Zigzag

Zigzag (or ZigZag) was a rock magazine started in 1969 by Pete Frame with the aim of covering the "underground" music which was featured in John Peel's programmes of the time (the cover of the first issue featured Sandy Denny of Peel session favourites Fairport Convention). Frame believed that neither the underground press nor the pop music weeklies did justice to the music he liked. At first Zigzag was run on a shoestring budget but gained respect for its in-depth coverage of many of the artists favoured by Peel, including The Byrds, Love, Captain Beefheart and Buffalo Springfield.

In the early 1970s Zigzag showed a particular interest in American artists, especially singer-songwriters, associated with the folk and rock scenes of Greenwich Village and the West Coast. This reflected the taste of Pete Frame and his then colleagues; in the mid-70s Frame became less involved with the magazine and its focus changed. At this time John Walters began to write a regular column for Zigzag, and the magazine started to shed its "West Coast fanzine" image and reflect the newer developments in the British music scene, such as pub rock.

The arrival of Kris Needs as editor in 1977 signalled another phase in Zigzag's history, with a concentration on punk which continued during the five years of Needs' time in charge. Zigzag closed temporarily in 1982 but soon re-emerged, before finally ceasing publication in 1986.