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    Maximum Rocknroll

    Looks like MRR is calling it a day, well as a monthly printed fanzine.

    For those who are not familiar, MRR has been published monthly since 1982 and has been providing global coverage of the punk/hardcore scene since its inception. Strictly DIY and not for profit MRR has helped the development if nor education of many a punk, going beyond music to feature people like Noam Chomsky. It will be sorely missed. Pre-internet, MRR made the US, European and Japanese scenes seem as familiar to me as the one in Ipswich.

    Are there any still printing fanzine pre-dating this?
    Last edited by Gert from the Well; 27-02-2019, 19:54.

    #2
    Pre-dating? Yes - plenty. Sniffin' Glue and the like. Still in publication? I seriously doubt it.

    I really rather disliked MRR. I was always more of a Punk Planet reader.

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      #3
      Originally posted by caja-dglh View Post
      Pre-dating? Yes - plenty. Sniffin' Glue and the like. Still in publication? I seriously doubt it.

      I really rather disliked MRR. I was always more of a Punk Planet reader.
      You were not alone, as I got older I saw it as increasingly self-righteous. But in terms of influence, if not longevity, nothing comes close. I read a few issues from 5 years or so ago, and the political content seemed to have been replaced by record collecting columns. I think a lot of the
      self-righteousness came from Tim Yo who passed away 20 years ago. More conservative punks like a lot of the New York skins and Dave Smalley seemed to have a strong hatred for MRR.

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        #4
        There was an interesting thread on a music forum I check out from time to time. The gist was that the new editors suck and the magazine has gone downhill and then some old timers chimed in that the same thing has been said about every editorial team. In general, I think the columns are always hit and miss. And so is the bulk of the magazine depending on which bands are interviewed or which pieces feature a given month. I know that in the past decade or so the goal has been the same: something historical, something current and domestic (US) and something current and international. I respect that mix even if the application of that mix didn't work for me. The biggest loss is going to be the ways that this magazine exposed English-language readers to international punk (and real punk, not the junk featured in most glossy magazines).

        The story goes that they can't afford the rent at the house in San Francisco anymore, which to me reflects the biggest problem. They could easily have moved to another city that was more affordable, such as Chicago or Denver, but there seems to be a false sense that they belong in the Bay Area. That ship sailed once they moved from being a local zine to an international zine. The leadership continued to kick the problem forward and here we are: no more money to stay put.

        They will continue on-line with reviews and the radio show, but that won't be very original.

        I don't think there is a longer running zine in the US. Razorcake is probably next in line but a very different approach and focus. I've published a few pieces with them and have another coming out in a couple months but their focus is much more US-centric. I will say, though, that they are also much more organized given my interactions with MRR about publishing some pieces with them.

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          #5
          I was more of a Punk Planet guy, too, but I can see how invaluable MRR must have been, especially pre-internet. I mostly bought it for 'zine reviews and scene reports, but even then the inky pages were too much! I liked the new direction they took in the late 90s under Jen Angel, but it faded away from my life again. I bought a few issues a couple of years ago, and I'll try and get the last issue, and I will mourn its passing.

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            #6
            I'm admittedly biased because I know her and Chicago got a lot of love during her tenure as coordinator but folks who don't mind reading old issues, might seek out issues that came out when Mariam Bastani was editor. This was probably 2012-15 in that window. She was the singer in a band called Condenada in the mid 2000s that was really important in the local scene, but you can hear that this was the first band for many of the members. Her singing in Multiple Truths is much better and the band is more polished in a good way.

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              #7
              I've been listening to some old MRR radio shows while working at home today. This one about Latin American punk is really good:

              http://radio.maximumrocknroll.com/la...cial/#comments

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