New Musical Express

The New Musical Express (or NME) is a weekly newspaper about popular music published in the United Kingdom. The paper began in 1952 after the Musical Express was purchased by London music promoter Maurice Kinn and relaunched as the NME. It was initially published in a non-glossy, tabloid format. Later in 1952, taking its cue from the US Billboard magazine, it created the UK Singles Chart. The first of which was, a Top Twelve. It evolved alongside the emerging rock and roll music scene and was for many years the rival to the older and musically conservative Melody Maker publication. While it's initial focus was on mainstream pop acts, the rise of psychedelia and heavier rock bands in the late 1960s resulted in an emphasis on guitar-based music and indie rock bands, which has continued to this day. Suffering a sales slump by the mid-1970s, the arrival of New Wave towards the late 1970s resulted in NME cashing in by hiring young writers, reverting the magazines declining fortune. The sometimes ascerbic and scathing reviews of established artists earned it the nickname "The Enemy". Upon the demise of Melody Maker in 2001, several of its writers and features relocated to the NME. Since 2002, it's main rival has been Classic Rock magazine, and in 2006 it lost the Number One position as the most circulated music publication in the UK, to that publication.