Maximum RocknRoll

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This article is about the music magazine. For the album of the same name by NOFX, see Maximum Rocknroll (album).

Maximum Rocknroll Issue #1

Maximum Rocknroll (also known as MRR) is a widely distributed, monthly punkzine based in San Francisco, USA. It features interviews, columns, and reviews from international contributors. Along with Punk Planet and HeartattaCk—both of which were directly influenced by MRR in terms of content—Maximum RocknRoll is considered by many to be one of the most important presences in punk, not only because of its wide-ranging coverage, but because it has been a constant presence in the ever-changing punk community for two decades.

Maximum RocknRoll was an off-shoot of a Berkeley punk radio show in the early 1980s but it is in its zine form that MRR exerted its greatest influence and became as close to an institution as punk ideology allows. It was founded by Tim Yohannon in 1982 as the newsprint booklet in Not So Quiet On the Western Front, a compilation LP released on the then-Dead Kennedys' label Alternative Tentacles. The compilation included 47 Nevada and Northern California bands.

The first issues focused on more local bands, such as the Dead Kennedys or MDC. The coverage soon expanded to national coverage, and by issue five, the cover stories were features on Brazilian and Dutch underground punk. In the '80s, MRR was one of the very few US fanzines that insisted on the international scope of the punk movement, and strove to cover scenes around the world. Today the zine has surpassed its 280th issue, and continues to include international content and a strong political bent. As one of punk's largest zines, its reviews sections - MRR reviews records, demos and other fanzines - is one of the most comprehensive. It also reviews books, films, and videos.

1 Ethics
2 Criticism
3 References
4 External links

[edit] Ethics

MRR has a large and dedicated all-volunteer staff. MRR reinforces the values of the punk underground by remaining independent and not-for-profit in contrast to the small number of the major media conglomerates which control most music produced today. Every month, MRR publishes many submission-based band interviews. In addition, scene reports from across the globe keep the worldwide punk scene connected.

MRR has always had a policy of not giving coverage to, nor accepting advertising from, bands that record on major labels; that policy was soon extended to bands that are "distributed" by major labels, and MRR has also banned or sharply criticized certain "independent" labels which it felt to be acting in too corporate a manner. For many years the magazine turned a large profit, but nearly all of the money was re-invested into community projects, the most notable of which was probably the Gilman Street Project, which created 924 Gilman Street, one of the world's most important and longest-lasting volunteer-run, nonprofit punk rock clubs. MRR also directly sponsored The Epicenter Zone, a volunteer-run record store and show space in San Francisco. Furthermore, the zine gave thousands of dollars to other fanzines and community spaces around the world.

Since Yohannan's 1998 death, the magazine has continued to operate on essentially the same nonprofit principles, run by a large staff. There have been eleven different content coordinators and two distribution coordinators in that time.

[edit] Criticism

The fact that MRR has become so large has not been without controversy; the zine has many critics on a number of issues. Editorial policy has sometimes been accused as narrow-minded or even elitist, causing some labels to boycott advertising in the zine or sending releases for review. The fact that punk is often considered as a movement opposed to authority and large institutions (see Punk ideology) has also been an argument used to criticize the zine, which has sometimes been referred to as the 'Bible' of punk. This criticism spawned the creation of Punk Planet and HeartattaCk Fanzine.

Musicians have also spoken out against the magazine. Jello Biafra claimed the magazine's criticism of him inspired people to assault him at a 1994 performance at 924 Gilman Street, though his assailants were not known to be affiated with MRR in any way.. He also claimed that their narrow definition of what punk music amounts to a new form of political correctness. According to Biafra, "If "Holiday In Cambodia" were released today, it would be banned from Maximum Rock N'Roll for not sounding punk.[1]

Kurt Cobain said of the magazine, "I'm really happy about the fact that it will decompose within about ten years… I mean, those people hate our guts. I would hate our guts too if I was a fifteen year old kid who only listened to…or who only read Maximum Rock-N-Roll". He went on to categorize the magazine as "close-minded."^[1]