Fanzine Spotlight: Good & Plenty

It's time again for another Fanzine Spotlight and this time around the spotlight shines on a fanzine called Good & Plenty. Good & Plenty came out of the Chicago area, Zion Illinois to be exact and was done by a guy named Gabe Rodriguez, with some help from a few friends that seemed to come and go.

The first issue of Good & Plenty that ever ended up in my mailbox was issue 3, which was released in September of 1989. That particular issue contained interviews with: Gorilla Biscuits, Insted, Brotherhood, Bold and Judge, so you can see it packed quite a wallop with one hell of a lineup. Along with those interviews came pages upon pages of cool artwork, good photos and some of the best ads of the day. Layout wise issue 3 was fairly standard for the time, but it was the the content in whole that helped make G&P stand out.

Issue 4 of Good & Plenty was released in January of 1990 and had interviews with: Refuse, Even Score, Inner Strength, Up Front and 7 Seconds. What was starting to become very apparent with G&P was the quality of photos that popped up in issue 4. Where as issue 3 was more or less photos taken at local shows by the editor or his friends, issue 4 we started seeing great photos of some of the best bands taken all over the country by what appeared to be some serious photographers. Interviews and show reviews still had a place in issue 4, but photo page after photo page was what really dominated the zine. There were definitely some stand out photos of Gorilla Biscuits, Youth Of Today, Judge, Beyond, Bold, Bad Brains, Insted, No For An Answer, Turning Point and Release among many, many more.



Issue 5 was released in May of 1990 and had interviews with: Carry Nation, Vision, Turning Point, Billingsgate and Say No More. The first noticeable change from the earlier issues to issue 5 was the nice glossy, two color, card stock cover and back. Again, cool interviews and good photos to go along with those interviews, but the spread after spread of great random band photos stole the show. It was obvious that Gabe had a good thing going with photographers from all over the country and even into Europe. Sick Cali photos of Against The Wall, Carry Nation, Something To Say, Judge, Outspoken, Pushed Aside, End To End, Freewill, Inside Out and Insted just to name a few. So many memorable photos in general as well. GB in Europe with Civ wearing the PX longsleeve, Integrity with a young and shaved up Tony Brummel up front singing along, Judge "Where It Went" video shoot show pics from City Gardens, Project X in Clevo, Verbal Assault at the Living Room in Rhode Island... I could go on and on.

Issue 6 of Good & Plenty was released in the winter of 1990 into 1991 and had interviews with: Quicksand, Integrity, Sacred Reich and a mock Chain Of Strength interview calling them "Chain Gang". Apparently Gabe, the editor had some sort of bad dealing with Ryan from Chain regarding an ad, so he decided to pull some sort of fake tabloid style interview. Kinda stupid if you ask me, this sort of thing didn't seem to be necessary, but that's neither here nor there. Back to the zine... issue 6 started showing signs of some legitimately nice and interesting layouts. The Integrity interview specifically was pretty impressive for the time. Lots of cool Integ photos, nice use of various record artwork for backgrounds and the interview its self was pretty damn riveting for the time. For me, this was one of the first Integrity interviews that really started to push their legendary reputation. Again, aside from the interviews, tons of great photos. A few particularly impressive shots of early "Screaming For Change" era Uniform Choice, that I've never seen before or since. Issue 6, like issue 5, had the glossy card stock, 2 color cover and ended up being the last issue of Good & Plenty that I'd ever see.



When I think of Good & Plenty, of course the stand out element was all those incredible photos, but something else that I give it credit for is bridging the gap between the late 80's to early 90's hardcore scene. When most of the great fanzines of the late 80's had folded, Good & Plenty was a symbol of what was left. You had coverage of all those classic bands of the late 80's, but you also had coverage of all the newer surging bands entering the 1990's. On one page you might be introduced to Billingsgate or Quicksand and then the next you're seeing mind blowing Gorilla Biscuits and Youth Of Today photos. Most definitely a classic in its own right. -Tim DCXX