Fanzines’ Network and the Punk Scene in Greece (1980–2015) (original) (raw)
Related papers
Spreading the message! Fanzines and the punk scene in Portugal1
Punk & Post Punk, 2014
Even though the production of fanzines precedes the emergence of punk, the truth is that it was with punk that the fanzines become relevant as a space for freedom of thought and creation, as well as an alternative to the conventional media. Since the 1970s, the fanzines' universe has expanded thematically and stylistically, and also in its territorial coverage and in the communicational supports used. In this article we adopt an approach that goes beyond the Anglo-Saxon reality and intend to look at fanzines as 'communities' founded around a cultural object, which have produced texts, photos and other materials regarding the Portuguese punk scene from the late 1970s until now. From a large set of fanzines we will analyse the ways of production, design and typography, the main themes, distribution channels, bands, the scenes and lifestyles covered in them. In this study, we consider fanzines to be an alternative media that, from late modernity, is able to reveal the punk movement and the DIY ethos associated with it. We seek to understand fanzines' relevance to the Portuguese punk scene context, both past and present, and we also identify some patterns of evolution and change.
Spreading the message! Fanzines and the punk scene in Portugal
Even though the production of fanzines precedes the emergence of punk, the truth is that it was with punk that the fanzines become relevant as a space for freedom of thought and creation, as well as an alternative to the conventional media. Since the 1970s, the fanzines’ universe has expanded thematically and stylistically, and also in its territorial coverage and in the communicational supports used. In this article we adopt an approach that goes beyond the Anglo-Saxon reality and intend to look at fanzines as ‘communities’ founded around a cultural object, which have produced texts, photos and other materials regarding the Portuguese punk scene from the late 1970s until now. From a large set of fanzines we will analyse the ways of production, design and typography, the main themes, distribution channels, bands, the scenes and lifestyles covered in them. In this study, we consider fanzines to be an alternative media that, from late modernity, is able to reveal the punk movement and the DIY ethos associated with it. We seek to understand fanzines’ relevance to the Portuguese punk scene context, both past and present, and we also identify some patterns of evolution and change.
Punk fanzines in Portugal (1978-2013): a mapping exercise
KISMIF Conference 2015 | Book of Proceedings, 2016
With the emergence of punk in the UK and USA, in the 1970s, the production, distribution and consumption of fanzines became relevant, as an area of freedom of thought and creativity, and as an alternative to conventional media. Since then the fanzines scene clearly expanded, at different levels. In this paper we discuss preliminary results of an ongoing research on the emergence, development and transformation of punk movement in Portugal, from 1978 until nowadays, in which the fanzines and, more recently, e-zines are interesting examples. Looking at a broad set of Portuguese punk fanzines and e-zines, produced over the past decades, we’ll try to analyse major trends and changes in their graphic and editorial contents and also understand their relevance inside the punk ‘scenes’. Finally, we’ll discuss the convergences that, despite the existing diversity, allow us to speak of a do-it-yourself ethic associated this kind of cultural objects.
Punk, Fanzines and DIY Cultures in a Global World - Fast, Furious and Xerox, 2020
This work aims to investigate the dinamics of the communicative strategies and networks created by the Brazilian punks, starting with the publishing of their first fanzines, around 1981, covering publications issued until 1985, encompassing the democratic opening period after two decades of military dictatorship in Brazil. These amateur publications redefined the strategies for visibility adopted by those working class suburban youths. The zine production attributed to the brazilian punks a critical self-referenced identity, based on the do-it-yourself ethos, within an environment that was hostile to their subaltern social condition. The proposed analytical approach is based on dialogue between the research on the communicative processes of marginalized social groups under the Folkcommunication scope and the theoretical and methodological assumptions of contemporary Critical Theory.
