''Ugly Things'' (''UT'') is a music magazine established in 1983, based in La Mesa, California. The editor is Mike Stax (born 1962 in
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
). The magazine covers mainly 1960s
Beat
Beat, beats or beating may refer to:
Common uses
* Patrol, or beat, a group of personnel assigned to monitor a specific area
** Beat (police), the territory that a police officer patrols
** Gay beat, an area frequented by gay men
* Battery (c ...
, garage rock, and psychedelic music ("Wild Sounds From Past Dimensions"). The name ''Ugly Things'' is a pun that refers to the band
The Pretty Things
''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the ...
.
History
Contributing writers include such names as
Mick Farren
Michael Anthony Farren (3 September 1943 – 27 July 2013) was an English rock musician, singer, journalist, and author associated with counterculture and the UK underground.
Early life
Farren was born in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, and aft ...
,
Alan Clayson
Alan Clayson (born 3 May 1951, Dover, Kent) is an English singer-songwriter, author and music journalist. He gained popularity in the late 1970s as leader of the band Clayson and the Argonauts. In addition to contributing to publications such as ...
,
Richie Unterberger
Richie Unterberger (born January 19, 1962) is an American author and journalist whose focus is popular music and travel writing.
Life and writing
Unterberger attended the University of Pennsylvania, where he wrote for the university newspaper '' ...
Miriam Linna
Miriam Linna (born October 16, 1955 in Sudbury, Ontario) is a Canadian-American drummer who has run the Brooklyn-based independent record label Norton Records since 1986, originally with her husband, the late producer and singer-songwriter B ...
, Phil X Milstein, Bill Shute, Gray Newell, Don Craine, Mark St John, Pete Innes, Lenny Helsing and Michael Lucas. San Diego City Beat reviewed ''Ugly Things'' in an article entitled "Mike Stax of Ugly Things: A local scenester's internationally known music magazine."
The Lama Workshop editor Patrick Lundborg has stated about ''UT'' and editor Mike Stax: "1980s (music) zines have retired into the great recycling container in the sky (it's down to UT,
Shindig!
''Shindig!'' is an American musical variety series which aired on ABC from September 16, 1964 to January 8, 1966. The show was hosted by Jimmy O'Neill, a disc jockey in Los Angeles,Head Press by David Kerekes sums up the publication: "When it comes to garage rock and everything associated with 'wild sounds from past dimensions', there is little to compare to the magnitude that is the mighty Ugly Things."
.
In "My Rock and Roll Magazine Rack", Mark Boudreau (of rockandrollreport.com) writes: "Absolutely encyclopedic in its knowledge of arcane rock and roll, Ugly Things is a rock and roll fan's delight.".
The Mod-Sixties Webring says of ''Ugly Things'', "For fans of '60s beat, punk, R&B, garage, psych and freakbeat Ugly Things magazine has been the place to go for over 15 years".
UT Records
In 2002, Mike Stax started his own
record label
A record label, or record company, is a brand or trademark of music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a publishing company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the produ ...
and released an album by
The Misunderstood
The Misunderstood were an American psychedelic rock band originating from Riverside, California in the mid-1960s. The band moved to London early in their career, and although they recorded only a handful of songs before being forced to disband, ...
on UT Records that received international media coverage.
UT Publishing
Currently Stax is working as co-writer (with Rick Brown) on a feature film about The Misunderstood. A novel based on the script, and entitled ''Like, Misunderstood'', was published in October 2007.