ALL 10 METAL MELTDOWN FANZINE THRASH DEATH KLUKE HEAVY BRUTAL UNDERGROUND 87-92

Description

It's 2021...our thirty-fourth year of selling METAL MELTDOWN Fanzine! ! ! First, I sold them at metal shows and through the mail via word-of-mouth. Then, I managed to get them in a handful of independent record stores around the world. Today, it's pretty much an eBay thing. Complete sets are running low. It's almost the end of an "error"...I mean ERA. I can't play anything except a kazoo but it's time to consider KLUKE's next adventure in the underground metal scene and then I'll probably die after that. I don't recognize this politically correct and uptight world anyway. What a bunch of babies we have around today. The world absolutely needs MORE FREAKING METAL MUSIC. The crap most people listen to now isn't doing the youth any favors. That's my opinion. Am I still allowed to have opinions? Lol. Recently, I played the new version of the song "Immolation" by IMMOLATION at a local bar / restaurant. It was on one of those internet jukeboxes provided by the establishment. One of the bartenders yelled, "Hey, people are trying to eat here!". I was like WTF dude...YOU provided the music...I just paid a dollar to play it. It was worth it. I left after that. Personally, I think tacos taste better with IMMOLATION but that's just me. A July 2021 update...thanks to another jukebox machine, the customers at The Green Turtle restaurant in McHenry, Maryland were fortunate enough to sit through BLOODBATH "The Ascension" and a few classics off "Show No Mercy" and "Kill 'em All". I heard a young boy growling to BLOODBATH. It was hilarious! What an amazing track.
HELL o! MEGA THANKS to recent readers for keeping this thing alive. Some of them weren't even born when MM was originally released. Damn!
Here lies a COMPLETE SET of Kluke's METAL MELTDOWN fanzines released from 1987 to 1992. I've been a heavy metal fan since 1979 and immediately got into the THRASH scene when it was started in the early 1980's. I soon evolved into DEATH METAL when it was created in the mid to late 1980s. I'm been an UNDERGROUND METAL fan ever since. I'm into just about all the sub-genres of underground metal including thrash, death metal, grind, doom, black metal, etc. Back in '87, I decided to write to record companies and tell them I was starting a magazine. It's really a "fanzine" which is just an underground magazine created by a diehard fan of something. To my surprise, they started sending me free stuff to review and METAL MELTDOWN was born. I was lucky enough to snag MEGADETH as my first interview! Before the unschooled say anything derogatory, remember that MEGADETH was in their prime back then and had put out their best two releases. Songs like "Wake Up Dead" stand up to anything. Anyway, this fanzine could have been so much more if I wasn't a social leper. If I had worked with a few other guys, I think METAL MELTDOWN would have achieved much more. As it was, one person doing almost everything is extremely limiting but I have no regrets and the music I discovered will be with me for life! METAL MELTDOWN, and fanzines like it, were created at a time with NO internet in every household. Information was not always easy to come by...especially in the early days...especially in third world countries. Even though information might have been up to a year old by publishing time, many were grateful for it. We also used to spread the word with thousands of little ads in the mail. When the last time you wrote a letter? Hehe. The best way to find out about METAL shows was to go to one. Stacks of flyers for every upcoming show were passed out to everyone. At least they still do that. I also used to be heavily involved in tape trading...yesterday's version of sharing music files. The early underground scene was pretty damn cool. You had to network a lot and I encountered very few a-holes. Now when I go to shows, I just hang out and drink Jack & Coke. The scene has changed but many things remain the same. UNDERGROUND METAL is still the music of enlightened youth as far as I'm concerned. Lucky for me there are still bands around today that understand REAL METAL (as