Ripped, Torn and Cut: Pop, Politics and Punk Fanzines from 1976

Description

Ripped, torn and cut offers a collection of original essays exploring the motivations behind - and the politics within - the multitude of fanzines that emerged in the wake of British punk from 1976. Sniffin' Glue (1976-77), Mark Perry's iconic punk fanzine, was but the first of many, paving the way for hundreds of home-made magazines to be cut and pasted in bedrooms across the UK. From these, glimpses into provincial cultures, teenage style wars and formative political ideas may be gleaned. An alternative history, away from the often-condescending glare of London's media and music industry, can be formulated, drawn from such titles as Ripped & Torn, Brass Lip, City Fun, Vague, Kill Your Pet Puppy, Toxic Grafity, Hungry Beat and Hard as Nails. The first book of its kind, this collection reveals the contested nature of punk's cultural politics by turning the pages of a vibrant underground press. Front matter Contents Figures Contributors Foreword Acknowledgements Introduction: adventures in reality: why (punk) fanzines matter I: Going underground: process and place Doing it ourselves: countercultural and alternative radical publishing in the decade before punk Zines and history: zines as history Whose culture? Fanzines, politics and agency Invisible women: the role of women in punk fanzine creation II: Communiqués and Sellotape: constructing cultures ‘Pam ponders Paul Morley’s cat’: City Fun and the politics of post-punk Goth zines: writing from the dark underground, 1976–92 The evolution of an anarcho-punk narrative, 1978–84 ‘Don’t do as you’re told, do as you think’: the transgressive zine culture of industrial music in the 1970s and 1980s Are you scared to get punky? Indie pop, fanzines and punk rock III: Memos from the frontline: locating the source Vague post-punk memoirs, 1979–89 ‘Mental liberation issue’: Toxic Grafity’s punk epiphany as subjectivity (re)storying ‘the truth of revolution’ across the lifespan From Year Zero to 1984: I was a pre-teen fanzine writer Kick: positive punk ‘This is aimed as much at us as at you’: my life in fanzines IV: Global communications: continuities and distinctions Punking the bibliography: RE/Search Publications, the bookshelf question and ideational flow Punks against censorship: negotiating acceptable politics in the Dutch fanzine Raket Contradictory self-definition and organisation: the punk scene in Munich, 1979–82 ‘Angry grrrl zines’: Riot grrrl and body politics from the early 1990s Index