Remembering - Blender

Once upon a time, before blogs were as prominent or as powerful, where were things called magazines.  Magazines resided in racks.  And magazine racks were littered with music magazines.

The landscape is much different now. Magazine of all varieties are falling by the wayside.  In fact it was two years ago this month that the final issue of Blender reached my mailbox.





I picked up Blender for a couple of reasons. First and foremost, I like to read.    I'm a big fan of contributing to commerce and as someone who writes, I like to support the written word.

But I also got into Blender because I like music magazines.  Music is something that I'm very interested in so when a music magazine pops up I tend to try them out.  I was also intrigued by a magazine with the irreverence and tone of Maxim, but you know, with a focus on a subject.

And Blender delivered.  They didn't take their subjects too seriously and really all they held sacred was music.  Egos were deflated and wrongs were righted.  Blender was easily one of the most entertaining reads on the newsstand.

There are several regular features in Blender that I still miss to this day.  I loved "The Greatest Song Ever" where the editors would give an oral history of how a great song came together, which would always prove insightful.


Another good feature was "Ask Blender" where the editors would widely held rumors about bands, songs and albums.  "Dear Superstar" allowed the readers to send questions to a musician and occasionally get some revealing answers.


"33 Things You Should Know About..." was generally a fun feature, where you'd get a general bio of a band or artist via 33 bullet points.  "Tips from the Stars" was one of the funnier regular features, where a band or artist would offer up completely random advice, like how to tie a bow tie or skin a squirrel.

Yeah, I'm really missing that unique perspective right about now.  Blender was one of a kind for a music magazine, which is why it's so sad that folded with the publication crash of the aughties.

Sure I could visit the website, but it's not the same thing.  I like holding it.  I like reading it in a waiting room or on a toilet.  I'm a huge fan of using it to keep the crazy people on the bus from taking to me.

Blender, know that you are missed.