Flipside Radio The Big Punk Rock 1984. 13 Tapes, KFJC. The Bad and the Beautiful.


Punk Rock Historian, COLLEAGUE and Professional Consultant

Hudley Flipside


A lot to read and listen to.



We are all too worried about our egos making us too “big for our britches” as Rosemary said, played by Gloria Grahame, from the 1952 classic film The Bad and the Beautiful.

Selfish, egotistical and the big one narcissistic are threads we all pull now and then. We get a sense of our own power, and it can make a “bad and beautiful” hardy brew for life.

That is what Punk Rock did for me. It gave me a voice and I liked that. I got to meet so many characters too. I got to hang backstage and got on an endless guest list.

The perks were great but not so much the hours of relentless typing and documenting.

It did take its tole on me.

Yet now when I look back, I can say I did what I was meant to do for punk rock.

Since 2004 I have done a lot to shine a light on Los Angeles Flipside Fanzine. I republished our Los Angeles Flipside Fanzine Ten Year Anniversary Issue # 54 (1977 to 1987) in paperback format as well as my punk memoir My Punkalullaby. Also just finished up the ‘documentary film narrative creation story and demise’ of Flipside Fanzine.

A thread that moves through the history of the Flipside Fanzine narrative. It took learning, disappointment, frustration, and bliss. I followed it through regardless of the demons in my mind that tried to stop me.

Yet this is the key to how Flipside Fanzine was. We learned as we moved forward. Playing with technology and following each issue through to its completion. Three complete.

That is the reward in itself. That is what Al Flipside taught me. I guess now I’ve shown him, and all the Flipside Staff, my faithfulness and dedication to a punk fanzine that captures some darn good punk history. I am an essential punk fanatic.


There are many stories from THE BIG PUNK ROCK. This is just one of them. Documented and served up for your ears only.

    ~ KFJC Los Angeles Flipside Fanzine Radio Tape Four


The box was addressed to a rented room where I lived. Once the house cleaners’ quarters and part of a large old Victorian house in Rochester New York. The box contained several copies of Flipside Fanzine and 13 cassette tapes of KFJC Radio. I guess AL Flipside felt sorry for me and mailed them.

Twenty years later the box has been with me on a long journey. In time I upgraded the cassette tapes to CDs. Then for the last 6 years the box, with CDs, was placed in a closet to mature almost as good as a grand old whiskey.

Before cell phones, computers, and the WWW, records were what the punks were listening to. Scratched because they were played too much!!!

Hear the records as they came warm from the vinyl bakery. A history of a youth gone mad and then some got older, and some are dead dead dead.

The patina of punk rock, you just cannot send me away. I survived the valley of the dolls.

Put this in your punk rock nostalgia blender, then on your pizza with garlic for punishment.

Be more than a witness.

Here are thirteen 1-hour tapes with mostly a punk rock genre. Hudley Flipside hosted and recorded each tape at the Flipside House in Whittier California. Flipside Radio lasted for about a years’ time. Flipside Radio includes interviews with current individuals involved with the punk rock scene when all was unique, fresh and on the cutting edge.

Lyell from KFJC was the guy that asked us. Hudley was the one to take it on. It was a peak time for punk rock and Flipside was running very fast with it.

This is a taste, a little bit of that history. Flipside Fanzine published from the late 1970s to around the beginning of the 2000s. It covered up and coming bands from the underground music scene in Los Angeles as well as internationally.


John Crawford art in a Flipside letter section, baby!! Nothing like being rewarded after a good Spring cleaning and organizational craze and then finding the mysterious 13th KFJC Flipside Fanzine Radio tape. I knew I would find it. Not in the kids CD collection like I thought but in the bottom of a family picture box?? Yet, I am fucking organized now.

My life’s work, so far, in four plastic containers.

On track two of this tape is a revealing talk about Creative Anarchists of America and having a music festival, a very prophetic time for things to come, music wise. Yes, it did not take off in the ’80s. So, the story goes. The seeds were planted, and this may be the goal of any anarchist or counterculture individual. The 90s grew a few musical sprouts…yup.

The Burning Man and Coachella are the mass appeal of something that once started out as a rebellious dream by a handful of nobody punks!! So, the profits go. Believe me I am laughing the loudest!! Enjoy the tape. Some great bands.

We all were so spoiled back in the day. This is it a type of emotional, punk rock, 1984, found tape, closure for me. It feels good for me, feels really good.

Remember make a music love punk history donation. BE MORE THAN A WITNESS!!

Be more than a ”puer aeternus.”

Overkill on and ZoundZ out on this music. Sorry but that is how it was… new, rebellious and it meant something.

Thanks for listening.

Tape 1 Track 1 KFJC
Tape 1 Track 2 KFJC

This is the first 60-minute recording from 1984. Right out of punk rock. Enjoy, because you just never knew who would come a knocking on our door? An interesting article in the Los Angeles times today 11/17/2012…in the Business section. “Hostess to go out of business” and how it synchronizes with the above tape, which contains an interview with Ian MacKaye about straight edge virus eating of sweets… and Al mentions the “Twinkle defense” in so many words…. impressive.

