A music journalist and publisher is celebrating 50 years since the first issue of the rock magazine he co-founded, that left quite a legacy for music fans.

Ira Robbins, who helped bring “Trouser Press” to the world in the mid-1970s, has a massive record collection at his home in Park Slope, Brooklyn. Music has been at the forefront for the native New Yorker, who grew up hoping to be a music journalist.

“Between LPs, CDs and singles, about 35,000 items,” Robbins said.

What You Need To Know

  • "Trouser Press" was a rock music magazine that was published from 1974-1984

  • A new book called "Zip It Up: The Best of Trouser Press" is a compilation of articles and interviews from the magazine's 10-year run

  • It includes classic rock bands like The Who and Led Zeppelin, New York City punk bands like Blondie and The Ramones, and New Wave groups like Devo and Duran Duran

  • Co-founder Ira Robbins continues the brand with a publishing company called Trouser Press Books

In 1974, Robbins co-founded a rock music fanzine called “Trans-Oceanic Trouser Press” with best friend Dave Schulps and Karen Rose. The name was later shortened to “Trouser Press,” which they would sell outside of concerts halls in town, writing about the bands that were performing.

“Our goal in 'Trouser Press' was to sort of tell people about stuff that they couldn’t read about elsewhere. So, we were trying to cover things that we liked that didn’t have the wide distribution that, like a mainstream record, would have. So, a lot of imports, a lot of singles, underground stuff, American independent things. You know that was kind of our specialization,” Robbins said.

Over the years, the zine-turned-magazine would feature some of the greats in music. Classic rockers like The Who, legends from the New York punk scene like Blondie and The Ramones, New Wave groups like Devo and Duran Duran. After 10 years, "Trouser Press" as a magazine came to an end in 1984. Robbins said there were a few reasons, but one was the arrival of MTV, music television.

“MTV had started up, and they were playing the music that we were writing about and so we felt like we couldn’t really do as much for conveying what a record sounded like because all we could do was describe it, whereas they could show it,” he said.

"Trouser Press" lived on, in their popular record guides, online, and eventually through Trouser Press books. The newest is called “Zip It Up: The Best of Trouser Press Magazine.” Robbins said he hopes the collection of articles and interviews will convey what the magazine was all about.

“For me, it’s sort of a compilation of rock journalism. You know, it’s not just to read about the bands but it’s also to read how people wrote about bands in the 70s and 80s,” he said.

As for Robbins, he said he is starting to think that at some point, he doesn’t want to be known just for "Trouser Press" anymore — it’s been his identity for 50 years. Robbins said people really respond to it, and he feels responsible for it, a legacy that someone needs to preserve, so that’s what he has done.