Meanings of fanzines in the beginning of Punk in the GDR and FRG
Volume !, 2006
This article is examining the different cultural meanings of fanzines in the early punk scene in both German states. Since 1977 more and more of these journals had been published in the FRG. These autonomous publications used to media between staging, communication and the construction of collective identities. In case of punk fanzines in the FRG, they meant selfempowerment, the overcoming of isolation and the constitution of a social and cultural community. While these journals became an important part of the scene in West-Germany, there was a lack of them in the GDR. The government's control over publishing and the missing means and possibilities of production prohibited the development of autonomous publications such as fanzines. The comparison of the development of punk fanzine culture in both German states show that these media and their cultural meanings must always be seen in front of the greater societal and political framework they appear in.
In this chapter we explore the development of punk fanzines from the late 1970s to the present, exploring the role of these music fan-produced publications in giving meaning to the experience of a music community. This discussion of the punk fanzine’s longitudinal existence allows us to investigate the variety of ways that the fanzines and webzines make sense of punk as music, a set of political ideas and as a subcultural scene. In particular we want to trace the way that fanzines have operated as a medium of communication for punk fans and activists, as part of the visual bricolage of punk’s semiosis, and as a sign of authenticity amongst online punk culture in the twenty-first century. We argue that fanzines became one of punk’s many ‘symbols of defiance’, not just in the way that they visually and verbally represented punk’s DIY ethos and activism, but also in the way they embodied the labour of ‘fan-eds’ as organic intellectuals undertaking ideological work in which discourses of defiance and opposition are constructed, signified and reinforced. While other studies have often pointed to the importance of the communicative or symbolic functions of fanzines, and the role of editor/activists is occasionally alluded to, there has been too little emphasis on the way that the ‘zine authors take on leadership roles. Additionally, we are interested in the way that fanzines, and the symbolic value of the fanzine, have changed over time. We start with a discussion about the way that punk ‘zines have been understood in broader analyses of punk culture in the last forty years. However, we also want to focus on two particular instances of the punk ‘zine; two moments in which the specific meanings of specific fanzines can be explored in a little greater detail than those offered in the grander narratives of the punk fanzine. In the first moment, a case study of one early 1980s anarcho-punk fanzine we examine the way that such publications operated at the intersection of political activism and DIY music criticism, constructing idealised notions of music, politics and community against which the actual activity within local punk scenes were judged. Anarcho-punk, as a sub-genre and a scene, provides a particularly useful way to think through the role of fanzines because it has a pivotal place within punk politics and music culture. Self-proclaiming themselves as the true and original voice of punk, a range of artists allied themselves to more self-consciously political positions associated with different strands of anarchist thought, and pursued a DIY music ethos and a commitment to different forms of direct action . We suggest that through the 1980s anarcho punk fanzines established a sort of evolving ‘guide’ or manifesto to the cultural and political ideologies that were emerging within the developing British-anarcho punk subcultural scene. It is likely that, for many, those fanzines ordered the way in which as readers (or even contributors) moved from an enthusiasm for punk as a music to a more politically and ideologically motivated participation, inspired and informed by the lyrical content of punk records. Triggs, for instance, see this as inevitable . The second moment that we examine is thirty years later when the idea of the punk ‘zine is used in websites with a focus on punk from the 70s or 80s, or music or artists that continue its ethos and/or sound. Given the strong emphasis within literature on the internet, its potential as a democratic space, and the role of web sites and blogs as exemplars of DIY communications culture, it would be easy to assume that the practices and associations of the printed fanzine have more recently simply migrated online. By evaluating the continuities and discontinuities between the two moments of fanzine production, and the degree to which they articulate the ideology and identities of anarcho-punks, we argue that more often it is the symbolism and visual rhetoric of earlier print fanzines that predominates. While many internet advocates saw the early world-wide-web as a space for the sort of decentred political and cultural activism that had characterised 1980s anarcho-punk, there is little evidence that online fanzines continue to organise and order an engaged music culture. In what follows, then, we move through three key areas of analysis. Firstly, we interrogate some of the key studies of punk fanzines in order to try and contextualise their role and importance within punk music culture, especially in the late 1970s. Secondly, we focus on one example of a British regional anarcho-punk fanzine and the way that it constructed anarcho-punk as a music, politics and most importantly a community and movement. Specifically we seek to understand how the ‘zine author produced a publication, a sense of regional activity and a discourse of anarcho-punk authenticity. Finally, we look to more recent online uses of the idea of a punk webzine, and evaluate the degree to which the visual, verbal and editorial practices of earlier print fanzines are reproduced in internet publishing. This raises interesting questions about the globalization and commodification of the ideas and symbols of punk that were originally made in British regional culture.
