Punkzines: British Fanzine Culture From The Punk Scene 1976-1983

★★★★ Eddie Piller and Steve Rowland OMNIBUS PRESS. £16.99

DJ modcasters explore a crucial period of UK fanzine culture, with rare artwork.

With their roots in guerrilla art and 1960s counter-culture mags like OZ and IT, early fanzines were, as John Robb says, “viral diaries and proto blogs” that fuelled punk’s ecosystem. This book documents the time with front covers and spreads not just from legendary ’zines like Sniffin’ Glue and Ripped & Torn, but also lesser-known titles such as Sheffield’s Modern Drugs, edited by ABC vocalist Martin Fry, or Wendy May’s Swanseabased Scratch. It includes great interview anecdotes too, like the time Sex Pistols’ biographer Jon Savage photocopied Bondage (created by Shane O’Hooligan, AKA Shane MacGowan) in the solicitor’s office where he worked: “I had to be careful because it had real razor blades and safety pins stuck on the pages!”