By the mid-1990s, Riff Raff had more or less run its course. In its later stages, it dropped the by-lines and became increasingly a rehash job, reusing its old content or re-editing stuff from "other sources" to create content, rather than paying loads of writers and photographers.
It also tried to take short cuts -- not so much to popularity but just to achieve sales. The layouts became more garish and cheap-looking and there was an all-too-obvious attempt to jump on whatever rock bandwagon was popular. This led to one-band spin-off mags, which is possibly the lowest form of musical journalism.
A good example of this (and possibly the only one) was this mag from around 1995 focusing on the biggest band in rock in those days, which, rather like Riff Raff itself, was in the process of falling apart.
These images come from an entry on eBay, where the mag was recently on sale for £10, a bit steep in my opinion, even for avid collectors of rock mag memorabilia.
The pictures give some impression of the 'quality' of the content: not very high obviously, but possibly just good enough to persuade some fans to part with the purchase price, which would probably have been between £2 and £3.
Also, included were 5 posters and a postcard or two of the band, like the one below, showing Axl in his rather restrictive hot pants, which makes you wonder who the hell was buying this mag and why.
It also tried to take short cuts -- not so much to popularity but just to achieve sales. The layouts became more garish and cheap-looking and there was an all-too-obvious attempt to jump on whatever rock bandwagon was popular. This led to one-band spin-off mags, which is possibly the lowest form of musical journalism.
A good example of this (and possibly the only one) was this mag from around 1995 focusing on the biggest band in rock in those days, which, rather like Riff Raff itself, was in the process of falling apart.
These images come from an entry on eBay, where the mag was recently on sale for £10, a bit steep in my opinion, even for avid collectors of rock mag memorabilia.
The pictures give some impression of the 'quality' of the content: not very high obviously, but possibly just good enough to persuade some fans to part with the purchase price, which would probably have been between £2 and £3.
Also, included were 5 posters and a postcard or two of the band, like the one below, showing Axl in his rather restrictive hot pants, which makes you wonder who the hell was buying this mag and why.
Whatever its flaws, the mag served the pre-internet function of filling fans in on all the salacious gossip, juicy scandals, and backstage stories that you would just Google now. After all, it was only 1995 or thereabouts and the modern internet was still mainly science fiction.
Photos: Some guy selling his copy on eBay
Revenge of Riff Raff
21st October, 2021
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