Research - Fanzines

Definition: a fanzine is a nonprofessional publication produced by fans of a particular cultural phenomenon for the pleasure of others who share their interest. Typically, publishers, editors and contributors to fanzines receive no financial compensation. Fanzines are traditionally circulated free of charge, or for a nominal cost to defray postage or production expenses.

Rock Fanzines: The Rock fanzine was born in the mid-1960s. Science fiction fans began to recognise a shared love of Rock and Roll. An example of this is the American fanzine, Crawdaddy! which preceded both Rolling Stone (a United States-based magazine devoted to music, politics, and popular culture founded in 1967) and CREEM (a monthly rock 'n' roll publication first published in March 1969, "America's Only Rock 'n' Roll Magazine"). Crawdaddy! is regarded as the U.S. pioneer of rock journalism, and was the training ground for many rock writers, just finding the language to describe rock and rollmusic, which was only then beginning to be written about as seriously as folk and jazz.

Mod/Punk Fanzines: Mod or Punk fanzines were also very popular in the 70s and 80s and included features specific to either one, such as fashion and music. In fact, the publication of a fanzine in New York actually introduced to word "punk' by naming it so.

Local Music Fanzines: In the UK, there were also fanzines that covered the local music scene in a particular town or city. Mainly prevalent in the 70s and 80s, all music styles were covered, whether the bands were playing rock, punk, metal, futurist, ska or dance. Featured were local gig reviews and articles that were below the radar of the mainstream music press. 

Examples are: Bombsite Fanzine (Liverpool 1977), City Fun (Manchester), 1984 and Town Hall Steps (Bolton).

Content: The diversity of content is one of the most striking features of fanzines. Whilst, as I noted in my introduction, there is a perception that fanzines deal with one particular band or personality, the majority of fanzines are exactly the opposite of this. In fact, the majority of music fanzines do not even limit themselves to just covering a variety of music. It is commonplace for a fanzine to also include articles on films, books, short stories and pieces on the zine producer's life. Art and drawings are also an important part of many fanzines.

Fanzines on the Internet: The Internet poses significant opportunities for fanzines as an area where small-scale publishers can have as good a chance as professionals to be recognised for the quality of their work. At the same time, the electronic media has been suggested as meaning the end of the Fanzine's personalised style.

Sources: Fanzines: Their Production, Culture and Future by Phil Stoneman and Wikipedia.