The 5th issue came out February 1, 1991.
Click here to view the full issue.
I have so little memory of doing this fifth issue. Had I been able to do RATW for years, would I have begun to forget what I had done? It’s kind of like the job I have at the time of this writing. I work for a company that helps people move. In the first few months of that job, I remembered every single client I had, and then they all started blurring together. Now, two years in, I only remember the really great clients or the jobs that were no fun at all! Would something like that have happened doing RATW??
During the Winter of 1991, Dave and I decide to get married. I seem to recall that we chose the very specific date in July because it was during the couple days off between issues. Not that the magazine would last until July, but if it had, the wedding would not have gotten in the way of production!
Also during this time, I’m beginning to contemplate if I can keep RATW going. Despite my best efforts to make the zine viable, it’s unclear when I might actually break even, let alone start making money.
I also lose all desire to see live shows ever again during this time. Not great for a publisher of a live music zine! See story below.
I have so little memory of doing this fifth issue. Had I been able to do RATW for years, would I have begun to forget what I had done? It’s kind of like the job I have at the time of this writing. I work for a company that helps people move. In the first few months of that job, I remembered every single client I had, and then they all started blurring together. Now, two years in, I only remember the really great clients or the jobs that were no fun at all! Would something like that have happened doing RATW??
During the Winter of 1991, Dave and I decide to get married. I seem to recall that we chose the very specific date in July because it was during the couple days off between issues. Not that the magazine would last until July, but if it had, the wedding would not have gotten in the way of production!
Also during this time, I’m beginning to contemplate if I can keep RATW going. Despite my best efforts to make the zine viable, it’s unclear when I might actually break even, let alone start making money.
I also lose all desire to see live shows ever again during this time. Not great for a publisher of a live music zine! See story below.
COVER
One of my goals was to feature women on the cover as often as possible to keep things balanced, and also anyone of color where I could (which was less easy to do since it was such a white male scene). I liked the Blake Babies promotional photo. It’s a nice gender-balanced shot. I even liked their album at the time, "Sunburn", especially the song, Sanctify
It would’ve been nice to feature the interviewee on the cover (Donita Sparks of L7) but I ran out of supplied photos. I used them up in the interview and live show review. (Nice to see I had a Charles Peterson photo. Charles Peterson was THE American photographer of the grunge scene at the time, who did – and looks like he still does – brilliant work.)
The interview subject was awesome: Donita Sparks from L7, a cool heavy-rocking-grungy all-woman band of badasses! (Although, I must confess, I don’t know their music at all but was very aware of them, always rooting for woman in the biz).
But the interview is rather boring! What a shame. Brandon, the interviewer, mentioned in passing that they did the interview by phone about 20 hours after the first American bombs hit Iraq in the 1990 “Gulf War”. I do believe that may be the culprit for the subdued energy of the interview. That was quite a traumatic time, globally-speaking, even though the invasion was over quickly – though at the time of the interview, it hadn’t concluded yet, so we didn't know where it would lead or how long it would last.
I did appreciate Brandon’s intro. He discusses the “Sub Pop backlash” which was beginning to happen. Sub Pop was one of the prime independent labels of the era – which we have to thank for getting great music out into the world, but by early 1991 was beginning to overexpose the grunge sound. It’s interesting to see the beginnings of “our scene” becoming diluted, a whole half a year before Nirvana “ruined” everything! (and I say that with affection :)
Even though by this point I was losing interest in live music, it was good to see bands touring again in February after the lull of January. And nice to see some of my favorite bands out there, such as Beat Happening, Charlatans UK, Crazy 8’s, Jonathan Richman, Two Nice Girls, Urban Dance Squad, and Yo La Tengo.
Click here to view the listings.
This month’s live reviews had (to me) no one I was interested in.
I had opened up the “Live Reviews” section to anyone who wanted to send me a live review. So it wasn’t like I was asking people to go see certain bands. I got what I got each month. I couldn’t complain since I wasn’t paying anyone. (Their compensation was being published in a world-wide magazine! – which was thrilling to most of them.)
People were starting to send me reviews of bands whose type of music I had ZERO interest in, such as thrash and speed-metal. Sure, they have their origins in punk, but that type of music leans more toward heavy metal than alternative. While I still liked supporting underdog, up-and-coming bands, I wasn’t thrilled with the direction the live reviews seemed to be going. Oh, the dilemmas!
Click here to read the live reviews.
LETTERS & POSTCARDS
“I want to subscribe! Your magazine is a saving grace to me, having just recently moved from Dallas (great music scene) to Raleigh, NC. Now I’ll at least know what is going on in DC and NYC!" – Anne D, Raleigh, NC
“Dear RATW, On my way to Iceland I picked up a copy of your publication in Toronto. It was exactly what i needed! When I leave here in mid-May I'll be traveling around Europe for 3 1/2 months, so RATW we'll come in extremely handy.” – Mike B, location unknown
“I just picked up the March ’91 Rock Around The World at the “Underground” music shop here in Chico, CA. Your publication is great – filling a void left by the major publications on the alternative music scene. Keep up the great work!" – John D, Chico, CA
OH, THE IRONY
As mentioned above, somewhere during the Winter of 1991, I stopped wanting to see live shows.
And I put the blame on one band: Gwar.
In my memories of Issue 2, I wrote about what I had written in the "Blurbs" section of that issue, about trying to see Gwar for at least a year, ever since my friend Richard saw them and wouldn’t stop talking about what an awesome, outrageous experience it was. As I wrote in my Issue 2 write up: He was blown away by the outlandishness of their show, with their wild costumes, crazy sounds, and far out theatrics. Richard thought they were hilarious. They were, as I wrote there, “the kings of space-age-meet-stone-age, comic book outlandish rock and roll”. Who wouldn’t want to see that??
Well, Dave and I finally did see Gwar that winter. And it was vile. What an awful, horrible, misogynistic, violent, not-at-all-fun experience.
They had a young Down Syndrome woman go-go dancing in a cage, who occasionally was let out so they could pretend to f*ck her in the *ss. Beyond horrific. Not ok on any level.
And the audience was awful as well. On the way to the show, a mere block from the venue, Dave and I witnessed this scary heavy-metal-looking thug violently beating the shit out of some young alternative-looking dude. As Dave and I got closer, seeing this tragedy unfold before us, we didn’t know what to do! Do we say something and risk getting the shit beaten out of us too? We finally did start yelling at the guy to stop, which he did. He just walked away from the scene while the bloodied kid hobbled away but that put a damper on the rest of the evening for us, especially when you could just sense violence in the air from the audience.
The music was loud, noisy, indistinguishable, toxic heavy metal. There was no hilarity to be found. And the treatment of the dancer was actually traumatic for me to witness. It activated every “scared to be a woman in this world” cell in my body.
I was so traumatized, disgusted and turned off, that I didn’t even go back the next night to the same venue to see the Screaming Trees, my favorite band at the time. That’s serious!
That one show ruined live music for me. And I haven't really returned to it.
Oh, the irony to be producing a live music guide and not wanting anything to do with live music anymore.
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