some punk zine action - hard times vol. 1 no. 5

over the years, the punk fanzine has gone the wayside (unfortunately), with the advent of the internet, in favor of websites, blogs, file-sharing, etc. searching out fanzines and reading them intently from cover to cover was a crucial part of many punkers' formative stages.

factsheet five was a wonderful magazine that was published four times a year and served as a rudimentary networking hub for all kinds of underground media. i awaited each issue and pored over the ocean of reviews within the pages and began sending off dollar bills along with letters, and eventually my own fanzines. i sat by the mailbox in anticipation, sometimes literally. new zines and correspondences were received on a regular basis and penpals were made, some evolved into solid friendships and travel partners. there was social networking before friendster, myspace, facebook, etc, and believe it or not, before the internet altogether. the fanzine was the calling card for the pre-internet DIY community.

here is an issue of hard times, a home-grown 'zine straight outta 1985 maywood, new jersey. i recently found this copy at a local record swap for next to nothing. the interviews in this issue feature flipper, butthole surfers, violent femmes, and the dead milkmen. the letters to the editor even score some big names such as henry rollins and tesco vee. record reviews include the replacements' "let it be," article of faith's "give thanks," and much much more!! enjoy.

hard times v01n05 | 16 pages PDF
http://www.mediafire.com/?e1mdnsiypey
File Size: 38.33 MB

hard times @ ZineWiki
http://zinewiki.com/index.php?title=Hard_Times

tons of maximum rocknroll, flipside, and suburban voice PDFs @ the Punk Zine Archive!
http://www.operationphoenixrecords.com/archivespage.html

foxit reader is a lightning fast PDF reader, and free/open source to boot
http://www.foxitsoftware.com/

any comments are greatly appreciated, even if just to say thanx.