Press Adverts

Of course, back in the days before the internet, and before the music press realised it was cheaper and easier to copy out a band’s press release than to pay a professional journalist to stick it in the bin and come up with opinions and words of their own – or to stick the record in the bin too and write about the latest single by someone they’d be having a drink at the Dublin Castle with later instead – the only way to let people know about a new bit of vinyl was to pay for an advert. And it cost a fortune, something like three grand for half a page in Melody Maker or NME. Though this was partly because we hadn’t realised you were supposed to haggle, not simply pay the price on the rate card. Basically, we single-handedly kept the music press going for some time longer than it deserved, which is quite funny when you think about it. Isn’t it?