About No Ripcord

No Ripcord is an independent online magazine specialising in the fields of music and film.

Initially thrust into an unsuspecting and largely uninterested world by three enthusiastic non-writers (Chris Hall, Adam Booth and myself) in April 1999, the site began life as a fortnightly newsletter, which subsequently became monthly, then bi-monthly, before being dropped altogether in favour of the web-based format that continues to this day.

As the staff expanded and the writing gradually improved, so did the site's ambitions, and in 2000 we relocated to the noripcord.co.uk domain. This remained our home for three very productive years, which saw staff numbers reach double figures for the first time. This resulted in more regular updates and, thanks to the prolific writer Chris Willie Williams, the addition of film coverage to our evolving agenda.

In 2003 Peter Mattinson introduced No Ripcord to a whole new audience with his series of controversial yet popular Culture Bunker articles, discussing subjects as diverse as university, unemployment, the ageing process and retro video gaming.

Later that year, the site moved to its current home at NORIPCORD.COM , where it enjoyed an initial period of increased popularity before being plagued by frustrating periods of inactivity. We blamed this almost entirely on our antiquated static HTML website, but in truth various other factors (academic commitments etc.) contributed to No Ripcord's torpor. Nevertheless, we boldly drew up plans for a new website and handed them over to a series of web-designers. And then we waited. For three immensely frustrating years we waited. In October 2006, we launched a powerful new Drupal based website, which has recently been revamped by designer Sean Hodge and Drupal developer Ronny López, to form the modern and aesthetically pleasing No Ripcord that you see today.

With our most powerful website yet, 2008 promises to be No Ripcord's finest ever year. We hope you will continue to enjoy reading our articles and listening to our podcasts as we aim to further establish ourselves as one of the world's leading independent music and film sites.

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