Literature at the Xerox Machine
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Sc,rtt1e, \Vashinqton, lJSr\ ISllNgTS I-()o6()9 s8() I Fir:t Printing: NI,u, :o t.i Printccl in IIouq T(ong The Doniel C/owes ,Q::: . :rd authenticity informs Enic :-.:c's first images shows her a: by KAYA OAKES For many people, indie rs most recognizable as 7 a genre of music. Before the advent of laptop recording, indie musicians typically recorded on four-track tape decks in their garages' turning out albums stripped down to the bones.This 1o- fi auditory marker survived from the punk era into the late l98os and early'9t-ls, when regional music scenes in places like Berkeley, Chicago, and Minneapolis made a mark that stretched past their city limits. Thanks to the growing number of indepcndent labels, distributors, and bands that viewed touring as an essential part cf their lifestyle, indie musicians were carrying the message of DIY (Do It Your- .elf) across the country. In some cases, a band's arrival in any town or city where it : ..::ich fa1l into fwo distinct age - '"', rarked its van was preccded by word of mouth, with rumors about shows in nearby .:-i... G'a'g's Nothing at All and tI.-. rr far-flung cities and stories about life on the road: slceping on the urine-soaked :_t --',:t:tto/ Sex Practices and Oedip;, ioor of a squat, playing gigs for unsuspecting rednecks or worshipful fans, and -- :-:ce : that of leaving the past irn. l,rcking themselves into cars permeated with the heady fragrance of unshowered -...: -irc conveys none of the anqr: :rrrrrdmates. In most cases, howeveq the gossip and news that fueled indie com- : : --'.-.']r,: r'lther cxpresses apprcci:i- :lunities arrived first in zincs. For the zine maker, who grabbed a pile of zines and ,:,- -lre's z-rccusation and the closin: :oted them around to record stores, bookstores, shows, and caf6s, creating and dis- l:--,.' u-hcrr Enid has grown apar: :ributing independent literature was the equivalent of an indie band driving their : :.ilh otlier (and are not evcn i:-- i'i1n to each gig: it was a mattcr of necessity, and zr way of building communiry one -.\'n into a very beautiful younl -: :rcrson at a time. ),Iany have debated what a zine is or ought to be since people first began making :hem. But the typical zine is a self-produced, hand-stapled magazine with content :i-rat reflects the writer's idiosyncrasies. Several of the most interesting zines, the tnes people eagerly sought whenever an issue was released, werc simply diaries tilife in the underground. As independent culture evolved in the I98os and'9os, zines playcd an increasingly important role in getting the word out, not only about :he music peoplc were listening to, but also about politics, loca1 issues, and DIY -ii-estyle tips. Before technology enablcd people to easily forge online connections - - - The Doniel Clowes Reoder Literoture ot ihe Xerox Mochine: :'e :: :- i - based on shared interests, zines were the organ of the indie community. Zines like number increased exponeni:i--''.' Maximumrockandroll, Flipside, and Factsheet Fiae had national distribution, and is crucial. Just as lVlike \\'a::. ,.: l eventually attracted an international audience. But thousands of smaller titles of- punk scene felt a kinship u-i:i: ::-= fered readers an inside perspective on punk and independent life. \n a zine, a writer mon other than being voun:. -:.:: who didnt want to conform to the strict standards of mainstream magazinewrit- a sense of community. It dii:': - : ing could get away with ranting or quietly meditating on music and communiq'. mass culture or people radice--'- .:- The unrestricted format also enabled writers to chronicle the minutiae of their country's turn back totvarcl c{):-:'-:-.- day-to-day lives: relationships, travel, dead-end of zinesters in berween - \\'c?: : jobs, school, and friends and family. There were ... J, Ot €54 I't^ J661 ASHAMEP out ofhigh school or attendei::= ots l\ALt9eLF FoR beal tNO 60 no editors, no assignments, no query letters to 9W6LL . UC AgEQ WHENEVER T Among the many zines ttr :::-.: 6ET AN9 .'ME?IA" AT-TENAION,., be rejected, all ofwhich expedited the passage of one of the most important in -:..: Mike Gunderloy, Factsheel beg.:- , information from writer to page - even if that page sported numerous typos.Just as DIY made a document that would assemr-- : music available to those who'd previously be- had been writing about them l,.- j lieved that bringing in a band was beyond their f.- thing five times to five difi-erer: :: capaciry zines made writing as a vehicle for self- 6\,6' discussed a handful of zines an. :-' expression and communication with like-mind- ,7';=' rvith reviews of "books, records. :.: ed people accessible to anyone. You didn't even pendent media."' need a typewriter (this was the pre-computer \s. Despite this impressive co',.:' era). A zine could be hand-written, illustrated, Sffx) Duncombe estimated that in : -.- I4/or/d) between It'. stapled at the kitchen table, and then walked -":1tq r somewhere . 1:ir over to the local record store to sell on consign- ""' America, though exact numbe r= - ri.".". "l:ii ment. In their homespun, left-of-the-dial takes distributed, it was never entire-'.' : on American life, zines were the literary version out. But it was clear to anvon. :- of the musical messages being sent out by indie more zines than ever before. T:= bands in the'Bos and early'9os. between writers and readers in ::--= While zines had been around in one form or another for as long as mimeograph life and a wider audience thirn ::--= and copy machines had existed, their impact on independent culture began to be irad first embraced zines, trlt:,:l'': most strongly felt around the time that seminal independent bands like The Min- MRRrevtew hundreds of albu:::.. utemen and Minor Threat got together in the early I98os. Prior to the punk zines had columns, scene reports. i:.J i that emerged in the'Bos, the earliest fanzines were the voice of another marginal- punk communiry. If, to paraphr"-: ized community: science-fiction fans. Because professional critics tended to ignore mirrored that diversity and po..-: the genre, those who read science fiction in the I93os and'4os lacked any critical But zines of MkR's size ;tr-i .: discourse about it. So "analysis was left to the fan."' Sci-fi fanzines became a way rvas a small-scale productioc. il for readers to communicate at a time when technology was even more primitive for several issues, though ther-:::. than it wor"rld be in the I96os and'7os. Produced on a minimal budget, these early Rather than limiting their cor-r:'r- zines established the format that would be followed for many decades: Xeroxed, rrctually encouraged zine u ri:c:; : folded, and stapled sheaves ofpaper. and politics, some of the mos::.-:: By the'7os, the growing punk communitf like the science-fiction communify i/alc-i.f ton IJt.i:';-: . before it, felt ignored. Little attention was being paid to the music it was produc- 2 Steplrcn Duncombe. 3 Duncombe. p. t.58. ing. 'fan'. But, as Stephen Duncombe observes,'As . dropped off'z\ne'and their { Ilikc Gunderloy and Cari Goldbcr:.' .: - . Penguin, r ggz). p. .+. 5 i4RR sterdfastly retained its identis ,:. , thc cheapc.t prtper'r. :... 1 Bruce Southrrd. "The Language of Scie ncc I'rction Fan Nlagazrres." Arzt'ican Speerh 57 , r gl.j2. p. r 9. :)(\\':print- The Doniel Clowes Reoi: Literoture ot ihe Xerox Mochine: The Rise of the Zine "cLllture" -- - :he indie cor,munity.