From the editors
BOOTLEG PARADISE Words Tuyen Le
The good, the bad, and the bootleg. What does it mean to own a bootlegged item? I am inviting you to dive into the alternative world of goods, spanning across the globe. This is the underbelly of our consuming culture that we are not dare enough to be proud of.
Bootleg as Illicit Alcohol The term rose to popularity during the Prohibition Era in the United States (year 1920). The 18th Amendment imposed a federal prohibition on sales, consumptions, and distributions of alcohol (hence the Prohibition Era). Bootlegging was an act of concealing flasks of illicit liquor in boot tops, an act that was deemed to be criminal during this period. People could not resist the thrilling taste of liquor, so the demand for it reached an all-time high. More than just a simple cover-up, the term bootlegging entered its reigning period as a secret operation to distribute alcohol, make moonshines, open speakeasies, and smuggle foreign liquor into the States. As ridiculous as it sounds, the federal law was short lived due to its poor reinforcement and the rise of bootlegging operations. Eventually, the Prohibition ended in 1933, just 13 years after.
Bootleg as Unofficial Recordings As the music culture flourished, in the 1960s, bootleg re-entered the scene as informal audio or video recordings of the originals, usually unknown to the artists/record labels. In this era, bootlegging meant making and distributing these unauthorized recordings. Bootleg culture parted away from being illegal, and became the signifier for unofficial releases, studio out-takes, and demo recordings. For instance, if you found yourself at a Rolling Stones’ concert, you could decide to record the audio of the entire concert, and distribute the CD to fellow Rolling Stoners, wanting to relive the moment or not able to see them live. There you go, you just distributed some bootlegs. It is not authorized by the artists, but at the same time, it is still legal in a certain sense. A bootleg should not be confused with counterfeits or unlicensed releases, but rather, it is a category of its own . A counterfeit is an item that has directly copied an authentic piece and market itself as an original product, as a way of scamming the buyers, making profit off the high demand or the success that such item brings in. Whereas bootleg are objects that do not try to replace the original design, but rather claim to be an off-beat interpretation of them.
Bootlegging - Woman taking flask from her Russian boot. (1922)
Kum Back, The Beatle's first bootleg before the official release of Let It Be. (1969)
