Ugly Things

Ugly Things
Ugly Things No. 26 (2008)
EditorMike Stax
CategoriesMusic Magazine
FrequencyYearly
First issue1983
CountryUnited States
Based inLa Mesa, CA
LanguageEnglish
Websiteugly-things.com

Ugly Things (UT) is a music magazine established in 1983, based in La Mesa, California. The editor is Mike Stax (born 1962 in England). The magazine covers mainly 1960s Beat, garage rock, and psychedelic music ("Wild Sounds From Past Dimensions"). The name Ugly Things is a pun that refers to the band The Pretty Things.

History

Contributing writers include such names as Mick Farren, Alan Clayson, Richie Unterberger, Doug Sheppard, David Biasotti, Bill Wasserzieher, Michael Lynch, Miriam Linna, Phil X Milstein, Bill Shute, Gray Newell, Don Craine, Mark St John, Pete Innes, Lenny Helsing and Michael Lucas. San Diego City Beat reviewed Ugly Things in an article entitled "Mike Stax of Ugly Things: A local scenester's internationally known music magazine."[1][2][3]

The Lama Workshop editor Patrick Lundborg has stated about UT and editor Mike Stax: "1980s (music) zines have retired into the great recycling container in the sky (it's down to UT, Shindig!, and Misty Lane now), Mike Stax has managed not only to keep it alive, but expand his trip in various directions, and in the process become one of the very best -- perhaps THE very best -- 1960s-oriented writer out there."[4]

A review of Ugly Things in Head Press by David Kerekes sums up the publication: "When it comes to garage rock and everything associated with 'wild sounds from past dimensions', there is little to compare to the magnitude that is the mighty Ugly Things." .[5]

In "My Rock and Roll Magazine Rack", Mark Boudreau (of rockandrollreport.com) writes: "Absolutely encyclopedic in its knowledge of arcane rock and roll, Ugly Things is a rock and roll fan's delight.".[6]

The Mod-Sixties Webring says of Ugly Things, "For fans of '60s beat, punk, R&B, garage, psych and freakbeat Ugly Things magazine has been the place to go for over 15 years".[7]

UT Records

In 2002, Mike Stax started his own record label and released an album by The Misunderstood on UT Records that received international media coverage.[8][9]

UT Publishing

Like, Misunderstood

Currently Stax is working as co-writer (with Rick Brown) on a feature film about The Misunderstood. A novel based on the script, and entitled Like, Misunderstood, was published in October 2007.[10][11]

Music

Mike Stax is also lead singer of his own band, The Loons.The Loons on MySpace[12] .[13]

References

  1. ^ "Ref. San Diego Citybeat: UglyThings". Retrieved 2007-01-28.
  2. ^ "Ref. Midheaven: Ugly Things". Archived from the original on 2006-09-07. Retrieved 2007-01-28.
  3. ^ "Ref. RoJaRo - Music Magazine List: Ugly Things". Retrieved 2007-01-28.
  4. ^ "The Lama Workshop: UglyThings". Retrieved 2008-01-02.
  5. ^ "Head Press - Review by David Kerekes Weblink".
  6. ^ "My Rock and Roll Magazine Rack - Review by Mark Boudreau Weblink".
  7. ^ "The Mod-Sixties Webring Weblink". 6 November 2020.
  8. ^ Entertainment-Reuters (Yahoo News) (June 18, 2004). "New Label Sheds Light on the Misunderstood". Billboard. {{cite magazine}}: |last= has generic name (help)
  9. ^ Rolling Stone Magazine Issue 956 (September 2, 2004). "The Misunderstood - The Lost Acetates 1965-1966 by David Fricke". {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  10. ^ "Like, Misunderstood web page". Retrieved 2007-09-03.
  11. ^ Stax, Mike (October 2007). Like, Misunderstood. UT Publications. ISBN 978-0-9778166-1-3.
  12. ^ Record Collector Magazine Review. 2005.
  13. ^ Shindig Magazine review. 2005.