Punk

What the hell are punk fanzines?  Normally a photocopied A4 size stapled mag containing interviews and reviews written by enthusiastic amateurs and self-distributed at gigs and clubs.

Why do them? If you can’t form a band write a fanzine. 15 minutes of fame. Be seen with the stars, lig. Express yourself. be part of something; an influencer.

In 1976-79 punk fanzines were the mirror image of punk culture in all ways. The punk band explosion was primed by the Sex Pistols with by 1977 hundreds of bands forming/changing overnight, charged with the energy and the possibilities of expressing themselves. Independent record labels followed the lead of Stiff or Chiswick to get those raw punk masterworks out to the public on a shoestring.

Somewhere in the middle were fanzines and what the Sex Pistols were to the music, Mark Perry’s Sniffin’ Glu was the catalyst for the explosion of them. By the end of 1976 there were barely ten. By the end of 1977 they were in their hundreds. The style complimented the music – no frills, urgent and passionate.

The innovative appeal of Sniffin’ Glue was its immediacy. Sniffin’ Glue was not so much badly written as barely written; grammar was non-existent, layout was haphazard, headlines were usually just written in felt tip, swearwords were often used in lieu of a reasoned argument. . .all of which gave Sniffin’ Glue its urgency and relevance. The early days of the punk movement largely failed to attract the entrance of television or the mainstream press, and Sniffin’ Glue remains a key source of photographs of, and information about, contributors to the scene. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K3blLpsFPTI

While punk raised two fingers to the major labels the fanzines did the same to the established music weeklies NME, Sounds, Melody Maker and Record Mirror. Here was a chance to feature bands and review records by people who wanted to do so not by professional people who hated the music or who were unsympathetic.

Who needed typesetters, proofers and marketing? Scissors, pen, typewriter (optional), photocopier and enthusiasm was all you needed.  If punk was to destroy music then as Sniffin’ Glue urged ” Everybody start a punk fanzine and flood the market. Let’s destroy all the established mags.”  With limited coverage in the music papers in the early stages of the punk scene, fanzines were the communication process between fans and band.

Fanzines were relatively cheap to get out and fairly quick. In the early days of 1976, there was very little writing about punk in the press so the fanzines had the field to themselves. There was no censorship, deadlines or advertising and there was freedom to experiment. Their content was pure punk and often the interviews had more content. Take Adam Ants ignored by the press but strongly featured in fanzines like Tony D’s Ripped & Torn without whom it is arguable the band would have folded.

Fanzine writers were part of an audience. They were enthusiastic and regional giving coverage to areas ignored by the London-fixated weekly music press. The Scottish fanzine Hanging Around is the best example Reading the best fanzines you get a strong sense of the time, energy, anger, creativity, frustration and information that’s just as important and exhilarating as any classic punk track.

If Sideburns (often wrong attributed to Sniffin’ Glue) and its ‘here’s three chords go form a band exhortation increased the groundswell of punk bands then the magazines very format became the blueprint for the hundreds of fanzines that followed.  However this all raised problems.

Far from destroying the established music weeklies, the fanzines began to ape them. Interviews, music reviews, gossip and even advertising made them punk versions of the weekly press. When the music press did begin to take notice of punk and its commercial implications the fanzines struggled against them in price (fanzines cost from 10p-40p sometimes giving as little as five pages while the music weeklies cost from 15p-18p) speed once a week against well..whenever. You had to look for fanzines whereas the weeklies were there easy to buy. Content. . better written, more information that was up to date and relevant. Finally they all struggled to sell in their own niche market of punk. 40 or so fanzines meant some had to go.

Fanzines, like the initial punk bands, dropped by the wayside. While other bands went on to do something else so did the writers of fanzines. Writers such as Sandy Robertson (White Stuff) Jon Savage (London’s Outrage) Adrian Thrills (48 Thrills) or even band members Steve Walsh (Flowers Of Romance) Paul Morley (The Negatives) went on to become writers on Sounds and NME. On the reverse side, writers like Burchill and Parsons wrote for the reverse like the glossy poster mag New Wave and Zigzag.

