Ripped and Torn: 1976 - 79 The Loudest Punk Fanzine in the UK

As someone who wasn't about due to having not been born, this is an interesting collection of prime artifacts from that much mythological punk era. The full collection of a punk zine, very well done. The zine itself is a touch on the side of cringe, but it's a great look at what was going on in the music scene from a perspective I've never seen before. The print is high quality and everything looks great, it's nice to be able to see what the punks might have been reading while everything was going on. I wish I had been there. From someone who was born too late, this also works well to introduce me to music MOJO and UNCUT have failed to, I can look up reviews of underground 70s punk bands and hear how good/crap they are- I'm loving that element.

Great service, well packed, arrived on time. Eager to read it, thumbed it, looks good.

Delivered on time and undamaged.Lovely cover finish.It was for a present :)

For those of us that were around in the era, the fanzines were really important publications that often captured the spontaneity of seeing a band or hearing a record for the first time. Ripped and Torn was one of the early ones and originally from Glasgow, so it gives a parochial viewpoint in the early issued before relocating to London in 1977 as the punk scene became more mainstream. The only reason I have docked it one star is the reproduction of the earlier issues and, as another reviewer has said the size has been slightly reduced from the original fanzine. But the copies are fully legible and it is great to have these fanzines again.

OK, so there are enough punk books on the market to build a tower to the moon and back several times. The discerning Punk on a budget needs consumer guidance as s/he goes about compiling the crucial home reference library. This collection should be in the Top Five 'must buys' for any interested party. Here we have the complete run of the incredible Ripped & Torn fanzine, beautifully reproduced in Full Colour! Tony D was and remains one of the most astute, imaginative and committed chroniclers of Punk. A fascinating journey unfolds - from Glasgow to London, from enthusiastic, if modest beginnings as a table-top two pager, with the threatened storm of the Punk aesthetic still nebulous, through the frenzied build up and breakthrough (and break-up) of the Pistols, to seasoned (near) professionalism and a diaspora of bands and ideas given vitalizing purpose and direction. Highlights are too numerous to list, with every page yielding delightful and fascinating minutiae. Coverage of (Adam and) the Ants (including Adam's first interview) and Crass, for instance, is superlative. At a moment when the mainstream insisted that Punk was simply another passing trend, the vibrancy of these groups and the passion of documents like R&T suggested otherwise. The book also serves as a social document of a time passed, as the scene develops into a viable counterculture. Tony's writing on Punk remains essential to this day, on his website, and Ripped & Torn evolved or mutated into a new form as the 1980s commenced. It can be simplified to a simple style of provocative gestures (empty or otherwise), short pop-rock songs and innovative clothing and self-adornment, but Punk contains a fundamental challenge to existing hierarchies - DiY. Look At Where You Are. Take responsibility. Apart from the music and fashion being great, this is why it will not go away. Punk is constantly assimilated, and constantly born anew, it's own contradictions allowing for limitless expansion and contraction. There are no definitive statements, since every proposition is meant to be challenged. There was no definitive centre, since every participant could contribute in their own way, instead of simply being a passive spectator. However, this tome comes as close as possible to an eyewitness as it happened account of the moment of creation - a moment transmitted in its very form as home made product. I've gone off on one here, but such is the stimulating energy of this document. Hopefully a second volume will appear featuring Tony's follow up KYPP. Essential!

Nice to have this reissued in a coffee table edition like the Sniffin' Glue one a few years earlier. Tony D's Ripped & Torn was an important alternative to Mark Perry's bible of the punk movement. I used to buy this whenever it came out but missed the first few numbers, so it's good to have the complete collection here, nos. 1 to 17. It gives you an opportunity also to see how the fledgling mag evolved from stark B& W to a daring use of colour, something Tony D would go on to explore in his successor to R & T, Kill Your Pet Puppy. Nicely produced with colour interior (thank God). My only quibble is the size: the original mag (of which I still have several copies in my possession--locked away in my safe) was A4. This has been reduced for some reason to a slightly smaller format. But it is a minor quibble. Sniffin' Glue and Ripped & Torn were the 2 fanzines that inspired me to go on and do my own fanzine, Pissed & Broke.

This was a gift for my boyfriend, he absolutely loved it and arrived super quick!

what a great opportunity to be able to read Ripped and Torn without spending a fortune.A last after years of waiting CHEERS.