# Men Va Fan! > Independent magazine about punk rock, hardcore, crust/d-beat, Swedish punk, fanzines and books, DIY culture, terrace football, pirate folk-punk and free software. Founded in Stockholm in 2001 as a homemade punk website; revived in 2026 by new editors. English, with some articles in Swedish. Every article is also available as plain Markdown by replacing the trailing slash with `.md` (e.g. https://menvafan.net/Musik/d-beat-discharge.md). Full text of all articles: https://menvafan.net/llms-full.txt - [About](https://menvafan.net/about/): who runs the site and editorial standards - [Punk glossary](https://menvafan.net/glossary/): short definitions of punk, hardcore and terrace terms (d-beat, käng, crust, Oi!, straight edge, zine, tifo…) - [Men Va Fan! museum](https://menvafan.net/museum/): the original menvafan.net 2001–2016 — timeline, sections, screenshot ## Music Bands, records, scenes and the history of punk, hardcore, crust and everything noisy in between. - [Black Flag's Damaged: Rollins, SST and Hardcore's Breakthrough](https://menvafan.net/Musik/black-flag-damaged.md): How Black Flag's 1981 album Damaged, with Henry Rollins on vocals, defined American hardcore and set the template for DIY punk. - [Conflict: south London anarcho-punk and the long argument](https://menvafan.net/Musik/conflict-anarcho-punk.md): Conflict came out of early-80s Eltham with a harder, angrier take on anarcho-punk. A look at their records, animal-rights politics and why they still matter. - [Crass, Dial House and the birth of anarcho-punk](https://menvafan.net/Musik/crass-and-anarcho-punk.md): How Crass built anarcho-punk from Dial House in Essex: their own label, Gee Vaucher's stencilled art, and the bands who followed their lead. - [Crust Punk: Amebix, Antisect and the Noise That Wouldn't Die](https://menvafan.net/Musik/crust-punk-origins.md): How Amebix, Antisect, Doom and Hellbastard spawned crust punk – its politics, its look, and its messy split from grindcore. - [What d-beat is: from Discharge to Swedish käng](https://menvafan.net/Musik/d-beat-discharge.md): A plain guide to the d-beat drum pattern, Discharge's Hear Nothing See Nothing Say Nothing, and how Swedish bands turned it into käng. - [Dead Kennedys' Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables: Satire, Label and San Francisco Punk](https://menvafan.net/Musik/dead-kennedys-fresh-fruit.md): How Dead Kennedys' 1980 debut Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables, Jello Biafra's satire and Alternative Tentacles defined San Francisco punk. - [Discharge's Hear Nothing See Nothing Say Nothing: The Album That Defined D-beat](https://menvafan.net/Musik/discharge-hear-nothing-see-nothing-say-nothing.md): Released in 1982, Discharge's Hear Nothing See Nothing Say Nothing fused nuclear-war fury with Cal's barked vocals and Bones' guitar wall, shaping crust… - [Diskonto: Swedish Hardcore and the Käng Scene](https://menvafan.net/Musik/diskonto.md): Diskonto, the Swedish hardcore band from the 1990s: their sound, their records and their place in the käng scene. - [Swedish Punk's First Wave: Ebba Grön, KSMB and the Suburbs](https://menvafan.net/Musik/ebba-gron-swedish-punk-1977.md): How Swedish punk broke out of Stockholm's inner city between 1977 and 1983, from Ebba Grön and KSMB to Rude Kids and the suburbs of Rågsved. - [Starting a small DIY punk label: tapes, vinyl and distro trades](https://menvafan.net/Musik/how-to-start-a-diy-label.md): A practical guide to running a small DIY punk label: cassette and vinyl pressing, distro trades, Bandcamp, realistic costs and the mistakes to avoid. - [Minor Threat, Dischord and the Birth of Straight Edge](https://menvafan.net/Musik/minor-threat-and-straight-edge.md): How Minor Threat and Dischord Records launched straight edge in Washington DC, 1980–83, and what the X on the hand came to mean. - [Never Mind the Bollocks: The Sex Pistols' Punk Testament](https://menvafan.net/Musik/never-mind-the-bollocks-album.md): How the Sex Pistols made Never Mind the Bollocks, the label chaos with EMI, A&M and Virgin, Jamie Reid's cover, and why