The Rocket (newspaper)

Founder and publisher of the newspaper, Robert Mackensy , began his career as a seller of another Seattle edition - Seattle Sun , a weekly alternative Russian newspaper who competed with Seattle Weekly . Frustrated by the poor newspaper coverage of Seattle’s then-musical scene, Seattle Sun Editor Robert Ferrigno and art director of the same publication, Bob Newman, founded The Rocket as a musical expansion for Seattle Sun , the first release of which was released in October 1979. By April of next year, Ferrigno, Newman, and Mackensy had raised enough money to publish The Rocket as an independent newspaper. Ferrigno was the editor of the publication from 1979 to 1982. During this period, the newspaper was issued in a monthly format. The Rocket's articles have been dedicated to artists such as Patti Smith , The Blackouts , The Enemy, and The Jitters . Mackensi insisted that the newspaper also covered the work of groups from major labels , but Ferrigneau and the authorial staff of the newspaper did not enthusiastically accept such ideas of the publisher, and agreed to write about such groups only if they had the opportunity to “mercilessly criticize them” in their articles ^{[2 ]} .

By January 1982, the circulation of the newspaper had grown to 50,000 copies per month. The newspaper managed to recruit writers and cartoonists such as Jeff Christensen, Robert Penn, Linda Barry , John Keister , Wes Anderson and Charles R. Cross . In their submissions, the newspaper’s editorial staff prioritized “fairly little-known alternative groups ” in the local region, such as The Fartz , The Allies, The Heats / The Heaters, Visible Targets, Red Dress and The Cowboys. However, Mackenzie continued to insist that materials on " mainstream " artists be covered in equal proportions ^[3] .

In 1983, Ferrigno left the newspaper, and Newman took over as editor-in-chief. At the end of the same year, Mackensy also left The Rocket . Nevertheless, the staff of the newspaper continued to replenish with new talented authors, among whom were: Dyna Darzin, Craig Tomashoff, Anne Powers , Jim Emerson, Gillian G. Gaar, Grant Alden, and Dennis Eichhorn . During this period, Matt Groening painted several newspaper covers. The future founder of the cult indie label Sub Pop, Bruce Pavitt , called “Sub Pop USA”, was dedicated to independent and underground music scenes in Seattle and other regions of the United States. Among the groups that appeared on the cover of The Rocket during this period were The Young Fresh Fellows who at that time had only about a dozen concert performances. At the end of 1984, the newspaper published a list of the “10 most stupendous northwestern groups”, which included: Fastbacks , 54-40, DOA , Hosannah Choir, Girltalk, Ellipsis, Robert Cray Band , Metal Church , The Young Fresh Fellows and The U-Men ^[4] .

In 1986, Charles R. Cross became editor of the newspaper, and later he arrived in this position until the newspaper closed. In the mid-1980s, one of the most successful musical trends was heavy metal , in connection with this, The Rocket devoted a lot of material to such groups as Slayer , Wild Dogs , Queensrÿche and Metal Church. However, by 1988, when the popularity of the metal scene began to decline, the newspaper's emphasis shifted to local proto-grunge and alternative rock bands . In 1988, long before any other publication paid attention to them, Soundgarden and Nirvana were already stars of the newspaper and printed on its covers ^[5] . In December 1989, The Rocket celebrated its tenth anniversary by organizing a concert called "Nine for the 90's", inviting the most promising Seattle bands, including Love Battery , The Posies , High Performance Crew, The Walkabouts , The Young Fresh Fellows and Alice in Chains ^[6] .

In 1991, The Rocket also began to be published in Portland , Oregon . This version of the newspaper, as a rule, completely copied the Seattle edition, differing only in the other concert schedule. Since 1992, the newspaper began to be published with a frequency of twice a month.

In 1995, Cross sold the newspaper BAM Media , a San Francisco- based company that has released several music titles. For many years, BAM executives took advantage of The Rocket’s profitability “to keep their other newspapers afloat”, which slowly depleted the resources invested in The Rocket and, as a result, did not find their niche in the print media market. In August 2000, BAM closed all of its print media and sold The Rocket to Dave Roberts, publisher of the Illinois Entertainer . Roberts reduced the size of The Rocket , bought several new computers for the staff, ordered a number of promotions, thereby making it clear that he was trying to seriously revive newspaper circulation.

However, after only a few weeks, “the checks issued by the publisher stopped being accepted at the banks,” and Roberts suddenly informed all staff that The Rocket was ceasing to exist. None of the employees received clear explanations regarding the reason for closing the newspaper. The latest release of The Rocket is dated October 18, 2000. According to the Seattle Times , in the last years of its existence, the readership of The Rocket was larger than ever - the circulation reached 55,000 copies in Seattle and 36,000 in Portland. After the newspaper closed, its former publisher Charles R. Cross said: “The point is not that The Rocket is not read, respected or advertised. It’s just that the newspaper has been poorly managed over the past few years ... ” ^[7] .