Frontpage (magazine)

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Frontpage was a German scene magazine in the field of electronic music and techno culture . It was the most influential print medium in the techno scene from the 1990s until it was discontinued in 1997.

content

Art Director Alexander Branczyk

The unconventional and especially typographically experimental design of the front page was striking. Alexander Branczyk , who took over the design from mid-1992 and designed numerous fonts for the magazine, was particularly influential here . While similar magazines like Raveline or Groove primarily reported on techno music, the front page concentrated more on the techno scene and the fun culture associated with it. Until it was sold commercially at the kiosk, the front pages of the magazine did not show any well-known activists of the scene, but rather a colored photo of a raver . Regular columns and reports from the so-called “Octopussies” “Angel”, “Joy” and “Pain” represented the stereotypical image of crazy and fun-obsessed ravers. Local party and scene reports were compiled by various authors. The reviews of the numerous new music publications were particularly extensive.

The magazine was mainly financed by advertising for companies close to the scene, such as music and fashion labels, manufacturers of energy drinks , flyer prints from various party organizers and advertisements from record stores and technology mail order companies .

history

Edition
development
year Edition
05.1989: 5,000
11.1989: 10,000
08.1990: 15,000
02.1993: 25,000
06.1993: 40,000
01.1994: 60,000
03.1995: 100,000

Indirect forerunners of the magazine were the local magazines 6370 (former postcode of Oberursel im Taunus ) and HG-Magazin (license plate number from Bad Homburg vor der Höhe ). Frontpage appeared for the first time in May 1989, initially as a magazine for the Technoclub series of events in the Dorian Gray airport disco in Frankfurt and comprised 8 pages in black and white with a print run of 5000 copies.

The magazine was founded by Jürgen Laarmann (JL) and Stefan Weil . While Jürgen Laarmann developed the name and Stefan Weil the logo, the DJ and producer Andreas Tomalla, known under the pseudonym Talla 2XLC , wrote the first articles. In July 1989 Armin "Jeff" Johnert became editor-in-chief and the circulation doubled to 10,000 in November of the same year as part of the anniversary celebration of the five-year existence of the Technoclub . Between February and August 1990 the magazine appeared both as a supplement to the music magazine Network Press and in a special edition for the techno club . Jürgen Laarmann became editor-in-chief with equal rights alongside Armin Johnert in August 1990.

This was followed by editorial controversy between JL, the focus on the Berlin Techno - and House scene set and the initiators of the techno club and Armin Johnert who refused to deviate from the original concept that focuses on Electronic Body Music , synth-pop and Electrowave put. Because of this, the techno club stopped issuing the magazine in April 1992 and reanimated the New Life Sound magazine as a replacement .

Jürgen Laarmann continued the front page with the editorial team in Waldemarstrasse in Berlin-Kreuzberg and, under the name TNG (The Next Generation), shaped the eccentricity of the always very colorful and unconventionally designed editions during the following years . In August 1992 the editorial office moved to Großbeerenstr. 81 in Berlin , one year later at Kaiser-Friedrich-Strasse 41 and finally in May 1994 at Tauentzienstrasse 7b / c.

Through the collaboration with the music label Low Spirit , the Love Parade and Mayday events, but also other major events such as the Camel Airrave or the Rave & Cruise party cruise , Frontpage's reporting increasingly focused on projects from the local area .

In the mid-1990s, the magazine had around 80 pages. At times the supplement Sense appeared as a fashion magazine for club and streetwear . It was available free of charge in techno clubs , record stores and fashion boutiques until the end of 1995 and was then available from newsagents for DM 5, published by Technomedia Verlags GmbH , founded by Jürgen Laarmann at the end of 1994 . In 1996 the magazine had a volume of 140 pages and a circulation of 70,000 issues.

As early as the mid-1990s, the magazine was enthusiastic about the Internet as a new medium. In 1995, Frontpage founded techno.de , one of the best-known techno internet portals , which has since changed hands repeatedly.

After the sponsorship contract with RJ Reynolds Tobacco expired on December 31, 1996 and no new main sponsor could be found, the magazine was discontinued due to financial deficits after the last issue of April 1997.

In 1997, part of the former Frontpage editorial team led by the editor Sascha Kösch founded the "Journal for Electronic Life Aspects" de: Bug , which existed until March 2014 and was initially marketed under the name Buzz . Record reviewer Riley Reinhold also switched from the front page to de: Bug .

After 1997 there was another attempt to revive the magazine as a PDF edition, which has since been discontinued.

