Author:Mark Perry
In July 1976, Glam Rock fan and Bank Clerk Mark Perry was wandering his favourite record stores when he asked at the Rock On Stall in Soho Market if they had any magazines about this new “Punk thing” he’d been reading about in the NME – his interest piqued by the first Ramones album, The Flamin’ Groovies at the Roundhouse, and the spying of familiar faces at Gigs.
The Rock On Stall had nothing to offer other than an American publication, but nothing about what was clearly happening in London.
The man on the stall – half-jokingly – suggested that he start one himself if he can’t find what he was looking for. So that’s just what he did – he returned to his bedroom in Deptford, armed himself with a ream of paper, a cheap typewriter, and some felt tip pins and produced Issue 1 of Sniffin’ Glue.
He went back to Rock On with the 50 copies he’d photocopied, and to his surprise they sold and Rock On gave him some money to produce more.
Issue 1 was pieced together on enthusiasm and adrenaline, rather than a journalistic ideal. And it was this DIY style that appealed and gave the confidence to produce more – not on a regular basis, but as and when the moment took him.
One thing to note: at the time of publication, they were few bands about and even fewer records – Issue 1 featured 2 pages reviewing Blue Oyster Cult albums.
By Issue 2, Mark Perry had been invited, along with Caroline Coon (Melody Maker) and Jonh Ingham (Sounds) to Eddie & The Hot Rods gigs, travelling in the back of their van.
He got to see the Sex Pistols at the 100 Club, and as Sniffin’ Glues reputation spread, Brian James asked to be on the cover of the next issue and offered The Damned up for interview. 3 issues in, and they’re getting exclusive access already.
Just after Issue 4 in October 1976, Sniffin’ Glue moved from a Deptford bedroom to a backroom at the Rough Trade shop, and then onto office space provided by Miles Copeland, who also gave Mark Perry his own record label.
From 50 hand made copies to quitting his job at the bank inside 3 months. He also roped in 2 friends to help with the scribbling and reviewing – Steve Mick and Danny Baker – and Sniffin’ Glue became a job, rather than something knocked up cheaply and flogged off quickly.
Sniffin’ Glue was now a mainstay of the scene, and even started to take on advertising – mostly from Rock On and Chiswick Records, but also offering advance membership of the (yet to open) Roxy in Covent Garden.
The style was becoming more confident, the content richer, more photos and more (freebie) records to review, and still for the bargain price of 30p
Issue 12 was the last, appearing some 14 months after the first issue (Note: although nominally Issue 12, it was actually Issue 15 as the had been 3½, 7½, and a Christmas Special (Sniffin’ Snow). The final print run was 20,000 copies. What started as a mouthpiece for enthusiasm, was becoming a commercial enterprise, and Sniffin’ Glue – although the first – was now just one of many fanzines competing for attention.
Better to end it while it was still “fun” – and the perfect opportunity to promote your next venture by sticking a flexi-disc of your new band Alternative TV on the cover.
This book (first published in 2000, re-published in 2009, and now available again) collects together all those issues, and through the pages one can see the rise and fall (or should that be disillusionment?) of Punk from it’s DIY, small scene London-centric beginnings, ending (I think) presciently before both Punk and Sniffin’ Glue became a bloated parody.
One of the last items written is from Danny Baker expressing annoyance with the cheering reaction from the crowd when the DJ at The Vortex announced that Elvis Presley had died.
What is surprising about the book is that what on the face off it essentially a disposal artefact has now been preserved. One can only assume that the copies are drawn from Mark Perry’s Master copies as it’s unlikely that any of the purchased copies survived and probably ended up littering the floors of The Roxy and The Vortex, or floating in the wind down Wardour Street.
Length of Read:Medium
Might appeal to people who enjoyed…
Fanzines, archives, history, passionate and enthusiastic writing (without a journalists agenda)
One thing you’ve learned
Don’t go looking for the “Here’s chord, here’s another, here’s a third – now form a band” headline. That was another fanzine – Sideburns – in January 1977, but is attributed to Sniffin’ Glue – so much so, you can buy a t-shirt with the Sniffin’ Glue headline, and the picture from Sideburns.
