Editing NME (section)

===1990s===
{{more citations needed section|date=July 2015}}
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|image1= Nme blur oasis.jpg
|caption1=[[Blur (band)|Blur]] vs [[Oasis (band)|Oasis]], August 1995. NME started 1990 in the thick of the [[Madchester]] scene, covering the new British indie bands and [[shoegazing|shoegazers]].
|image2= NME1995cover.jpg
|caption2= [[Björk]], April 1995. The magazine heavily championed Björk's breakthrough in the 1990s.
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By the end of 1990, the Madchester scene was dying off, and ''NME'' had started to report on new bands coming from the US, mainly from [[Seattle]]. These bands would form a new movement called [[grunge]], and by far the most popular bands were [[Nirvana (band)|Nirvana]] and [[Pearl Jam]]. The ''NME'' took to grunge very slowly ("Sounds" was the first British music paper to write about grunge with John Robb being the first to interview Nirvana.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://johnrobb77.wordpress.com/2009/09/29/nirvana-interview-sounds-july-1989/|title=Nirvana interview Sounds October 1989|date=29 September 2009|access-date=2 January 2018}}</ref> ''Melody Maker'' was more enthusiastic early on, largely through the efforts of [[Everett True]], who had previously written for ''NME'' under the name "The Legend!"). For the most part, ''NME'' only became interested in grunge after ''[[Nevermind]]'' became popular. Although it still supported new British bands, the paper was dominated by American bands, as was the music scene in general.

Although the period from 1991 to 1993 was dominated by American bands like Nirvana, British bands were not ignored. The ''NME'' still covered the indie scene and was involved with a war of words with a new band called [[Manic Street Preachers]], who were criticising the ''NME'' for what they saw as an elitist view of bands they would champion. This came to a head in 1991, when, during an interview with [[Steve Lamacq]], [[Richey James Edwards|Richey Edwards]] would confirm the band's position by carving "4real" into his arm with a razor blade.

By 1992, the Madchester scene had died and along with the Manics, some new British bands were beginning to appear. [[Suede (band)|Suede]] were quickly hailed by the paper as an alternative to the heavy grunge sound and hailed as the start of a new British music scene. Grunge, however, was still the dominant force, but the rise of new British bands would become something the paper would focus on more and more.

In 1992, the ''NME'' also had a very public dispute with [[Morrissey]] due to allegations by ''NME''{{'}}s [[Dele Fadele]] that Morrissey had used racist lyrics and imagery.<ref name="rh">{{cite web|last1=Fadele|first1=Dele|url=https://www.rocksbackpages.com/Library/Article/morrissey-caucasian-rut|title=Morrissey: Caucasian Rut|url-access=subscription|website=NME|date=22 August 1992}}</ref> This erupted after a concert at [[Finsbury Park]] where Morrissey was seen to drape himself in a [[Union Jack]]. The series of articles (starting with Fadele's one) which followed in the next edition of ''NME'' (featuring the story on the front cover)<ref>{{cite web |url=http://motorcycleaupairboy.com/interviews/1992/caucasian.htm |title=MORRISSEY Flying the flag or flirting with disaster? |publisher= Motorcycleaupairboy.com |date=22 August 1992 |access-date=31 August 2010}}</ref> soured Morrissey's relationship with the paper, and this led to Morrissey not speaking to the paper again for the next 12 years (i.e., until 2004).<ref>{{cite web|last1=Jonze|first1=Tim|url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2019/may/30/bigmouth-strikes-again-morrissey-songs-loneliness-shyness-misfits-far-right-party-tonight-show-jimmy-fallon|title=Bigmouth strikes again and again: why Morrissey fans feel so betrayed|website=The Guardian|date=30 May 2019|access-date=21 March 2021}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last1=Thomas-Mason|first1=Lee|url=https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/cornershop-set-fire-morrissey-posters-racism/|title=Remembering when Cornershop set fire to Morrissey posters, 1992|website=Far Out|date=17 May 2020|access-date=21 March 2021}}</ref>

Later in 1992, Steve Sutherland, previously an assistant editor of ''[[Melody Maker]]'', was brought in as the ''NME''{{'}}s editor to replace [[Danny Kelly (journalist)|Danny Kelly]]. Andrew Collins, [[Stuart Maconie]], [[Steve Lamacq]], and [[Mary Anne Hobbs]] all left the ''NME'' in protest, and moved to ''[[Select Magazine|Select]]''; Collins, Maconie and Lamacq would all also write for ''[[Q (magazine)|Q]]'', while Lamacq would join ''Melody Maker'' in 1997. Kelly, Collins, Maconie, Lamacq and Hobbs would all subsequently become prominent broadcasters with [[BBC Radio 1]] as it reinvented itself under [[Matthew Bannister]].

In April 1994, Nirvana frontman [[Kurt Cobain]] was found dead, a story which affected not only his fans and readers of the ''NME'', but would see a massive change in British music. Grunge was about to be replaced by [[Britpop]],<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/music/4136296.stm |title=Entertainment &#124; Highlights from the Britpop year |work=BBC News |date=15 August 2005 |access-date=11 August 2014}}</ref> a new genre influenced by 1960s British music and culture. The term was coined by ''NME''{{Citation needed|date=September 2015}} after the band [[Blur (band)|Blur]] released their album ''[[Parklife]]'' in the month of Cobain's death. Britpop began to fill the musical and cultural void left after Cobain's demise, and with Blur's success and the rise of a new group from Manchester called [[Oasis (band)|Oasis]], Britpop would continue its rise for the rest of 1994. By the end of the year, Blur and Oasis were the two biggest bands in the UK, and sales of the ''NME'' were increasing thanks to the Britpop effect. In 1995, ''NME'' covered these new bands, many of whom played the ''NME Stage'' at that year's [[Glastonbury Festival]], where the paper had been sponsoring the second stage at the festival since 1993. This would be its last year sponsoring the stage; subsequently, the stage would be known as the 'Other Stage'.

In August 1995, Blur and Oasis planned to release singles on the same day in a mass of media publicity. Steve Sutherland put the story on the front page of the paper, and was criticised for playing up the duel between the bands. Blur won the "race" for the top of the charts, and the resulting fallout from the publicity led to the paper enjoying increased sales during the 1990s as Britpop became the dominant genre. After this peak, the paper experienced a slow decline as Britpop burned itself out fairly rapidly over the next few years. This left the paper directionless again, and attempts to embrace the rise of DJ culture in the late 1990s only led to the paper being criticised for not supporting rock or indie music. The paper did attempt to return to its highly politicised 1980s incarnation by running a cover story in March 1998 condemning [[Tony Blair]], who had previously associated himself with Britpop bands such as Oasis, and this received a certain level of attention in the wider media.{{Citation needed|date=October 2010}}

Sutherland did attempt to cover newer bands, but a 1998 cover feature on the Canadian [[post-rock]] band [[Godspeed You! Black Emperor]] saw the paper dip to a sales low, and Sutherland later stated in his weekly editorial that he regretted putting them on the cover. For many, this was seen as an affront to the principles of the paper, and sales reached a low point at the turn of the millennium. From the issue of 21 March 1999, the paper was no longer printed on newsprint, and more recently, it has shifted to tabloid size with glossy colour covers.