it still defines punk. - [Ramones 1976: The Debut That Built Punk](https://menvafan.net/Musik/ramones-debut-album.md): How the Ramones' 1976 debut, recorded for $6,400, distilled CBGB chaos into 14 two-minute songs and set the template for punk worldwide. - [Käng: how Sweden became a d-beat superpower](https://menvafan.net/Musik/swedish-kang-punk.md): A guide to Swedish käng and crust punk from Anti Cimex to Wolfbrigade, what the word 'käng' means, and why a small country shaped d-beat so heavily. - [London Calling at 45: The Clash's Punk Leap Beyond Three Chords](https://menvafan.net/Musik/the-clash-london-calling.md): The Clash's London Calling (1979): how the title track, the Paul Simonon bass-smash cover and the album's politics pushed punk past three chords. - [UK82: the second wave that kept punk ugly](https://menvafan.net/Musik/uk82-street-punk.md): How The Exploited, GBH, Discharge and the Varukers turned '77 punk into something faster, harder and regional — and why 90s street punk picked up the thread. - [Första vågen: svensk punk 1977–1983](https://menvafan.net/Musik/ebba-gron-och-svensk-punk-1977.md) (Swedish): Ebba Grön, KSMB, Rude Kids och Rågsved – en genomgång av den första svenska punkvågen 1977–1983, från Oasen till spelningarna som formade scenen. - [Svensk kängpunk: Från Anti Cimex till Wolfbrigade](https://menvafan.net/Musik/svensk-kangpunk.md) (Swedish): Sverige blev en stormakt inom kängpunk och d-beat. Vi går igenom band som Anti Cimex, Mob 47, Totalitär, Asocial, Shitlickers och Wolfbrigade – och varför… ## Punk Library Books, zines and writing about punk — reviews, reading lists and print history. - [American Hardcore: A Tribal History and the 2006 film](https://menvafan.net/bocker/american-hardcore-book.md): Steven Blush's 2001 book and the 2006 documentary map US hardcore 1980–1986. What they get right, and the scenes and people critics say they miss. - [England's Dreaming by Jon Savage: the definitive UK punk history](https://menvafan.net/bocker/englands-dreaming-review.md): Jon Savage's England's Dreaming (1991) remains the definitive history of the Sex Pistols, UK punk and its roots in Situationism and art schools. Here's why. - [Ten Essential Books About Punk](https://menvafan.net/bocker/essential-punk-books.md): Ten books on punk that are worth your time, from Please Kill Me to Lipstick Traces, with honest notes on what each does well and where it falls short. - [Los Angeles Punk Zines: Slash, Flipside and the LA Scene](https://menvafan.net/bocker/flipside-slash-and-la-zines.md): How Slash and Flipside documented the late-1970s and 1980s Los Angeles punk scene, from photocopied reviews to the bands and venues they covered. - [How to make a punk zine: paste, photocopy, fold, trade](https://menvafan.net/bocker/how-to-make-a-zine.md): A practical guide to making a punk zine: cut-and-paste layout, cheap photocopying, folding and stapling, distribution, trades and what it actually costs. - [Maximum Rocknroll: the zine that mapped punk](https://menvafan.net/bocker/maximum-rocknroll-history.md): How Maximum Rocknroll, the San Francisco punk zine, ran from 1982 to 2019 — its scene reports, columns, ethics rows and what it left behind. - [Our Band Could Be Your Life: 13 US indie bands, 1981–1991](https://menvafan.net/bocker/our-band-could-be-your-life-review.md): Michael Azerrad's 2001 book profiles 13 American indie bands from 1981–1991, tracing DIY touring, independent labels and the underground network that shaped… - [Please Kill Me: the oral history that made punk talk](https://menvafan.net/bocker/please-kill-me-review.md): Legs McNeil and Gillian McCain's 1996 oral history of punk, from the Velvet Underground to the Ramones and beyond: what it covers, how it works, and where… - [Profane Existence: Minneapolis punk as a threat again](https://menvafan.net/bocker/profane-existence-zine.md): How a Minneapolis collective, zine and label built a crust punk infrastructure from 1989, and why 'making punk a threat again' stuck. - [Punk Planet, HeartattaCk and Slug & Lettuce: 90s Zines That Shaped