The Coolest Retard
The Coolest Retard was a zine from Chicago, IL., U.S.A. that was put together by editor Craig Schmidt with Karen Wehrle and Dianne Dittrich.
The Coolest Retard covered the punk, independent, and early goth scene of the early 1980's, before there was the division between these genres that came to exist in the 1990's. Bands featured include Bauhaus, Naked Raygun, Adam and the Ants, Echo and the Bunnymen, The Effigies, The Fall, Teardrop Explodes, Gang of 4, Killing Joke, Kraftwerk, Panther Burns, Blurt!, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Ministry, Husker Du, The Damned, The Gun Club, Pete Shelley and Depeche Mode. The zine also featured record and live shows reviews, news items and editorials about the state of music.
The Coolest Retard was published regularly for a number of years. Issue 13 came out in 1981, and Issue 23 was released in 1983.
