Notes From Underground, Stephen Duncombe (1997)

Notes From Underground: Zines and the Politics of Alternative Culture

pg. 6 - 'Little publications filled with rantings of high weirdness and exploding with chaotic design'

pg. 7 - 'Against the studied hipness of music and style magazines, the pabulum of newsweeklies, and the posturing of academic journals, here was something completely different'

'In zines, everyday oddballs were speaking plainly about themselves and our society with an honest sincerity, a revealing intimacy, and a healthy "fuck you" to sanctioned authority - for no money and no recognition, writing for an audience of like-minded misfits'

'In an era marked by the rapid centralisation of corporate media, zines are independent and localised, coming out of cities, suburbs and small towns across the US, assembled on kitchen tables'

'They celebrate the everyperson in a world of celebrity. Losers in a society that rewards the best and the brightest'

'Zine writers form networks and forge communities around diverse identities and interests'

'...they redefine work, setting out their creative labour done on zines as a protest against the drudgery of working for another's profit'

The Duplex Planet, est. 1979
based on conversations and interviews with

residents of the Duplex nursing home in Boston

'Defining themselves against a society predicated on consumption, zinesters privilege the ethic of DIY, do-it-yourself: make your own culture and stop consuming that which is made for you'

'...the zine community is busy creating a culture whose value isn't calculated as a profit and loss on ruled ledger pages, but is assembled in the margins, using criteria like control, connection, and authenticity'

pg. 8 - 'In zines I saw the seeds of a different possibility: a novel form of communication and creation that burst with an angry idealism; a medium that spoke for a marginal, yet vibrant culture'

↓ ↓ ↓ COUNTER-ARGUMENT ↓ ↓ ↓

pg. 9 - 'I couldn't help but notice that as all this radicalism was happening underground. The world above was moving in the opposite direction'

'More disturbing was that zines and underground culture didn't seem to be any sort of threat to this above-ground world'

'Quite the opposite: "alternative" culture was being celebrated in the mainstream media and used to create new styles and profits for the commercial culture industry'

'No longer is there a staid bourgeoisie to confront with avant-garde art or a square America to shock with countercultural values; instead there is a sophisticated marketing machine which gobbles up anything novel and recreates it as product for a niche market'

'When the New York Times gushes over zines, when punk feminist Riot Grrrls are profiled in Newsweek, when "alternative" rock gets its own show on MTV, and when the so-called Generation X becomes an identifiable and lucrative market in the eyes of the editors of Business Week and Advertising Age, rebelling through culture becomes exceedingly problematic'


pg. 10 - 'What I want to argue...is that zines and underground culture offer up an alternative, a way of understanding and acting in the world that operates with different rules and upon different values than those of consumer capitalism'

'Zines are noncommercial, nonprofessional, small-circulation magazines which their creators produce, publish, and distribute by themselves'

pg. 13 - 'The hyperspecialization of zines - science fiction, punk rock, eight-track tapes, defunct Missouri garage bands - is a bit misleading, for unlike mainstream "niche market" periodicals, zines don't follow well-laid plans for market penetration or move purposefully in a defined direction courting profitable demographics'

pg. 14 - 'Zines meander and change direction, switching back, then back again, flowing wherever the publisher's interest takes them'

Dishwasher zine by Pete Jordan

'As zines are put together by hand using common materials and technology, they consequently look the part, with unruly cut-and-paste layout, barely legible type, and uneven reproduction'

'The decline in the cost of personal computers and the spread of desktop publishing capability to the smallest of offices have given more and more people access to equipment to put out professional-looking publications'

pg. 15 - 'Distribution is primarily person-to-person via the mail, though zines are also sold in some book and music stores and traded, sold, or given away at punk rock gigs, conventions, and activist conferences'

pg. 16 - 'What zines are expected to provide is an outlet for unfettered expression and a connection to a larger underground world of publishers doing the same'

pg. 18 - 'zines are done for love: love of expression love of sharing, love of communication'

'Zines are not the only cultural expression of love and rage lurking underground today. Though drawing from a different population - primarily urban, primarily black - and forged out of the distinct crucible of racism and poverty, the hip-hop subculture, through the voice of rap music, addresses issues familiar to the zine underground: "representing" yourself and community, staying true or selling out, and the search for a voice in a society that just doesn't listen'

pg. 19 - 'Although the world of zines operates on the margins of society, its concerns are common to all: how to count as an individual; how to build a supportive community; how to have a meaningful life; how to create something that is yours'

pg. 33 - 'Zines put a slight twist on the idea that the personal is political'

'They broach political issues from the state to the bedroom, but they refract all these issues through the eyes and experience of the individual creating the zine'