DIY](https://menvafan.net/bocker/punk-planet-and-hearts-zines.md): How Punk Planet, HeartattaCk and Slug & Lettuce defined 1990s punk zine culture, spreading DIY ethics and politics from photocopied pages to a global network. - [Sniffin' Glue and the first punk zines, 1976–77](https://menvafan.net/bocker/sniffin-glue-and-early-punk-zines.md): How Mark Perry's Sniffin' Glue and the first punk zines of 1976–77 spread the DIY message: three chords, form a band, photocopy and trade. - [Så gör du ett fanzine: klipp, klistra, kopiera, byt](https://menvafan.net/bocker/gor-ett-fanzine.md) (Swedish): Praktisk guide till att göra ett fanzine: klipp och klistra, kopiering, vikning, distribution och byten. För dig som vill göra det själv, utan krångel. ## Punk Stuff DIY culture, flyers, fashion, squats, venues and the odd things punk leaves behind. - [How to make a punk battle jacket that actually lasts](https://menvafan.net/annat/battle-jacket-guide.md): A practical guide to building a punk battle jacket: choosing the right vest, patches, sewing with dental floss, setting studs, and painting a backpatch. - [Dr. Martens: Boots, Subcultures and Lace Colour Myths](https://menvafan.net/annat/dr-martens-and-subcultures.md): How Dr. Martens boots became staples of skinhead, punk and goth style, the truth behind lace colour myths, and the boot's history since 1960. - [Squats, cellars and sound: what became of Europe's DIY venues](https://menvafan.net/annat/european-squats-and-diy-venues.md): Ungdomshuset, Rote Flora, Köpi, Metelkova and Christiania: how Europe's best-known squatted and DIY music venues survived, changed or disappeared. - [How to make punk patches: stencils, screens, paint and thread](https://menvafan.net/annat/how-to-make-punk-patches.md): A practical guide to making punk patches: stencilling, screen printing, painting and sewing. Materials, techniques and hard-won tips from the DIY tradition. - [Men Va Fan! 2001–2016: what this site used to be](https://menvafan.net/annat/men-va-fan-2001-2016.md): A look back at the original Men Va Fan!, a homemade Stockholm punk website with MP3s, zines, football pages and an anarchist Melanie C fan club. - [The Mohawk in Punk: From UK82 to Liberty Spikes](https://menvafan.net/annat/mohawk-history.md): How the mohawk became punk's most recognisable haircut: its tribal and military roots, UK82 adoption, liberty spikes, and a practical guide to making one… - [Punk for the Perplexed: A Beginner's Field Guide](https://menvafan.net/annat/punk-faq.md): New to punk? A plain-spoken guide to what punk is, its subgenres, finding gigs, DIY ethics, pit etiquette and where to start listening. - [Punk fashion: Westwood, McLaren and the SEX shop](https://menvafan.net/annat/punk-fashion-history.md): How Vivienne Westwood and Malcolm McLaren's SEX shop, bondage trousers and DIY clothing shaped punk fashion — and how high fashion absorbed it. - [Paste, Copy, Repeat: A Short History of Punk Flyer Art](https://menvafan.net/annat/punk-flyer-art.md): From Raymond Pettibon's ink drawings to Gee Vaucher's collages and the photocopier, how punk flyers became art and then collectibles. - [House show and basement show etiquette: the unwritten rules](https://menvafan.net/annat/punk-house-shows-etiquette.md): How to behave at house and basement shows: paying the door, respecting the space, pit manners, safer spaces policies and helping touring bands. - [Punk symbols and what they mean](https://menvafan.net/annat/safety-pins-and-punk-symbols.md): Safety pins, the circle-A, Crass's logo, the anti-Nazi symbol, Black Flag's bars and the X on the hand: where punk's most-loaded symbols come from and what… - [Screen Printing Band Shirts and Patches at Home](https://menvafan.net/annat/screen-printing-band-shirts.md): A practical guide to home screen printing for punk bands: screens, emulsion, exposure, inks, cheap setups and the mistakes that ruin your first run of… - [Men Va Fan! 2001–2016: vad sajten brukade vara](https://menvafan.net/annat/men-va-fan-2001-2016-sv.md) (Swedish): En tillbakablick på originalet Men Va Fan!, en hemsnickrad Stockholmsk punksajt med mp3:or, fanzines, fotbollssidor