Propaganda was the longest running & best-loved gothic subculture magazine in the USA & probably the world, dealing with gothic & darkwave music, fashion, nightlife, BDSM & fetish & counterculture. The logo for the magazine was the Totenkopf, or death's head, a skull symbol made famous by the SS & the controversial leftist neofolk band Death in June. This flirtation with fascistic imagery is a trademark of gothic counterculture, provoking controversy, confusion & misunderstanding for those not in the know & acting as a bold statement to those in. This marks the magazine out immediately as something against the mainstream & only for those in the know, intimidating & putting off those not. The coverlines are very short & snappy & would probably be incomprehensible to people who were unfamiliar with the context. 'Bauhaus' to a casual observer would either mean the German design school or just a strange German word, but to members of the Goth subculture it is the name of the first trad. Goth band & one of the most important bands for the subculture. The Cult is more obviously the name of a band, but maybe one that a casual onlooker would not be familiar with. 'Hanoi Rocks' could be referring to the city of Hanoi being very vibrant, but it is actually the name of a Finnish glam-metal band in this context. The smaller coverlines running up the side of the main image are similarly ambiguous to a casual observer, as Tones on Tail would probably not be known by most casuals, neither would Einstuerzende Neubaten (here shortened to Neubaten), a German industrial band. Then the coverlines diverge into features other than bands & into subjects important to goths: Berlin club nights, New York style & fashion (presumably gothic fashion). The main image itself is a typical Prop cover, with an androgynous male model sporting a deathhawk & dramatic, almost Kabuki-style makeup, kissing a mirror in a club bathroom (an environment familiar to goths).
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