We lost Slash Records' founder Bob Biggs over the weekend. The label grew out of Slash Magazine which chronicled punk, post-punk and other underground sounds from L.A. and the rest of the world from from 1977 to 1980. It was founded by Steve Samiof, with photographer Melanie Nissen, Claude “Kickboy Face” Bessy and Philomena Winstanley. Contributors included cartoonist Gary Panter, Gun Club's Jeffrey Lee Pierce, Flesh Eaters' Chris D, and more. Biggs contributed to Slash as well.

The first issue of Slash, from May 1977, had Dave Vanian of The Damned on the cover and, over the course of 29 issues, Slash would cover everyone from X, Germs, Fear, and The Bags to PiL, X-Ray Spex, Blondie and Talking Heads, and it also included writing on film, art and culture. It was an essential document of the era and you can still feel the energy in Slash's writing.

A book, Slash: A Punk Magazine from Los Angeles: 1977-1980, was published back in 2016 which is now out of print, but you can download all 29 issues of Slash as one PDF for free via Circulation Zero. It's definitely worth checking out.

Circulation Zero also has downloads of other punk-era zines, San Francisco's Damage, NYC's Dry and Boston's Boston Rock.