BLITZ 40 years old: “It was never consensual. There are always those who are uncomfortable with new incarnations, but that, for me, is a good sign”, Moullinex
As we enter the countdown to the big party for BLITZ’s 40th anniversary, at Meo Arena, in Lisbon, on December 12th – with concerts by Xutos & Pontapés, Capitão Fausto, Gisela João and MARO –we asked musicians, promoters, journalists, radio hosts and other personalities to go to the trunk to retrieve memories from four decades of history, also leaving us a message for the future.
The first memory that musician, producer and DJ Moullinex has of BLITZ dates back to the end of the 90s, the first Sudoeste festival he attended. “The newspaper classifieds were an incredible thing and there were many stories of love, hate, derision and evil to say. I remember that perfectly”, he recalls, “as a music lover, growing up in Viseu, it was, together with ‘Mondo Bizarre’, but above all BLITZ, a source of information about new music, releases, interviews with artists I admired. … anyway, my reading was almost religious. As an artist, the first time I did something with BLITZ, I don’t remember if it was with the magazine or the newspaper, it brought a bit of a feeling of validation. Therefore, follow my career, your existence.”
“40 years old: exactly my age. BLITZ is responsible for a generation, it has an impact on the culture of an entire generation, therefore its history intersects with the history of Portuguese music in the 20th and 21st centuries, crossing several realities”, adds Moullinex, “there was BLITZ before there was internet, so the impact of this in social terms is huge, isn’t it? He had to adapt to many different realities: before there were CDs, before there were streamingbefore there was online press, before and after blogs were relevant… this is a testament to its resilience and its importance”
For the future of the publication, the musician asks for “survival”. “There was always one brand: it was never consensual, BLITZ. I remember there being a backlash giant when it went from newspaper to magazine. There are always some old people from Restelo who are super uncomfortable with new incarnations of something. When this happens, it’s a good sign. For me, it has always been: when you are not too attached to a memory of what your identity is and it is a permeable thing, which evolves and moves with the times”.
