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| Flipside (fanzine) | |
|---|---|
| Title | Flipside |
| Category | Music fanzine |
| Frequency | Irregular |
| Format | Print, xerox |
| Firstdate | 1977 |
| Finaldate | 2001 |
| Country | United States |
| Based | Los Angeles, California |
| Language | English |
Flipside (fanzine) was an American punk rock fanzine published from the late 1970s through the 1990s that documented the Southern California punk and independent music scenes, provided record reviews, band interviews, and promoted underground touring networks. The zine became a hub for DIY culture, connecting readers to venues, independent labels, and bands through mail-order catalogs, show listings, and tape-trading columns. Through its run Flipside intersected with numerous bands, labels, and publications across the United States, the United Kingdom, and continental Europe.
Flipside began in 1977 amid the same milieu that produced Black Flag (band), Minor Threat, Dead Kennedys, The Germs, X (band), and Circle Jerks and was contemporaneous with publications such as Maximum Rocknroll, Sniffin' Glue, Punk (magazine), New Musical Express, and Melody Maker. Early issues were xeroxed photocopies produced in Los Angeles, drawing from networks established by fanzines like Search & Destroy (fanzine) and international punk correspondence with Sham 69, The Clash, Sex Pistols, Siouxsie and the Banshees, and Buzzcocks. Throughout the 1980s Flipside expanded coverage to include West Coast hardcore scenes in cities associated with San Francisco, Orange County, San Diego, and alongside national developments involving Washington, D.C. hardcore, Boston hardcore, and New York punk. By the 1990s the publication documented the rise of independent labels including Epitaph Records, SST Records, Dischord Records, Sub Pop, and Fat Wreck Chords while reporting on tours involving Nirvana, Green Day, The Offspring, Bad Religion, and Rancid.
Each issue contained interviews, album and demo reviews, letters pages, scene reports, and classified ads, echoing formats used by Rolling Stone (magazine), Spin (magazine), and Kerrang! though anchored in DIY aesthetics similar to Cometbus. Flipside published extensive scene reports from Los Angeles clubs such as The Masque, Screamers (band)]']s venues context, and touring circuits that included stops at CBGB, The Roxy Theatre (West Hollywood), The Whiskey a Go Go, and Troubadour (West Hollywood). Regular features included tape-trading columns modeled on practices used by Greg Ginn-affiliated networks and mail-order listings paralleling the catalogs of Alternative Tentacles, Epitaph, Lookout! Records, and Kill Rock Stars. The zine also ran photo spreads influenced by photographers working with Rolling Stone (magazine), NME, and independent documentarians covering acts like Bad Brains, The Misfits, Sonic Youth, and Hüsker Dü.
Flipside was largely produced by a rotating collective of editors, writers, photographers, and volunteers with ties to the Los Angeles punk community and fanzine scenes spanning Minneapolis, Seattle, Chicago, Boston, London, Manchester, and Berlin. Contributors included local scene chroniclers, freelance journalists who also wrote for Option (magazine), Alternative Press (magazine), and The Village Voice, and photographers who shot for Thrasher (magazine), Maximum Rocknroll, and independent record labels. The editorial collective maintained correspondence with musicians and label heads such as Ian MacKaye, Greg Hetson, Joe Carducci, Brett Gurewitz, and Epitaph Records personnel, facilitating interviews with artists like Henry Rollins, Jello Biafra, Frank Black, Kim Gordon, and Courtney Love.
Distribution relied on punk record stores, mail order, distro networks, and street-level sales at shows and independent bookstores in cities including Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York City, Chicago, Seattle, London, Amsterdam, and Berlin. Retail partners ranged from established outlets such as Amoeba Music and Easy Street Records to mom-and-pop shops and stall-sellers at festivals like South by Southwest, Warped Tour, and Reading Festival. Circulation fluctuated with DIY economics and touring cycles; print runs were modest compared to mainstream magazines, but Flipside achieved wide reach through tape-trading communities, fanzine swaps with publications like Maximum Rocknroll and Sniffin' Glue, and collaborations with indie labels including SST Records and Dischord Records.
Flipside influenced later independent music journalism, tape-trading networks, and DIY culture, informing the practices of publications such as Vice (magazine), Alternative Press (magazine), Pitchfork (website), and The Quietus. Its role in documenting the Los Angeles punk and hardcore scenes has been cited in oral histories and retrospectives alongside institutions like The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, The Smithsonian Institution, and university archives studying subcultures in California State University programs. Bands and labels credited the zine with fostering cross-regional touring contacts that helped acts like Black Flag (band), The Dead Milkmen, NOFX, Blink-182, and Pearl Jam gain exposure. Flipside’s back catalogue remains a primary source for researchers tracing the evolution of independent music scenes and DIY economies.
The zine occasionally published provocative content and opinion pieces that sparked disputes with venue owners, label executives, and performers, reminiscent of editorial controversies affecting outlets like NME and Rolling Stone (magazine). Legal pressures arose at times over unauthorized photographs, unlicensed reproductions of lyrics, and libel claims, prompting changes in editorial policy and greater reliance on released press materials from entities such as Epitaph Records, SST Records, and Dischord Records. Tensions with local law enforcement and municipal authorities mirrored clashes experienced by punk organizers in cities like Los Angeles and San Francisco over show permits and venue closures, which occasionally led to publicized confrontations and legal scrutiny.
Category:Punk zines Category:Music magazines published in the United States