With such a long history of attacks on the BBC from the reactionary right, it is easily forgotten that before the rise of Thatcherism the left were highly critical of the BBC, which was widely seen as part of the establishment; as in fact it was and is. Indeed John Reith was very proud that the BBC was considered as such and saw the term as a compliment.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Q magazine to retire REM album review
Following the announcement that REM are to split, Q Magazine today confirmed the retirement of the review it has used for every REM album since 2001.
The review promises “a return to form for the Athens trio” and was first employed for Reveal, after the disappointment of 1998’s Up.
It was used again for Around The Sun, after the disappointment of 2001’s Reveal, for Accelerate, after the disappointment of 2004’s Around The Sun and Collapse Into Now, after the disappointment of 2008’s Accelerate.
“We’re enormously sad to see the review go,” said editor Paul Rees.
“The cycle of REM albums suggested we’d be able to dust the old girl down again sometime in 2014, after the disappointment of 2011’s Collapse Into Now but I guess that will never happen.”
“We’ll just have to fill the space with yet another retrospective of the greatest live acts of the last twenty years, with the top three places taken by Radiohead, Oasis and Blur, just like they’ve done for every ‘Best Of…’ list we’ve knocked out each month since 1996.”
ENDS