In the 2000s, Jürgen Laarmann made another attempt to revive the magazine. In summer 2001 the magazine appeared free of charge under the name JL Frontpage , published by Zeitbank Medien + Verlag GmbH , the publisher of the then trendy magazine Flyer , in a more sober design with the subtitle "Berlin 2001 - FuckSexLove" with reports on parades Loveparade , Fuckparade and the Carneval Erotica , whose status as demonstrations was controversial at the time. This was followed by a few more editions, which, however, could not build on the original success.

In 2018 Jürgen Laarmann announced on Facebook that he wanted to publish a new edition of the magazine under the title "Techno Fountain of Youth - Bellies, Beards, Glasses", which turned out to be a PR campaign for his new podcast "1000 Days of Techno".

Generations

Logos of different "generations"

Initially, the magazine was designed by Jacques Bagios, among others, in collaboration with the publisher and editor-in-chief Jürgen Laarmann. After the change of publisher, the magazine was redesigned and the editions were published as different "generations" with annually changing subtitles, logo and layout. Art Director Alexander Branczyk from xplicit ffm developed the new style for the magazine from 1992. The titles of the magazine were:

  • 1989–1990: Frontpage - The Technozine - "Creating New Frontiers for Sound Exploration"
  • 1990–1991: Frontpage - "Germany's Leading Mag for Techno, Wave & Rave"
  • 1991-1992: Frontpage - Forcing the Future
  • 1992–1993: Frontpage - 2.xx The Next Generation
  • 1993-1994: Frontpage - 3.xx The Frontpage AGE
  • 1994–1995: Frontpage - 4.xx Higher Reality
  • 1995–1996: Frontpage - 5.xx Our Techno World
  • 1996–1997: Frontpage - 6.xx Fun. Fun. Fun

Camel Silverpage

From April 1994, Frontpage published together with the sponsor RJ Reynolds Tobacco and the agency xplicit ffm under the slogan Camel The Move - The Ultimate House and Techno Guide the Camel Silverpage as a nationwide monthly party calendar. It was printed both on the front page and sent separately, for example via the House Network flyer and promotional item distribution. A booklet in A4 format developed from the Leporello , which was published by December 1996 with a print run of 150,000. Editor-in-chief was Stefan Schwanke, who was also responsible for the Berlin-specific 1000 Clubzine .

criticism

Jürgen Laarmann was often accused of not reporting independently on the scene, but of intensively promoting events in which he was directly or indirectly involved and of " dissing " other party organizers . Under the term Raving Society , he and other scene activists such as Westbam tried to market their own projects as a central and representative component of techno culture and to have made a significant contribution to the commercialization of the scene.

The magazine's unusual layout was often perceived as difficult to read.

Events

With the Frontpage party series, the magazine organized several events nationwide. In August 1993 the first tour began under the name The Land of Rave and Glory . The ten parties were attended by a total of 12,000 guests. The series The Motoguzzzi followed in February 1994. There were 25 events with a total of 20,000 visitors. An accompanying compilation was also released. Frontpage Events was founded in August of the same year . In November, the High Five tour began with 20,000 guests at 14 events. On November 25, 1994, a party was held in the E-Werk to mark its fifth anniversary. Another was held in December in the Technoclub in Frankfurt. In February of the following year, the third and final series of events began under the slogan Natural Born Ravers .

Compilations

During the years 1992 to 1995 the frontpage also published various compilations .

  • 1992: Frontpage - Forcing The Future Compilation Vol. 1 ( Polydor )
  • 1993: Frontpage - Forcing The Future Compilation Vol. 2 (Urban)
  • 1994: Motoguzzi - Frontpage Compilation Vol. III (Urban)
  • 1994: Frontpage Compilation Vol. 4 - Higher Techno ( Virgin )
  • 1995: Nu Rave Vol. 1.00 (Dance Pool)
  • 1995: Nu Rave Vol. 2.00 Total Confusion (Dance Pool)

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Marianne Wellershoff : Techno, Lies and Videos . In: Der Spiegel - Spiegel extra - KulturSpiegel . No. 4/1996 , March 25, 1996 ( spiegel.de [accessed October 18, 2019]).
  2. ↑ Frontpage: 1989–1997 - The ashes from which the De: Bug rose. In: De: Bug (No. 111). April 13, 2007, accessed October 18, 2019 .
  3. ↑ Airen : Drugs, Sex, Beats: How Techno rose to the mass hype of the 1990s . In: THE WORLD . August 31, 2018 ( welt.de [accessed September 1, 2018]).