Abstract
Based on an article previously published in History Workshop, this chapter recovers and contextualizes the politics of British punk fanzines produced in the late 1970s and early 1980s. It argues that fanzines—and youth cultures more generally—serve to provide a contested cultural space in which young people can express their ideas, opinions and anxieties. Simultaneously, it maintains that punk fanzines offer the historian a portal into a period of significant socio-economic, political and cultural change. As well as presenting alternative cultural narratives to the formulaic accounts of punk and popular music now common in the mainstream media, fanzines allow us a glimpse of the often radical ideas held by a youthful milieu rarely given expression in the political arena.
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Notes
- 1.
See notably Rapid Eye, Issues 1 and 2.
- 2.
These included Family of Noise, Ligotage, The Night Porter and Zerox.
- 3.
Other examples include Ready to Ruck, Skins and Tell Us the Truth. See also zines such as Boots & Braces, Cool Notes and Stand Up and Spit, which covered soul and reggae beyond mere token reference. Indeed, reggae fanzines such as Nick Kimberley and Penny Reel’s Pressure Drop (1975) and, later, Ital Rockers and Small Axe, could form the basis of an equally useful analysis of fanzine culture. In the mainstream, Black Echoes helped to fill a void in music coverage of the period.
- 4.
For the ‘art school’ influence on punk and pop music generally, see Frith and Horne (1987).
- 5.
These examples come from Guttersnipe, Numbers 1, 2, 4, 5, 7, 1978–1979, and Volume 2, Number 1, 1980. A BBC ‘Open Door’ documentary was broadcast about the fanzine in 1980.
- 6.
For McLaren and Reid’s relationship to King Mob, see David and Stuart Wise (1996: 63–102).
- 7.
The emblem was designed by Dave King to represent various forms of repression. The symbol is enveloped by snakes eating their own tails.
- 8.
‘White Punks on Hope’, Stations of the Crass, Crass Records, 1979.
- 9.
Quotes taken from Kick, Nos. 3 and 4, 1980–1982. See also All the Madmen and Don’t Run Away You Punk.
- 10.
Also, compare zines such as Fack and Toxic Graffitti to Andy Martin’s Scum or Ian Rawes’ Pigs for Slaughter.
- 11.
This was the term used in the 1979 Conservative Party manifesto.
- 12.
Garry Bushell (Napalm), Cath Carroll (City Fun), Steve Lamacq (A Pack of Lies), Gavin Martin (Alternative Ulster), Paul Morley (Girl Trouble), (Sandy Robertson (White Stuff), Jon Savage (London’s Outrage), Adrian Thrills (48 Thrills) and Johnny Waller (Kingdom Come) are just a handful of examples.
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Fanzines
A System Partly Revealed (1982).
Aftermath (1980).
Anarchy in the UK (1976).
Blades ‘n’ Shades (1977).
Blast! (1914).
Brass Lip (1979).
City Fun (1978).
Cobalt Hate (1977).
Dat Sun (1978).
Enigma (1980).
Heat (1977).
International Anthem (1978).
Jolt (1977).
Live Wire (1977).
London’s Outrage (1976).
Paroxysm Fear (1980).
Pigs for Slaughter (1981).
Ripped & Torn (1976).
Sniffin’ Glue (1976).
Sunday the 7th (1981).
The Eklektik (1982).
Toxic Grafity (1980).
Vague (1983).
White Stuff (1977).
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Worley, M. (2020). Punk, Politics and British (Fan)Zines (1976–1984). In: Guerra, P., Quintela, P. (eds) Punk, Fanzines and DIY Cultures in a Global World. Palgrave Studies in the History of Subcultures and Popular Music. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-28876-1_2
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