Jersey Beat #43 (Weehawken NJ)

Nine years in, Jim Testa's wonderful Jersey Beat music zine began to take shape, developing the basic look and format that the zine would follow for the next fourteen years. Testa points out in his opening editorial that when JB first began in '82, he couldn't get a major label to return his phone calls, much less send records for review, and the term "alternative rock" didn't yet exist. In '91, though, former indie bands like Nirvana, Material Issue, the Feelies, Redd Kross and the Goo Goo Dolls were all signed to major labels and with alt-rock beginning to explode, Testa and JB were inundated with promo discs and constantly pestered with label phone calls.

Unfortunately, those same major labels that were so keen on getting free publicity for their alt-baby bands in music zines were reticent to cough up the cash for advertising to promote the bands. The early-to-mid-90s zine boom was mostly fueled by indie label advertising, for which they may or may not have ever gotten paid. Cash flow was a problem for a lot of music zines, and I'm sure that Jersey Beat was no exception. Testa would have liked to expand his page-count and offer more musical coverage, but the money just wasn't there.

Nevertheless, Jersey Beat #43 offers up its usual spate of fine music journalism, starting with interviews with folks like the Butthole Surfers, the Junk Monkeys and the Deviators, as well as regional bands like Bewitched (Hoboken NJ), Jack Rabid's Springhouse (NYC) and ...But Ugly (Princeton NJ). One thing that JB had moved towards by issue #43 was individual columns by fans of a certain style...a smart move that allowed Testa to increase the range of his coverage and thus potential readership. Mick Hale's "Danse Assembly" column covers industrial and dance music, a hot genre in the early-90s, covering bands like Consolidated, Front 242, the KLF and Pigface. Craig Donner's "Hard Rock" column reviews albums (and demos) from headbangers like RDP, Iced Earth and Morgoth while Testa's "Diary Of A Rock Critter" column offers live show reviews.

There are a lot of other type reviews, also, including LP reviews of albums from the Butthole Surfers, Alex Chilton, Flat Duo Jets, Leaving Trains, Napalm Death, the Replacements and Dinosaur Jr. A local band section includes reviews of albums, EPs and 7-inch singles from Alice Donut, Crawlpappy, Hypnolovewheel and the Fiendz. There is also a demo reviews section, and a section dedicated exclusively to 7-inch singles from the likes of Counterpunch, Jello Biafra, Nation of Ulysses and Pegboy, among others. Of course, there is a zine reviews section, and a scene report from Israel. For my money (and at $2.00 for an issue, cheap), Jersey Beat offered up some of the best music coverage in both diversity and quality in the zine world at the time.

(Click on cover thumbnail to see larger picture)

VITAL STATISTICS:
• Issue #43
• Summer 1991
• B&W, 66-pages, newsprint (plus slick covers)
• Style: music zine

ARTICLES/INTERVIEWS
Paul Leary/Butthole Surfers interview
Junk Monkeys interview
Bewitched interview
Deviators interview
Springhouse interview
"Israel Scene Report"
--> also live show reviews, album & zine reviews, review columns and lots of photos