In 1973, a Californian by the name of Archie Patterson became so enthused by all the interesting underground European experimental/electronic music he was hearing that he started up a fanzine dedicated to it, called Eurock. It lasted 40 issues, through 1990. In 1979, a Brit by the name of David Elliott felt much the same way and, in part inspired by Eurock and also by post-punk DIY culture, started his own zine Neumusik. While it only lasted 6 issues, until 1982, during that time it grew to over 70 pages and set David off exploring Europe to interview many of the important artists in person.

What kind of artists are we talking about? Some of them you may know, like Can, Tangerine Dream, Kraftwerk, Nektar, Neu!, Heldon, Chrome, or Urban Sax.. Others you may never have heard of, like Guru Guru, Asmus Tietchens, Atem, Art Zoyd III, Gunter Schickert, or Shub Niggurath. All of them were at the forefront of musical creativity towards the end of the 20th Century, and Eurock and Neumusik were at the forefront of the fanzines writing about them, interviewing them, and cataloguing their culture. Patterson grew a distribution service and began publishing books; he still posts twice-weekly about the music on his Facebook. Elliot started a “band,” a cassette label, and recently wrote an extensive book on the British pop music of 1984.

For more information about their zines, their culture, and where to get copies of their books, please head on over to https://tonyfletcher.substack.com/p/adventures-in-neumusik-and-eurock

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