"I like your energy flow."

First appearance of Projekt records! I love that it's the SAME logo in '85 that persists to this day. It's also worth remembering that Sam Rosenthal started out in Florida, which means that he probably earned his goth stripes the hard way.

Boys and girls, renounce the world!

Weird to see a Chrindie band get reviewed in Option, much less one of the first-gen ones. While reading this era (mid-eighties), I'm keeping my eyes peeled for Daniel Amos reviews, and I know a lot of Tooth and Nail stuff makes it in later on. Kind of amazing how even-handed and fair the review is, considering Undercover was probably the most likely chrindie group of that era to offend of alienate a non-Christian reviewer.

Prequel to "Tol'Able David," perhaps? (May/June '85)

Man, these guys aren't even trying with that name.

Also-rans (nov/dec 1994)

I was all ready to sort of laugh at this news item and remember the early days of web retailing, but then I realized that the website is still active and making money in a post-Amazon world! But the clip still gets bonus points for using "modem" as a verb.

First Appearance! (May/June 1994)

One of my favorite things about these old issues is when you catch a review of the first release of a band that went on to be a big critical fave. In this review of the first Low record, the reviewer clearly does not give a crap, but is generally complimentary.

One of these things is not like the others. (may/june '94)

One amazing thing about some of these old label ads is the way that you'll have three bands that went on to sustain long careers to massive acclaim, and then the fourth band in the ad is someone you've never ever heard of in your entire life. And I say this as someone that owns the entire discographies of Jale and Butterglory. Sorry, "the 3D's. "

"Just like in the studio." (March/April '87)

I'm a big fan of the classic 4-track era, so I'll be posting a lot of ads. This one's mostly quaint and nostalgic, but they can get downright gut-busting and cringe-inducing.

Welcome!

My friend Timmy got me the most amazing birthday present ever - the entire run of Option magazine. Each issue is a veritable time capsule of alternative music coverage from the post-punk and new wave days through the American indie rock boom of the late eighties through the mainstream Alternative explosion of the nineties and onward. While reading these issues, I've noticed that the ads and reviews, rather than the actual articles, are the most amazingly "only in '91" (etc.) elements of each issue.

So the point of this blog is to simply post scans from the run as I read through them chronologically. I'll avoid major articles or profiles and focus instead on ads, pictures, reviews, etc. that I find funny, entertaining, ridiculously nostalgic, or my personal favorite - eerily prescient. I'm going to try to tag each scan so that you can dig through and have fun looking through different examples.