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Post by Pete70s on May 21, 2004 2:48:10 GMT -5
...written to a magazine, and had your letter printed?
I was just laying in bed, listening to some tunes, unable to sleep, and I thought of an old memory that I haven't thought about in YEARS. So I figured I'd get up and share it with you guys!
Back in the 80's, I was BIG TIME into heavy metal (of course, nowadays I'm getting back into a lot of those old bands, so old memories are coming back to me). For several years (until around '89) I NEVER missed an issue of Hit Parader, and always bought each new issue the day it hit the news stand. I spent more time back then reading that magazine than I did my school books (regrettable now, but at the time Ozzy was just more interesting to me than Shakespeare). I wish I still had those magazines ::sigh::
Anyway, sometime in the mid-80's I was totally buzzing about Queensryche. I had always wanted to write to Hit Parader, but had never built up the balls to actually do it. So one day, totally on a whim, I wrote to them about how much I liked Queensryche (and actually mailed it!). I didn't sign my name, just put down my hometown.
So months went by and I had completely forgotten I had done that. About 8-9 months later I'm in my room with my hot-off-the-press new issue of Hit Parader, skimming through the mail section when I see "Fitchburg, MA". At first I thought "Oh cool! Somebody here in town wrote them a letter!" Then I read the letter and was like "Wait a minute... THIS IS MY LETTER! HOLY CRAP!!!!"
So anyway, the next day I'm in the record store at my local mall, and the guy that worked there came up to me and asked if I was into metal (I guess my long hair and black leather fringe jacket and boots must've gave it away...) so I said "yes". He asks me "Have you ever heard of THIS band?" and he PULLS OUT THE QUEENSRYCHE TAPE!
I said "Yes, they're one of my favorites at the moment. In fact, I wrote to Hit Parader about them last summer, and they JUST printed the letter in the new issue that came out yesterday". He immediately responded "That was YOU?!?!"
He'd actually bought the issue, and was trying to find out if he knew the person who wrote the letter. So we chatted about bands for a while.. Small world, huh?
So anyway, do any of you have any fun stories like that to share?
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Post by SAT-I need more room!! on May 21, 2004 9:54:49 GMT -5
COOL!! Did you at least save that particular issue? I bet know you WISHED you signed your name! LOL! I've never written to a music magazine, although I am going to soon about, what else, Martina.  I plan on writing to Goldmine about her. I have written to Pro Wrestling Illustrated though Pete! LOL! One time, but nothing got printed. I've only had stuff printed in an underground wrestling newsletter. Cool topic! |
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Post by lora on May 21, 2004 11:38:58 GMT -5
Awesome story Pete!
I have never written to a music magazine, but I have written to Entertainment Weekly twice. And I wrote to Oprah magazine back in like February I guess. Well, I e-mailed them actually. It was a food question, nothing really interesting, but I got a response less than a week later, I think. This doctor that responded to the types of questions that I asked e-mailed me saying he would like to further discuss my question and asked for my phone number. So he called me, and during our conversation he informed me that my letter would be printed in the May issue. I anxiously awaited all that time for it to hit the newsstands, and it was so exciting. I was on the top of page 150, the first time my name has been in print in a national publication.
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Post by SAT-I need more room!! on May 21, 2004 11:42:42 GMT -5
Awesome story Pete! I have never written to a music magazine, but I have written to Entertainment Weekly twice. And I wrote to Oprah magazine back in like February I guess. Well, I e-mailed them actually. It was a food question, nothing really interesting, but I got a response less than a week later, I think. This doctor that responded to the types of questions that I asked e-mailed me saying he would like to further discuss my question and asked for my phone number. So he called me, and during our conversation he informed me that my letter would be printed in the May issue. I anxiously awaited all that time for it to hit the newsstands, and it was so exciting. I was on the top of page 150, the first time my name has been in print in a national publication. I would have been nervous with him asking for a phone number!  |
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Post by Dawn on May 21, 2004 12:03:37 GMT -5
Very cool, Pete! I've never written to a magazine myself, but I've seen a familiar name or two in the Mailbag sections.
I can definitely relate to what you said about wishing that you still had those magazines from your high school days. I left a bunch of mine at my parents' when I got married (our first apartment was very small), and my mom threw them out by mistake, thinking I didn't want them anymore. It would be great to be able to look through them now and revisit old memories!
