Music has always been a pivotal part of the fanzine and publishing movement and were it not for the punk scene of the ‘70s it’s likely the word ‘zine’ might not even be in common parlance. Here is a brief history of ten self-published, small run publications we know of that were from Nottingham and centred around music.
Splinter (1973)
Splinter wasn’t just a music magazine as it featured some great illustrations, satire and the occasional political rant. However, music was at its core and as well as local band and jazz reviews they had national scoops, like interviewing Rick Wakeman of Yes. It was launched in 1973 and edited by John Sheffield of The Meadows, who would go on to be something of a tour de force in Nottingham publishing; later launching several other titles including the news and politics-focused Grass Roots (1974) and Nottingham Voice (1975-78) and the arts and literature-focused Nottingham Quarterly (1978). You can browse issues 1-3 (which we suspect may be all of it) at thesparrowsnest.org.uk
Flower Scene (1967)
In late 1967 Flower Scene, a short lived magazine focusing on psychedelic music, was published from an address in Leen Gate, Lenton. Its editor was called Martin Graham and it concentrated on bands like The Beatles, Frank Zappa, Hendrix, The Who and The Stones. It only managed four issues before closing, although we believe issue five was in development but never made it to print. A major early scoop included an early-career interview with the Velvet Underground and thus the back issues are like gold dust to music collectors, with copies going on eBay for hundreds of pounds.
Way Ahead (1976)
A bi-monthly music magazine launched around the turn of 1976 by Tim Minnitt and Dave Brett, covering both the national and local music scene. Tim had written for the Nottingham Evening Post and Dave Brett had written for Splinter, Grass Roots and Nottingham Voice. They lasted 21 issues until 1981 and afterwards Dave Brett went on to launch the Way Ahead record shop and ticket agency. Way Ahead tickets went on to handle some major gigs like the Oasis Knebworth concerts in 1996 and in 2004 became See Tickets, which still operates from our city centre today.
Liquorice (1975)
A late 1970s music magazine written and published in Nottingham, from an editorial address of 7-34 Victoria Centre. The first issue appeared in April 1975 and cost 15p. Two years later their eighth and last issue was published retailing at 30p. They concentrated on British music with content including an interview with John Cale, plus features on David Bowie, Joni Mitchell, Bridget St John and Soft Machine. Their team was led by Malcom Heyhoe (who would go on to work at the NME) and contributors included Chloe Alexander, Paul Carroll and Irena Kruszona.
Rotten To The Core (1977)
This punk zine announced itself as "Nottingham's Only New Wave Fanzine" and “A Voice For The Youth of Nottingham.” The first issue appeared in January 1977 and the last issue we know of is issue six from 1978. Eighteen-year-old editor Dave Chaos named the fanzine after Johnny Rotten and from the three issues we’ve seen The Sex Pistols usually appeared on its cover. Other punk bands it covered included The Adverts, The Damned, Alternative TV, Generation X, Penetration, Chelsea, The Models and The Unwanted. Contributors included Tony D of Ripped & Torn zine.
Lobster Telephone (1988ish)
Details are scarce on this one, but we know that in the late eighties copies of Lobster Telephone could be found at The Garage and Selectadisc. Presumably the title was inspired by the 1936 art piece by Salvador Dali? We’ve seen the covers of two issues (#20 and #30) and one of them features a face-palming Cilla Black on the front looking like she’s running away from an upside down church. Judging by the surrealist nature of much of the content, we wouldn’t bet our houses on issues 1-19 and 21-29 having ever existed.
Overall: There is a Smell of Fried Onions (1991)
Published over 59 issues from 1991-1998, this was a Nottingham music-focused magazine run by Paul Kilbride. It mainly focused on local acts and gigs reviews, but they had the occasional bigger scoop like interviewing film director Ken Loach and the Levellers. Some of their writers went on to distinguished careers such Martin James who has written several biographies for The Prodigy and other dance music titles like State of Bass and French Connections. If you ever want to read reviews of when Nirvana, Hole, Radiohead and more played Nottingham’s toilet circuit the entire Overall archives are available online at overallmag.com
Big Daddy Magazine (1999)
First published in 1999, this was a glossy well-produced title that covered the burgeoning UK hip-hop scene of the time. Put together by a team that included George Mahood and sometime LeftLion contributor Daddy Bones, the first copy retailed at £2.50 and it was stocked in independent retailers across the country and posted to subscribers all across the world. Considered by many to be the best magazine of its genre, early scoops included an interview with Banksy (issue seven) and Chuck D (issue ten). Published bi-monthly, in 2004 they rebranded as Grandslam Magazine but sadly faded out a year or so later.
Saggy Pants (2005-2007)
Music fanzine put together by housemates Glynn, Gaz and Steph, which started as a website in 2003 and ran in print from 2005-2007. It ran over fifteen issues and featured various bands of the time including Jimmy The Squirrel, Grain, Zenith, Hinterland, Old Basford, Weeble, Yes My Ninjas, Dead souls, Lo Ego and The Smears. Sponsors included Anarchy Records, Junktion 7, The Maze and LeftLion. Two of the founders Gaz and Steph went on to get married and ran The Maze music venue for many years, before it closed in 2019. Other contributors included Ben, Kav, Lee, Smat and Kristi (who went on to become the In-House Promoter at Metronome).
The Mic (Early 2000s - present)
While a lot of independent print has surrendered to the internet in recent years, it’s good to see the University of Nottingham still flying the flag with two print publications. Impact is the main student magazine and has been going since 1939! However, The Mic is their specialist music magazine and hails back to the early 00s. They lay claim to be Britain’s biggest student-run music magazine and have won several Student Publication Association awards. Big scoops include interviewing The Pixies (2019), Bloc Party (2016) and London Grammar (2013). Their website is online at themicmagazine.uk and a selection of their back issues can be found at issuu.com/themicmag and at the University’s Manuscripts and Special Collections library.
Honourable mentions to Midland Beat (1960s), Night Flight (2009-10) and FreeQ (2009ish), who we came across but didn’t have enough material to include above. We realise the publications named here might just be the tip of the Notts music publishing iceberg, so if you’d like us to mention another printed mag or zine in the online version of this article send us some images and details by email to fanzines@leftlion.co.uk
Thanks to Steve Howard and Notts Music Archive (nottsmusicarchive.com) whose excellent website we used as source material for some parts of this article.
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