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Punk zines are independently produced publications that cover news, interviews, and reviews of punk bands. They are cheaply made and often lack professional polish. PUNK Magazine is considered the first punk zine, while Sniffin’ Glue and Slash were also influential. Punk zines helped expand punk music when it was not getting mainstream coverage. While their popularity has diminished with the rise of the internet, some, like Maximum RocknRoll, are still being published.
A punk zine is a small, independently produced publication that contains news, interviews, and reviews of punk bands. Punk zines are usually underground publications made very cheaply and with no regard for making a profit. For many years, the punk zine has been an instrumental part of punk rock culture and the DIY movement.
Punk zines are not made with professional publishing equipment, and many of those who work on them have no previous publishing experience. They are usually entirely in black and white and produced by photocopying. They are often printed on cheap newsprint or plain copier paper which is then folded in half and stapled together.
Because of their inexpensive production and the fact that many who produce them have no formal journalism or publishing experience, a punk zine rarely has the aesthetic polish or visual quality of a professionally produced publication. Photos in punk zines are usually grainy or high-contrast, and the typeface is often very tightly packed and sometimes hard to read. Some punk fanzines forgo photos and typed print entirely, instead using hand-drawn drawings and hand-written lettering.
The punk zine movement is almost as old as punk rock itself. PUNK Magazine, founded in 1976, is generally considered the first punk rock zine and is seen as instrumental in the development of punk culture and punk music. In addition to being one of the first publications to cover punk music, it also helped popularize the term punk music as a description of the loud, fast, simplistic style of rock music that came out of New York City clubs like CBGBs at the time.
Other influential early punk fanzines include Sniffin’ Glue, the UK’s first punk fanzine, and Slash, a punk fanzine focusing on bands from the Los Angeles punk scene. Sniffin’ Glue only lasted about a year, but many who worked at the magazine went on to form punk rock bands of their own or become successful music journalists. Slash only lasted from 1977 to 1980, but it led to the creation of Slash Records, an influential independent punk rock record label.
The punk zine served as a way to expand punk rock music at a time when it was not getting much coverage in the mainstream music press. As punk’s popularity grew in the 1990s, the need for punk zines diminished. The birth of the internet saw the movement dry up even further. While punk zines aren’t as common as they once were, many, like the long-running Maximum RocknRoll, are still being published and serve as the primary source of coverage for many punk bands around the world.
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