Damage (punk zine)

Damage #1, July 1979

Damage - officially Damage: An Inventory - was a punk fanzine from San Francisco, California. There were 13 issues, from July 1979 to June 1981, appearing roughly every two months. It was printed on 11-1/2 x 17-3/4″ newsprint. Issues were generally 36 to 48 pages long. Its editor was Brad Lapin. Contributors included Jello Biafra, Ginger Coyote, Geza X, and f-stop Fitzgerald. Two of the issues were 28- and 32-page free guides to the Western Front music and art festival in San Francisco for 1979 and 1980.[1]

Damage covered the punk scene in Northern and Southern California, as well as international developments.[2] OP magazine called it "one of the best new wave publications".[3] Reporting on the local scene in the San Francisco Examiner, Bill Mandel said that Damage was "the punk Bible" [for the Bay Area, presumably].[4] Archivist Ryan Richardson called it “a definite contender in a state crowded with fanzine heavyweights.”[5] Nicholas Rombes used Damage as a source for nine entries in his A Cultural Dictionary of Punk.[6] Writer Stevie Chick included a lengthy quote from a Damage article by Jeffrey Bale to describe Black Flag's increasing popularity in his book about the band.[7]

  1. ^ "Damage". The Rock Mag Archive. rockmagarchive.com. Retrieved 12 May 2024.
  2. ^ "Damage: An Inventory, "the magazine that's not for everybody."". recto/verso. Bernett Rare Books. Retrieved 12 May 2024.
  3. ^ "Publications". OP. Spring 1981.
  4. ^ Mandel, Bill (August 23, 1981). "From the underground: Loose in the punk world". The San Francisco Examiner.
  5. ^ Bickel, Christopher (13 June 2016). "The Entire Print Run of Classic SF Punk Magazine 'Damage' Is Now Online!". Dangerous Minds. Retrieved 12 May 2024.
  6. ^ Rombes, Nicholas (2009). A Cultural Dictionary of Punk, 1974-1982. New York: The Continuum International Publishing Group Inc.
  7. ^ Chick, Stevie (2009). Spray Paint the Walls. Oakland, CA: PM Press. p. 142.