Maximum RocknRoll

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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, Maximum RocknRoll is considered by many to be one of the most important presences in punk, not only because of its wide-ranging content, but because it has been a standard 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.

Originally content was limited to more local bands, such as the Dead Kennedys or MDC. Today the zine has surpassed its 250th issue, and includes much more international content. 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.

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 advertising or giving coverage to 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.

Since Yohannan's 1998 death, the magazine has continued to operate on essentially the same nonprofit principles, run by a large group of volunteers.

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 criticise the zine, which has sometimes been referred to as the 'Bible' of punk. This criticism spawned the creation of Punk Planet and Ebullition Records.

Quotes

MRR is dedicated to underground punk rock, and it has a set of core ethics about remaining independent and challenging. It's informed by leftist / progressive politics. There's an aesthetic, too... a particular kind of cockiness descended from [MRR founder] Tim Yo. It's a jubilant snottiness you get when you prove that you can thumb your nose at the rules and still create something long-lasting and valuable. You can draw moustaches all over the glossy promo sheets and laugh at the industry follow-up callers. You can survive as a business without hoarding, and without profit. You can sustain a project with hundreds of people over years and years without paying anyone a dime. —Arwen Curry, MRR editor, in a 2003 interview

External link

• maximumrocknroll.com - official website, includes the online version of MRR Radio.