212 x 272 mm, 144 pages

California, USA

First published in 1983

Editor: Mike Stax

Design: Anja Stax

‘Wild sounds from past dimensions’

Forty-two years old and still publishing, the look and feel of biannual rock’n’roll fanzine Ugly Things reflects its taste in music: raw and barely touched by modern tech. A collaboration between creative power couple Mike and Anja Stax—founding members of San Diego-based psychedelic rock band The Loons—it features essays, op-eds, interviews, reviews and listicles, covering underground music from the latter half of the twentieth century.

This 70th issue for Winter 2025 locates the catalyst of the ‘Swinging Sixties’—not on Abbey Road, as widely believed—but in the studio’s of Britain’s young Pop Artists. The issue leads with a conversation with early Pop Art proponent Derek Boshier, followed by a complementary playlist consolidating the symbiotic relationship between the art and music of the era.

Also inside: Duncan Fallowell reviews ‘the first rock encyclopedia’; Chaim O’Brien Blumenthal sits down with bassist Dave Clague; Patch Romanowski traces the origins of the ephemeral Electric Eels; and Mike presents the fourth part in an exhaustive history of Plasticland; plus, much more.

ugly-things.com