pics

Rip It Up is a music magazine in New Zealand that was one of the biggest music magazines in the country during the 80s, where it reached a height of 30,000 copies monthly. The reason why I am so interested in this magazine is that it covered the Dunedin and Flying Nun scene extensively during its birthing period and beyond, with interesting articles detailing some of the history behind bands that may have only existed for a couple years, and wonderful pictures of these artists. It's such an interesting artifact of a time and a place that I would have loved to have seen back when it was bustling and thriving.

The particular issue that I purchased was an issue from April 1982, right at the birth of Flying Nun and after Boodle Boodle Boodle's runaway success for the label. The issue has a picture of the Clean on its cover page, which is always cool to see. The articles it discusses related to the scene discuss the Dunedin scene as it was starting to take off, covering the various bands that would be present on the compilation album that would later be called the Dunedin Double, such as the Chills and the Verlaines, and further coverage of the Clean in the lead-up to their second EP Great Sounds Great, released the following month. It's such an amazing document of a scene just getting started and I am craving to get more issues of this magazine in the future.