I had written articles & done interviews and music reviews for different zines in the later 1980’s. Below was a letter in dedication to the last issue of SOUND CHOICE Magazine. It was one of my favorite underground music zines of the time. Reading this over is like revisiting old photographs, they represent a different time as well as mind set.

LETTERS

Sound Choice, Good Riddance

Underground, Alternative, Independent, Experimental, Avant-Garde, Anti-Establishment, etc... These are major words used to define such magazines as Sound Choice---a magazine designed to network information related to music centered around a counter-culture. The roots of Sound Choice began after the OP magazine phenomenon came to it's predestined conclusion. Before and after, other magazines of similar value, would come and go.

Sound Choice has always been quite eccentric in approach. There were articles/interviews focusing on artists that seemed to change into articles in general dealing with subjects on music/cultures/social/technical and whatever took to Sound Choice fancy. Yet all of value. The interaction of letter correspondence between editor and readers, artists, the massive music reviews/contacts/topics could always be expected.

Now that Sound Choice is coming to a close , so in a way are the youthful days of the underground in it's artful seriousness. I'm sure there are those that want to cling to such hard-core experimental art forms in all it's vastness as the more important happenings in the dominant/influential culture of the day. But most of the stuff being done by artists that were once inspiring and filled with freshness are just rehashing on their old popularity, no matter how large or small. This is somewhat to be expected of humans if you look at how history works. There, of course, are always exceptions, but as the old saying goes, they are few and far between.

The statement I made about artists clinging to their old popularity, meaning creating similar materials that achieved such attention in the past, brings up the subject of Pop music. After all, when these artists reached a mass due to some meaningful art they were building a following on, they had also become Pop artists; their music became pop music, not commercial music/art. Pop music has, and always has, been the vehicle for launching revolutions to masses. After all, Pop is a short term for Populace. Pop music can be used to liberate, educate, give hope and strength, a meaning to life to a greater majority. We have come of the age where Pop artists can have as much to say as Underground artists. After all, the ones that have something to say started out in the underground. As their popularity grew, it doesn't necessarily mean the art lost it's vitality and daringness. Pop music to me can be any type of music and does not have to be on a major label. It needs an organization that goes all out to get the materials as easily available as possible.

There are all these frustrated arty experimental artists with holier than thou attitudes and their music has no real substance or has lost that quality. They feel that others owe them the time of day and idolizing respect and god-like praise. There are many out there who feel ripped off, betrayed by the fact that Dave has lost the excitement that gave him the fuel to start this magazine in the first place. Maybe if all this so called arty/experimental underground had enough artists expressing art that had meaning for our present lives he would not have lost supply of energy to crank out issues.

I can hear all these stale-art wannabes thrashing out how its Sound Choice's fault their material never got reviewed. Well, get off your ass and find some reviewer interested enough to review it! Heck, most of you never even bothered to promote it, advertise it. This "fucking give me for I shall take and expect it" bullshit. You can't always wait on others to glorify what you do.

The once cassette-culture artists feel more important now that they are LP/CD wannabe artists. One feels jealous of the other. A bunch of materialistic assholes---the whole! And most of you ain't shit! Yes, bring you back down to Earth---you know, the planet we are destroying! You have a fucking universe worth of mediocre garage bands that want to be as big as whomever is the latest, hippest MTV top ten mega-superstar by copping their look/sound, and they want to be considered part of the underground? Or even Pop artists? Please! Just get it all out of your systems so you can get back to your 9 to 5 lifestyles. You do nothing more then take up space in clubs and music store bins. To think we are quickly depleting Earthly supplies to manufacture more junk of that sort is pitiful! Why don't you help save the planet by just saying No to your littering and let us real entertainers do the profession that truly provides liberation to our species.

Maybe we need magazines like Sound Choice to end so that the whole bunch of you can quit clinging to something that provides little to no value to our fucked up society. Sound Choice was a good thing, but a good thing gone bad, not due to the magazines existence, but due to the culture that it supported no longer having anything to say other than "We want to be interviewed, reviewed, hyped, liked, etc." But then again, maybe it all just had to end 'cause Dave needed a break. In that case, never mind. Dimthingshine