Creem magazine is back! It’s in digital form (for now?) but the premise is still the same as far as I can tell. It’s a “rock n roll magazine for the people” as Barry Kramer the original founder of Creem Magazine put it in 1969. Now I’ve never read the original Creem mags, because I wasn’t born yet, but I have read a little bit about music criticism and rock ‘n roll history and it seems to be impossible to discuss either topic without mentioning Lester Bangs’, and therefore Creem’s, influence.
Creemmagazine.com has great reviews and new articles about the latest music news, but what really makes me come back are the archived articles from the days of yore and the beautiful old magazine covers from all the issues up to 1988. The first old articles I read were also the oldest two articles in the archive; I was a bit overwhelmed and I didn’t know where to start, so I figured I’d read them chronologically. The one is a description of a venue and a review of a bunch of concerts at that venue including the MC5 and the other is about the ‘Paul is dead’ hoax. Especially the latter article is really interesting. Among other things, I learned that Creem had a big contribution to spreading the hoax. I did not know that and it tickled my inner geek so I thought that would fit nicely into 100B’s School of Learnin’s alley.
When I read contemporary reviews and articles, I never really notice how much they breathe the time they are written in because I’m right in the middle of living it. Things have and haven’t changed much since those earlier articles. Most people who love music still write passionately about it, but don’t use words like “greaser” anymore. Creem’s old articles give us an impression of how the bands were received at the time and how they were talked about, but also how opinions about certain bands have changed since then. For instance, there is an article about the Beastie Boys from way back in ‘87 when “Licensed to Ill” had just ushered them into the limelight. The article makes them sound like a bunch of crazy talented punks. I guess that hasn’t changed much, but it also mentions that though their album is brilliant, they weren’t much to look at live. Last year 100b went to see them live and they were anything but underwhelming. ANY band that can roll a mariachi band on a stage belongs on a pedestal reaching the heavens as far as I’m concerned.
My favorite article so far is the one announcing that The New York Dolls were voted Best New Group of 1973 by Creem readers, BUT that same poll also voted them the Worst New Group! Now three decades later, the three remaining Dolls are touring again and I just happened to see them play on Jonathan Ross last Friday. It was still absolutely thrilling and for some reason the 1973 vote seems totally appropriate. They’re too sleazy and out there to appeal to everybody, but they’re just too good to ignore.
I think I’m gonna waste away many many hours foraging through the Creem Archives, so I for one am happy they’re back and I think they came at a good time too. Music is so diverse and exciting right now, who could cover it better than the rag that gave us the term “Punk Rock”?
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