Initial issues contained occasional interviews with major artists like Brian Eno and Robert Fripp and extensive record reviews.

The magazine provided in-depth articles on bands such as the Sex Pistols, The Boomtown Rats, The Clash, The Damned, the Ramones, Television, The Misfits, and many other similar groups, long before other U.S. music publications did.

[1] Although the magazine seemed to be thriving, with an ever-growing circulation, editor Robbins ceased publication after the April 1984 issue (#96), citing a lack of interest in the continuing but stagnating new wave scene that left his writers with very little to say.

Subscribers to Trouser Press received Record, Straight Arrow Publishers' monthly spinoff of Rolling Stone, to fulfill the remainder of their terms.

[2] The book was sufficiently popular for four more substantially updated editions, with varying titles and publishers, to be issued over the years, culminating in 1997's The Trouser Press Guide to '90s Rock.