Tape 2 Track 1 KFJC
Tape 2 Track 2 KFJC

KFJC 1984: Tape two is about the revolution… “The Revolution is going to be now… doing it Now.”  This is for all the nostalgia that is happening now in 2013 and the fun I am having looking back. Communication was difficult then. Speaking and writing was not our perfection. Yes, we were coarse, angry and at times silly. But we were real and did something regardless of how unprepared we were. Raw, ready and in your face, learning as we went forward. Hopefully, just like the kids today, out of the past into the future. And remember to have fun!!

(I did not like Saint Vitus then… now they sound OK)

At that time, we were having some issues with SST Records. In truth I am thankful to SST because they abundantly advertised in many of our issues and helped us in the process of publishing Los Angeles Flipside Fanzine. Then again, we got their message out to their fans and contributed to the process of record sales. A nice little punk arrangement. Don’t you think? I am not going to tell you what is on the tape. You never know from whom you will hear. Music or interviews, so surprise surprise.

Tape 3 Track 1 KFJC
Tape 3 Track 2 KFJC

Another day another dive into a blast from the BIG PUNK ROCK past. Tape three includes an attempt to hear A – Z selections from our once authentic underground Flipside Fanzine record vinyl collection Have fun, enjoy, or suffer. PLAY LOUD and listen with your favorite person, animal, or brew… or whatever. It isn’t what you may think.

And it will surprise you. Listen for the prizes on this CD of music. Sometimes I played The Avenger’s White Nigger to get a certain guy’s goat. There was a lot of power in a song back then. Don’t worry I did not pull out any songs from Al’s special 70s collection, oh maybe a few.

Tape 4 Track 1 KFJC
Tape 4 Track 2 KFJC

Twenty years later the box has been with me on a long journey. In time I upgraded the cassette tapes to CDs. Then for the last 6 years the box, with CDs, was placed in a closet to mature almost as good as a grand old whiskey. I often wondered what I would do with the tapes and thought to just throw them away. I tried a few different approaches of presenting the discs, but lost interest. Now, I have found the perfect place to present the tapes on my WordPress blog.

It was rather easy to do I can rip the CDs through Windows Media changing their format to a compatible one to post on my WordPress blog. Good golly Ms. Molly!!! These CDs preserve a part of Flipside Fanzine’s musical history which is all about the BIG PUNK ROCK.

Tape 5 Track 1 KFJC
Tape 5 Track 2 KFJC

No justification for playing what I liked in 1984…there was a scheme on my part of supporting and promoting bands that we at Flipside Fanzine liked. There is repetition of music, and this was because back then we did not have such an over stimulated media of hand-held devises with instant gratification fucking all the time.

There were lots of spaces between us: of waiting and …wondering and …creating: then pulling and gathering together around bands, radio, flyers, and fanzines. While hosting, sometimes I like being irritating and penetrating on purpose…who can tell what was on my mind back then.

Tape 6 Track 1 KFJC
Tape 6 Track 2 KFJC

 “What’s changed?” Has saying “FUCK in front of your mom” turned to shooting your mom down and are “the terrorists” now our own young men? This is what has changed Mr. Jello Biafra!

It was a brave new world…1984. Years later it is worse …and as I write this on the eve of, 6 days before, December 22, 2012…I think what a terrible year it has been for our children. Yet, from so many years ago this music seems as relevant today as it did then. It is saying something strange and uncanny to us now. Antenna up I am listening to the new music, but I am not caring as much as in my youthful days.

When people die life goes on, when an individual stops listening to new and upcoming music…the music goes on. This is the continuity of punk rock, new and underground music. This motif is and can be applied upon any underground scene. Back in 1984 it was tight, refreshing, and crazy out of control… and this tape captures it.

This tape balances in some fun …lots. We all can use the humor to slap the sober out of our disbelief. Yes, finally the interview with Pat Fear of White Flag (some musical history humor) …also the Charged GBH mini-interview and live Dead Kennedys from the Olympic Auditorium~ via Flipside Fanzine live videos… oh happy birthday Penelope Houston!!!!

Today… Dec/17/2012 …another ironic touch down from the past to the present with Penelope Houston of the Avengers… a thread that pulls…listen to this tape and it will give you the chills!! “The greater a man’s talents, the greater his power to lead astray. It is better that one should suffer than that many should be corrupted.

Tape 7 Track 1 KFJC
Tape 7 Track 2 KFJC

Another day is here and time for an Interview with DC hardcore band Second Wind. Interviewed by Huck the cat. Flipside Fanzine 6-year anniversary issue. Geez we use to have so much fun. Enjoy Flipside Radio the real deal!!!