och en anarkistisk Melanie C-fanklubb. - [Ultrahuset och Hunddagiset: två punkhål i Stockholm](https://menvafan.net/annat/ultrahuset-och-hunddagiset.md) (Swedish): Ultrahuset och Hunddagiset var två viktiga platser för Stockholms punkscen. Här är en personlig betraktelse över deras roll och det osäkra minnet. ## Football Terrace culture, working-class football and the sport that gave us Oi!. - [Anti-fascist football fan groups: St. Pauli, Celtic, Rayo, AEK](https://menvafan.net/fotboll/anti-fascist-football-fans.md): A guide to anti-fascist football fan groups: St. Pauli, Celtic's Green Brigade, Rayo Vallecano's Bukaneros, AEK's Original 21, and Football Against Racism… - [Casual culture: terrace fashion from the late 1970s](https://menvafan.net/fotboll/casual-culture-terrace-fashion.md): How Fila, Sergio Tacchini and Stone Island became terrace staples, and where casuals overlapped and clashed with punk and skinheads in late-70s Britain. - [Celtic FC, Irish Folk Punk and the Terrace Songs](https://menvafan.net/fotboll/celtic-and-irish-folk-punk.md): How Irish folk punk from The Pogues to Dropkick Murphys and Flogging Molly connects with Celtic FC fan culture and the songs sung on the terraces. - [FC United of Manchester: the fan-owned club that started in 2005](https://menvafan.net/fotboll/fc-united-of-manchester.md): How FC United of Manchester was founded in 2005 in protest at the Glazer takeover, and how fan ownership works at the club and in general. - [Where Football Chants Come From: Hymns, Music Hall and Pop](https://menvafan.net/fotboll/football-chants-history.md): Football chants draw on hymns, music hall, pop songs and folk tunes. From Liverpool's 'You'll Never Walk Alone' to 'Seven Nation Army', here's where terrace… - [Football Fanzines: How Punk Zine Culture Shaped the Terraces](https://menvafan.net/fotboll/football-fanzines-when-saturday-comes.md): The 1980s football fanzine boom, led by When Saturday Comes, borrowed punk's DIY ethos to change how fans wrote about the game. - [Oi! and the terraces: working-class pride and the fight against the far right](https://menvafan.net/fotboll/oi-and-football-terraces.md): How Cockney Rejects, Sham 69 and Cock Sparrer channelled football terrace culture into Oi! — and how the scene pushed back against the far right. - [Rayo Vallecano: Madrid's Working-Class Football Club](https://menvafan.net/fotboll/rayo-vallecano-working-class-club.md): Rayo Vallecano, the working-class club from Vallecas, Madrid: its fans' left-wing politics, community activism and the fight against gentrification. - [FC St. Pauli: The Punk Football Club of Hamburg](https://menvafan.net/fotboll/st-pauli-punk-football.md): How FC St. Pauli became punk football: the skull and crossbones, Hafenstraße squats, anti-fascist fan culture and the Millerntor stadium. - [Ultras culture: Italy, tifo, flares and the British difference](https://menvafan.net/fotboll/ultras-culture-europe.md): Ultras culture began in 1960s Italy, with choreographed tifo, flares and political identities. How it differs from British fan culture, and why flares are… - [Norra Stå och ljudet från AIK:s läktare](https://menvafan.net/fotboll/aik-lakarkultur.md) (Swedish): Om AIK:s läktarkultur i Stockholm: Norra Stå, tifon, sångerna och varför fotboll och subkultur alltid har hängt ihop på Råsunda och Friends. ## Pirates Pirate culture through a punk lens: sea shanties, folk-punk and the Jolly Roger. - [The Pirate Bay and Sweden's Piracy Movement](https://menvafan.net/pirat/the-pirate-bay-and-swedish-piracy.md): How Piratbyrån, The Pirate Bay, the 2006 raid and the 2009 trial turned Sweden into a battleground over file sharing and sparked the Pirate Party. - [The Golden Age of Piracy: Myths, Democracy and Anarchist Romance](https://menvafan.net/pirat/golden-age-of-piracy-myths.md): What pirate ships were really like during the Golden Age of Piracy, how democracy worked on board, and why anarchists still romanticise them. - [The Jolly Roger: From Pirate Flag to Punk and Football Symbol](https://menvafan.net/pirat/jolly-roger-flag-meanings.md): How the