Project Synopsis
XEROX NATION: The Rise of the Rogue Pamphleteers
Inspired by the DIY rhetoric of the punk bands, excluded by the intellectual elitism of the underground press, dispossessed youth created a mouthpiece of its own. My proposal is to investigate the underground press, its association with punk, and proto punk sub-culture, but primarily to investigate how this medium was eventually appropriated by the fans themselves, in the form of the xeroxed fanzine. Having access to Jon Savage's archives provides an invaluable source of raw data, and being based in Liverpool, politically volatile in the punk period and always musically prolific, provides an excellent starting point for research. Through contacts at the Rock and Roll hall of Fame in Cleveland, Ohio, I am in the process of setting up a network of interviewees in the States. Nearer home, Anthony Wilson, of Factory Records, has also agreed to be interviewed. Jon Savage has recognised the further potential of this unprocessed data and welcomes this line of research.
The phenomenon of punk has been investigated by many writers; most thoroughly perhaps by Jon Savage in "England's Dreaming". He investigates this counter-culture, and in examining its roots, explains how it differed radically to earlier movements. Revolutionary rock music was not a new idea, but unlike the essentially middle class flower child of the previous decade, the cynical seventies rebel was not preaching peace and love. The zeitgeist had shifted and a bleaker political ideology had taken hold. This generation could not choose to drop out, as this generation perceived itself already disenfranchised. The bleak prospect of long term unemployment created a volatile atmosphere of poverty, frustration and suppression, so it is hardly surprising that the notion of anarchy is synonymous with the period. Jon Savage explains the significance of the student riots in Paris 1968, and the influence this had on the punk ethos. Punk at its inception had a politicised core, and the underground press had been the promulgator of these seditionary ideals. However, mass access to photocopiers, eventually democratised both the ideas and their means of dissemination.
I propose to examine in detail the process and consequences of that democratisation by pursuing the following lines of research. Using the raw data of The Savage Archives, and developing a network of contacts - wherever possible, interviewees with first hand experience - I shall be investigating several major areas:-
- the history of the rogue pamphleteer; exploring the Russian tradition of samizdat or self publishing. Investigating the relationship between text and censorship in intellectual movements, and the resilience of the written word
- anarchy and art; the relationship between political activism and the arts and the influence of Situationist International
- Situationist inspired publications, such as Jamie Reid's Suburban Press and the significant influence of Reid's artwork
- anti - bourgeois art and the legacy of Dada
- the stylistic influence of photomontage; the work of John Heartfield
- underground music and related writings from the mid 1960's to the mid 1980's, focussing on politicised groups and shifting ideologies; examining early band manifestos such as the White Panther Party Statement of Detroit musicians MC5, and other revolutionary influences in punk and proto punk music
- alternative heroes: the cult of the fan
- the assimilation of all these influences into the hand made, collaged and xeroxed Fanzine; the manifestation of a style instantly recognisable as belonging to the punk period
- subsequent cultural consequences; did the marginal become mainstream? What, if anything, was appropriated by the conglomerates?
To conclude; the musical pedigree of punk has been well documented, but this integral ingredient - the DIY Fanzine - was a unique product of a unique period, and still remains largely unexplored. Through my original research I propose to reveal the currently hidden histories of this fascinating phenomenon.