Vague Fanzines Book – Volume 1 – 1979-1984 Issues 1-15

 

A book of a fanzine might seem a bit...pretentious? Or presumptuous? Or self-aggrandising? Or what?

But OK, I'm not saying any of that. I'm glad to have the first 15 issues bound, thanks very much. Bound for glory, it was, in its lifetime and, of course, as time sprinkles dust on the Fanzine Era and its reputation grew to give it a Legendary status. 

Not that Vague is alone. It came at a time (1979) when zines had already bloomed (yes, like flowers in the dustbin of publishing) during the Punk era and since those days fanzines have become terribly....chic, dahling, so-o-o earthy...so real! Books on fanzines aside, few zines would merit a collection, or even have long enough runs to actually make one. My zine, Ego, wouldn't. Well, it would be a slim book.

I started collecting Vague in the late-80s, by which time it had grown in size and stature. Longer, deeper articles on the kind of sub-cultural topics that we were interested in, from terrorism to Situationism,  Psychic TV...even Jon Savage wrote for it. It retained a rawness, though. Or does it jut look that way compared to contemporary standards? At the time it looked very...'professional'.

Here are some of my collection from that era.

Rewind to the beginning and it's lots of handwritten headlines and even articles, some barely legible but who cares? It's as if even modern print technology cannot clarify what actually happened. In that sense, it mirrors memories of those distant days. Mine anyway.  

From the typical zine material and coverage (gigs, album reviews, opinion) to the later in-depth articles and themed issues, Vague's trip is worth (re)discovering. I look forward to the second volume. You can buy this collection here.