The Last Keyhole News from Ian Meldrum

19740817: Page 10: Keyhole News

This is a tiny part of the Keyhole news from the second last edition of Go-Set. Meldrum had a whole page of material that was published. Not that it says very much, except that it says more of the same about what is happening that week.
His work has been described as a 'stream of consciousness" by some, and in my thesis I determined that in some respects, Meldrum's contributions gave no intrinsic value to the magazine, except that they provided readers with an insiders view on their stars doings.
By this time, the only two contributors left from Go-Set's main years were Phillip Morris, who contributed the "Scene" photographs, and Ian Meldrum who wrote the gossip column. By this time Mitch had left, and Ed Nimmervoll had decided to stay in Melbourne, rather than go to Sydney, where the magazine was to be edited.
The last issue was the one after this, dated 25 August 1974. There was no Keyhole News. The issue would be made up from items drawn from other magazines from the IPC stable.
Like the Beatles last released album "Let It Be", the last Go-Set was a sad reflection of what it had been. The spark was finally gone!!
Next posting will go back to a more happy period!!

Molly Meldrum - The Stardust Page -1974

Go-Set: 5 January 1974: Page 24 The Stardust Page

Go-Set 1974 First Issue

Go-Set: 5 January 1974 Cover 

By January 1974, the face of popular music had changed quite significantly. Pop and rock still existed, and while was being dominated by Glam, rock was being dominated by blues boogie.
The first cover of 1974, featured 12 covers from 1973. The artists being featured represented a wide cross section of the international music industry.
In order of appearance on this cover
1. Australian May Join Zappa (US) (14July73)
2. Now Tull Quit (UK) (8Sep73)
3. Sherbet's Daryl (AUS) (16Dec73)
4. Aztec Energy Rising (AUS) (30June73)
5. Glittermania (UK) (10Nov73)
6. Aztecs First To Rock Opera House (AUS) (29Sept73)
7. Cassidy Signs For Australian Tour (US) (27Oct73)
8. Jackson 5 Mania! (US) (7July73)
9. Kinks' Ray Davies Quits Too! (UK) (4Aug73)
10. Slade Storm England (UK) (28July73)
11. Brian Cadd Considering Four American Tours (AUS) (15Sept73)
12. Cadd-Hewett 'No' To Opera House (AUS) (1Sept73)

By 1974, many things had changed in the Go-Set publication format, from the owners, to the sources of information. From the percentage of Australian content, to the authors of the content.
Retrospectively Go-Set had changed because its readers had grown up, the world had changed as had the media companies that owned the popular music press.
Significantly, in 1974, Go-Set was owned by the UK media giant IPC, and it had competition from other magazines, but more specifically Dolly for the teenage market it was originally aimed at. However, historically, Go-Set was now targeting the market that was now predominately University students, and more largely male in gender.