So Last-Year: PY-Zine

For people like me, with something of an obsession with youth culture, this week has bought a couple of bits of exciting news. The Teenage film (which I feel like I've been anticipating forever, but actually only since last year) is finally being released in the UK - my ticket is already booked.

Teenage Mods standing around a scooter, 1966. David McEnery/PYMCA

And then there's the discovery of PY-Zine, a new webzine from the people behind the PYMCA photo library. PYMCA is a picture agency built around the theme of youth culture - I wrote about some of the very earliest examples in their collection back here. Mods, rockers, rebels and ravers - they're all in there and you might think the imagery could just sell itself. PYMCA, however, have always seemed very good at exploring their archive in ways other than a traditional picture library model, working with author Ted Polhemus on a reissue of his Streetstyle book for example.

Rocker at the Ace Cafe reunion, 1990s. Simon Buckle/PYMCA

So while this new zine uses lots of their brilliant imagery, it also uses playlists and it's going to feature digitized versions of Jockey Slut and Sleaze Nation magazines.

Teenage Mod with two girls, Streatham, London, 1976. Janette Beckman/PYMCA

There's also lots of articles to read, whether it's Ted Polhemus on Glam Rock, an extract from the Once Upon a Tribe book or a link to the work of film-maker Matt Lambert. And readers are even invited to submit their own material to the site (though I am slightly alarmed by the thought they are open to poetry - angst ridden teen navel gazing surely awaits). 

This so much potential for PY-Zine to become a brilliant hub for this kind of content. Even in these early days it's still a great place to spend some time, and marvel at the wonder of youth. 

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