Pop Avalanche (issue #2)YEAR: 1987CREATED BY: Brian Orchard (AKA Andrew Rainey), Boy Naughty (AKA An

Pop Avalanche (issue #2)YEAR: 1987CREATED BY: Brian Orchard (AKA Andrew Rainey), Boy Naughty (AKA Andrew Midgley), Camper Bob (AKA Bob Stanley) and Christoper X (AKA Camper Chris)LOCATION: Peterborough / EdinburghSIZE: A5WHAT’S INSIDE….A fanzine that’s “blue for a reason” and has an interesting take on mid-1980s zine culture: “You don’t need to read it….we didn’t need to write it….we don’t need to listen to our records….but we do….do you understand what we’re saying? Fanzines are not essential - fatuous views on trivial topics leaning dangerously close to egomania - but the trick is to make them seem to matter….enough to lure you the consumer into buying one at any rate”….It also has The Rolling Stones on the cover and an article about the apparent indestructibility of Keith Richards (Bill Hicks once said that: “I picture nuclear war and two things surviving - Keith Richards and bugs”), both of which would have been unthinkable a few years before, given that the Stones were one of the principal targets of punk’s iconoclasm (“no Elvis, Beatles or The Rolling Stones in 1977”).The zine features a fine selection of mid-1980s indie bands, most of whom (ie Hurrah!, 14 Iced Bears, Razorcuts, The BMX Bandits and Talulah Gosh) remained stuck in the indie groove until they eventually split up, and a couple that transitioned to a rock-dance crossover sound under the influence of the rave scene, ie Primal Scream and Age Of Chance (who hailed from Leeds and almost made it into the charts with their cover version of “Kiss”). There’s also a retrospective article about Josef K (who influenced all of the above) and a quick guide to up-and-coming bands which includes the future ambassadors of shoegaze - My Bloody Valentine….Issue #2 of Pop Avalanche is slightly unusual in that it devotes four of its pages to hip hop, which was taking the world by storm at the time but didn’t get much coverage in fanzines. Although the empty machismo and casual misogyny in a lot of rap lyrics was not something most indie kids could relate to, the music itself was both groundbreaking and exciting, so kudos to the Pop Avalanche crew for being open minded about it. They recommend the Streetsounds hip hop electro compilations and indicate that #14 was particularly good, although I think the cream of the crop was probably the next one in the series, which I remember buying on cassette and listening to incessantly back in 1986/7.Recent releases by the likes of Schoolly D, The Beastie Boys, LL Cool J, Run DMC, Heavy D And The Boyz, Kool Moe Dee and a few others are also highlighted, as well as one or two by UK artists (who - to be fair - were mostly shit)….The zine’s contributors also manifest their culture vulture credentials with articles about writer Martin Amis and comic actor Norman Wisdom. There’s a brief mention of The Pastels, who published their own fanzine called Juniper Beri Beri, and a one page ad for a zine called Camping, which was a side hustle for Christopher X and Bob Stanley (who went on to become a proper journalist as well as forming the band Saint Etienne). Two other contemporary zines - The Legend and Trout Fishing In Leytonstone - are described as “a load of old cobblers” and “trivial, derivative and monotonous” respectively.Click on the title above to see scans of all the zine’s pages….my box of 1980s fanzinesflickr -- source link

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