The hell with "Rolling Stone", my favorite magazine back in the day was "Right On". What are some of your favorite memories of the magazine? Mine are.....

The picture of Prince laying on a bed with a box fan in the background.

Prince, during the "I Wanna Be Your Lover" era, talking crazy shit about how he'd like to breed a dog with a cat and see what the result would be.

Rick James singing at a prom at the height of his career. First of all, I can't remember why he was singing at a prom. Maybe it was a favor for a relative or something. Anyway, he had cussed all night on the stage and pissed the school off. He even asked one of the boys in the audience if he was going to get some pussy from the girl that he was dancing with.

The whole Rick James vs. Prince feud and Rick raising hell about Prince during these years.

The drawings of musical artists in the back of the magazine which were sent in by readers.

The pen pal section.

All the latest news on the acts of the day such as Shalamar, Lakeside, Con Funk Shun, The Dazz Band.....hell, all the great acts of the day.

The picture of an artist in the middle of the magazine that was kinda like a little mini poster.
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I have a December 1976 issue of Right On! It features articles on The Sylvers,Bootsy Collins and Pam Grier.

That was long before I discovered the magazine. I first discovered it in either late 1979 or early 1980.

I remember reading it alot in the 80s.During the Purple Rain era,it seemed as if Prince was on the cover every few weeks...lol...in the summer of 85,they had a Prince cover story titled "Prince:What Can He Possibly Do Next?".

Oh wait....I think I'm getting it mixed up with Black Beat,which I used to read too

The partial reason why "Right On" was created was to give needed publicity to the Jackson 5 when predominantly white teeny bopper magazines wouldn't give them the time of day because they were black. "Right On" exploded in the black community shortly afterwards. I would love to read their articles on Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder, the Isley Brothers and the like.

Timmy84 said:

Yeah, for like the first three years of existence, "Right On!" was a J5 mag. I don't think anyone else was on the cover until '75 and what do you know, if was the Sylvers.

Timmy84 said:

The J5 years were right when I started reading it!!

Is "Right On" still being published? I use to love that mag and as someone said without the J5 Righton would have probably never existed the mag came about due to their popularity.

whatsgoingon said:

Yes, it's bow being dominated by the likes of Pretty Ricky, Bow Wow and Ciara.

I still own some back issues of Right On magazine between '81-'85, in mint condition plus Soul Teen magazine as well.

LittleBLUECorvette said:

How odd!

yep I knew everything about Prince world through 'Right On'

LittleBLUECorvette said:

Yep...I remember my older girl cousins getting Right On Mag when I was really little because it was strictly a J5 magazine. The whole issue damn near would be nothing but J5. It was like that every issue too. I remember my cousins had J5 posters all over their bedroom walls. They couldn't wait for the new Right On/Jackson Five issue. Every month was the same. I started reading 16 Magazine and Teen Beat along with Circus, Creem and Hit Parade as well as Right On! around 1975. Of course I was already hip to Right On but by then, like LBC stated, the mag had branched out to other artists. Then I remember when P's weird ass hit the scene. They really covered him a lot during his second album. Cynthia Horner used to always be the one who interviewed P. She had a major thing for Prince too. She always talked about he's eyes and shit. To me, he just looked like a black Leif Garret! I remember what vain said about the dog/cat thing. I also remember Switch was hot and Cynthia fucked around and told P in an interview that he looked like one of the members from Switch. And then P asked "Well what can I do to change that?" I thought that was the funniest shit. Then I remember when Dirty Mind came out, P was on the cover and it had all of these checkers in the background and it said "Yes, This Is Prince And He Sure Looks Different Now!" I still have that issue. It also mentioned the group The Bus Boys and Grace Jones and blacks doing new wave. Then of course the PR explosion and the Prince vs Michael thing. Those two were always on the cover. They were the first to cover The Time during their first album in 81. They covered Andre's albums as well. In 85 & 86, they were all up on Jesse, The Family, Mazarati, Jak, Q.T. Hush, Exotic Storm, the whole lot. They covered all of those cats. Black Beat did too. I still have MANY of those issues. I look through them from time to time.
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vainandy said:

Your threads always take me back...Here are some pics from my personal collection












And.....the centerfolds











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vainandy said:

Andy it is posts like this that is why I like you so much. You and I grew up in the same era and had similiar taste in music, but you are so much more knowledgable ... a true funk soldier.

I loved Right on Magazine, usta promise myself when I got older and got a job making money I was going to get a SUBSCRIPTION to Right On. Love Cynthia Horner... wanted to be like her when I grew up. I actually went to college for journalism.

those bands you talk about... dang! They were the Shite! Love Train was my JAM! baby you hear that my JAM!

keep talking VA. you bring a smile to my face reminding me of that good music from back in da day.

steelyd thank you for those covers...damn I feel old now.

"Right On!" magazine was great. I have a few from the 70 and 80's also. EVERYONE in black entertainment has been in that magazine.

I discovered it in the mid 90's and bought it regularly along with word up, black beat, seventeen, all about you, cause I was heavily into r&b/hip hop then and I thought they had the best posters.

I still have the 30th anniversary issue which is FULL of archives of Jackson 5 and MJ and Prince articles.....there's also an interview with Madonna, and an interview of Shitney dissing Madonna vainandy

steelyd said:

WOW,those issues take me right back to the good ol' days

I´ve never seen any of the posted pictures. Thanks so much for them!

This is one of the mags me and my boys used to steal from the 7-11 when I was a little kid, lol!! I started reading them during the whole Purple Rain era when I was five, I need to go to my dads house and look in his basement, I know I still got some of these mags down there.

I WISH I HAD KEPT ALL OF MY COPIES OF RIGHT ON AND BLACK BEAT!

WHAT IS CYNTHIA HORNER UP TO?

debbiedean2 said:

same here. I wanted to BE Cynthia Horner... she is the only editor of magazine that I can easily recall her name (except for Susan Taylor, Essence Magazine.)

SPYZFAN1 said:

No, don't feel old...Aren't you glad you were a kid back then? Between finding these and Soul Train re-runs...I've been in old school heaven.

dag said:

You're very welcome!

prodigalfan said:

Even Prince had alot of respect for Cynthia.He thanks her in the liner notes of his second album.

Steelyd, thanks for the pictures. They really liven up the thread.

If I'm not mistaken, I think he said he was actually trying to breed them. That was in the same article where Cynthia said she met him somewhere and he showed up wearing shorts and boots.

I used to read "Black Beat" also. And don't forget about "Rock and Soul".

Thanks prodigal. The old music is the best music to talk about. I like to talk about the new music also.....I like to shit on it.