QTheMusic.com

IT'S A special issue this one, since it marks the 21st anniversary of Q’s launch.

This, of course, immediately set us with a not insignificant challenge. How best to represent this particular milestone in the issue itself? And, in doing so, how to ensure that it felt like a proper event and not just another Q?

Those with keen memories, or merely a functioning grasp of logic, will know that last year was Q’s 20th anniversary, and we answered the aforementioned questions by producing 20 separate covers, each one portraying a different superstar from Q’s universe. Since that cast list ran from Madonna to Paul McCartney, via U2, David Bowie, Noel Gallagher and Britney Spears, job done, we thought.

Having pulled that off, though, this year became even more of a deal. In light of 2006’s precedent we couldn’t do 21 covers again even if we had wanted to, and considering the Olympian levels of stress doing 20 generated, we didn’t. We could have, should we have so wished, ignored the birthday altogether, but somehow 21 seemed even more of a landmark than 20. One louder, if you will.

And so, after a degree of head-scratching, 21 People Who Changed Music was born (and, yes, before you ask, we do know that there are more than 21 people referred to in the list itself, since we’ve included whole bands as single entries, but coming of age doesn’t automatically imply we’ll stop bending the rules entirely to suit our own ends).

Then came the notion of having each of the artists included discuss his/her own or their band’s mighty legacy. Which, when applied to the likes of Robert Plant, Chuck D, John Lydon, Peter Buck and Brian Eno, to name but five, both made sense and was wholly practical.

Less so, on both counts, when it came to Jimi Hendrix, Kurt Cobain, Ian Curtis et al. Since they are dead. Hence, the notion of asking both other musicians and a parade of fine writers to pen these artists testimonials. From the start, we set the bar high, stupidly high some suggested.

How we laughed at the notion that Quentin Tarantino, for one, might care to spend a goodly time not attempting to flog his ill-starred Grindhouse enterprise, but rather talking at some length about the wonders of Bob Dylan. Except he did. Ditto Brian Wilson, Coldplay, Slash, and many, many more who, one and all, spoke with great passion and knowledge about their chosen subject.

After that, getting Damon Albarn to consent to having Chris Heath practically live in his pocket for six months and Ian Brown to talk about The Stone Roses was but a walk in the park. All that – alongside the beautiful David Bailey shot of Damon that adorns the solitary cover – makes for, I think, an outstandingly good issue of Q.

Indeed, having bought this fine, fine magazine since its inception (when I was, obviously, merely an embryo), and been lucky enough to have edited it, I firmly believe Q256, as it is also known, is a fitting celebration of all that it has been and will be. I hope you agree. Please do let me know your thoughts.

If I may take up your time just a little longer, can I also point you in the direction of the forthcoming Sigur Ros film, Heima, which is released on DVD in November. It is, nominally, a visual document of the band’s tour of their Icelandic homeland last summer, but to describe it as such does the enterprise scant justice. Rather, it is a beautiful, bewitching and wholly magical piece of art; one that is so far removed from, and elevated above, the traditional rock film as to have instantly made that form redundant.

I had the great privilege of watching Heima in Iceland, at the tip of the Arctic Circle, on a cinema screen. I found it a profoundly moving experience, one I’m not entirely sure I’ve fully processed just yet. And you don’t get to say that about Travis Live At T In The Park. Don’t miss it.

Enjoy the issue.

Paul Rees – Editor, Q

3:51 PM | 01/10/2007