Jump to content

What happened to the Zoso fanzine?


Recommended Posts

There used to be a fantastic fan mag in the 80's out of San Francisco called Zoso. A gentleman named Taylor published it, but it went under after a few years. Anybody know what happened?

Yes, 'Zoso - The Led Zeppelin Gathering Place' was published monthly by Taylor in

San Francisco from Jan 1987 until Apr 1992 for a total of 63 issues. It was a plain

b&w fanzine with text and photos on the latest news and events related to Led Zeppelin. Towards the end of it's production run it was upgraded to slick glossy

covers, made possible with the advances made in home publishing technology.

Subscribers received their issues in the mail, but it could also be purchased off the

newstands in Tower Records throughout the Bay Area.

I have all but six of the sixty-three issues. I would have to check the final issue,

but I do seem to recall there was a publisher's farewell printed. Something to the

effect of he no longer had the time to maintain it and it seemed the solo members

were still in a period of extended inactivity. In it's day, 'Zoso' could claim to be the

longest running Led Zeppelin fanzine ever published, since eclipsed by Dave Lewis'

'Tight But Loose' but it's still the longest running monthly Zep zine ever.

Hats off to Taylor, wherever you are!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yes, 'Zoso - The Led Zeppelin Gathering Place' was published monthly by Taylor in

San Francisco from Jan 1987 until Apr 1992 for a total of 63 issues. It was a plain

b&w fanzine with text and photos on the latest news and events related to Led Zeppelin. Towards the end of it's production run it was upgraded to slick glossy

covers, made possible with the advances made in home publishing technology.

Subscribers received their issues in the mail, but it could also be purchased off the

newstands in Tower Records throughout the Bay Area.

I have all but six of the sixty-three issues. I would have to check the final issue,

but I do seem to recall there was a publisher's farewell printed. Something to the

effect of he no longer had the time to maintain it and it seemed the solo members

were still in a period of extended inactivity. In it's day, 'Zoso' could claim to be the

longest running Led Zeppelin fanzine ever published, since eclipsed by Dave Lewis'

'Tight But Loose' but it's still the longest running monthly Zep zine ever.

Hats off to Taylor, wherever you are!

Appreciate the info, Steve-thanks!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 year later...

There used to be a fantastic fan mag in the 80's out of San Francisco called Zoso. A gentleman named Taylor published it, but it went under after a few years. Anybody know what happened?

I used to subscribe to ZOSO magazine too way back then. It was a great fanzine that I used to anticipate every month. From what I recall, the reason why Taylor, the editor, stopped publishing ZOSO was because his girlfriend had been tragically killed in a car accident. The loss of such could not lead to him continuing as it was.

Every Now and Zen, I will pull out some of my old issues and read them from cover to cover. It was there in the ZOSO classifieds that I met and traded bootlegs with people from all over the world. Like someone previously mentioned, ZOSO was the best place to get all the information on Led Zeppelin, before the advent of the internet.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I used to subscribe to ZOSO magazine too way back then. It was a great fanzine that I used to anticipate every month. From what I recall, the reason why Taylor, the editor, stopped publishing ZOSO was because his girlfriend had been tragically killed in a car accident. The loss of such could not lead to him continuing as it was.

Every Now and Zen, I will pull out some of my old issues and read them from cover to cover. It was there in the ZOSO classifieds that I met and traded bootlegs with people from all over the world. Like someone previously mentioned, ZOSO was the best place to get all the information on Led Zeppelin, before the advent of the internet.

Like you all said before the internet, great source for Zeppelin info, plus he would tape Zep Boots and sell you cassettes, and you could get T-Shirts and Books on the band, and YEAH when it folded I got burned on an order, cause it ended and i never saw my money or what I ordered!!!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Like you all said before the internet, great source for Zeppelin info, plus he would tape Zep Boots and sell you cassettes, and you could get T-Shirts and Books on the band, and YEAH when it folded I got burned on an order, cause it ended and i never saw my money or what I ordered!!!

I hear ya. When 'Nirvana - The Robert Plant Fanzine' folded in the mid-90s I got burned on a subscription/merchandise order. The publisher did the best she could to redress the balance but I was still out something like $25 bucks. I was more disappointed to see that publication go under because it was well on it's way to being an excellent periodical. Apparently, the support sought from Robert was not forthcoming. I have a few

hundred Led Zeppelin fanzines and it's all a bit quaint to look at them now. They are such primitive artifacts.

Edited by SteveAJones
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I hear ya. When 'Nirvana - The Robert Plant Fanzine' folded in the mid-90s I got burned on a subscription/merchandise order. The publisher did the best she could to redress the balance but I was still out something like $25 bucks. I was more disappointed to see that publication go under because it was well on it's way to being an excellent periodical. Apparently, the support sought from Robert was not forthcoming. I have a few

hundred Led Zeppelin fanzines and it's all a bit quaint to look at them now. They are such primitive artifacts.

