This is Fine

I’ve mentioned Jon Fine a couple of times here, over the years. Of course, he is primarily notable to insufferables like me for his role as guitarist in the trio Bitch Magnet, a band I was quite fond of back in college. Once Bitch Magnet closed up shop at the dawn of the `90s. Fine hopscotched around with some other bands before reluctantly changing lanes and branching out into a career in journalism. He wrote an excellent book about all that, tracing his life through a fractious career in punk rock and then into the odious realm of corporate office cubicles and back again, “Your Band Sucks” in 2015, which is a slavishly entertaining read regardless of your musical taste and disposition. It’s like a “Kitchen Confidential” for disgruntled music geeks.

I was also kindred spirits with Jon in that he confessed to The Atlantic, in 2011, that he suffered from tinnitus, an affliction I, too, have grappled with since 1999, although at least Jon got it from irresponsibly playing loud music and not just irresponsibly listening to it, as I did.

In any case, Jon and I had loads in common. We both loved splenetic punk rock, both went to college in Ohio (he to Oberlin, I to the strenuously less cool Denison), both worked in journalism and were both cursed with tinnitus for our sins against common sense and propriety.

Cut to late 2015: After slogging it out in the trenches of “professional journalism” for about 25 years – logging precious time at SPIN, LIFE Magazine, TIME Magazine, The New Yorker, MTV News Online, MSN and TODAY.com -- and getting laid off too many times, I ended up taking a job in corporate communications for a performing rights organization. In one of my first weeks at the new office, I stepped onto the elevator and standing across from me was a familiar looking gent with a Black Flag pin on his lapel. “Holy Shit, … you’re Jon Fine,” I exclaimed. As it turned out, Jon worked at a prominent magazine on a neighboring floor.

While he was doubtlessly wary of me at that stage (with good reason), Jon and I swiftly became elevators pals and regular confidants. Today, I am proud to call him a friend, and was sad when he decided to leave the magazine in our building. But he’s still out there hustling, writing and making music.

The only reason I’m talking about him now is that he was recently a guest on the podcast “Killed By Desk,” and it’s both hugely illuminating and entirely hilarious. Check it below or simply click here….Tell’em Flaming Pablum sent ya.

Comments

[George]

Thank you for pointing me to an interview I likely would not otherwise have known about. I greatly enjoyed reading "Your Band Sucks", I too having been a fan of Bitch Magnet beginning in college. They had already split by that time, so my interest in them arose out of an appreciation for Seam, whose album releases coincided precisely with my undergrad years. I would argue, while Seam was less overtly abrasive than Park's earlier Bitch Magnet, they created music no less intense for it. Having seen Seam perform at Maxwell's, I can also attest to them having been a powerful live band. Like Bitch Magnet, I believe they both deserve greater recognition.

[David Polek]

I worked with Jon Fine when he was at BusinessWeek. Really nice guy. Not sure if he would remember me, however.