Allied Propaganda Issue 2, July/August 1979

Any fanzine is worth checking out if you can spare the time or money, if only for the principle - forget all the shit in the N.M.E. where they try and analyse the social background of the people that write them. Decide for yourself what you want to read.

Great! That's what we like; a rallying spirit...oh wait, the editorial goes on to say, 'it must be said that it is depressing when fanzines like In The City lose all identity and end up like the weeklies...'.  I have to say that in August 1979 such a complaint would have sailed loftily over my head - I was just starting to discover fanzines and ITC was an early favourite in so far as there was a good number of back issues to explore, which I did, finding them to be consistently excellent. I suppose that was largely down to proximity - for certain, Mick and Ray were nearer to the whole punk malarkey than was I; the 13 year old neophyte. Anyroad, in this second issue of Allied Propaganda, Mick and Ray were well on the road to producing a solid run of excellent fanzines - evidenced by the great content in this here issue. Interviews: The Ruts (covers a lot of interesting ground: the pitfalls of signing a record deal, documentary commentary on the 'Southall Riot', gig aggro in general - mention of The Satellites' inciting violence with their song, 'Goose Step/Sieg Heil' - which is in turn refuted in the interview with The Satellites elsewhere in this fanzine); The Electric Chairs; The Fall (funny tales from Marc Riley - about being bottled by attendees of the 'infamous Lyceum gig' supporting Generation X Riley said, 'the kids that bottled us were in the pub we were in while Gen X were on - so they paid £2.50 to bottle us. That's a compliment if anything'); The Cure; The Satellites. Live Reviews: The Clash/The Modettes/The Low Numbers; The Ruts/The Piranhas. LP Reviews: Poison Girls- Hex; XTC - Drums and Wires; The Angelic Upstarts - Teenage Warning. Singles Reviews: Sham 69- Hersham Boys; The Modettes - The End Of Civilisation; The Jags - Back Of My Hand; The Dials - All I Hear; Buzzcocks - Harmony In My Head; The Boomtown Rats - I Don't Like Mondays; The Cockney Rejects - Flares and Slippers; The Monochrome Set - Eine Symphonie Des Grauns; The Heartbreakers - Get Of The Phone; The Angelic Upstarts - Teenage Warning. Elsewhere, there's a neat gossipy piece about The Damned Garden Party; a tasty smattering of lyrics from The Wall, The Cure, and The Satellites. 

A right corker!