Each issue includes opinion and commentary of the indie music scene as well as reviews of books, DVDs, and albums.
It was the first American magazine to interview the following non-American bands: the Aliens, the Besnard Lakes, the Dears, the Duke Spirit, the Earlies, Editors, the Go!
Team, Hope of the States, iLiKETRAiNS, I'm from Barcelona, the Long Blondes, Los Campesinos!, Love Is All, Lucky Soul, Mew, Mugison, Mystery Jets, the Pipettes, the Research, Serena Maneesh, the Sleepy Jackson, Taken By Trees, the Thrills, and Young Galaxy.
It was the first interview that Smith had done in a couple of years and at the time he was hard at work on his album From a Basement on the Hill.
In addition to politically themed articles, bands were photographed with self-made protest signs and the photos ran in the issue.
The autographed protest signs were later auctioned off on eBay, with all the profits donated to the political action group Music for America.
Versus features have included: Clinic vs. Can, Devendra Banhart vs. Donovan, the Dresden Dolls vs. Bauhaus, Love Is All vs. the Vaselines, Primal Scream vs. the Cramps, and the Thrills vs. Brian Wilson.
A fictitious cover of Under the Radar magazine makes an appearance in the 2019 Oscar-winning film Sound of Metal.