There are still many things that happen under the radar, far from algorithms, AI and other inventions carried by the devil, and among all of them we must mention the amazing survival of the magazine ‘Popular 1’, a brand always accompanied by the legend ‘rock’ n’roll magazine’. A special issue reminds us that the publication is no less than 50 years old, a very unique case on an international scale. It does so by turning it into an object that is little less than clandestine. Extemporaneous? That matters little in light of the evidence of a strong base of readers who celebrate the anniversary with joy and militancy. These days there is no golden rule for a header to survive: each one looks for their own, and is lucky if they find it.
This May issue offers a detailed tour of those five decades reminding us that Martín J. Louis and Bertha M. Yebra, creators of ‘Popular 1’ in 1973, They were pioneers in seeing in rock a system of fascinations that went beyond banal youth fashion and that they did not want to turn into an intellectualized object either. The merit of seeing a vein there before anyone else and, more importantly, materializing it, instead of letting it rest as a bar counter occurrence, corresponds to them, as well as tracing the continuity through its offspring César: it is he who would result to be the authentic ‘freak’, the conductor of the magazine in the steepest times, embracing rock’n’roll with vestiges of adolescent passion and innocence.
Related news
‘Popular 1’ has not tried to find an audience under the rocks, practicing swings, but rather the other way around, has radicalized the strong aspects of its identity: sentimental cult of a ‘star system’, attention to the bands that keep the flame burning, intense dialogue and face-to-face with the reader-fans. And extension of rock’n’roll beyond music, with a fondness for whimsy: Ozzy Osbourne or The Cramps, crossing the pages with Errol Flynn, the occultist Aleister Crowley or the porn actress Traci Lords. Everything is rock’n’roll.
Moment of slipping that ‘Popular 1’ gave me my first opportunity in this profession, back in 1989, and that four years and a bit later I committed the ‘great betrayal’: escaping to ‘Rockdelux’. It often happens that tragedies, over time, become comedies, so it is up to congratulate ‘Popular 1’ for its longevity, true to its beliefs. That magazine that César likes to see as a “fetish for collectors & rdquor ;, the anonymous wrapper package that arrives at your home so that you lose sight of the world for a while.