Although it must be clarified that the love affair began in our pre-teen years, the truth is, we’ve been reading music-oriented publications for some thirty years now. Starting with Mexico’s long-defunct Sonido in the late ‘70s and right up to Harp and Paste in this decade, we’ve been perusing thru the pages of Rolling Stone, Guitar Player, Guitar World, Creem, Circus, Mojo, Q, Uncut, etc etc etc for quite a while now. But there was one whose arrival each month we cherished the most.Despite its name Musician was a well-written magazine aimed at both the music fan and performer. Since we were both music geeks and aspiring artists, this one fit like hand and glove. Rare was the publication where you could read a satisfying feature on your favorite artist and also find out what kind of gear they used to make their magic. Musician was that kind of magazine.
In its pages we learned about drummer Pat Mastellotto’s adventures playing on XTC’s Oranges and Lemons album and what gadgets The Posies’ home studio was armed with. Of course, every issue came with quite a few album reviews, including a page of succinct appraisals, care of the legendary JD Considine, called "Short Takes", full of many one-sentence-or-less reviews that were often biting, witty, and on-point. Considine's wasn't the only worthy byline: the likes of Lester Bangs, Charles M. Young, and Hollywood's favorite music geek, Cameron Crowe, were among those whose writing appeared in its pages. It was an absolute joy to read, indeed.
After 13 years, Musician ceased publication in 1999, and what's left of the world of music magazines is so much lesser for it.
[Above: Tori Amos on the cover of a '90s issue of Musician.]