Tape 8 Track 1 KFJC
Tape 8 Track 2 KFJC



The real deal. This tape was released around 28 fucking years ago. Where a process of recording, organizing, mailing, and airing tapes live turned out to be a very successful project indeed!!  Wow!! Projects took some time back in the 1980s. All sent through our post office box. The Flipside post office was a busy place in Whittier California. One little, tiny post office box oversaw a vast number of gifts. which consisted of records, mail, ads, and money. It was like Christmas every day. Then there was the Post Office Master.

A lady that I hated at first but who turned out to leave little gifts for us in our ‘po box each Christmas season. She thought we were weird at first with our wild ways but later she became a part of our unofficial crew in her own dependable way.

(You must trust your eyes you’re not insane)

Live Flipside Video Music with Plain Wrap at the legendary Cathay de Grande. On Track 2…

BE MORE THAN A WITNESS.

Tape 9 Track 1 KFJC
Tape 9 Track 2 KFJC

I am publishing these tapes because it is fun. It is opening a door and visiting the past where some things are worth remembering and some things suck. Those things I forget for good. “They can just go take a fucking walk.”

This released in the autumn of 1984. It honestly documents musical herstory in a surprising way. So please do not enjoy at all! We are a generation of another state of mind also known as the Jane generation. We will keep bugging you until all of our colorful balloons pop way up in the sky with the sound of music. Charged GBH, Lou Reed, Adrenaline OD, Live Redd Kross, The family of Circle One, Slade and much more!! BE MORE THAN A WITNESS… until next time…!! Thanks to all the bands on these tapes!!

Tape 10 Track 1 KFJC
Tape 10 Track 2 KFJC

A KISS IN THE WIND.

Once at the local pub a woman in her twenties looked over at me. She was talking to a friend, and I heard her say,

“I don’t know what the big deal is. That magazine came out over thirty years ago?”

She then looked over at me again. I looked back at her. I raised my shoulders and rolled my eyes as if to say,

“I know what you mean.”

This pub, the Scotland Yard in Canoga Park California is considered a music pub. The founder Patrick Fairley (rip) was in Marmalade a 1960s Scottish pop rock band.

Here a lengthy line of DJs who just happened to play 1980s punk rock.

Punk rock is a unique genre and like jazz we all rejoice in the impressive sound of its originators. Going to the pub is kind of like going to church. The sociology of religion states that 90% of people going to church do so for social reasons. Only 10% go to have a religious experience. A pub is the same way. When you add some great music and beer this is the place to be to do the 90% thing or the 10 % thing.

As the spirituals gave birth to the Blues and then Jazz, so does it inspire the music we listen to today?

I don’t go to church anymore, but I do go to pubs. For me it is a 10% experience.

In the 1700s pubs often held meetings under the convert of drunks but in reality, it was the beginning of revolution.

It was about individuals who came together, who opposed the Church of England and their government. They sang their pub songs or hymns around the fireplace and hidden in these songs were the lyrics and tunes that inspired the people.

Punk rock can be like going to church and it can be an 90% social thing. To me it has always been about the 10% punk rock experience.

It is inspirational, thrilling and has the ability to awakened one to wild possibilities of hope and creativity as any good ‘old jazz song does.

Tape 11 Track 1 KFJC
Tape 11 Track 2 KFJC

It was 1984 and we did not like American society. The tapes were recorded in 1984. It was a time of not thinking so highly of yourself either. Just getting by day by day and putting out a ‘zine kept us inspired, and against all odds, we helped to give our scene a voice; both to spread the word locally and internationally. These tapes are part of that voice and are incredibly intimate. The tapes hold value to me. I am beholding to these tapes.

I share them freely out of the spirit of what the Punk Rock scene was. It has been about three months since I first started sharing these Flipside Radio tapes. The response is good. Flipside Radio hosted something for your heart and mind! Only two left to go of Flipside Fanzine Radio 1984.

Tape 12 Track 1 KFJC
Tape 12 Track 2 KFJC

Nothing like being rewarded after a good Spring cleaning and organizational craze and then finding the mysterious 13th KFJC Flipside Fanzine Radio tape. I knew I would find it. Not in the kids CD collection like I thought but in the bottom of a family picture box?? Yet, I am fucking organized now.

My life’s work, so far, in four plastic containers.

This may be the last tape of Flipside Radio. I have misplaced tape number 13 the CD but not the cassette tape. This is a good thing. I guess. So, if you are not totally saturated with punk nostalgia yet. I hope this pines at your heart. The sounds, that the music and bands make, are like little cat Z who takes his hat off and unleashes a Voom. Cleaning out the hardening of your arteries.

Sounds of Music: Kraut, Carrie Nation film clip, Desperate Teenage Love Dolls soundtrack, Merlin film clip, The Dickies, Butthole Surfers, Live at Perkins Palace DECRY! Then surprise ending.

Tape 13 Track 1 KFJC
Tape 13 Track 2 KFJC



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