Ablaze!

was an early champion of UK "noisenik" bands,[3] such as Dog Faced Hermans, The Wedding Present and the Walkingseeds, and US noise rock and grunge bands such as Sonic Youth, Dinosaur Jr, Throwing Muses, Pixies, Mudhoney and Nirvana.

continued to champion many of the indie, shoegaze and punk bands of the era, such as The Pastels, My Bloody Valentine and Lush from the UK, Sugar and Nation of Ulysses from the USA.

was informed by the DIY ethic that had grown out of punk, which eschewed involvement with the mainstream, especially non-independent corporate record labels.

The tone of the content was more personal and more political than the mainstream UK music press, as can be seen by this quote from Karren Ablaze!

[7]Emblematic of this approach was the record review section of Ablaze!, which gave humorous and acerbic appraisals of the latest releases.

An extended editorial in Issue 7 (1990) titled "New voices, new guitars" argued for "music that celebrates a non phallic sexuality" against the "hackneyed and objectionable thrustings of male rock".

Other contributors included writers Lucy Nation (Chris Trout), Gavin B., Justine Wolfenden (Hemiola Records), Steve Albini, Andrew Truth, Mark Williams, Ian Michael Hodgson, Bela Emerson, John Robb, Terry Bloomfield,[10] Richard Rouska, Simon Morris of the Ceramic Hobs, graphic designer William Potter, and photographers Ian T Tilton, Greg Neate, and Tony Woolgar.

Music critic Simon Reynolds wrote about the continuing legacy and appeal of the fanzine movement[14] for The Guardian in 2009, and in the same year Karren Ablaze!