother’s contributions to U.S. teen magazines. A few things that might have have fallen through the cracks of Tork and Monkees history are his grandmother’s letters to two British music magazines in 1967...

“As the grandmother of one Monkee, Peter Tork, I have received hundreds of delightful letters from British fans of the Monkees. Recently there have been complaints that some magazines do not print pictures of Peter when they are doing a story on the Monkees. But I find Monkee pictures fairly well distributed in all the pop magazines, though Davy Jones more or less rules the roost! Also received complaints about Peter not appearing with his co-Monkees when they were in London in February. I would assume that the working hours he has every day, seven days a week, are not conducive to his spending a vacation with one’s workers. And I assure you Peter has a mind of his own, so he couldn’t be persuaded to join them. He’s at last been seen and heard — ‘fine’ by his British fans. Do hope the concerts were a SMASHING success — to use a Britishism!” - Catherine McGuire Straus, Disc & Music Echo, July 15, 1967

“Having belatedly read the article by Jeremy Walsh on the Monkees, as the grandmother of one Monkee — Peter Tork — I resent it. It seems to me unnecessarily nasty and rude. His attacks on the group are peculiarly venomous, considering that the Monkees cannot have done anything to promote such anger and, in fact, are the delight of most critics. Well, there’s no use laboring the point. One can only wonder why the hostility. And why make comparisons with the Beatles. Either the Monkees are good in their own right or they’re not. There’s nothing else to consider, is there. Incidentally Peter was marked for the academic world, where both his parents teach. He flunked out of college twice. After his sojourn in Greenwich Village and the concert tours, decided he’d head for the West Coast and Hollywood — every actor’s Mecca. Over 400 applicants auditioned for the Monkees — Peter was one of the four selected and so the Monkees were born etc. Last, but not least, the U.S.A. helped to bring fame and fortune to the Beatles and their super manager, Brian Epstein. Let the British do likewise for the Monkees.” - Sincerely yours, Catherine McG. Straus, Record Mirror, April 8, 1967

“I received hundreds of delightful letters, many of which I answered, in answer to my protest about the article on the Monkees by Jeremy Walsh. All I want is for these charming teenagers to know how grateful I am for their love and devotion to the Monkees.” - Catherine McG. Straus, Record Mirror, June 17, 1967

Here’s part of the opinion of one Jeremy Walsh, referenced by Peter’s grandmother:

“If four good-looking boys, with no talent, can top the charts — can beat the sales of real stars — then it’s all worthless. I’m not saying they can’t play at all. I’m saying that they can’t play well. I’m also saying that their TV series, fount of 90 per cent of their disc fame, is blatantly based on the earlier Beatle films… and that they owe a lot of their disc hits to Beatle influences. I’d feel less strongly about them if only they had tried to adapt something completely new. It’s like some massive act of retaliation by the Americans, still smarting over Beatle-domination. […] The Monkee business really makes me smart. The only consolation is that it should be a short craze. Several people will make their million, then cheerfully abandon the whole project.” - Jeremy Walsh, Record Mirror, February 4, 1967

[mrepstein]

Brian Epstein told Kenneth Harris in 'Observer' that he thinks Paul McCartney may become gifted actor...

‘The Things We Hear’ column in Record Mirror - May 30, 1964 (You can read the Observer interview HERE)