Punk ‘zines-Transferring symbols of defiance from the print to the digital age?
Fight Back:Punk, Politics and Resistance, 2015
What role do specialised publications play in the consumer’s experience of sub-cultures, music and the shaping of its meanings? Drawing on ideas from authors such as Teal Triggs (1995 & 2006), Chris Atton (2001) Marion Leonard (2007), this chapter explores this role through the pages and practices of British anarcho-punk fanzines, in their print and online incarnations. Fanzines have long been regarded as representing the underground, independent, or the alternative to mainstream publishing as the communities that develop around fanzines are both consumers and (at times) the producers. When punk emerged, fanzines soon became one of the main means of communicating the ethos and values of this new subcultural and its musical style, as their production and distribution practices already embodied some of the cultural practices developing within the DIY approach of punk. Our concern in this chapter is with the role of the fanzine as arbiter of taste, its ability to articulate a specific (often oppositional) ideological position, and its construction of discourses of authenticity. We will also examine the role of the fanzine as an element in the construction of musical scenes, and in the identity and sub-cultural capital of its producers and readership. Our analysis focuses primarily on the specificities of ‘British anarcho-punk’ fanzines of the 1980s where discourses of defiance and opposition are constructed, embodied and reinforced within the anarcho-punk sub-cultural movement. While it may be assumed that the practices and associations of the printed fanzine have simply migrated online, we examine and evaluate the continuities and discontinuities between the print and online incarnations, and the role that they play in constructing the ideology and identities of anarcho-punks. Using search criteria to identify those online versions that identify themselves as digital online punk ‘zines’, we seek to determine whether the same or similar articulations of defiance, anarchism and anti-authoritarianism are apparent in those digital texts. This chapter assesses the extent to which the same discourses and discursive practices are apparent in other online punk ‘zines’, such as e-zines and per-zines. In doing so we examine how the inclusion of the term ‘zine’, within the meta data of their digital manifestations, is used in the wider commercial and cultural context.
Going Underground - A Sociological Analysis of the Maltese Punk Subculture
2006
This study analyses the dynamics of the Maltese punk subculture and examines the values held by the individuals who constitute this subculture. It investigates the identity formation of individuals within the punk subculture and provides a critique of postmodern notions of subcultural formation. The political and ideological aspect of the subculture is revealed, and the shift from a more traditional, symbol-based identity to a modern ideology-based punk identity is noted. This is examined in the context of the consumption of traditional punk iconography. It is argued that the punk identity is essentially a political identity that stems from a belief in a cultural alternative to what is perceived to be the dominant hegemony within society. Therefore, the punk movement may be seen as having the potential to lead to a form of new social movement that combats this cultural dominance.
2018
Alternative do-it-yourself (DIY) publishing in the UK is often assumed to have started with photocopiers and punks. However, counterculture and grassroots movements from the mid-1960s onwards generated an explosion of alternative 'not for profit' print and publications, frequently produced by amateurs using basic technologies. Much of this was consciously infused with notions of autonomy and anti-specialism, themes that were to continue or rematerialize through punk. We do not mean to deny the sheer creativity and distinctiveness of punk culture; but by drawing attention to examples of alternative DIY print cultures that preceded, co-existed with and, at times, intermingled with punk, we hope to constructively complicate the history of fanzine production and the DIY narrative associated with it. We do this by examining three aspects of these 'other' DIY print cultures: the production practices of a range of grassroots and radical publications; the processes of various artists' publications and activities; and the development of community or 'self-help' radical printshops. Firstly, however, we shall outline the wider cultural, technological and discursive context that enabled these publishing activities to take place.