The Largest Collection of Punk Records in the World is Moving from California to Tennessee

Maximum Rocknroll (MRR) is sending its collection of more than 60,000 punk rock records to Middle Tennessee State University’s Center for Popular Music. In 2019, Maximum Rocknroll’s magazine went completely digital, shutting down their San Francisco location.

Videos by American Songwriter

Since then, they’ve been searching for a place to house their archive of records, photos, and other documents, comprised of about eight tons of material. The goal was to preserve the collection without limiting public access.

The Center for Popular Music is in a unique position to house the collection, as they already have an extensive archive of material. This makes the research center a prime home for MRR’s historical collection.

MRR was started in 1977 as a radio show on Berkeley’s KPFA. It grew into a volunteer-run magazine and archive that eventually spurred the resurgence of punk in the 90s. The archive in its current state is a haven for students, researchers, documentarians, and more.

Punk Archive Moving From California to New Home in Tennessee

“We want people to realize that in one fell swoop, The Center for Popular Music is going to be the new epicenter of punk-related research,” said Greg Reish, director of the research center, according to a report from SFGATE.

MRR was founded by Tim Yohannan as KPFA’s first radio show devoted exclusively to punk music. As punk grew, the radio show became a magazine, which became an archive. Yohannan was notoriously combative and held strict boundaries for the genre as MRR became the cultural touchstone of punk.

Bands would send their records to MRR to be reviewed and stored in the archive, and the magazine was devoted to publishing reviews from all over the world. MRR was recognized as the center of a growing underground movement, bringing authentic attention to the DIY scene.

However, Yohannan had a strict “no selling out” attitude that isolated a lot of bands later on. MRR refused to acknowledge bands on major labels, which led to many groups openly bashing him and his penchant for gatekeeping.

Still, despite what many past volunteers have described as Yohannan’s “authoritarian” tendencies, MRR was integral to the formation of the Bay Area punk scene. When he passed away in 1998, tributes poured in. Many people acknowledged that, while his demeanor often left something to be desired, there’s no denying the profound influence Yohannan had on punk.

As for the Center of Popular Music, the main goal will be to catalog the collection and make it searchable online. Then, the center is hoping to raise awareness of the new archive through community events and outreach. Perhaps MRR will even return to its roots with an airtime slot on MTSU’s radio station.

Featured Image by RB/Redferns