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Touch and Go: The Complete Hardcore Punk Zine '79-'83
Touch and Go fanzine was the brainchild of Tesco Vee and Dave Stimson and was launched in Lansing, Michigan, in 1979. Major fanatics of the new punk happenings in the late ’70s, TV and DS set out to chronicle, lambaste, ridicule, and heap praise on all they arbitrarily loved or hated in the music communities in the US and abroad.
In laughably minuscule press runs by today’s standards, T & G was made by guys within the Midwest scene strictly for the edification of scenesters and pals in other cities like DC, Philly, Boston, LA, SF, Chicago, et al. Inspired by magazines such as Slash and Search and Destroy and writers like Claude Bessy and Chris Desjardines, TV and DS pumped out seventeen naughty, irreverent issues together, and TV did another five solo.
Magazines like Forced Exposure and Your Flesh, among others, soon fired up Xerox machines themselves, and the rest is history. So is the legendary independent record label launched from this zine, and so are the bands covered inside: Black Flag, Minor Threat, the Misfits, Negative Approach, the Fix, the Avengers, the Necros, Discharge, Iron Cross, Youth Brigade, Faith, Die Kreuzen, Crucifix, Poison Idea—and all the other punks worth their weight in glorious black and white.
In laughably minuscule press runs by today’s standards, T & G was made by guys within the Midwest scene strictly for the edification of scenesters and pals in other cities like DC, Philly, Boston, LA, SF, Chicago, et al. Inspired by magazines such as Slash and Search and Destroy and writers like Claude Bessy and Chris Desjardines, TV and DS pumped out seventeen naughty, irreverent issues together, and TV did another five solo.
Magazines like Forced Exposure and Your Flesh, among others, soon fired up Xerox machines themselves, and the rest is history. So is the legendary independent record label launched from this zine, and so are the bands covered inside: Black Flag, Minor Threat, the Misfits, Negative Approach, the Fix, the Avengers, the Necros, Discharge, Iron Cross, Youth Brigade, Faith, Die Kreuzen, Crucifix, Poison Idea—and all the other punks worth their weight in glorious black and white.
576 pages, Paperback
First published June 30, 2010
19 people are currently reading
1302 people want to read
About the author
Tesco Vee
2 books4 followersTesco Vee is a Michigan-based punk rock musician and co-founder of Touch and Go Records. He is the founding member, and front man, of punk bands The Meatmen and Tesco Vee's Hate Police.
In 1979, while working as a third and fifth grade teacher in Williamston, Michigan, Tesco Vee and his friend Dave Stimson self wrote and self printed Touch and Go, one of the pioneering punk and hardcore zines. It featured politically incorrect, and often crude humor, alongside album and single reviews of Black Flag, Minor Threat, Bad Brains and hundreds more. In 1981, Tesco also transformed Touch and Go to a small label, releasing vinyl singles by Necros, the Meatmen and Negative Approach. The label was taken over by Necros bassist Corey Rusk, who moved it to Chicago and grew it into an international success - signing bands such as the Butthole Surfers, Jesus Lizard and TV on the Radio.
In 1979, while working as a third and fifth grade teacher in Williamston, Michigan, Tesco Vee and his friend Dave Stimson self wrote and self printed Touch and Go, one of the pioneering punk and hardcore zines. It featured politically incorrect, and often crude humor, alongside album and single reviews of Black Flag, Minor Threat, Bad Brains and hundreds more. In 1981, Tesco also transformed Touch and Go to a small label, releasing vinyl singles by Necros, the Meatmen and Negative Approach. The label was taken over by Necros bassist Corey Rusk, who moved it to Chicago and grew it into an international success - signing bands such as the Butthole Surfers, Jesus Lizard and TV on the Radio.
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
April 5, 2011
Good to have a complete anthology of the zine. I had a few issues growing up, and it certainly covers a crucial period for me in punk music, as it was when I was a kid just getting into it. Perhaps not as nutty a zine as Sick Teen, but not as mundane as some other zines from the period either, Touch & Go had it's own kind of vibe going on. You'll laugh at some of the rave reviews they gave to very unimportant mediocre records, and some of the pans they gave to truly brilliant classics. Great photos. Good artwork. They don't make zines like this anymore.
