The Observer
Launched as a bible for clubbers during the Nineties heyday of ‘Generation E’, influential dance music magazine Ministry is to close its doors amid plummeting sales and a tide of change in the music industry.
The closure has been forced as the pioneering dance magazine – owned by the Ministry of Sound (MoS) – has seen its sales slip from a high of 120,000 copies a month to around 70,000. It also spells a change in fortunes for one of the most famous super-club brands in the country.
‘There has been a shift from traditional dance music, clubs and clubwear as we know it,’ said Mark Rodol, creative director of Ministry. It will publish its last issue next month and Ministry of Sound will launch a new dance title early next year.
‘Dance music and the scene that surrounds it has changed,’ added Rodol. ‘It’s not about taking lots of drugs and losing your mind in a dance club while waving glo-sticks. Dance fans are much more discerning these days – they’re just as liable to listen to garage and rock music.’
The closure of Ministry mirrors the state of a host of other super-club brands. Last month, Cream, the Liverpool super-club at the nexus of Nineties dance music, closed after owners said the city’s clubbers were seeking a more intimate clubbing experience. London’s Pacha, based on the famed Ibiza venue, which opened just a few months ago, is also now largely empty on club nights.
The dwindling fortunes of the super-clubs are also due partly to a dip in interest in dance music as young music fans rush for rock alternatives such as nu-metal bands Korn and Puddle of Mudd.
‘Clubbers listen to all kinds of music these days,’ said Viv Craske, editor of Mixmag. ‘So they don’t want to go somewhere where they get the same thing night after night.’
Clubbing isn’t as popular as it was… Fancy dress clubber Wry smile and gurner in a silly hat
Craske added: ‘The super-clubs have not been very good at realising the changing tastes of clubbers. People have changed the way they go clubbing these days. They don’t want to go for the big super-club phenomenon. It’s too impersonal. Clubbers want to go somewhere where the music taste is a bit more eclectic and the atmosphere is a bit more informal.’
The closure of Ministry also coincides with a changing of the guard in dance music. Older acts, judged to be out of touch with the traditional 18- to 20-year-old dance generation, are being edged out. In 1995, British dance group Leftfield’s debut album, Leftism, was widely received as the best dance album of all time, and the record produced a slew of hit singles. But 2000’s follow-up, Rhythm and Stealth, fared dismally – and the group have since split. Similarly, The Prodigy – once a stadium-headlining act – have seen their new material receive a lukewarm reception.
‘Dance music has gone back to where the music industry was in 1977, just before punk broke,’ said Craske. ‘Something new is about to happen. There is a generation of older DJs and musicians out there who are out of touch. And they are being replaced by a younger group of musicians that will eventually make their mark. It’s a changing of the guard.’
It was a different story in 1997 when Ministry was first launched. Back then, MoS, owned by James Palumbo, could do no wrong. From humble origins in a disused warehouse in south London, Palumbo created a global dance empire with its own music label, clothing, radio station and book division.
The magazine emerged from the illegal rave movement and arrived at a time when the Ministry brand was a temple to the biggest social revolution in British music since punk. Ministry provided advice for the estimated 500,000 travelling up and down the motorway each week to go toraves and super-clubs.
‘We’ve always tried to stay ahead,’ said Rodol. ‘As dance music changes, we’ll adapt. Our new magazine will look at clubbing in a much more international setting.’
