Lori Majewski is a U.S.-based entertainment writer. She is the author (with Jonathan Bernstein) of Mad World: An Oral History of New Wave Artists and Songs that Defined the 1980s[1]. Since 2016 she has been an on-air personality at the SiriusXM music talk radio channel Volume.[2]

Personal background

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Majewski grew up in Weehawken, New Jersey[3] and attended Weehawken High School, which in the 2010s inducted her into its Academic Hall of Fame.[4] She attended college at Fordham University's Lincoln Center campus between 1989 and 1993, and wrote for The Fordham Observer.[5] She currently resides in Weehawken and Olive, New York.[6]

 
Lori Majewski at a 2014 Los Angeles book launch for Mad World, flanked by Moby and Michael Des Barres

Relationship to Duran Duran

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Majewski has been a fan of the new wave group Duran Duran since hearing them in the early 1980s. She credits the band for her career in writing, claiming, "in the mid-'80s I decided I wanted to become a journalist so I could meet them."[7] In 1990, after the official Duran Duran fan club folded, Majewski created the quarterly fanzine Too Much Information: The Definitive Duranzine, which she published through 1995.[8]

Publishing career

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From 1991 to 1994 Majewski interned at Spin magazine. Her first paid job as a magazine staff writer came at YM, a publication targeted at teen girls.[9] In 1998, Majewski was a co-founder of Teen People, the print offshoot of the Time Inc. magazine People. After leaving the periodical in 2001 to become executive editor of US Weekly, she returned to Teen People in 2005 to serve as managing editor.[10] Teen People ceased publication in September 2006.[11] Majewski then served as executive editor at Entertainment Weekly through 2008.[12]

Mad World

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In 2014, Lori Majewski and Jonathan Bernstein wrote Mad World: An Oral History of New Wave Artists and Songs that Defined the 1980s, with a foreword by Nick Rhodes of Duran Duran and an afterword by Moby. The book collects new interviews with the recording artists of 35 famous new wave songs, focusing on the stories behind the song's origins and the aftermath of the songs' popularity. Majewski and Bernstein hatched the idea for Mad World while writing for Spin during the 1990s heyday of grunge, where they discovered their mutual love for new wave music.[13]

Notes

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  1. ^ Moby, Lori Majewski, Jonathan Bernstein ; foreword by Nick Rhodes ; afterword by (2014). Mad world : an oral history of new wave artists and songs that defined the 1980s. [S.l.]: Harry N Abrams. ISBN 978-1419710971.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  2. ^ Magaziner, Marley (10 October 2016). "Music fans start the day with Nik Carter and Lori Majewski on 'Feedback'". SiriusXM Blog. Retrieved 16 December 2016.
  3. ^ Testa, Jim (May 14, 2014). "Weehawken author Lori Majewski to discuss the 'Mad World' of Eighties New Wave at Word Books Open Mic". nj.com.
  4. ^ Staff. "The 1980s rock again; Weehawken writer chronicles New Wave era in new book", Hudson Reporter, July 26, 2015. Accessed October 23, 2015. "Majewski was recently inducted into the Weehawken Academic Hall of Fame."
  5. ^ "Lori Majewski, FCLC '93: Just Can't Get Enough". Fordham News. November 14, 2014.
  6. ^ "The Woodstock Lifestyle: interview with writer Lori Majewski". YouTube. September 23, 2015.
  7. ^ Matheson, Whitney (April 15, 2014). "'Mad World': Lori Majewski chats about New Wave book". USA Today.
  8. ^ Majewski, Lori (September 2000). "Geek Love: Duran Duran". CMJ Music Monthly: 98.
  9. ^ Majewski, Lori; Bernstein, Jonathan (April 27, 2015). "Kurt, Courtney & Cassettes: We Worked at SPIN in the Early '90s". Spin.com.
  10. ^ Jessica (August 17, 2005). "Lori Majewski Leaves 'Us Weekly' for 'Teen People'". Gawker.
  11. ^ "Teen People Shuttered, Remains Live Online; Lori Majewski Out Atop Masthead". Huffington Post. July 25, 2006.
  12. ^ "Lori Majewski Joins Entertainment Weekly as Executive Editor". Media Life Magazine. September 5, 2006.
  13. ^ Lai, Chi Ming (April 19, 2014). "Mad World: An Interview with co-author Lori Majewski". The Electricity Club. Archived from the original on September 25, 2015. Retrieved September 23, 2015.