Rock and Roll Public Library Magazine, Vol 2

The theme for the second issue of The Rock & Roll Public Library Magazine is “London Electric”. It features contributions from Viv Albertine, Tom Vague and Jon Savage amongst others and tunes into the electric forces of growing up in 20th century London including scandals, subculture, postcodes and the psychogeography of the city itself. Mick Jones said – “The magazine to me is like a record, with each article a separate track and it tells a story – my story. And by extension through our shared culture, all of our stories. I hope that anyone who reads it will enjoy it.” The personal collection and archive of Mick Jones (The Clash, Big Audio Dynamite), RRPL is a large, material archive of 20th century pop culture, collected over a lifetime, which launched the first issue of its periodic magazine in March this year. Collected by the British musician, songwriter and producer, RRPL encompasses thousands of items, including books, comics, magazines, musical equipment, literature, art, clothing, ephemera, as well as music and film in every format, revealing a wide network of influences that span the entire 20th century. This new periodic collection of the Rock & Roll Public Library Magazine is created to share elements of the Rock & Roll Public Library and serves as a curated selective journey through the archive. A portable exhibition in itself, it invites the reader to find their own connections and inspirations from the Library’s wide-ranging artefacts. Edited by the RRPL team, the first issue focused on DIY culture – from punk rock fanzines to fashion, art school to dole queues, four-track home cassette demos to high-tech studios – a ragged map to aid further exploration and, hopefully, to inspire yet more creation.