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There was a period around the early 90s, just before he left music journalism altogether, when Swells did sort of regress into a kind of music-crit bootboy, saying little of real substance as he used his articles, reviews or interviews simply as a vehicle for pithily formed insults which, while fun, weren't that helpful. I think he was becoming increasingly alienated from his readers and perhaps felt that he had less and less to say to them. I remember a terrible review he'd written about the Happy Mondays during this period which only made me think that he really didn't have a clue what was actually going on with them. Prior to that he was probably my favourite NME writer, not so much for the bands he wrote about but the way in which he framed them and as a consequence made me think about them. That NIN review is sort of typical of the era when he began to lose focus/interest. Its good fun to read his avalanche of Reznor-directed bile but it hardly displays the same kind of insight that he was noted for. I hope someone compiles a collection of his music journalism so people really can see how good he once was.
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