Sleazenation walks tightrope above abyss of decadence

Sleazenation
November, 1999
1A Zetland House
5-25 Scrutton Street
London ENGLAND EC2A 4HJ

reviewed by MC5
December 13, 1999

I picked up this magazine at a trendy music boutique. A quick flip 
through it proves that the editors are knowledgeable of politics 
and history. A more careful reading reveals that is exactly the 
intention of their work and no more -- proving to have some 
knowledge that they use as art for its own sake.

The intellectuals who put out this magazine clearly could have 
been leaders of independent institutions of the oppressed. Instead 
they are the MTV equivalent of radicalism.

Page eight caught our attention with a Mao icon and an article 
about an exhibit of Mao icons. The question arises, is there more 
to this magazine?

Page 10 references "rebels without a pause" and page 12 talks 
about Castro. By now, it is apparent that the magazine is 
dedicated to knowledgeable spoofing of the people's struggles. It 
is the sort of high-brow contempt by the advertising sector that 
creates ads of wimmin wearing Mao caps and poofing their lips with 
the latest lipstick.

Page 15 teases us with further references to radical art exhibits 
such as "Crash! Corporatism and Complicity" while the first major 
article is titled "Britsploitation."

A five page section "Prada Meinhof" [a pun on the "Baader-Meinhof 
Gang," which later became the focoist/anarchist Red Army Fraction] 
is indeed an achievement of post-modernism. How can the editors 
find all this material and spill it out? Do they manage to come up 
with this material every month, things like "The Pol Pot Noodle?"

The magazine is the work of what MIM calls the gender bureaucracy. 
The band Rage Against the Machine nicely sums it up as part of the 
culture of billboards that say "come and play; come and play." Why 
do we want to make revolution when there is so much fun to be had 
in imperialist society, screams every clothing and makeup ad -- 
and the magazine as a whole.

At the intersection of entertainment culture and struggle, 
"Sleazenation" is tottering on the tight-rope walk above the abyss 
of decadence. It's few redeeming qualities only lend credibility 
to its destructive nature. As a magazine three parts "Vogue" and 
one part "Rolling Stone" but in a more intellectual version of 
both, we Maoists are forced to take notice. We don't have to like 
it.

-- edited by MC206