Morning Comrades and welcome back to another dispatch in this series, this week, with a very special one on a personal level and one I cannot wait to share with you. In a very poignant way this is what I always envisioned the internet to be mostly about, a free access to information to be shared for the sake of it.
A few days ago I received a link from a friend to a page on the Internet Archive that digitalized, most, if not all, issues from the seminal Punk Zine Maximum Rocknroll, often simply referred to as MRR. In the time before the internet these types of zines and magazines were often the only way to tap into subcultures as travelling around the world was for the most part reserved for the ultra rich. Without these zines and the many friends that spent whatever money they had to ship these zines, or copies thereof around the world to people they were most likely never to meet my own personal musical and artistic journey would have been an entirely different one.
MRR, was a not-for-profit monthly zine of punk subculture. Based in San Francisco, MRR focused on punk rock and hardcore music, and primarily features artist interviews and music reviews. Op/ed columns and news roundups are regular features as well, including submissions from international contributors. By 1990, it "had become the de facto bible of the scene". MRR is considered to be one of the most important zines in punk, not only because of its wide-ranging coverage, but because it has been a consistent and influential presence in the ever-changing punk community for over three decades.
Whilst the artistic reality of punk and hardcore were mostly a niche phenomena up until MTV pushed Grunge around the world by 1992, its influence to this day far exceeds its popularity to this day. It is without a doubt that, especially visually and politically, these subcultures had and continue to have a profound affect on anyone that is even remotely anti-establishment and with that comes this special dispatch.
I have selected a few personal highlights below for you, but for whomever this is of interest, here is the link to the entire archive. Enjoy
Enjoy and thank you for your time, attention and support as always.
Yours,
V.