Golden Age of Zines?

[librarian]

To me, the Golden Age was when Factsheet 5 was being produced - the late 80s and early 90s. Was it the golden age because it was pre-internet, and was pretty much the only way to get media that was not conglomerate controlled (that and punk records, a different discussion perhaps). That said, there was some media attention to the zine scene - books were being written on them, and some zines made it to the "mainstream", for good or ill, including FF5.

Or was it my personal golden age because I was mid-late 20s; because I had just discovered them and so those zines being produced then were "mine"; or because I was living in Portland OR in '93-'94; or all those things.

Was that period the Golden Age of Zines? Or does everyone have their own personal Golden Age?

I apologize if this discussion has happened here before; I only scanned discussions going back to about June or so...

[kami]

i think its a personal golden age - but also mine! :) late 80s, discovered zines, produced my own, early 20s ... found bands and movies and people thru zines and mail... its our golden era much like the music we heard in our teens and early 20s is usually the music we love the most... though i give the younger zinesters grief and mock fury "kids of today" routines i understand that for them, this is their era. but i do think that internet access has perhaps diluted some of the glory... it used to be that mail and zines were the only ways to find certain bands and movements... now a lot of it gets diluted and tagged and personal ideas/reviews/thoughts seem to lose out. but then i'm a grumpy old relic, what do i know? :)

[tim scannell]

'bands and movements'......mean GLORY...GOLDEN AGE???


hahahahaha

what an itsy-bitsy teeny-weenie
world some
exist
in!

kami said:

i think its a personal golden age - but also mine! :) late 80s, discovered zines, produced my own, early 20s ... found bands and movies and people thru zines and mail... its our golden era much like the music we heard in our teens and early 20s is usually the music we love the most... though i give the younger zinesters grief and mock fury "kids of today" routines i understand that for them, this is their era. but i do think that internet access has perhaps diluted some of the glory... it used to be that mail and zines were the only ways to find certain bands and movements... now a lot of it gets diluted and tagged and personal ideas/reviews/thoughts seem to lose out. but then i'm a grumpy old relic, what do i know? :)

[Giz]

I agree with zac, I think the golden age (in my point of view) is righ now. Internet & blogs saved the zine from the mainstream. people who were using zines as they uses blogs now are leaved the copy-shops, wich are now only used by the printed-stuff geek.

[tim scannell]

if you R the NOW PERSON, the
electronic human...

then what 'hard-copy' stuff R U gonna
touch???

computer keys????????????????????

uuuummmmm!

Giz said:

I agree with zac, I think the golden age (in my point of view) is righ now. Internet & blogs saved the zine from the mainstream. people who were using zines as they uses blogs now are leaved the copy-shops, wich are now only used by the printed-stuff geek.

[Dan 10things]

Giz said:

Internet & blogs saved the zine from the mainstream.

I don't quite get this idea. Are you saying because they reduced the size of the audience and number of zines things were prevented from getting too mainstream? Because I think the strong underground/DIY ethics of zinesters has held pretty strong both in boon and bust times.

[librarian]

Heh. But, that said, were the original moveable type printing presses owned by the wealthy/business people; ie corporate interests? They weren't available to the masses to start with. Were they?

http://www.ideafinder.com/history/inventions/printpress.htm

Sarah said:

1450, when Johannes Gutenberg invented the printing press.

[kami]

so let me see if i read this right - i exist in an itsy bitsy world because pre internet i relied on things like zines to find bands?? isnt that what zines are for? sorry for growing up in a small town mate... i guess i shoulda expected my folks to move to a bigger town afore they gave birth to me... somewhere where it was all happening and laid out on a platter instead of searching for myself.

tim scannell said:

'bands and movements'......mean GLORY...GOLDEN AGE???


hahahahaha

what an itsy-bitsy teeny-weenie
world some
exist
in!

kami said:

i think its a personal golden age - but also mine! :) late 80s, discovered zines, produced my own, early 20s ... found bands and movies and people thru zines and mail... its our golden era much like the music we heard in our teens and early 20s is usually the music we love the most... though i give the younger zinesters grief and mock fury "kids of today" routines i understand that for them, this is their era. but i do think that internet access has perhaps diluted some of the glory... it used to be that mail and zines were the only ways to find certain bands and movements... now a lot of it gets diluted and tagged and personal ideas/reviews/thoughts seem to lose out. but then i'm a grumpy old relic, what do i know? :)

[Ivan Pope]

Every age is a golden age - every age comes to the same things in a new way.
I published my first (and only?) zine in 1977 when I was a teenage punk in the UK, going to London and seeing bands every week, we had to publish.
I published again in 1993 when I discovered the internet, a mag called The World Wide Web Newsletter - it was a zine in all but name ... took me a long way that did.
I know Factsheet Five and those days, but the internet always seemed to me like an ultimate publishing tool.
It's not the subject or the date, it's the passion.

[tim scannell]

you are sooooooooooooooo
right
ivan...
'passion'
tim scannell
port angeles, wa
usa

Ivan Pope said:

Every age is a golden age - every age comes to the same things in a new way.
I published my first (and only?) zine in 1977 when I was a teenage punk in the UK, going to London and seeing bands every week, we had to publish.
I published again in 1993 when I discovered the internet, a mag called The World Wide Web Newsletter - it was a zine in all but name ... took me a long way that did.
I know Factsheet Five and those days, but the internet always seemed to me like an ultimate publishing tool.
It's not the subject or the date, it's the passion.

[Madrea Marie]

There are still tons of zines around, maybe more now? But that could be the Golden Age for zines, altohugh they were around much much before then. I think my own personal "golden age" would have been late 90s, that's when I discovered zines.

[Tom Hendricks]

My zine Musea started in 1992. I think most of the nineties were good too. I've started the Zine Hall of Fame to salute many of the best zines from that era. It's at musea.us or at zinewiki
http://zinewiki.com/Musea_Zine_Hall_of_Fame

[Rick Bradford]

I think what the Factsheet 5 period has over any other is, well, Factsheet 5. Zinedom was never so organized, well-informed, connected, widespread or cross-pollinated. F5 wan't the end-all-be-all but there's a lot of benefit to having a single meeting place.