Line #19 Music/Magazine


1	[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/magazine_band_1007.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:300:Clarity Has Reared Its Ugly Head Again]]
3	->''I demand special consideration as the most human''\
4	''Now that's not much to ask, is it?''\
5	''But it makes me feel like a force for evil''
6	--> -- Magazine, "Of Course Howard (1979)"
7
8	Magazine are a rock band, originally from [[OopNorth Manchester]], England, noted for (arguably) being one of the TropeMakers of the PostPunk genre. Their lead singer, Howard Devoto, was originally lead singer of the {{Music/Buzzcocks}}, but left after their first release, ''Spiral Scratch,'' allegedly believing [[ItWillNeverCatchOn that punk would be short lived]] and that something would need to be ready to take its place.
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10	Devoto met [[UsefulNotes/{{Scotland}} Scottish]] guitarist John [=McGeoch=], and while [=McGeoch=] was away Devoto recruited Barry Adamson on bass, keyboardist Bob Dickinson, who soon left and was replaced by the keyboard god that is Dave Formula, and drummer Martin Jackson -- who also left eventually, to be replaced by John Doyle.
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12	They soon released a single, at the time sans keyboardist, entitled [[EpicRiff "Shot By Both Sides"]], followed by an album, 1978's brilliant ''Real Life.'' The following year, they released the far more experimental ''Secondhand Daylight,'' followed by 1980's more popular (though not necessarily better) ''The Correct Use Of Soap.'' This in turn was followed in 1981 by ''Magic, Murder and the Weather'', but by then [=McGeoch=] had quit (going on to develop as a bit of a {{New Wave\|Music}} guitar god in [[Music/SiouxsieAndTheBanshees other bands]]), and although the band found a series of short-term replacements, Devoto broke up Magazine and more or less quit the music business to work as a photo archivist.
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14	Magazine [[PuttingTheBandBackTogether reformed]] for a while in 2009, with Noko taking the place of [=McGeoch=], who had died in the interim. Adamson -- who since their breakup carved himself out a career in composing soundtracks, as well as a successful stint in Music/NickCaveAndTheBadSeeds -- left after a while, being replaced by Jon "Stan" White, and the band released a new album, ''No Thyself''. In fact, at the last count, they were nominally still going, if not visibly active.
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16	[[FandomVIP They are a band who attract some devoted admirers, inside the music industry as well as among fans,]] though [[{{YMMV/Magazine}} their style and image also seem to irritate some other people.]]
17	----
18	!!Magazine's work and career provide examples of the following tropes:
19	* AccentuateTheNegative: Their songs tend towards angst-verging-on-{{wangst}} with a lot of cynicism and paranoia. However, it's leavened with a fair amount of dry humour and {{surrealism}}.
20	* AlbumTitleDrop:
21	** ''"So this is '''real life'''..."'' -- from the track "Definitive Gaze".
22	** ''"Cut-out shapes in '''second-hand daylight'''..."'' from "Cut-Out Shapes".
23	* CoverVersion: Of the ''Film/{{Goldfinger}}'' movie theme, and Music/SlyAndTheFamilyStone's "Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)".
24	* DeadpanSnarker: Devoto's mostly impassive and goggle-eyed pose doesn't break when he delivers faintly surreal ironies in a flat monotone.
25	* TheEeyore: Appears to be Devoto's nature, although he may be smiling -- or at least laughing -- behind that facade of disdain. With lines like "By force of habit, I am an insect/I have to confess I'm proud as hell of that fact", he's certainly aware of how he looks.
26	* EpicInstrumentalOpener: "The Thin Air", opening the second side of ''Secondhand Daylight''. The effect is spoiled on the [=CD=] version, as [=CDs=] don't have separate sides.
27	* FadingIntoTheNextSong: "The Thin Air" into "Back to Nature".
28	* GriefSong: Sarcastically averted by "Hello [[Music/JoyDivision Mr Curtis]] (with apologies)", which proclaims Devoto's desire "To die like a king -- Like [[Music/ElvisPresley Elvis]], on some godforsaken toilet".
29	* IHateSong: Devoto rarely gives the impression of ''liking'' much (not even himself: ''I am angry I am ill and I'm as ugly as sin''), but actual ''hatred'' tends to be carefully meted out in his songs. For example, "Motorcade" expresses sheer contempt for authoritarianism:
30	-->''In the back of his car\
31	Into the null and void he shoots\
32	The man at the center of the motorcade\
33	Has learned to tie his boots.''
34	* LoveHurts: The default assumption when any Magazine song deals with relationships (if the pain is not of consensual emotional UsefulNotes/{{BDSM}}). Note titles such as "Because You're Frightened", "Rhythm of Cruelty", and "I Wanted Your Heart".
35	* MeetYourEarlyInstallmentWeirdness: One of the band's 21st century songs, "Of Course Howard (1979)", incorporates some text written by Devoto back in the '70s. Devoto gets a little ironic at his younger self's pretensions -- but one feels that the younger Devoto would have understood.
36	* NoHonorAmongThieves: The implicit theme of "Shot By Both Sides":
37	-->''Shot by both sides\
38	I don't ask who's doing the shooting\
39	Shot by both sides\
40	We must have come to a secret understanding''
41	* NotSoDifferentRemark: "Feed the Enemy" darkly invokes this trope, suggesting that supposed differences are just someone's convenient lies.
42	-->''"We always have to feed the enemy"''
43	* OopNorth: The band are originally from Manchester.
44	* PostPunk: One of the quintessential British PostPunk bands.
45	* PrecisionFStrike: Despite their punk-era pedigree, Magazine were never a particularly sweary band. Which means that use of the F-bomb in "Permafrost" makes it a bleak and sinister song.
46	* ProgressiveRock: Sometimes mentioned by critics in relation to the band, and especially to the synth-heavy ''Secondhand Daylight''. As critics who favored PostPunk music rarely favored prog, this wasn't always meant as a compliment.
47	* PunBasedTitle: ''No Thyself''.
48	* PuppetKing: "Motorcade" seems to be about such a leader:
49	-->''"The man at the centre of the motorcade\
50	Has learned to tie his boots"''
51	* SelfDeprecation: Devoto is humorously aware of his own less-than-imposing image. "A Song From Under the Floorboards" makes this clear in a way that may be considered SelfParody:
52	-->''I am angry I am ill and I'm as ugly as sin\
53	My irritability keeps me alive and kicking\
54	I know the meaning of life, it doesn't help me a bit\
55	I know beauty and I know a good thing when I see it\
56	This is a song from under the floorboards\
57	This is a song from where the wall is cracked\
58	By force of habit, I am an insect\
59	I have to confess I'm proud as hell of that fact''
60	* SiameseTwinSongs: "The Thin Air" and "Back to Nature". The band have used the two songs to start some of their stage shows.

Context Music / Magazine