Discorder interviewed Hunter S. Thompson for the July 1986 issue. On journalism, he had this to say:
Well, right now, the trouble with journalism now is that it’s not fun. If this sounds frivolous, think whatever you want. But you don’t get into journalism for money; most likely you’ll just pay your rent; very few people, even the best editors and writers do more. And when I say fun I’m talking about looking at Richard Nixon in November of 1972 and saying “that swine, that bastard, how could any evil man like that become president.” I remember watching television and thinking that’s the crookedest son of a bitch I’ve ever seen in my life. What does this mean for me? And I remember thinking, ah ha, he is so crooked we can get him. And we did get him. He was right. He claimed the liberals and the maniacs and the people with personal grudges came after him and got him. He was right. It had to be done. And that’s fun.
We have published 344 issues since, and yet, HST’s words have never been more relevant.
I can’t sugarcoat an Editor’s Note this month. I’m not going to pretend that I’m not sick by the hateful administration leading the United States, and that I’m not scared at how it has been stirring similar undercurrents of racism, sexism and prejudice that already exist in Canada. I envy the editors that can overlook disturbing headlines to stroke pop icons in their pages without some sense of obligation to write about more.
Discorder turns 34 this month. Although our dominant brand has been alternative music, we have published — quite literally — hundreds of articles on social and political issues that impact our community. Over the next year, we’re going to continue expanding beyond arts coverage. We’ll still interview your favourite new punk band, but we’re going to publish more articles about other stuff, too. We recognize that some headlines have understated ripples in our underground arts community, and those deserve to be talked about more.
If this speaks to you, email editor.discorder@citr.ca about contributing to Discorder.
A+
BB