"Polluting The Internet One Issue At A Time"

It's alive! ALIVE!!! After countless sleepless nights, endless droning days, and innumerable bottomless cups of coffee, Earpollution is at last online, in front of your eyes, and at your fingertips. With our inaugural issue, we invite you inside to find out just what we're all about.

What Is This Waxy Buildup In My Ear, Anyway?

Earpollution is a monthly webzine devoted to the opinions of all things MUSIC. Inside each action packed issue you will find two columns, "Profiles" and "Cool By Proxy," whose authorship will change monthly and whose focus will be on profiling, detailing, dissecting, and giving opinion on all things music. The bands, the genres, the labels, the studios, the clubs, the scenesters, the drugs, and the Tipper Gores - we will, in time, have covered it all. Each issue also contains a diverse collection of both live and album reviews. Our writers have to fork out their hard earned bread-money for the music they review, so they'll be sure to let you know if it's worth breaking your piggy bank too! Earpollution also has a wide variety of links to various resources, bands, clubs, labels, online and offline radio stations. Our collection will grow as we do, and we're happy to take submissions and suggestions for new links. Finally, each issue will have words from yours truly, the Central Scrutinizer, introducing you to the month's content, and spouting, stuttering, spitting, and otherwise pontificating about anything and everything under the musical sun that catches my fancy.

So Who Is Responsible For This Ringing Inside My Head?

Earpollution is a collective of diverse writers whose musical tastes run deep and wide. Hip Hop, Techno, Grange, Thrash, Ambient, Industrial, Jazz, Folk, Punk, Russian Surf, Scandinavian Punk Drunken Hardcore - we listen to it all. Chances are there's something inside our pages you'll like, and hopefully a few things interesting enough to keep you coming back again and again and again. Want to find out more about us? Check out the Noise Control pages.

While we are all passionate (read: opinionated) about the merits and motifs (or lack thereof) of the music we listen to, we are not Music Nazis who believe it should be the opinions of Earpollution Über Alles. Each issue contains countless internet links to the bands and topics we're discussing. Explore them, read them, listen to them, check them out and form your own opinions - that's exactly what we did.

Show Me The Goods Already!

Issue 1 finds Steve Weatherholt profiling the one and only band who deserves the title "Masters of Rock." Black Sabbath. He gives a detailed retrospective on one of the few bands who truly did shape the sound of rock 'n' roll with lasting effect, and who are now back with the original lineup to once again show us how it's done. Our other column, "Cool By Proxy," is replaced this month with "The Best And The Rest,"our writers' favorites of 1998 and hopefuls for 1999. We thought it a good way to introduce ourselves and our respective tastes, and thought you'd like to get a sample of what to expect out of us in coming issues.

Shoutouts!

I feel very fortunate to have been able to bring Earpollution to fruition, and look forward to many more sleepless nights and migraines in order to pull off upcoming issues. None of this would have been possible without the selfless help of a number of people. First and foremost, kind thanks to Robert Blaylock and Site Specific, Inc. Rob's help in building this site, and almost as importantly, his ability to decipher what I was trying to accomplish when I wasn't even sure if I was making sense to myself, made it all a reality. Thank you, thankyouverymuch! Many thanks to Jeff Ashley, our resident graphic artist. Those are his images that pollute the pages you're reading. His evilly twisted (I knew I'd get that in here somewhere) style and vision, along with his full on! attitude regarding the graphics and design, have made all the difference. Truly. Big shoutouts to Jeff Greenwood and the Skateboard NW/Concrete Disciples posse - the finest skateboard site around. It all started there with the rebuilding and running of the music portion of Skateboard NW. Months spent deciphering skater code and lingo has led me to believe that if there's one thing we should fear, it's them! And that's a good thing, so check out his site and get involved already!

Last, but by no means least, heartfelt shoutouts to Stevie Ramone, Marky Mark, pgor, Jeff, The Hope, Cecinator, Sabrina, Bruce, Rob, and Kenny for believing enough to want to be a part of all this; my trusty bass for always being there when I needed to work stuff out, and to pgor (again) for being understanding when his dental work started shaking loose because I had the amp turned up to 11; John K. Toole, Edward Abbey, Alan Moore, Kahlil Gibran, William Blake, Vonnegut, Pitchshifter, Jello Biafra, Bob Mould, Coltrane, and Mike Watt for words, lyrics, and music that have helped me get through many a sleepless night; to Agnis for showing me (even after all this time) what true passion really is, how much it can hurt and how much it can heal; and to anyone and everyone who ever listened to my endless ranting and raving with even the smallest hint of understanding and compassion. Thanks. It's all much appreciated.

-Craig Young
Editor, Earpollution