Whats a trouser press anyway?
It’s an archaic (but still made and used) device used to flatten out the wrinkles and put the crease in pants. But that’s only part of the answer. In late 1973, when three New York City friends got the idea of starting a rock fanzine, they named itTrans-Oceanic Trouser Pressin honor of a song by the Bonzo Dog (Doo-Dah) Band. Written by Roger Ruskin Spear (who later provided us withan explanatory drawing of the device), “Trouser Press” a track on the group’s 1968Urban Spaceman(akaThe Doughnut in Granny’s Greenhouse) album became a good if unintended journalistic pun and conveyed the dada whimsy we envisioned for our little magazine. (The rest of the cumbersome name, which was eventually relieved of its Trans-Oceanic aspect, was an indication of our Anglo-American geo-cultural sensibilities and an acronymic tribute to England’s great music television show,Top Of The Pops.
It’s an archaic (but still made and used) device used to flatten out the wrinkles and put the crease in pants. But that’s only part of the answer. In late 1973, when three New York City friends got the idea of starting a rock fanzine, they named it Trans-Oceanic Trouser Press in honor of a song by the Bonzo Dog (Doo-Dah) Band. Written by Roger Ruskin Spear (who later provided us with an explanatory drawing of the device), “Trouser Press” a track on the group’s 1968 Urban Spaceman (aka The Doughnut in Granny’s Greenhouse) album became a good if unintended journalistic pun and conveyed the dada whimsy we envisioned for our little magazine. (The rest of the cumbersome name, which was eventually relieved of its Trans-Oceanic aspect, was an indication of our Anglo-American geo-cultural sensibilities and an acronymic tribute to England’s great music television show, Top Of The Pops.) On a related note, several organizations in the US and England began using the Trouser Press name for publish