I define it). Anyway, I made a master copy of each issue using the cut and paste method. It was primitive. I printed each column, cut it out, and pasted it on a page with rubber cement. I then sent the master copy to New York's World Printing who also printed the punk / hardcore 'zine Factsheet Five (or something like that). MM started off very corny and slightly ridiculous because that's how I was (am). The true vision of MM started coming around by issues #8 and #9 but then other things took over and I was more worried about survival than releasing a fanzine. The final appearance was a half issue I called #9-1/2. Unlike the previous issues, #9-1/2 only had music reviews but no interviews. I'm not sure how many complete sets are left but there are quite a few. These will just give you a glimpse of the early underground scene but it is in NO WAY a complete look! Other fanzines covered much, much more than I ever did. I couldn't afford to go to every show so I had to pick and choose. I was into the music more than anybody but I wasn't as into the social aspects of the scene. Like I said, I had to survive and I worked many hours at a lumberyard while trying to finish school. I couldn't stay up to 3 AM three times a week drinking. Maybe that was another mistake looking back. Haha. Oh well, it's all history now but I still need to convert the existing stock into cash. I just wanted you to have a little background about KLUKE. There are tons of demo tape and record reviews in this fanzine collection. Many demo tapes were recorded in studios but some were recorded in basements! I even have one demo tape from a local band that only released about 25 copies and each insert was typed by hand with a freakin' typewriter. I saw another band in a taco restaurant after hours. The restaurant owner was trying to make a few bucks by clearing the tables and setting up a stage. These extreme examples are part of what my friend Paul called the "UNDER-UNDERGROUND". Some of the pictures used in MM are rare and were obtained directly by the bands themselves. Others are record company promo shots. The fanzines ranged in size from 16 to 48 pages although most were in the 48 range. Will METAL MELTDOWN ever return for the often promised issue #10? I doubt it but you never know. If I could wrap this thing up by talking to the most legendary METAL guys that helped make KLUKE who he is today, I think I would go for it. Otherwise, I just keep listening and watching. I will NEVER forget the great supporters of MM including the one and only guy in the world who has a METAL MELTDOWN logo tatooed on his arm. Now THAT'S devotion! No way I'd do it but I think it's cool as hell. Haha. To all REAL METAL FANS - PAST AND PRESENT - YOU PEOPLE F'N RULE. You can be one of the scene regulars or just some angry freak that has no friends. It doesn't matter. It's about the music. Many of my Metal Meltdown boxes have been sealed for 22 to 27 years. I realize that's more years than some buyers have been alive. Haha. Wow, that's depressing. A A A R R R G G G H H H ! ! ! THESE ARE ORIGINALS. METAL MELTDOWN HAS NEVER BEEN REPRINTED. THE MASTER COPIES WERE DESTROYED TO PREVENT THAT FROM HAPPENING. It turns out the master copies would have been no good anyway because the rubber cement turns everything yellow after 20 years. I know that because my original flyers are pretty much trash now. I still have some of them. Here's the whole collection of METAL MELTDOWN strewn across my floor:
ISSUES #1 AND #2
I DREW MY FACE FOR THE COVER OF ISSUE #1. IT WAS STUPID BUT I DID IT.
INTERVIEWS WITH DARK ANGEL, MEGADETH, OVERKILL, NUCLEAR ASSAULT, DEATH ANGEL, WATCHTOWER, FATES WARNING, TROUBLE, SAINT VITUS, BEAST, WILD DOGS, POST MORTEM
ISSUES #3 AND #4
THE PRIME EVIL SHOT WAS MY OWN. I TRAVELED TO NEW YORK AND THEY DID A PRACTICE SESSION JUST SO I COULD TAKE PICTURES. PRIME EVIL WERE GODS. WE WERE ALL FREAKIN' OUT OVER THE DEATH "SCREAM BLOODY GORE" RELEASE AT THE TIME.
INTERVIEWS WITH PRIME EVIL, WHIPLASH, DEATH, TROUBLE, HALLOWS EVE, HAVE MERCY, SADUS, BLOOD FEAST, NECROPHAGIA
ISSUES #5 AND #6
LOOK AT MAX CAVALERA! THIS WAS BEFORE HIS TRIBAL LOOK BUT HE'S A LEGEND EITHER WAY.
