Slash: A History of the Legendary LA Punk Magazine: 1977-1980

by Brian Roettinger (Editor), J.C. Gabel (Editor), John Doe (Text)

The legendary punk and new wave alternative weekly magazine "Slash" was founded in Los Angeles in 1977 by Steve Samiof, and published a total of 29 print issues before its demise in 1980 (though it did have a second life as the punk label Slash Records, which was eventually bought by Warner Bros. Records in 1999). In its brief run, "Slash" defined the punk subculture in Los Angeles and beyond with the comic strip Jimbo by Gary Panter and photographs by Melanie Nissen, the founding publisher and longtime photo editor. Writing by Jeffrey Lee Pierce, Chris D., Pleasant Gehman and Claude "Kickboy Face" Bessy explored reggae, blues and rockabilly in addition to punk and new wave. "Slash" diagnosed the nascent punk scene's challenge to the music industry and established its own oppositional voice in the editorial of its very first issue, staking a position against disco, Elvis and concept albums, and declaring: "Enough is enough, partner! About time we squeezed the pus out and sent the filthy rich old farts of rock'n'roll to retirement homes in Florida where they belong." "Slash: A History of the Legendary LA Punk Magazine 1977-1980" pays homage to the magazine's legacy with facsimile reproductions of every cover from the publication's run and reprints of some of the magazine's best articles and interviews. These are interspersed with new essays, reportage and oral histories from John Doe, Exene Cervenka, KK Barrett, Pat Smear, Thom Andersen, Gary Panter, Vivien Goldman, Richard Meltzer, Cali DeWitt, Nancy Sekizawa, Bryan Ray Turcotte, Claude Bessy, Ann Summa and Allan MacDowell, among others, telling the story of this critical chapter in the history of American media.

Genres: Music, Nonfiction

500 pages, Paperback

Published July 26, 2016

Reviews

[Scott Delgado · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's just a great visual and written history of the LA punk scene as well as punk in general. I wish the print was bigger on some of the old article pages, but if they did that, the book would be even bigger. The book is excellent. I love having it as part of my library.

[izzy strazzabosco · Rating 5 out of 5]

super awesome but i wish it had an index!!!!

[Julio The Fox · Rating 5 out of 5]

A PORTRAIT OF THE ARTIST AS A YOUNG PUNK. Yeeeah, that's me, folks, in the pages of SLASH MAGAZINE, the snottiest punk rag to ever hit the streets of Los Angeles. The Runways first concert of the QUEENS OF NOISE tour of 1977, with local heroes THE WEIRDOES for an opening act? There's a photo of me in the audience. The night a near riot broke out at the L.A. Palladium when the public started jeering and spitting at rockabilly star Joe Ely, opening for THE CLASH? SLASH covered it and I was covered with spit. THE POLICE playing at the Whiskey-a-Go-Go before all of 16 people on their first U.S. tour in 1978? The correspondent for SLASH wrote what I was thinking: "Why am I doing here?" Darby Crash, formerly Bobby Pin, of THE GERMS cutting himself onstage at The Whiskey only to hop back on post-bandaging? Yep, I fondly remember Darby, who later succumbed to China White. I feel sorry for those of you who missed the fun, but this volume will take you half the way back to the bedlam that was L.A. punk.

[Eric · Rating 4 out of 5]

PUNK RAWWWWWKKKKKK.