Sniffing Glue was sold in Jarrolds, a department store in Norwich! Coincidentally I visited an old mate at the weekend who had pulled out some old singles. One of which was Love Lies Limp by ATV, which came free with one of the issues.
Love Lies Limp is apparently about Caroline Coon. A great song.
Sounds fun. Doubt I’ll buy it but I’d love to flick through it. Off to Waterstones then.
Update… It is somewhere in Herts library system so I’ve ordered it!
What you said about the BOC reviews in the first issue reminds me of John Peel’s two hour “punk special” from late 1976. I don’t know what he played but apart from New Rose, Anarchy and the first Ramones album how many what we now call punk records were available at that stage?
The definition of ‘punk was much broader then than it became. I may well have heard the show but have no recollection of it. I suspect it included the likes of The Modern Lovers, Television, Blondie, Eddie and the Hot Rods, 101es and other of the more raucous pub rock r ‘n’ b bands.
In addition to those, he played one track from Eddie and The Hot Rods! The rest was mainly American post-punkers like Pere Ubu and Television, plus a couple of 60s garage tracks from The Seeds and The Shadows of Night. The show was actually an hour, I think. Two hours might have been a bit of a stretch, given the limited resources!
It made me think of yer man on Father Ted endlessly replaying his copy of Ghost Town…
https://www.backseatmafia.com/playlist-john-peel-show-10-12-1976-the-punk-special/
What he played:
Damned: So Messed Up (session)
Seeds: Pushin’ Too Hard (LP – Nuggets) Elektra
Iggy & The Stooges: Your Pretty Face Is Going To Hell (LP – Raw Power) Embassy
Eddie & The Hotrods: Horseplay (Weary Of The Schmaltz) (single) Island
Damned: Neat Neat Neat (session)
Richard Hell & The Voidoids: Blank Generation (EP) Stiff
Television: Little Johnny Jewel Part 1 (single) Ork
Tuff Darts: Slash (LP – Live At CBGB’s) Atlantic
Pere Ubu: Final Solution (LP – Max’s Kansas City 1976) Ram Stereo
Damned: New Rose (session)
Sex Pistols: Anarchy In The UK (single) EMI
Fast: Boys Will Be Boys (LP – Max’s Kansas City 1976) Ram Stereo
New York Dolls: Personality Crisis (LP – New York Dolls) Mercury
Saints: (I’m) Stranded (single) Power Exchange
Damned: Stab Your Back (session)
Shadows Of Knight: ‘Light Bulb Blues (7 inch)’ (Dunwich)
Ramones: ‘California Sun/I Don’t Wanna Walk Around With You (7 inch-B side of I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend)’ (Sire)
It sounds like an interesting read.
I’m very impressed by the way that it did not overstay its welcome:
“Issue 12 was the last, appearing some 14 months after the first issue.”
Great stuff, Rigid. I can’t decide whether 20,000 is more than I thought or less than I would have expected? I suspect Viz was doing that by the mid 80s. I wonder what most football club fanzines were doing at the end of the 80s?
20,000 is also the number of people who claim to have seen the Pistols at the Free Trade Hall.
I don’t believe them , they’re liars etc
I can believe there were 20,000 there, cos by the time I got my coat back from the cloakroom The Smiths had already broken up..
It was also the Lesser Free Trade Hall which was a little hall separate to the main venue.
It’s extraordinary that, at its peak in the early 90s, the circulation of Viz was 1.2 million copies. Incredible.
Its cover proudly proclaimed “The third most popular magazine in Britain – and you’ll never read a bigger load of shite”
If there’s a single more true to the whole UK Punk ‘thing’ , I’d like to hear it.
Just magnificent, even if it does make me feel extremely old.
I think I have some tattered shreds of a couple of copies of SG – bought somewhere in SE London aeons ago. What an heirloom for the kids!