As has been noted here satirically by JoLean, Word has been making more of a habit of having female artists on the cover - BTW Lady GaGa is a no brainer - she is one of only a half a dozen real global superstars.
But, Q has had Florence, Lana Del Ray, Jessie J and Adele in the last year or so and I wonder if it doesn't mark a seismic shift in both the music industry and the audience of magazine publishing.
Am I right in thinking that it is linked to Generation MPShe, the phenomenon of young women buying more music than they ever did, precisely the time when young men are deserting recorded music for downloading and video games?
Anecdotally, (and that is giving it great methodological side), the young men that I teach at university tend not to be very interested in much music beyond rawk (does first and wee finger hand signal in brotherhood), and are certainly less open to new and various genres than when I was their age.
Finding new horizons (via the reviews pages) was crucial in my buying NME, Q, Mojo and Melody Maker when a teenager.
The young women I teach tend to be more open to all forms of music and certainly more joyful in their appreciation of what they like, they are unencumbered by notions of coolness or genre.
Is the music magazine industry reflecting this growth in status of female artists and is it translating in sales of magazines?
If so, it can only be a good thing, in my opinion
I'd be interested to know what Kate, Mark, David or Fraser have to say on this jumbled, badly explained theory. Theory, sheesh, that's giving it even more side.
All responses greatly appreciated from a professional point of view.

In the early to mid 1990s, if you weren't Britpop, you were American influenced indie.
The tail end of grunge fused with the Neil Young, Hendrix and various other rockist overlords.
This tape, made by my sister and found in her upstairs spare room this morning, encapsulates this scene perfectly.
Any tapes that summarise a period of time perfectly?

I'm home in Northern Ireland for the weekend and was thinking back to some of the records I most remember from my childhood. These beauties popped up.
They are 7" recordings of individual Isle of Man TT races. My da has been bike mad since his teens and these were, at one stage, the only way he had of keeping up with the race. (He later resorted to a badly tuned AM radio.)
These are essentially recordings of bikes in the race interspersed with Murray Walker reading a script of how the race panned out written by a journalist.
The oul fella also has records of steam trains.
Anyone got any other examples of records but without music?

The best comedy podcast out there, The Bugle, could be into its last two episodes after The Times pulled the plug on the near five year old show.
Starring Bedfordshire's representative on Jon Stewart's The Daily Show, John Oliver, and his bezzie Andy Zaltzman, it has been the kind of brilliant, fearless satire I wish Radio 4 might develop the balls to commission. It's certainly better than any panel show shite that has been churned out by either the BBC or C4 in living memory.
I only got to it in 2008, but it has been the best podcast I have listened to since.
From Hotties from History (the sexiest historical and mythological characters from history) to the all too infrequent contributions of The American (a New Jersey douche bag played by Rory Albanese) it's the best thing on iTunes every week.
Their attacks on Gadaffi, Bin Laden, Chavez, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Silvio Berlusconi have been priceless.
With 350,000+ weekly downloads, it should be an interesting experiment in getting people to pay for something online. I'll stick $1 a week no problem if there's a subscription model.
And I will do so, if for no other reason, because Oliver coined the great word Fuckuology on the death of Bin Laden - a eulogy for someone who doesn't deserve the usual positive reflection on their lives.
All hail The Bugle, if not Zaltzman's tenuous puns that not even Oliver can tolerate.

Young Miss H knew that I had done a New Orleans compilation for the May NW Massive Mingle and that I love Treme and that it is set in NOLA.
On this basis, she bought this CD of rare New Orleans funk tracks. It is utterly superb.
It's the best CD I have ever got at Christmas.
Anyone else bought a CD on such a loose premise and had a life changing experience?
Here's the best track on it.

(Eldridge Holmes - The Book)

I love it here. Fair play to y'all and hope to see a good cross section of ye in Liverpool on Jan 27.
All the best and hope it's peaceful and all you want it to be.

Simon Cowell says: "'I just can't accept there's not going to be a Westlife any more."

For me, I can't accept there'll never be any more My Family sit-coms.

Update: Bruce Springsteen's Sci-Fi Concept Album 'Red Dust' Debuts At No. 1 On iTunes

Sparked by Paul Waring's The Hold Steady thread, I found this two part version of 'Rosalita' on YouTube. As the contributor says, if this isn't the best ever version, it must be a semi finalist. Springsteen introducing his band never fails to make me smile.

(Springsteen & E Street Band - Rosalita p1)

(Springsteen & E Street Band - Rosalita p2)
What's the best ever version of a great song you have ever seen?

If you want to know about how cycling works, watch this, A Sunday in Hell, a 1976 Danish documentary about the Paris Roubaix race, known as the Hell of the North.
(This is the full 93 minute theatrical version - it's not available on DVD.)
It is an entrancing piece of film making which shows that cycling, despite all the changes made year on year, remains a very simple sport - eight men work for one rider to take the glory.
It shows the severity of professional cycling and the savage demands of the one day classics which remain, after more than a century of codification, rooted in the sport's 19th Century roots.
As I have said here on a couple of occasions, I think it is wonderful - not least the demonstration by print workers against automation and computerised publishing.

(A Sunday in Hell - Jørgen Leth)
Hat! to director Jørgen Leth.

1400 Druid Hill Avenue, Baltimore. The Pit.

S: Well I sleep with my underpants on back to front, because you never know what could happen. I'm not eccentric. I love talking to people, as a writer. You're leaving an indelible mark on me, because of your personality. I've stuck you in my head and one day you'll come out in a book.

http://www.pauldunoyer.com/pages/journalism/journalism_item.asp?journali...

Easy peasy. What are the songs from A-Z that begin with a stark declaration of 'fact'? Can be the artist's name or song title.
I'll start things with A for A House and their 1991 minor hit 'Endless Art' which starts with a bold borrowing from the Ballad of Reading Gaol hitmaker:

All art is quite useless, according to Oscar Wilde

This beautiful piece of film captures the very moments when a great champion, in this case Eddy Merckx, passes that point when they are invincible, or at least become beatable.
In cycling, like boxing and tennis, it can often be an abrupt and stark moment of fallibility played out in the full glare of the public.
Here Fripp and the boys soundtrack the moment when Bernard Thévenet hunted 'The Cannibal' and put the sunken eyed, nearly delirious Belgian to the sword in the Alpine resort Pra Loup.

Please post songs by bands you consider either, a) undervalued or b) were given too short shrift in the pop/ rock firmament.
I love these bands unconditionally and it pains me they are gone, without even a bigger footnote in popular history. I am not apologetic I have posted both these songs before. They are terrific.

(Beulah - A Good Man is Easy to Kill)

(Shack - Comedy)