The popular music magazine that had been published every month in the United Kingdom, well-known under the name Q, was established in 1986 by Mark Ellen and David Hepworth (journalists, broadcasters and also Smash Hits writers) and in its first years it proved to be better than other magazines of this kind due to its high standards of printing and photography as well as its monthly press and wide variety of content. Its format was perfectly in tune with the trends, because at the very same time the CDs became popular. 

Now Q magazine is closing after 34 years of history. The editor Ted Kessler wrote on Twitter: "The pandemic did for us and there was nothing more to it than that," where he also shared the editor’s letter for the next issue (Q415), which, in fact, is going to be the last one and is scheduled for publishing on 28th of July. Earlier this month they came out with a Special Collector's Issue that contained articles and photos from the foundation of the magazine until now. Moreover, the last edition is also going to be a “ trawl through the archives” with the title "Adventures with Legends, 1986 - 2020".

Apart from the magazine’s knowledge and interesting news, it was also well-known for the disrespect shown. The rubric "Who The Hell Do They Think They Are?", written by Tom Hibbert, was one of the biggest fears of all pop stars at this time. It was launched in order to "lampoon ego-mania and harpoon narcissism" and lived for several years from the late 1980s until the time when PRs got new methods. Hibbert had the “bad” habit plus the perfect skills for “torturing” the interviewees until they started to talk more and reveal their true personalities. However, not everybody answered the questions nicely, for example, when he flooded Jerry Lee Lewis with questions about the rivalry with Elvis Presley, Lewis answered angrily: "Don't nit-pick me, boy! You mention Elvis to me again, you keep digging me about that and I'm gonna kill you, so help me God!” 

Another example is the interview with Ringo Starr who was forced to make a comparison of his album Time Takes Time from 1992 and some of his earlier work. "My album can't beat the Abbey Road album as an album? That was 30 years ago, man. I'm still making records and you can hear that I'm a great musician on the new record. 

This is an actual bloody legend in front of you. I'm not expecting you to comb the bloody legend's hair but if you could mention the new LP and these other fine musicians I'm still playing with." answered the musician. 

On the Q magazine covers there were lots of famous musicians through the years. For instance the first cover star was Paul McCartney, followed by Rod Stewart and Elton John. Some of the next editions displayed Madonna, Nirvana, Prince, the pregnancy of Britney Spears and a naked Terence Trent D'Arby. 

Its prosperity was during the years of Britpop, but in the mid-2010s there was a stagnation of its reputation with listicle columns like "the 10 greatest gigs of all time" and "the 120 greatest stories in rock 'n' roll" that caused bad influence on its journalistic strength. 

In 2017 the magazine got its new editor Kessler who brought a new voice to Q. There were some in-depth interviews with stars such as Lana Del Rey, Tame Impala and The Streets. Although, in May Bauer Media, the owner, put Q and some other titles under review due to a decrease in sales. On one of the last issues most of the  writers shared their memories of past interviews. Adrian Deevoy recalls his meeting with Madonna and her exact words: "Everyone probably thinks I'm a raving nymphomaniac, when the truth is I'd rather read a book." On the last page of the magazine there was a reflection picture of its fate with the musician Bono on it, who once said that he would miss the magazine if it is gone as it contains everything he would want from a musical mag. "All the serious and all the silly... The scholarship deftly done" he said.