I know it's kinda a stupid question but is Uptown magazine still going strong or is it out of print? Anyone know where I can find back issues?

http://www.uptown.se/2005...sues.shtml

and unfortunately they're not doing the print version of the magazine anymore, they stopped doin 'em last year. i think they'll still keep on with the vault tho'.

Handclapsfingasnapz said:

Thank u! Unfortuantly most of the ones I want are sold out!

andykeen said:

Thats exactly what I was thinking

like "Headline news: Prince has Cheerios for breakfast today!"

but seriously it is pretty cool they're still going

andykeen said:

Well they before the net was popular/accessibly, so fanzines were the outlet for fan communities - There were tons of Prince fanzines.

As to what they wrote about - Prince's career! They had great, detailed tour reports, interviews, indeprth reviews, discographies, related artists, unreleased stuff, everything!

You can read some select articles from Uptown's past issues here:
http://www.housequake.com...forumid=61

And here is a list of all the issues published and the articles each issue had:
http://www.uptown.se/2005...sues.shtml

The Uptown crew are brilliant, their work on the magazine, and their books is just amazing.

Krystal666 said:

U should try www.madhousemusic.co.uk !! They have absolutely everything regarding Prince, including all the Uptown Magazines!! I get most of my Prince stuff from these people!!

One thing I really liked about "Uptown" Magazine was that , unlike a lot of fanzines that think their subjects never made a wrong move, "Uptown" was not afraid to be critical. I recall an article by Per Nilson in the mag a few years back, where he was detailing what he felt went wrong with Prince's career and music at that point. One interesting point that he made that I thought was quite observant : he sdaid that a lot of Prince's late 1990s work seemed to be focused more on instrumental virtuosity than in creating memorable tunes. It was like he was constructing the songs to showcase his guitar or keyboard licks, rather than creating strong melodies . Also, they were quite critical of his forays into rap and hip/hop, noting that these genres did not play to his strengths.

The internet has pretty much killed off fanzines like Uptown. I think sensibly they realised that, the idea was to release an updated version of their excellent book 'The Vault' every year or so, I don't know how practical that would be, since people who already have a copy are unlikely to fork out for a new copy with a few extra pages, so it's a diminishing return.

I once sent in a report of a concert/aftershow and as promised they sent me a free edition of Uptown magazine - cool!

Only thing I dislike about Uptown critiques, they have a terrible habit of quoting lyrics without actually adequately explaining the underlying meaning.

Gold319 said:

Hey thank you so much for this! This site is awsome!

seems like a lot of people are relatively new to the prince fandom scene?

Krystal666 said:

and extremely expensive ! Just about the Biggest ripoff merchants in the Prince world except maybe for simon quinn !

I got all the old issues of Uptown and I love that magazine.Their info is thorough and in-depth.I liked going to Tower Records,and finding the latest issue in the magazine rack.It's a shame that they shut down,but now that we have the Internet,I guess fans don't really need fanzines anymore?