skull and crossbones went from pirate ships to punk patches and football terraces. History, designs, and why it stuck. - [Libertalia: The Pirate Utopia That Never Was](https://menvafan.net/pirat/libertalia-pirate-utopia.md): Libertalia, the pirate colony from Captain Charles Johnson's 1724 General History of the Pyrates, was likely invented. - [Pirate Folk-Punk: The Pogues, The Dreadnoughts and the Sea](https://menvafan.net/pirat/pirate-folk-punk-bands.md): How pirate imagery and nautical songs shaped folk-punk, from The Pogues' sea-soaked ballads to The Dreadnoughts and the pirate stage image. - [Why Punks Love Pirates: Skulls, Radio and the Anti-Authority Myth](https://menvafan.net/pirat/pirate-imagery-in-punk.md): From the Jolly Roger to Hamburg's St. Pauli skull and pirate radio, we trace why punk and folk have long borrowed the pirate myth for anti-authority ends. - [Pirate radio, Radio Caroline and the 1967 Marine Offences Act](https://menvafan.net/pirat/pirate-radio-caroline.md): How Radio Caroline and Radio London broke the BBC monopoly, why the Marine Broadcasting Offences Act 1967 shut them down, and how offshore radio helped new… - [Sea Shanties, Folk Punk and the Drinking Song Tradition](https://menvafan.net/pirat/sea-shanties-and-folk-punk.md): Stan Rogers' 'Barrett's Privateers', The Pogues and the shanty revival: why songs built for hard work and hard drinking fit punk so naturally. - [The 2021 sea shanty revival and what shanties actually were](https://menvafan.net/pirat/wellerman-and-the-shanty-revival.md): How Nathan Evans' Wellerman sparked the 2021 sea shanty revival on TikTok, and what real shanties were: work songs with call-and-response structure. ## Geek Where punk meets computers: free software, DIY tech and internet subcultures. - [How to Scan and Archive Zines and Flyers](https://menvafan.net/geek/archiving-zines-scanning.md): A practical guide to scanning zines and flyers: resolution, file formats, OCR, metadata, and uploading to the Internet Archive. Keep your punk ephemera alive. - [Bandcamp for DIY bands and labels: a practical guide](https://menvafan.net/geek/bandcamp-guide-for-diy-bands.md): How DIY punk bands and labels can use Bandcamp: setting up, pricing, Bandcamp Fridays, physical merch, and alternatives when you need them. - [Mastodon and the fediverse for punk scenes: a practical guide](https://menvafan.net/geek/fediverse-for-punk-scenes.md): Why punk scenes are leaving big platforms for Mastodon and the fediverse, and how to set up an account or your own instance. Practical, DIY, no jargon. - [The Jargon File: hacker slang and DIY punk parallels](https://menvafan.net/geek/hackers-dictionary-jargon-file.md): The Jargon File, or New Hacker's Dictionary, is a lexicon of early hacker slang. We look at its origins, its maintainers and its DIY ethos. - [How to record a punk demo at home cheaply](https://menvafan.net/geek/home-recording-punk-demo.md): A practical guide to recording a punk demo at home on a budget: audio interfaces, SM57 mics, free DAWs, drum recording and mixing basics. - [Linux for Musicians: Is It Worth It for a DIY Band?](https://menvafan.net/geek/linux-for-musicians.md): A practical guide to making music on Linux with Ardour, Audacity, PipeWire and Ubuntu Studio. Is it worth it for a DIY band? We weigh the pros and cons. - [Punk and free software: the DIY ethics of GNU and the GPL](https://menvafan.net/geek/punk-and-free-software.md): How punk's DIY ethos connects to GNU, the GPL and copyleft, why early punk websites ran on Linux, and what free software still offers DIY scenes today. - [Punk on the early web: webrings, guestbooks and homemade HTML](https://menvafan.net/geek/punk-websites-before-social-media.md): How punk scenes used the early web, 1995–2008: webrings, guestbooks, alt.punk on Usenet, IRC, MP3 folders and hand-coded band pages. - [How to make and host a simple band website yourself](https://menvafan.net/geek/self-hosting-a-band-website.md): A practical guide to building a band website with static site generators, free hosting and a cheap domain – plus what to actually put on it.