Want to read
May 5, 2011holy crap, tesco vee wrote a book! this man was the soundtrack of my youth! legend has it that a video floats the etherwires, a video involving young computer scientists rendering some Tesco/Meatmen tunes back in 1997, and it might or might not be true that there's a really just an extraordinary amount of blow in this video, especially for 17 year olds, and i might or might not be heard to exclaim "word to your mother" in a wholly unironic tone, and it might be one of the last known records of Harper's Hooch®, a refreshing lemony malt liquor, and almost certainly the last record of 17 year olds drinking aforementioned Harper's while doing waaaaaaaaaaaay too much blow indeed, and i'm sure glad that it doesn't exist and no buddies from wayward Marietta bildungsromans so long ago would let anyone be embarrassed like that! moving right along:
I CLUB BABY SEALS
DIE FOREIGN SCUM
ABBA, GOD AND ME
LESBIAN DEATH DIRGE (i was *at* this show at Atlanta's Masquerade when i was 15!)
CENTURIONS OF ROME
I CLUB BABY SEALS
DIE FOREIGN SCUM
ABBA, GOD AND ME
LESBIAN DEATH DIRGE (i was *at* this show at Atlanta's Masquerade when i was 15!)
CENTURIONS OF ROME
November 6, 2017
From my interview with Tesco Vee about this impressive and important anthology:
"...this book transcends Tescoe Vee, The Meatmen and everything that I have ever done it's because it covers such a broad spectrum and somebody else wrote about it. It says that this book does so I can lighten the such a grand idea or this book. Probably does the best job of any of these punk retrospectives of really showing you how the punk evolved. You know so we started in '79 appearing the tail end of the UK thing that then you can see how the domestic hard—American hardcore movement happened. How it came together and how all these bands and disparate seems all connected the dots and started and I started corresponding with Dischord people and started Touch and Go Records ..."
Audio of the full interview is at .
"...this book transcends Tescoe Vee, The Meatmen and everything that I have ever done it's because it covers such a broad spectrum and somebody else wrote about it. It says that this book does so I can lighten the such a grand idea or this book. Probably does the best job of any of these punk retrospectives of really showing you how the punk evolved. You know so we started in '79 appearing the tail end of the UK thing that then you can see how the domestic hard—American hardcore movement happened. How it came together and how all these bands and disparate seems all connected the dots and started and I started corresponding with Dischord people and started Touch and Go Records ..."
Audio of the full interview is at .
November 28, 2011
a wonderful look at a scene that I never was a part of (because I'm way too young). Really, really surreal things like a review of the Transmission single that includes a comment to the effect of "Joy Divisions lead singer, Ian Curtis, died"
July 15, 2010
How many years have I waited for this? So worth it too.
December 30, 2018
A collage of Bo Diddley with an attached speech bubble saying "All you white bitches can suck the venomous jizzm out of my blood engorged throbbing ebony anaconda!" led to me making stupid noises as I attempted to suppress laughter in the middle of the library, and I got looked at like I was nuts and/or drunk, so cheers for that, Tesco.
January 27, 2021
Mandatory reading if in any way you're interested in punk/hardcore and its different scenes. Tesco Vees wit and biting humour is tremendous throughout.
Read
February 14, 2022Boy they hated the B-52's!
Read
August 7, 2013GREaT, jest PeRfeCT!!
i had read 1 or 2 of th' 1982 iSSues. . .
when PauLie lent 'em t' me. . .
now that i look @ 'em. . .
i believe that Tony B had 1 of the 1980 issues. . .
and this was when X - LoS ANGeLes came out. . .
so it stuck in my head then. . .
that wow, here's this rekkid. . .
that we're lissening to, and here's this fanzine. . .
which other than jest starting to hear of. . .
punk 'zines' made by fans, and these were. . .
from what i'd heard up til then, we're bRiTiSh. . .
so as sum-one that was then 15yrs old. . .
and jest then starting t' buy up. . .
ALMoST ANY PuNk/WaVe rekkid. . .
( pref th' FuRTheR OuT th' better! )
this was sum-thing that was implanted by this specific impression. . .
- - - - - - - - - - - - - -
2 years later. . .
BiS, who went t' roosevelt /w/ us ( me & paulie )
had started 'writing for' - YeT ANoTheR RaG. . .
which was aaaah, i ferget his name. . .
and th' zine is temporarily 'lost in the shuffle'. . .
but i du 'memba twas outta co-op city. . .
which was / STiLL iS. . . kinda shocking in iTSeLf. . .
