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When the first all-inclusive book covering the rock fanzine phenomenon (well, at least a phenomenon in the eyes of the people involved) is written, I dunno if NOISE FOR HEROES is going to rate any mentions. Perhaps not even a tiny footnote. You know how horse-blindered, exclusive and generally stuck in their own anal cavities most if not all of the rock fandom brigade types are, what with their incestuous cliquish natures and sickening better-than-thouisms that didn't help the music they were trying to promote any. I sure do remember the closed clubs that rock fandom doth wrought because I've engaged in a little of this myself and felt slighted when left out of many others, but anyway if I were cursed to have to write a rock fanzine history from the late-sixties until the present I'd try to fit NOISE FOR HEROES in it somewhere, and probably give it more than just the sentence or two that most others tasked with the job undoubtedly would.
I must admit that I love the dickens outta the various fanzine anthologies I do posses, especially the DENIM DELINQUENT one that came and went a good ten or so years back. I sure wish there were more around such as one gathering up the entire runs of BACKDOOR MAN and TEENAGE WASTELAND GAZETTE but I doubt those will ever see the light of day given the beautifully anti-hippie offensiveness (and face it, the kids who thought they were punks these past forty-five years were/are hippies and don't let them tell you different! Not that they would...). Thankfully due to the not-so-modern miracle of vanity presses and self-publishing a collection of fanzines can be created and marketed by the original publisher himself avoiding all of the hassles of having some "legit" house do the work, and that's just what Steve Gardner did with his very own mag. NOISE FOR HEROES was a fanzine that I understand made more'n just a little headway as far as the 'zine game went back then but I wouldn't know because well...I was so broke and it wasn't like I was exactly in the inner circle when it came to distribution, notoriety, respect...
Volume two in this series features issues from '88 to '91 which I will up and front say was not exactly my favorite time for rock 'n roll. I much prefer the 1964-1981 era which started off with the onslaught of punk/Brit Invasion and hit singles that actually punched out at you and ended with the entire concept of rock music turning even more sour thanks to the big suits who knew they could make more money appealing to the worst aspects of youth who had more money than they knew what to do with it. By the time these issues hit the boards a whole lot of the high energy music that drew me to fandom in the first place was unfortunately being written off as an aberration or outright joke, even by the kind of people who originally seemed to at least give it the time of day during the earlier part of the seventies (CREEM anyone?). Oh yeah, there were plenty of great band coming out of the woodwork world-wide but you sure weren't going to see all of those bigtime rockcrits who used to go ga-ga over this music give 'em that much-needed hype like they shoulda received. Only until it was dead and buried (and no longer a threat) did anyone outside of the fanzine idiom seem to stand up for it. The coast was clear and it was safe. This conspiracy of silence and huge vacuum was left up to mags like NOISE FOR HEROES to fill and judging from these issues I guess that Gardner did more'n just an ample job of spreading the word.
Nice selection of groups pop up in these pages, reminding me AGAIN of the frustration I had trying to locate a whole slew of rarities not to mention locate some money to purchase 'em. (One critic of mine said that he thought my public begging was more'n just pathetic, and although most of that was just har-de-har-har puton there was an air of desperation in my tone!) Loads of groups that I think were the best reason for me to stick around coupled with those that never did faze me turn up in these pages, but even if you could care less about a certain act Gardner does a good enough job that, like with any fanzine writer from Phast Phreddie Patterson to Jymn Parrett, you don't mind reading what is laid in front of your eyes. It's all done in an entertaining and informative style that doesn't bore of come off anywhere as haughty as the rockscreed one has seen these past fortysome years both in the "legacy" rock press and from the fanzine upstarts as well.
Issues 13-20 are collected in these pages and as far as I know printed up exactly as the originals which is to say a whole loads better'n some of the crudzine efforts of the day that looked like spew thanks to limited printing capabilities. Nice selection of groups here as well...the Australian contingent which seemed to be single-handedly keeping the spirit of 60s/70s high energy ideals alive gets more than a fair share of space. It's amazing to remember the groups that were still up and about even this late in the underground rock evolution, not to mention the scores who were out there releasing their own records that weren't exactly in the cutesy poo gnu wave or leftover hippie radicals playing as punks mode. So many that heck, I never even heard of let alone heard over half of 'em that's how complete and packed these issues were. One wonders where Steve got the money to buy all of these, though the ad space given out not only gives me a clue but pisses me off in retrospect given how people and companies used to go out of their way to snub me and my sub-kitchen table publishing (pardon the self-pity but them scars never did heal nor did my bank account get replenished).
Reading about such acts like Australia's Trilobites, a band that I haven't thought about in years, does indeed make me want to search my probably useless by this time cassette collection for their obscure live tape that used to get some play here in the BTC offices way back when. Lots of groups that I wanted to hear but missed out on the first time because --- well, you know --- make their presence known in these pages and it sure is boff to see those high energy bands worldwide get that sorta press I sure wish helped 'em break outta their undeserved obscurity.
If I hadda say anything "bad" about this well...the standard computer layout is too professional for my tastes. I prefer the old typewriter pecked out "selectric" look that you used to see in mags like HYPE myself. Then again, maybe there are some, perhaps MANY (who knows?) "opinions" that I can disagree with. And as they say opinions are like assholes and I've had quite a few drilled into me over the years.
I am curious as to what the other issues are like and maybe some day I'll dish out the dinero. As for now I have another book by Gardner to peruse, mainly his West Coast take on ANOTHER TUNELESS RACKET which should take ma a good ten or so years to go through, digest and wipe.
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