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Post by Pete70s on May 21, 2004 16:19:29 GMT -5
COOL!! Did you at least save that particular issue? I bet know you WISHED you signed your name! LOL! I've never written to a music magazine, although I am going to soon about, what else, Martina. I plan on writing to Goldmine about her. I have written to Pro Wrestling Illustrated though Pete! LOL! One time, but nothing got printed. I've only had stuff printed in an underground wrestling newsletter. Cool topic! Unfortunately, sometime in the early 90's, my basement appartment got flooded out, and I had to throw away a bunch of old magazines that were destroyed. So now I don't have ANY of them.. I'll bet if I looked on ebay, though, I'd find a bunch of them! Now that you mention it, I DID write to PWI in the early 90's, about a cover story they ran, "Should Jack Tunney be Impeached?" I never knew if it got printed or not, though, because I never bought it regularly. My grandmother used to buy tons of wrestling magazines and give them to me by the bag load, so I never kept track.. ANOTHER story I'd forgotten about until now! |
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Post by Pete70s on May 21, 2004 16:22:42 GMT -5
Awesome story Pete! I have never written to a music magazine, but I have written to Entertainment Weekly twice. And I wrote to Oprah magazine back in like February I guess. Well, I e-mailed them actually. It was a food question, nothing really interesting, but I got a response less than a week later, I think. This doctor that responded to the types of questions that I asked e-mailed me saying he would like to further discuss my question and asked for my phone number. So he called me, and during our conversation he informed me that my letter would be printed in the May issue. I anxiously awaited all that time for it to hit the newsstands, and it was so exciting. I was on the top of page 150, the first time my name has been in print in a national publication. Very cool, Lora! It must be a lot quicker and easier to get a letter printed now that we have email. It's hard to believe there was a time when all we had was snail mail (that really wasn't THAT long ago). How did we survive? |
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Post by Pete70s on May 21, 2004 16:24:19 GMT -5
Very cool, Pete! I've never written to a magazine myself, but I've seen a familiar name or two in the Mailbag sections. I can definitely relate to what you said about wishing that you still had those magazines from your high school days. I left a bunch of mine at my parents' when I got married (our first apartment was very small), and my mom threw them out by mistake, thinking I didn't want them anymore. It would be great to be able to look through them now and revisit old memories! Thanks, Dawn! Like I just mentioned to Adam, I may go on ebay and try to track down some old issues. The only problem is that I have NO idea what month and year my issue was... |
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Post by SAT-I need more room!! on Jul 16, 2004 16:35:12 GMT -5
Unfortunately, sometime in the early 90's, my basement appartment got flooded out, and I had to throw away a bunch of old magazines that were destroyed. So now I don't have ANY of them.. I'll bet if I looked on ebay, though, I'd find a bunch of them! Now that you mention it, I DID write to PWI in the early 90's, about a cover story they ran, "Should Jack Tunney be Impeached?" I never knew if it got printed or not, though, because I never bought it regularly. My grandmother used to buy tons of wrestling magazines and give them to me by the bag load, so I never kept track.. ANOTHER story I'd forgotten about until now! Oh Pete, Jack Tunney SHOULD have been imeached! |
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Post by Pete70s on Jul 16, 2004 16:38:46 GMT -5
Oh Pete, Jack Tunney SHOULD have been imeached! Eh... Tunney was just a tool.. I totaly wasted a stamp on that one! |
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Post by SAT-I need more room!! on Jul 16, 2004 16:44:01 GMT -5
Eh... Tunney was just a tool.. I totaly wasted a stamp on that one! LOL!! Back then I think most of us bought him as a legit President! |
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Post by lora on Jul 21, 2004 20:50:31 GMT -5
I would have been nervous with him asking for a phone number! I didn't think anything of it. I suppose I'm too trusting sometimes, but this time it worked out for the best, didn't it?! |
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Post by lora on Jul 21, 2004 20:52:37 GMT -5
Very cool, Lora! It must be a lot quicker and easier to get a letter printed now that we have email. It's hard to believe there was a time when all we had was snail mail (that really wasn't THAT long ago). How did we survive? It seems like the internet rules our lives now. I remember the days of snail mail fondly. Sometimes I miss it. Things were slower, but they sure were simpler, huh? |
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I plan on writing to Goldmine about her. 
