Ray Gun, Premiere Issue, November 1992 [David Carson]

Ray Gun magazine, No. 1 (Premiere Issue), November 1992, published and edited by Marvin Scott Jarrett, California. 10 x 12, pp. 100 with English text. Design Consultant: David Carson.

This is the first issue of the influential music and style magazine, Ray Gun (over 70 issues were published up until 2000). From the first page: “Like the best rock and roll, a magazine conceived in white heat. Raw by choice. Immediate by necessity. Alternative by design.”

In an interview with Dazed, publisher Marvin Scott Jarrett said that issue one was probably the most important, “First of all, we had to think about it from a higher, conceptual level – the idea was to make a music magazine that had really cool design and production values, inspired by the alternative scene that was happening in the 90s that wasn’t so well documented in the US. But we didn’t set out to be radical or disrupt anything, that sort of just happened. We were just doing our own thing and I think because it was authentic it ended up making a lot of noise, which was fantastic. It resonated with a lot of people around the world.” Prior to being known for the (at times, illegible) ‘grunge’-style typographic experimentation evident in Ray Gun, designer David Carson art-directed Beach Culture magazine.

Features include quintessential alternative artists of the 90’s such as Henry Rollins, Sonic Youth (shot by Spike Jonze), John Wesley Harding, The Lemonheads, Mission UK, The Prodigy, Luna, and much more.

A near fine, hard-to-find magazine with only light handling and a small split to the lower spine. The subscription page has one card cut out.