End of paper Grooves

From the left: my first Groove from autumn 1992, with Ata and Heiko M/S/O (Ongaku) on the cover; in autumn 1994 pictograms were introduced for reviews; one of the last issues with Helena Hauff.

Groove magazine, a symbol of German club culture since 1989, announced this week to abandon the physical format and become an online-only publication. Unfortunately print is not trendy (and most of all, not profitable) anymore and even when this decision is not too surprising – fellow magazine De:Bug stopped the paper version a few years ago –  it’s still a shame that one of most exciting music publications was forced to make this unpleasant decision. When a few weeks ago I got a Groove with Helena Hauff on the cover, it didn’t know it will remain the penultimate issue.

I’ve been an occasional subscriber to Groove, but from my trips to Germany and via mail order, I have amassed a sizable collection since 1992, still keeping all copies that I’ve picked up over the years. I can say that Groove, De:Bug – and in early 1990s Frontpage – have shaped my views on electronic music, that once were very German-centric, including the interest in (acid) trance and hardcore that played important roles over 25 years ago. However, Groove has been smoothly crossing geographical and genre boundaries, being a true guiding light in the variety of electronic music.

Reading reviews have been always my favourite part and I would like to highlight an innovation from the end of 1994, when Groove introduced pictograms, or why not ’emoticons’ for the reviews. They provided good guidance about the styles (I was mostly looking for a ‘hard hammer’ or ‘acid test tube’) and the feelings the music represented.

But it’s not a good-bye. See you at Groove.de.

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