Sniffin’ Glue: the history of Mark Perry’s punk fanzine

July 1976

In July 1976, after seeing the Ramones at the Roundhouse in London, Mark Perry prepared the first issue of Sniffin’ Glue. He recalls it in a note signed in April 2026, in the year of the fiftieth anniversary of that initiative. It is the retrospective account of its founder: a valuable source on how he understands its beginning, not an intact recording of what he thought at every moment. Mark Perry, “Sniffin’ Glue 50th Anniversary”.

The story suggests a small transition: from discussing a concert only with those present to making something others can read. That distance contains a decision to become an author. Editing means a fan no longer merely receives culture but selects what deserves circulation within it.

This need not become the universal origin of fanzines or punk. What matters is an identifiable publication, its maker, chronology and ending. Its initial scale asks a more precise question than a founding legend: what changes when someone publishes with the tools available?

Limited resources are still specific resources

The description of Jon Savage's archive, preserved at Liverpool John Moores University, places Perry's initial production in July 1976 and mentions a children's typewriter and a marker. The file also identifies Danny Baker among his collaborators. LJMU, register ED/3/44.

Specificity matters. 'Made with nothing' is appealing but hides objects, time and help. A typewriter composes text; a felt-tip pen offers another scale of lettering. Few tools restrict some choices and accelerate others. They do not prove economic independence, equal access or absence of work.

Nor is every rough page automatically authentic. Irregularity can result from production or deliberate choice, and later reproductions can imitate it. Explanation requires an identified copy and its conditions, not merely an aesthetic now associated with punk.

The reading we propose is material: the interest does not lie in celebrating scarcity, but in observing how an editorial decision finds a possible way. Design ceases to be a stage that requires waiting for a large infrastructure and becomes part of the immediate problem of publishing.

Twelve issues do not tell the whole sequence

LJMU's collection complicates a familiar count. Its catalogue tree lists issues 1–12, but also 3.5, dated 28 September 1976, and a December Christmas special. The final issue is recorded as August/September 1977. LJMU, sequence of Sniffin’ Glue.

Thus 'twelve issues' describes the main series without exhausting circulating material. This is not a trivial collector's detail. In a short-lived publication, a supplement can alter our understanding of rhythm and occasions for publication.

A preserved index is not proof of having read every copy. Here it establishes the recorded sequence, not opinions on unexamined pages. The caution preserves what nostalgia often erases: a magazine develops issue by issue, without always fitting a perfect schedule.

The founder does not perform every role

The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame catalog records Sniffin’ Glue as a London publication of 1976–1977, edited by Mark Perry. It provides a stable bibliographic reference to identify the series. Rock Hall, publication record.

A particular issue may need more precise attribution. In a 2023 note, Perry says Danny Baker edited issue 12 while Perry focused on Step Forward Records and his band Alternative TV. He adds that it included a flexi disc of the band's first single, Love Lies Limp, financed with the magazine's profits. Perry, “Sniffin’ Glue 12! August/September 1977”.

Series, issue and collaboration are different scales. Recognising the founder does not assign every task to him; identifying an issue's editor does not erase the earlier collective project. This matters especially in small publications, where one person may write, organise and promote while others' contributions fade from later accounts.

The disc adds a question: the magazine not only discusses music but helps present its founder's band. Naming that relationship clarifies its position. We need not call it a fatal contradiction or assume criticism and promotion have become indistinguishable.

Finishing was also an editorial decision

In his 2026 retrospective, Perry argues that by late 1977 punk occupied established media and music businesses, and the magazine had lost its original purpose. This is his assessment of the scene and his project, not a consensus attributable to every participant. Perry's fiftieth-anniversary retrospective.

This raises a question absent from many success stories: growth and recognition do not require continuing. A publication may serve a purpose for a time and cease to satisfy its makers. Closure also belongs to its editorial form.

Archival survival changes its use again. Something made to intervene in a conversation becomes evidence for studying it. The record preserves dates and responsibilities but cannot automatically restore the concert's sound, friends' agreements or each buyer's response.

Sniffin’ Glue lets us observe that change without turning it into a formula for manufacturing rebellion. Limited resources enabled a particular response; they did not remove decisions about voice, collaboration and continuity. The magazine began when someone decided there was something to publish. Its history includes the moment he no longer wanted to publish it.

Sources and references

• Mark Perry. ‘Sniffin’ Glue 50th Anniversary’, April 27, 2026. Retrospective testimony of the founder.
• Liverpool John Moores University. Sniffin Glue, ED/3/44. Jon Savage archive: production context.
• Liverpool John Moores University. Inventory of issues and supplements. Preserved chronology.
• Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. Bibliographical record of Sniffin’ Glue. Identification of the series.
• Mark Perry. ‘Sniffin’ Glue 12! August/September 1977’, September 5, 2023. Editorial authorship and content of the last issue according to its founder.