I never cared for the Nirvana fanzine personally. It was nothing more than xeroxing articles from other magazines and a lot of talk about what she wanted to do. I dunno, didn't impress me B)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It was a great Fanzine. As a teenager in the late 80's ZOSO was a treat for myself because every newstand music magazine featured either overly hyped "college" rock bands or lame hair metal bands that I had zero interest in. I felt like a kid out of time & then I saw the ad for ZOSO in the back of Rolling Stone & it filled my musical literature void.

ZOSO was where I first became aware of bootlegs. I got my first bootleg, Berlin 7-7-80, from Taylor. I was ecstatic when I got that in the mail after 2 long weeks of waiting! Many more followed. Taylor would also do fun things like declare a random day of the year "Sick Again Day" just because he heard the song on his car radio while driving over the Golden Gate Bridge & wanted others to feel that same excitement he had & he then wanted "us" to write in about our "Sick Again Day" experiences in the next issue.

Of course things like that were done just to fill up pages during a slow Zep News month, but it was also a show of solidarity amongst Zep fans.

I then started going into Manhatten & found ZOSO in the Mom & Pop record stores & started to pick up the back issues that I had originally missed & bootlegs that Taylor & other contributers had reviewed. It was a brand new Zep world for me. Then just after the second Zep box set came out ZOSO was gone. Just gone. I tried getting into "Electric Magic" & "Tight But Loose" but it just wasn't the same.

Well where ever you are Taylor, thank you very much. You're Fanzine answered the prayers of a young kid who needed Zep direction & you definately provided it.

Edited by kakdaddy
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I used to get ZOSO also, I still have my cassette tapes of shows that I purchased from him. That yellow envelope always made my day. Stupidly I threw out all of my Zep mags after getting married, to save space while moving slapface.gif

peace.gif

i think many people did the same. i certainly lost a few pieces of treasure along the way either through stupidity, bad luck or "lending" to others.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

was Zoso better than Proximity? i never saw Zoso but i did buy a couple of Proximities from a record fair way back. i may be mistaken but i dont think i liked them much

Zoso, published in San Francisco, definitely had a California vibe. Proximity was published by Hugh Jones in Seattle

and it contained many feature articles unique to Led Zeppelin concerts held in that area. Thanks to the advent of desktop publishing, latter issues of Proximity have much more substantial content than the earlier issues. I'd say the later issues if Proximity are better than Zoso.

Proximity ran for nine issues in tabloid format from Jan 1 1980 thru Spring 1983, then resumed in desktop publishing format for 27 issues from Jul 1993 to Spring/Summer 2000. Two special issues were also published, one for the first

leg of the 1995 North American tour and one featuring the ten best bootlegs.

Proximity Fanzine link:

http://www.oldbuckeye.com/prox/

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Like I said before I used to wait and anticipate every month for every issue of ZOSO magazine (back in the late 1990's). My favorite part of every issue was the "notes" section that opened every issue. That is where I remember learning about all the worldwide information about Led Zeppelin from LZ fans from around the world. Anything from what celebrities listend to and loved Led Zeppelin (Rob Lowe, Matt Dillon, etc...) to anything about Led Zeppelin that appeared in newspapers from the United States and around the world. Great stuff even to this day.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I loved Zoso, along with Proximity, Early Days & Latter Days, No Quarter, Oh Jimmy..., The Lemon Tree, and Wearing and Tearing. Bringing back good memories, before the internet killed off the fanzine.

Zoso - someone should scan and archive them online! Taylor! Are you listening?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Zoso - someone should scan and archive them online! Taylor! Are you listening?

Georgio,

Great idea. It would be nice to go through all of those old issues of Zoso magazine online.

I used to make a pilgrimage to the Tower records downtown Philly to seearch for this magazine. Then I subscribed and would wait each month for the envelope to arrive. I too was also burned and disappointed when it came to an abrupt stop. I wonder whatever became of Taylor.

Here are a few photos of covers to click thru:

http://picasaweb.google.com/CaptCrunge/ZEPCOLLECTION#5163162900431638178

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 years later...

Always loved Zoso Mag. Most of these have gone under obviously because of the internet. But looked forward to this and other Zep publications every few months including this, Proximity, Tight But Loose (still around, but tough for being in the USA) and Electric Magic. Miss those days during the 90's.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Always loved Zoso Mag. Most of these have gone under obviously because of the internet. But looked forward to this and other Zep publications every few months including this, Proximity, Tight But Loose (still around, but tough for being in the USA) and Electric Magic. Miss those days during the 90's.

Tight But Loose is a good magazine. Dave Lewis is a super nice guy. I highly reccomend this magazine for any Zep fan.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

That was a cool magazine and I agree with Wolfman that this was the best source for Zep news before the internet became mainstream. I own three issues. I had JPJ sign the one that I have with him on the cover. A pretty priceless item it's become now-because of that. Before he signed it, he said something like "wow, how old was I here?" I think the pic was from 75'.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Always loved Zoso Mag. Most of these have gone under obviously because of the internet. But looked forward to this and other Zep publications every few months including this, Proximity, Tight But Loose (still around, but tough for being in the USA) and Electric Magic. Miss those days during the 90's.

Couldn't have said it better myself Dave.Those were great magazines in exciting times before the internet.

I still have each copy of these magazines and often go back and read them again to marvel at how much we didn't know then

Edited by fsmith9095
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...