PANIC RECORDS & TAPES was an outgrowth of broadcasting and activities at WZRD-FM 88.3, Chicago, during the heyday of DIY cassette culture, and the 'zines and radio stations that catered to same. Begun as international audio correspondence, it quickly turned into a part-time pre-internet job.  Zines: OP, Sound Choice, Option, Factsheet Five, Duplex Planet, Maximum Rock and Roll, File 13, Xexoxial Endarchy, et al.  FM radio stations: WZRD, WNUR, WHPK (Chicago); KPFA (Berkeley); WREK (Atlanta); KAOS (Olympia, WA); WFMU (NJ/NYC); CKLN (Toronto); CKUT (Montreal); Radio Omladinski (Zagreb, Croatia), et al.

 

All told, about twenty cassettes, three compilation LPs (four discs in total), three editions of a 'zine, and perhaps a dozen live shows were produced. Radio playlists, distributors, musicians, and correspondents eventually totalled fourteen countries.

 

Cassettes were packaged in melted junk LP "fortune cookies" that had to be broken open to gain access (see images below). The compilation LP series was entitled WHAT IS TRUTH? on the suggestion of, and first LP title track by, Eugene Chadbourne. The first two LPs were packaged in 1,500 junk sleeves picked from a dumpster behind a record store, that featured individually hand-crafted and numbered artwork (painting and collage) executed over the previous cover. The third LP featured custom hand-crafted marbled paper. For each unit of all three releases, every cover was completely different.