DIY or Die in 1994

January 29, 2018 6:19 PM

So it's 1994 and you're punk as fuck and nobody's gonna do it for you, so you wanna put together a show and need to know what bands and venues are around. Or you're a band and you want to set up a tour, or find a label, or maybe you just want zines and tapes from places outside your town. The internet's barely there, so it's a good thing you've got your grimy hands on the 1994 edition of Book Your Own Fuckin' Life, a full copy of which is being kindly hosted by the Internet Archive.
posted by Pope Guilty (28 comments total)

I used to look through this on the newsstand! Thanks for the memories.
posted by thelonius at 6:51 PM on January 29, 2018 [1 favorite]

Yes, I immediately scrolled to the states I used to be a dirtbag traveller in throughout the southeast. Yes, I saw names and addresses I know. Yes, I almost called some of the numbers to see if they still worked and see if I could talk back through the time stream to twenty-five years ago friends, in twenty five years ago places...

"Chris? In a few years you'll be famous for peeing on Hootie's soap! Yes, really... don't hang up!"

Nostalgia is a cheap thing, cardboard and glitter, but if the spotlight hits it right, and the beer is cold enough, it can look like goddamn Luna Park...
posted by 1f2frfbf at 7:12 PM on January 29, 2018 [20 favorites]

Wow, haven't thought about this in a long time. It seems like the '90s were roughly 30,000 years ago. This seems like a prehistoric artifact.

Nice find!
posted by SystematicAbuse at 7:13 PM on January 29, 2018 [6 favorites]

In a few years you'll be famous for peeing on Hootie's soap!

Now look here. I read a story, in a local zine, about a guy leaving a pubic hair on Hootie's soap. I'm suspecting urban legendry now.
posted by thelonius at 7:14 PM on January 29, 2018

Oh my God - my high school band and a number of my friends' high school bands/labels are in the VA section. This is unbelievable.
posted by chinese_fashion at 7:16 PM on January 29, 2018 [6 favorites]

I can either confirm nor deny the soap story, but I knew Chris and could totally see him doing it.

But anyway... will anyone go through these scans and figure out who owned it by cataloging all the circled contacts?
posted by 1f2frfbf at 7:31 PM on January 29, 2018 [1 favorite]

Pump It, Hottie! is a Vanilla Ice fanzine but it's more!

More?!? A Vanilla Ice fanzine...and more? 1994 is going to be so awesome!
posted by Naberius at 7:36 PM on January 29, 2018 [5 favorites]

Huh, a quick google search says this kept existing as a print publication until 2001, and now exists online.

This edition is a bit early for me, though I did recognize quite a few Ohio names. Now, if say, the 1997 or 1998 versions turn up, that would be quite the memory trip indeed.

shout out to WCSB, r. john xerxes, and the unknown, tho
posted by SystematicAbuse at 7:41 PM on January 29, 2018 [1 favorite]

THE VOODOO GLOW SKULLS
Being compared to the Mighty Mighty Bosstones sucks!
posted by Guy Smiley at 8:50 PM on January 29, 2018 [3 favorites]

Oh haha- The Coconut Teaszer. I haven't thought about that place in 20 years. Does it still exist? ~googles~ No. Thank God for that.
posted by fshgrl at 9:01 PM on January 29, 2018 [2 favorites]

I'm surprised there are so few listings in Bloomington, IN. I can think of a bunch of artists and places from that time that I would have thought would be in there.

Nice find!
posted by SisterHavana at 9:24 PM on January 29, 2018 [1 favorite]

Haha, this is a blast from the past. A couple bands I was in are listed here with my mom's old address.
posted by dhammond at 10:09 PM on January 29, 2018 [9 favorites]

@dhammond - What bands/what page?
posted by chinese_fashion at 11:13 PM on January 29, 2018

I'm surprised there are so few listings in Bloomington, IN. I can think of a bunch of artists and places from that time that I would have thought would be in there.

That was my exact feeling about Champaign-Urbana, IL, another major college town -- what little there is from there in this book, I'd never heard of! But I suppose college students (and post-college slackers) in bands that are part of "the local scene" are not the same as high school punks playing in each other's basements. Also Chambana, Bloomington, and similar places that had significant local scenes didn't feel like they had to reach out to a nationwide network of other underground freaks; they were already self-sufficient.
posted by Harvey Kilobit at 11:22 PM on January 29, 2018 [2 favorites]

Book Your Own Fuckin' Life, the website

though it seems to not have been updated since 2011
posted by divabat at 11:35 PM on January 29, 2018 [2 favorites]

and here's the first edition of the zine
posted by divabat at 11:36 PM on January 29, 2018 [1 favorite]

4th Day Submerged from Portland OR was my band and I was bffs with Punky Rockit. Played a lot of house shows that year, and 1995, 1996, etc...
posted by josher71 at 6:20 AM on January 30, 2018 [1 favorite]

I remember seeing these at the time. I'm glad some have been saved.
posted by Dip Flash at 6:53 AM on January 30, 2018

The incredibly sparse (one entry!) listing for DC belies a pretty rich scene that had bands + other touring punks passing through constantly. One of my memories of this time period is everyone having an address book or notebook crammed with contacts for correspondence, shows, record / zine distribution, traveling, etc. - so BYOFL was just one tool, and minor compared to the informal social networks that really made things happen.
posted by ryanshepard at 7:21 AM on January 30, 2018 [2 favorites]

The incredibly sparse (one entry!) listing for DC belies a pretty rich scene that had bands + other touring punks passing through constantly

I feel like bigger/more happening cities didn't really participate in BYOFL as much as places like Rapid City or Sheboygan WS. I can get a show in DC, tons of people I know there! But what about that long drive across the midwest...
posted by josher71 at 7:33 AM on January 30, 2018 [5 favorites]

so rad to see Slipped Disc Productions mentioned in the 1992 one.

By the time these came out all the Dallas punk scene had pretty much faded into obscurity.
posted by Annika Cicada at 9:08 AM on January 30, 2018 [2 favorites]

( I got stories of the late 80's and early 90's Dallas punk scene. I should write a fukkin' book)
posted by Annika Cicada at 9:09 AM on January 30, 2018 [1 favorite]

My mind boggles at the work involved to produce this tome in the non-technology age. Especially since it seems guaranteed to be obsolete as soon as it was printed.
posted by I_Love_Bananas at 10:11 AM on January 30, 2018 [1 favorite]

It's not any more work than the horrifying squandering of human effort involved in , say, testing CSS for browser incompatibilities.
posted by thelonius at 1:34 PM on January 30, 2018 [3 favorites]

> The incredibly sparse (one entry!) listing for DC belies a pretty rich scene

I dimly recall that being listed in it was Not Done in certain circles.
posted by The corpse in the library at 1:40 PM on January 30, 2018 [1 favorite]

Holy shit! I've been telling my young friends who harbor nostalgic feelings for A Fire Inside (i.e. the latter part of A.F.I's career) that it actually originally stood for A bunch of Fucking Idiots and this completely vindicates me!!!

This book dictated the direction of a good deal of my late teens / early twenties. So great to see.
posted by deadbilly at 2:17 PM on January 30, 2018 [2 favorites]

Unrelated, but this seems like the crowd who'd enjoy it. Messthetics
posted by Mr. Yuck at 2:34 AM on January 31, 2018

Actually the print edition existed until 2002. I did the print version from 1999-2002 and somewhere along the way built the first web site for submitting entries. It's since been redone by someone else.
posted by arancidamoeba at 6:41 PM on January 31, 2018 [4 favorites]