Membership has its privileges! In the early days of Transmission 242, Front 242's official fanclub offered two membership levels! 242 fans could purchase an "Active 242 Membership" (AMS) or a "Passive 242 Membership." (PMS).
For the annual subscription rate of BEF 700 (US $20.00) AMS members received the quarterly "Transzine" (I will eventually post these!), Transmission 242's magazine/newsletter, membership card, and access to the exclusive Transmission 242 Phone and Fax lines.
Recall that this was "back in the day" when there was no internet to speak of, and this was quite an innovation for the time. One could call the AMS Hotline service and ask questions, place orders, and listen to pre-recorded messages regarding the latest happenings with the band. Each day would feature a different language. For "urgent" questions and membership ads, the Faxline was available. (Personally I did not really use the service that much...overseas phone calls were quite expensive at that time!)
Note I will post more on the AMS/PMS/Transmission 242 concept at a later time...
PMS members, well, they apparently got mailing news, order forms, discography info, and dates & places of 242 concerts, for the cost of BEF 150 (US $5.00)
Here we have the membership card one would receive with AMS membership. I was SO CLOSE to being the coveted member number 242...I often wonder who actually received AMS membership number 242, or if indeed it was ever given out?
One supposedly could use this card for special discounts or services, but most, if not all events eligible were in Europe. I often tried to use my card to get into a show free or for a discount at the merchandise tables stateside, but most of the time I got confused & blank looks...oh well, at least I tried!
Also here is a copy of one of the initial Transmission 242 newsletters, detailing how the membership would work. Sadly the AMS/PMS membership concept no longer exists!
"MAY THE FORCE BE WITH YOU IN 1992"
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| AMS Card Front |
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| AMS Card Back |
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| Transmission 242 Newsletter Page 1 |
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| Transmission 242 Newsletter Page 2 |
A world without internet was quite strange, uh ??!! Wait for weeks to know about the band news was quite strange. Some fans in Brazil translate this "Transzine" and share with us the news. I remember that the last one that I read was about the 2 new Front 242 albums to date : "Up Evil" and "Off". Since then the Transzine disappeared.
ReplyDeleteYes. It seems once the "membership" idea stopped, the fanzines stopped as well. Later Transmission 242 would periodically send out update letters...then the internet thing happen and behold "instant communication!"
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