Shredding Paper #15

Shredding Paper #15 ($3.95, PO Box 2271, San Rafael, CA 94912)

This zine is another zine that is really on the edge of being considered a full-blown magazine. However, Shredding Paper does not have enough in the way of content to truly be considered a magazine, as only about 22 pages of the 116 total are non-reviews. The pieces that are not reviews in this issue are actually fairly well-written, whether it be a serious criticism on the possible fascism of Dennis Miller, or an interview with one of the members of The Supremes that actually has the interviewer knowing more about the individual’s life than the individual herself. Still, I don’t think that many individuals would be up for spending almost four dollars (over four with taxes) for about 20 pages of actual content, if they are not big fans of reading reviews. However, if they want to know what the latest band’s CD is like, chances are that Shredding Paper has reviewed it. Over 600 reviews are in this one issue alone, which cover major label acts such as Bitchin’ and D4 down to Dan Melchor’s Broke Revue and Latterman. For a larger-run publication, another thing that is immediately noticed is the lack of ads in the magazine. Sure, every four or five pages there will be a page of ads, but compared to some other zines (Punk Planet and Maximumrocknroll are two very noticeable conformers to this rule), Shredding Paper is bare! I would only suggest this magazine if you absolutely just have to buy your albums on what some magazine tells you.