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Punk Planet: Requiem for a Heavyweight

One of the first things I did when assuming my honorary role as magazine buyer for CoffeeTree Books was to add Punk Planet to our small selection of music magazines. It is one of the very few music titles worth reading, whether one listens to today's punk rock or not.

On break this afternoon I stopped by for a fresh glass of cold coffee and reflexively went to the magazine rack to straighten and rearrange. There, waiting for me, was the new issue of Punk Planet, offering a very simple, quite lovely green cover: A photograph of their previous 79 issues, and the first lines of an editor's note that begins, "As much as it breaks our hearts to write these words, the final issue of Punk Planet..."

Theirs is a by now familiar story: A distributor went bankrupt. (Fortunately, that distributor turned us down.) Punk Planet never recovered. They were also, Dan and Anne note (co-editors, I believe), hurt by the decline in independent book and record stores, and by the various market forces buffeting the music industry today.

Though I did not always read Punk Planet, I was always comforted by its presence and encouraged by its intelligence, its bravery, and its passion. And I am mindful that ND and Punk Planet emerged from the same times and the same traditions, and operate in the same marketplace, however different (and how much the same) our focus and missions have been.

Which is not to suggest that we will be following Punk Planet into fond memory any time soon.

They are soliciting donations to pay their writers, a fine and honorable gesture in difficult times. An online community and a book publishing arm will continue, though I fear they will be burdened by the magazine's debt. Following is a link to offer cash and condolences: http://www.punkplanet.com/

The world will be a poorer and less-informed place in their absence, in the absence of the many other small magazines squeezed out of the marketplace these last few years. Our democracy really is at risk. Do not turn a blind eye, nor pretend that the theoretical proliferation of content online is somehow a substitute for good, well-designed and well-edited titles in print. It is not.

And, yes, I do very much appreciate the community which continues to surround and to nurture this little magazine.

I do not pray and have no hat to take off. A moment of silence, then, for Punk Planet. And my thanks for a job well done, if never finished.

Posted by grant on July 24, 2007 3:38 PM | Permalink