INTERVIEWS WITH SEPULTURA, SINDROME, DARK ANGEL, AGNOSTIC FRONT, WEHRMACHT, METAL CHURCH, HELSTAR, SACRED REICH, EVICTION, HADES, OVERKILL, VIKING
ISSUES #7 AND #8
EPIDEMIC, THE ONLY BAND TO STAY AT MY HOUSE! HAHA. I WISH I WAS MORE INTERESTING BACK THEN. AT LEAST IT WAS A FREE STAY. LIKE PRIME EVIL, EPIDEMIC WERE GODS.
INTERVIEWS WITH EPIDEMIC, OBITUARY, EXMORTIS, VOIVOD, DESTRUCTION, TROUBLE, SHADES OF GREY, AGONY COLUMN, INDESTROY, DESECRATION (MD. - NOT TX.)
ISSUES #9 AND #9-1/2
THE FIRST TWO AUTOPSY RELEASES ARE SOME OF THE BEST DEATH METAL RELEASES OF ALL-TIME. YEAH, THAT'S ME ON THE COVER AGAIN. I WAS LOOKING FOR MY MOTHER-IN-LAW.
INTERVIEWS WITH AUTOPSY, CANNIBAL CORPSE, DEATH, EXODUS, DEATHRAGE
Don't expect too much and you won't be disappointed. ONLY BID IF YOU FULLY AGREE WITH THE FOLLOWING TERMS: WINNER ADDS .00 SHIPPING (USA) OR .00 SHIPPING (EVERYWHERE ELSE) AND PAYS WITH PAYPAL. PAYMENT IS EXPECTED WITHIN 3 DAYS.
The shipping costs provided above are NOT inflated for profit. They are real!! Canada and Mexico may be less but I haven't shipped to either of those countries in years. If shipping to ANYWHERE is more than a dollar less than what I ask for, I will refund all the excess. Trust me. I would never sell my soul for a buck or a view or a like. Pathetic. I remember THE underground. I'm old-school and very honest. Every order means so much to me even though I've been selling MM for 33 years. Unfortunately, I'm still poor and I must be old as well. Haha.
In 2012 through 2021, complete sets of METAL MELTDOWN have been shipped the following countries: AUSTRALIA, AUSTRIA, BELARUS, BELGIUM, CANADA, CHILE, CHINA, DENMARK, ECUADOR, FRANCE, GERMANY, GREECE, INDONESIA, IRELAND, ISRAEL, ITALY, JAPAN, MEXICO, NETHERLANDS, NEW ZEALAND, NORWAY, PERU, POLAND, PORTUGAL, RUSSIA, SERBIA, SLOVENIA, SPAIN, SWEDEN, SWITZERLAND, UNITED KINGDOM, UNITED STATES. METAL FANS FROM AROUND THE GLOBE...YOU PEOPLE RULE! ! !
METAL MELTDOWN has appeared at a respected antiquarian book show. Did it belong there? Probably not. Still, it was cool that somebody (not me) decided to include MM among their items for sale. Hehe.
METAL MELTDOWN was the subject of discussion at a European book store. Maybe the people were saying, "Ooooooh...this publication is from an era when people were free to speak their minds without the internet mobs of social media trying to ban each and every word because those words didn't necessarily adhere to the strict guidelines of today's Political Correctness. How quaint!" Of course, internet mobs didn't exist when MM was published (people had lives) and that's a good thing. One thing that's funny is how HAPPY all those people look when reading MM. MM is F R E E D O M to write and say what you wish and that's why reading it tickles their brain! Hehe. This photo is not staged but it's hilarious. I love those people...each and every one of them...whoever they are. WELCOME TO THE "INFERNAL WASTELAND" folks.