What soon became apparent was the limited amount of content ie normally featuring the main bands like The Sex Pistols, Damned, Clash and Stranglers.  Here the fanzines from the provinces scored heavily featuring local bands not covered by the weeklies and coverage of the less publicised touring punk bands.  

Like all those one off punk bands, once the the original idea and enthusiasm had been shot on the first single/fanzine how do you maintain the forward trajectory?  Both the fanzine writer and the band member realised they were in the game not destroying it ie you have to sell x amount to break even and you need articles and interest for the next one. How do you extend your 15 minutes of fame?  The earlier fanzines had the best chance as they evolved as punk changed and they realised that you needed more than just a whole magazine devoted to punk rock/new wave and began to experiment and change with the times.

Fanzines like Ripped & Torn, In The City, Chainsaw, Live Wire and Panache (see Mick Mercer interview) had an extended run that went far beyond the initial premise. In true ironic fashion, Sniffin’ Glue finished after a year in 1977 and came out in 1978 as a compilation coffee table book called Sniffin’ Glue – The Bible. The same year saw articles from all the leading fanzines compiled by Julie Davis in another book called Punk as a glut of punk books hit the market.

Others fell by the wayside very quickly like Crystal Clear’s More On, Arcane Vendetta’s These Things and Shane McGowan’s Bondage.

Fanzines weren’t rivals, they were alternatives and we loved (love) them (still). Most of them had no date, articles weren’t signed or if they were they were pseudonyms. They were immediate, temporary, offensive, brash, libelous, youthful and full of raw energy. We took them home crushed and sweaty from gigs.  For all their faults they were the purest expression of rock journalism. A lot of professional writers made their start in fanzines and still write today.

While Fanzines haven’t died out completely yet, the internet has removed all barriers to entry. It’s incredibly easy to get a site on the internet even with limited technical know-how. It’s also immediate. An event can happen and a review and quality photos can be written and uploaded within minutes.

However, it’s another thing sustaining the momentum. To keep adding to it, to make it interesting and to market it. That’s the big difference. With a fanzine you knew who you were selling to and who to target. On the Internet, you don’t know who’s reading it. It could be 100 people in the UK and 20 people in Brazil.  And all the creativity and immediacy don’t mean jack shit when you are low in the search engine rankings. No one will read your fine words!

All you kids out there who read SG don’t be satisfied with what we write. Go out and start your own fanzines or send reviews to the established papers. Let’s really get on their nerves, flood the market with punk writing. Mark Perry – Sniffin’ Glue

We began ‘More On’ because we wanted to get ‘involved’. The whole feeling at the time was that you had to do something. We felt something special, part of a new thing which was very radical- underground. ..we wanted (still do) really to be the ones on stage…More On 1 was done in two hours at school one afternoon. Sarah, ‘More On’ Fanzine writer

For me, punk meant an escape from a very boring job in banking. it gave me the chance to be creative and share my ideas with others who seemed to be on the same wavelength. I thought I could change the world. We were in action; we had the time; we had the vision. It wasn’t just punk rock, Sniffing’ Glue, The Sex Pistols, The Clash…it was art in action. Mark Perry, Sniffin’ Glue – The Essential Punk Accessory.

Sounds, NME Melody Maker and the new Rockstar should stick to writing about the established artists. Leave our music to us. Sniffin’ Glue #5, November 1976

We acknowledge the fanzine as the only legitimate form of journalism, and consider the ‘established’ press to be little more than talentless clones, guilty of extreme cerebral laziness. Ant Manifesto, Adam Ant 7/11/78

By mid 77 the fanzines were wallowing in the mire of a golden age long gone…the fanzine press.. had degenerated from what was initially a potentially worthwhile project into an overpriced, green-eyed, pale imitation of all they had purported to detest. Julie Burchill & Tony Parsons, The Boy Looked At Johnny

Fanzines were amateurish nonsense. Beginning of the end. Lowest common denominator. Chris Sullivan, The Punk Book (and former member of Blue Rondo a la Turk – ha ha)



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