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''The Rocket'' was a free biweekly newspaper serving the Pacific Northwest region of the United States, published from 1979–2000. The newspaper's chief purpose was to document local music. This focus distinguished it from other area weeklies such as the ''Seattle Weekly'' and the ''Willamette Week'', which reported more on local news and politics. Originally solely a Seattle-based newspaper, a Portland, Oregon edition was introduced in 1991. In general, the two editions contained the same content, with some slight variations (i.e., different concert calendars) although occasionally they ran different cover stories. ==Publication history== Bob McChesney, the paper's founder and publisher, had been active as a salesman for the ''Seattle Sun'', a weekly alternative newspaper that competed with the ''Seattle Weekly''. Frustrated by the paper’s refusal to cover Seattle’s then-burgeoning music-scene, the ''Sun’s'' arts editor, Robert Ferrigno, and art director, Bob Newman, started ''The Rocket'' as a companion publication to the ''Sun'', with its first issue appearing in October 1979. By April of the following year, Ferrigno, Newman and McChesney raised enough money to produce the issues of ''The Rocket'' on their own. Ferrigno would edit the publication from 1979–1982. Published on a monthly schedule, during that period ''The Rocket'' had articles about such bands as Patti Smith, The Blackouts, The Enemy, and The Jitters. Publisher McChesney insisted that the newspaper also cover major label arena bands, and Ferrigno and his writing staff reluctantly agreed to do so, but only if they could “trash them” in the articles.〔Ferrigno, Robert. “Love, Rage, and Negative Macramé”, ''The Rocket'', Issue #195, December 7–21, 1994, pg. 8〕 By January 1982, the paper’s circulation had grown to 50,000 copies per month. The magazine managed to attract writers and cartoonists such as Jeff Christensen, Roberta Penn, Lynda Barry, John Keister, Wes Anderson, and Charles R. Cross. The editors and writers constantly attempted to cover only “fairly obscure alternative bands” in the local area, such as The Fartz, The Allies, The Heats/The Heaters, Visible Targets, Red Dress, and The Cowboys. Publisher McChesney continued to insist that “mainstream material” be given equal time.〔McChesney, Robert W. “Balancing Things Left of Center”, ''The Rocket'', Issue #195, December 7–21, 1994, pgs. 12 & 14〕 In 1983, Ferrigno quit the newspaper and Newman took over as editor. By the end of that year, McChesney had also left. ''The Rocket'' continued to attract new writing talent, including Daina Darzin, Craig Tomashoff, Ann Powers, Jim Emerson, Gillian G. Gaar, Grant Alden, and Dennis Eichhorn. Matt Groening provided some cover art during this period. Bruce Pavitt began a monthly column called "Sub Pop U.S.A." devoted to the independent and underground music scene in Seattle and other parts of the U.S. Cover stars included The Young Fresh Fellows, who at the time of their ''Rocket'' feature had only performed live a dozen or so times. At the end of 1984, the newspaper printed a list of the “10 Hottest Northwest Bands”, which consisted of: Fastbacks, 54-40, D.O.A., Hosannah Choir, Girltalk, Ellipsis, Robert Cray Band, Metal Church, Young Fresh Fellows, and The U-Men.〔Newman, Robert. “Mighty Cranium-Impaling Metalmesiters”, ''The Rocket'', Issue #195, December 7–21, 1994, pgs. 22 & 24〕 In 1986, Charles R. Cross became the paper’s editor and remained in that capacity until ''The Rocket''’s demise. In the mid-1980s, heavy metal music developed a strong following in the Pacific Northwest, and the paper had cover stories on such bands as Slayer, Wild Dogs, Queensrÿche, and Metal Church. By 1988, that scene had pretty much faded, and ''The Rocket''’s editorial focus shifted to covering the pre-grunge local alternative rock bands that were even then beginning to attract national attention. Long before any other publication took notice of them, Soundgarden and Nirvana became ''Rocket'' cover stars in 1988.〔Anderson, Dawn. “Timeline: 1988”, ''The Rocket'', Issue #195, December 7–21, 1994, pg. 38〕 In December 1989, ''The Rocket'' celebrated its tenth anniversary by hosting a “Nine for the 90’s” concert with a mix of what the paper felt were Seattle’s most promising new bands, including Love Battery, The Posies, High Performance Crew, The Walkabouts, The Young Fresh Fellows, and Alice in Chains.〔Gilbert, Jeff. “Mick’s Rockutz, The Central Tavern, Lots of Beer”, ''The Rocket'', Issue #195, December 7–21, 1994, pgs. 44 & 46〕 In 1991, ''The Rocket'' introduced its Portland, Oregon edition, which generally simply mirrored the Seattle-version, with only the concert listing pages offering different contents. The following year, publication of the paper switched from monthly to bi-weekly frequency. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「The Rocket (newspaper)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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