Minnesota musicians join chorus mourning NME magazine's demise

"All good things come to an end," Lori Barbero declared on Facebook this morning, one of many musicians taking to social media to mourn the end of NME magazine.

The London-based music rag, aka New Music Express, announced Wednesday it was ceasing operations of its print edition after 66 years in the business -- long enough to help spawn Beatlemania in the early-'60s and share entrenched reports from the great Oasis vs. Blur battlefront of the early-'90s. It had been bought up by Time Inc. and turned into a free publication in recent years.

Besides obviously being a mainline to the British music scene, the magazine was a great booster of U.S. indie-rock musicians over the years and often dug deeper into Middle America scenes than many of the East and West Coast magazines and blogs. Thus, it was supportive to many Twin Cities musicians, including Hippo Campus and Lizzo of late.

Barbero posted her condolences along with a 1992 edition of NME on which she and a donut graced the cover. Thus the headline: "Donut adjust your set, it's Babes in Toyland." Barbero recalled in her post, "Back in the 80's, I used to go to Shinder's in downtown Minneapolis to buy an NME. It was the only place you could get it. Well, all good things come to an end. Thank you NME for years of your labor of love."

Sean Tillmann, aka Har Mar Superstar -- whose music and widespread shenanigans with random celebrities in the mid-'00s made him an NME staple -- also expressed his disappointment on Facebook. One features some rather salacious photos from the 2004 NME Awards in which he was named Man of the Year and is seen hanging with Josh Homme from Queens of the Stone Age and Brody Dalle from the Destillers (who would be married a year later).

"Sad to see you go out of print," Tillmann wrote. "We had our differences on occasions, but I loved how you made rockers seem like superheroes and will always appreciate you letting me be your first musician columnist."

Among the British stars to bid the magazine farewell on social media were Billy Bragg, Ricky Gervais and the Who, who tweeted a 1970 magazine cover and the message, "Thanks for everything NME. Nice to have known you. Love from the 'Orrible 'Oo."