ANy-WeZ. . . BiS was goin' down-town purty regularly. . .
by this point. . . me? i was oFTeN @ left bank in mt vernon. . .
jest cuz it wuz PSOooo. . . convenient!!
any-wez i did help BiS once or twice. . .
do sum STaPLiNG & envelope stuffing. . .
whilst we CuT CLaSSes. . .
then BiS play'd bass fer a lil bit. . .
in SaVaGe CiRCLe. . .
an experience she STiLL tu ThiS day. . .
does **NoT** like t' Re-CaLL. . .
and when i last turn'd up. . .
YeT ANoTheR RaG 1982. . .
there iT iS. . . prob most likely. . .
FuRST MeNTiON oF AGNoSTiC fRoNT. . .
a review of prob their 2Nd GiG ( !?! )
i know paulie & i seen 'em. . .
sum-time EaRLy '83. . .
RoCk HoTeL JaNe ST. . .
b4 th' EP wuz releas'd. . .
fum whut i memba. . .
they were 'OK'. . . a little disorganized / shambolic. . .
sum equipment malfunctions. . .
but when they did play. . .
PuRTy RaW!!
- - - - - - - - - - -
any-wez. . . back t' T&G review here. . .
since i lent it out now t' jim gibson. . .
i can't specify which 1980 iSh it was!!
i had read 1 or 2 of th' 1982 iSSues. . .
when PauLie lent 'em t' me. . .
now that i look @ 'em. . .
i believe that Tony B had 1 of the 1980 issues. . .
and this was when X - LoS ANGeLes came out. . .
so it stuck in my head then. . .
that wow, here's this rekkid. . .
that we're lissening to, and here's this fanzine. . .
which other than jest starting to hear of. . .
punk 'zines' made by fans, and these were. . .
from what i'd heard up til then, we're bRiTiSh. . .
so as sum-one that was then 15yrs old. . .
and jest then starting t' buy up. . .
ALMoST ANY PuNk/WaVe rekkid. . .
( pref th' FuRTheR OuT th' better! )
this was sum-thing that was implanted by this specific impression. . .
- - - - - - - - - - - - - -
2 years later. . .
BiS, who went t' roosevelt /w/ us ( me & paulie )
had started 'writing for' - YeT ANoTheR RaG. . .
which was aaaah, i ferget his name. . .
and th' zine is temporarily 'lost in the shuffle'. . .
but i du 'memba twas outta co-op city. . .
which was / STiLL iS. . . kinda shocking in iTSeLf. . .
ANy-WeZ. . . BiS was goin' down-town purty regularly. . .
by this point. . . me? i was oFTeN @ left bank in mt vernon. . .
jest cuz it wuz PSOooo. . . convenient!!
any-wez i did help BiS once or twice. . .
do sum STaPLiNG & envelope stuffing. . .
whilst we CuT CLaSSes. . .
then BiS play'd bass fer a lil bit. . .
in SaVaGe CiRCLe. . .
an experience she STiLL tu ThiS day. . .
does **NoT** like t' Re-CaLL. . .
and when i last turn'd up. . .
YeT ANoTheR RaG 1982. . .
there iT iS. . . prob most likely. . .
FuRST MeNTiON oF AGNoSTiC fRoNT. . .
a review of prob their 2Nd GiG ( !?! )
i know paulie & i seen 'em. . .
sum-time EaRLy '83. . .
RoCk HoTeL JaNe ST. . .
b4 th' EP wuz releas'd. . .
fum whut i memba. . .
they were 'OK'. . . a little disorganized / shambolic. . .
sum equipment malfunctions. . .
but when they did play. . .
PuRTy RaW!!
- - - - - - - - - - -
any-wez. . . back t' T&G review here. . .
since i lent it out now t' jim gibson. . .
i can't specify which 1980 iSh it was!!
June 21, 2013
This is an excellently-curated collection of the classic Touch and Go fanzine, published in Michigan during the years in the title. As someone interested in the history of underground music and information preservation, fanzine collections like this are always welcome. It's exciting to read perceptions as people first dropped the needle on records by now classic bands like Discharge and Black Flag right after their releases, and to drool over reviews of records that now sell for hundreds if not thousands of dollars. The cool thing about 'Touch and Go' is that they also gave good reviews to obscure but exciting post-punk bands that most lunkheaded hardcore kids wouldn't have bothered with back then.
April 14, 2012
Why Everything You Think You Know About Punk Is Completely Wrong:
http://generation-add.blogspot.com/20...
http://generation-add.blogspot.com/20...
June 26, 2013
Mandatory reading for anyone into Punk and Hardcore.
December 7, 2014
Awesome collection of this classic fanzine. Tesco's humor and biting commentary are pretty hilarious. Well worth picking up if this is up your alley.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews