ABSTRACT

Until the mid-sixties, press coverage of popular music was limited to the giddy burble of fan mags or the stolid cant of the trades. Rare exceptions-such as the progressive Jim Delehant-edited Hit Parader and Ralph Gleason’s criticism in the San Francisco Chronicle-were treasured by pop fans looking for more meat than Ringo’s ring size or Herman’s favorite cake. Then rock fanzines arrived on the scene, courtesy of science fiction freaks familiar with the genre’s self-publishing traditions. Zines contributed to an evolving critical language that would ultimately take two paths: into the gut or to the academy. The most compelling zines fused the two.