Flipside #58 (Whittier CA)

Although punkzines came and went with alarming regularity during the 1980s, two that I remember stood above the fray and realized national distribution – the legendary Maximum Rock & Roll, and the awesome, tho' often overlooked Flipside.

I remember that I used to have a bunch of copies of Flipside, but I think that I gave them all away to a guy that wanted to start a free zine library in the back of his indie record shop. I toted boxes of zines into Nashville to the guy's shop, and a couple of months later he closed up shop and sold what he could to The Great Escape, one of the local used music & comic book stores. Digging through their crates, I bought a few of the zines that had stuff in them that I had written...buying back the paper I had given away, as it were....

Anyway, I found this issue #58 of Flipside in a box somewhere, and it has some good stuff inside the pages. There's a lengthy vintage interview with Jimmy Pursey of Sham 69, another with Mike Ness of Social Distortion, and a third with the members of Sonic Youth. There are articles on Gwar, Government Issue, D.R.I. (Dirty Rotten Imbeciles), and Pussy Galore, among other bands. Like most punkzines of the era, you'll find a slew of record and zine reviews, live show reviews, and a large classifieds section, all printed on cheap-o newsprint but evincing an irrepressible punk rock spirit.

Oh yeah, this issue also includes one of John Crawford's hilarious and insightful "Baboon Dooley" cartoons. Ya just gotta love it....

(Click on the cover thumbnail to see larger picture)

VITAL STATISTICS:
• Issue #58
• Winter 1989
• B&W, 40-pages (plus covers w/spot color)
• Style: music zine

ARTICLES/INTERVIEWS
Jimmy Pursey/Sham 69 interview
Mike Ness/Social Distortion interview
Sonic Youth interview
Gwar article
Government Issue article
D.R.I. article
--> also reader mail, music & zine reviews

Motorbooty #3 (Ann Arbor MI)

Motorbooty #3, published by the anarchic offspring of Detroit's radical '60s, was a music and rock 'n' roll culture zine with a satirical bite and a love of the offbeat and fringe. As I remember, they always had a lot of great artwork in the pages, as well as editorial content that rested uneasily outside of what most of the alt-rock music zines were publishing at the time.

This issue includes a lengthy interview with irrepressible fringe artist Robert Williams, complimented by plenty of Williams' scatological artwork. Another interview features cult Minneapolis noise-punks Halo of Flies, and yet a third is with Markie Ramone of, well, The Ramones. There are also articles on Mudhoney, one of Seattle's most overlooked bands of the grunge era; industrial Goth terrorists Spahn Ranch; and incendiary author Kathy Acker. Throw in lots of cartoons, and some very cool psyche-styled artwork in the Rick Griffin vein, and you have a small, but entertaining issue of Motorbooty.

(Click on the cover thumbnail to see larger picture)

VITAL STATISTICS:
• Issue #3
• Fall 1998
• B&W, 40-pages (plus color covers)
• Style: music zine

ARTICLES/INTERVIEWS
Robert Williams interview
Halo of Flies interview
Mudhoney article
Kathy Acker article
The Ramones interview