It’s been more than 20 years since the last issue of the music magazine The Rocket was published. But now, its entire archive lives on thanks to the Washington State Library and the University of Washington.
Seattle immortalized itself in music history in the '90s as the so-called birthplace of grunge. And The Rocket was there for all of it. Charles R. Cross, a longtime editor and publisher of The Rocket, said it went beyond just editorial coverage of bands.
"In the era before the internet, The Rocket, was the entire worldwide web of Seattle music and entertainment," Cross said. "If you were putting on a concert at a club and you somehow missed The Rocket's deadline...no one would go to your show."
The magazine also featured music gear for sale, a musicians wanted section and was a place where bands could advertise their records. Bands like Mudhoney and Soundgarden, graced the magazine's front cover, but so did bands who didn't reach the same level of fame. Which is one reason why Shawn Schollmeyer, the Washington State Library's digital newspapers coordinator, felt preserving the magazine was so important.
"Kurt Cobain really put us on the map with Nirvana. But there's a ton of bands that I know I grew up with, and a lot of people have really enjoyed, from our area that really deserve recognition," Schollmeyer said.
Schollmeyer said one of her favorite bands that didn't make it quite as big as others was Hammerbox.
Cross also highlighted Love Battery and Tad as two great local bands that the timing just didn't work out for.
"Only a handful of bands became superstars. But in The Rocket's mind, every one of the bands we wrote about should have been stars," Cross said.
It was important to Cross that whoever took on the project to digitize and preserve the magazine would be around for decades, and would provide easy and free access to the public.
Cross said his main job for the project was finding copies of all the issues. He estimated about 20 people contributed to the final collection. He said the group effort felt just like what went into making The Rocket.
Produced with assistance from the Public Media Journalists Association Editor Corps funded by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, a private corporation funded by the American people.
