This article was automatically translated by AI.
Nine and a half years have passed since then, and if I hadn't been outvoted 2½ to 1½ in my band, I would have missed this issue as well, even though I mentioned in my review for the Verbotene Früchte fanzine that I would get the 75th issue just to see what had changed. I missed the 75th issue... now the 89th is in front of me, and I am once again featured with my "new" band (with my "old" band NON CONFORM, I had already been heard on 2-3 Bomben supplements) on a Bomben CD, and we even received two free copies! I just grabbed one of them and read it with pleasure. ;-)
While in the past the Bomben supplement CDs featured real highlights, with many well-known and (still) unknown great bands, all the bands represented today are unfamiliar to me. Unfortunately, I couldn't discover any new highlights either, but at least most of the bands are quite good to satisfactory. There's only 1 real flop, which is bearable. Interestingly, the musical spectrum is very broad, ranging from hardcore to folk-punk to dark wave. Was it like that back then too??? I can't remember... only that being part of it was more expensive back then. Today, the price per ¼ minute is absolutely okay, and at least 10,000 people get to know you this way (who then throw the CD into the big CD pile in the corner after listening to it and let it gather dust).
Interestingly, the very first foreword by Ronja refers to the CD supplement. As an (amateur) musician, this foreword is of course very entertaining for me. For everyone else, probably less so... Just like the other forewords aren't really interesting to me: vacation, festivals, brawls, TISA (which is not to be equated with TTIP), etc. (yawn).
I also skim through the first contributions quite quickly because the Dart Championship, Circus Halligalli, and the band I KNOW from Belarus don't really interest me. More interesting is the interview with FEINE SAHNE FISCHFILET, of whom I don't know that much either; yes, I admit it, I've only known FEINE SAHNE FISCHFILET for 12-15 months.... Shame! The interview with Marcus Wiebusch about his solo album, KETTCAR, and ...BUT ALIVE is great...
Next is a concert report about Mr. and Mrs. Fiend aka ALIEN SEX FIEND from the "Luxor" in Cologne, and the technical problems the couple had were also present at my last visited concert at the Bielefeld "Forum"; only there it wasn't the fog machine but the keyboard that didn't work. And Nik Fiend didn't look good at all in Bielefeld.... and they didn't throw any stage props into the audience either; back then they were still needed, now probably not anymore...!!!???!!!
There are interesting interviews with THE BABOON SHOW, with ELF about his TARGETS time 30 years ago (!) and with LOIKAEMIE. Just for these 3 interviews, it's worth getting the PB! But there are also bands interviewed that mean nothing to me, and that's good too; give the newcomers (?) from NIGHT FEVER from Denmark, AGGRESSORS from Northern Ireland, SHE PAST AWAY from Turkey, as well as CASTRO and ANTI SOCIAL REJECTS from Norway a chance. With COCKTAILBAR STAMMHEIM and KORSAKOW [unfortunately, the recording device failed for the latter; too bad, I would have liked to read more about KORSAKOW (-Syndrome)] from Düsseldorf, DIVIDING LINES from Leipzig, who go in the dark dark wave/post-punk direction a la BAUHAUS and SIOUXSIE AND THE BANSHEES (due to the corresponding female vocals), 3 "new" bands from Germany are also interviewed; there could be more of them!
From the 3-page Ska section of the PB, there is also an interview with the probably first German-speaking ska band EL BOSSO & DIE PING PONGS from Münster, who have been around for almost 30 years now.
I found Lars' report "Class Reunion in the Black Forest" very funny. His former class has met for the second time, and he was there for the first time and immediately let his "punk cliché" hang out ;-) When I think of my old class.... We haven't met even once in the past 25 ½ years, nor with my old technical college class, which is now also 15 years ago. And that's probably for the best... (Or was I just never invited? That could also be possible!) ;-)
Next is an interview with the ANTILOPEN GANG, who make hip-hop/rap and are on the HOSEN label JKP. Well....
More interesting for me is the DISCHARGE interview with the new singer J.J. as well as Tezz, who stood behind the microphone in 1977 (at least that's what I've read), then switched to the drums, dropped out sometime in the 80s, and then played as a bassist and guitarist in various bands like AGNOSTIC FRONT, UK SUBS, MINISTRY, GBH, DISCIPLINE, MURPHY'S LAW, etc., then returned to DISCHARGE in the new millennium only to drop out again shortly after. Now he is definitely back as a guitarist....
In addition to an incredible number of reviews, there are also four concert or festival reports, which are printed so small that I need a magnifying glass to read how bad the DEAD KENNEDYS were without Jello Biafra... or more is written about the surrounding events than the concert itself. BEATE X OUZO and REAGAN YOUTH only get one or two short paragraphs in the reports. The report from the RIOT BRIGADE farewell concert, where FEINE SAHNE FISCHFILET also performed, is somewhat better; ⅓ of the report is actually about the concert, the rest refers to the 48 hours before or 24 hours after.
Speaking of small print, it seems that each writer has their own sense of size; I find it a bit harder to read these texts in "Arial" SG (font size) 6 (?!?!?), like in the Propaganda report, but it can get worse, "Times New Roman" SG 5 (!?!?!) black on gray background, like in the book presentation "A Renegade History Of The United States", where I gave up reading after 2 minutes of trying to decipher it. Although the first festival report with the DK was written in "Arial" SG 4, which was even smaller, it was graciously on a white background, so it was still manageable...
Let's see if there will be a "Times New Roman" SG 3 article in the 100th issue of PLASTIC BOMB, with gray text on a black background. With 4 issues a year, so in about 2½ years, I will get the next issue...
Although, issue No. 89 wasn't actually that bad... ⅓ - ⅓ - ⅓
In other words, each ⅓ of the magazine was very interesting - was okay - not really interesting or nearly unreadable....
