Magazine Subscriptions Blog

Here’s a new type of blog post where we cover some interesting magazines that we offer through our online magazine subscription service. One of the popular titles ordered through our library subscription service is Alternative Press (or AP). If you have a waiting room or reception area, this music magazine based in Cleveland, Ohio primarily focuses on the different genres of rock music including punk, emo, metal, indie rock, ska, and hardcore and providing readers with band interviews and photos, information on upcoming releases, and music charts.

It was founded in 1985 by Mike Shea, who is the current president. The first issue of AP was just a photocopied fanzine, distributed at concerts in Cleveland beginning in June of 1985 by AP’s founder, Mike Shea, who could no longer stand the music being played on radio stations and believed that bands playing underground music should be given more media coverage “all in the same spot”, he said.

Growth of music magazines like Alternative Press in the 1990s
With the growth of alternative music in the early 1990s, circulation began to increase. AP’s covers included bands such as Red Hot Chili Peppers and Soundgarden, prior to each band’s huge major label success. The magazine’s first cover story on Nine Inch Nails in 1990 was said by Shea to be AP’s “biggest-selling issue ever.” Shea recalled getting a subscription order from Spin magazine publisher Bob Guccione, who wrote a fan letter to the publication and joked about interviewing Bon Jovi for Spin.
Alternative Press can be ordered online at a cheap discount price by visiting our zoom page.