“America’s Only Rock n’ Roll Magazine” is back with the return of Creem Magazine. The Detroit-based monthly music magazine that ran from 1969–1989 relaunched on Wednesday as an online outlet with plans to roll out a print quarterly.
In addition to new content in the “Fresh Creem” weekly newsletter, the magazine returned with an online archive of all 224 original issues. Fans can access over 69,000 photos and articles with a 30-day free trial until August when archival access will become bundled with a print subscription.
The new Creem Entertainment venture is led by Chairman JJ Kramer, son of Barry Kramer who co-founded and published the original magazine in 1969. The staff also features former Vice publisher John Martin as CEO and original Creem editor Jaan Uhelszki. Editorial staff for the magazine includes Vice President of Content Fred Pessaro, Senior Editor Maria Sherman, and Editor at Large Zachary Lipez.
Founded in 1969 by Barry Kramer and editor Tony Reay, Creem made a name for itself as a competitor to Rolling Stone. Billing itself as “America’s Only Rock n’ Roll Magazine,” the outlet rose to prominence thanks in part to former Rolling Stone reviewer Lester Bangs, who served as Creem‘s editor from 1971 to 1976. At a time when Jann Wenner and Rolling Stone were immersed in the Laurel Canyon folk-rock movement, Creem instead served as the voice of the rising punk movement, championing Detroit acts like The Stooges, MC5, Alice Cooper, and more. Dave Marsh coined the term “punk rock” in the May 1971 edition of his “Looney Toons” column in Creem.
Along with the announcement, Creem relaunched with a crop of fresh content. Readers can access articles including a review of Danny Boyle‘s new Sex Pistols biographical mini-series Pistols entitled “What If The Sex Pistols Weren’t So F*cking Ugly? A Brave New Biopic Asks The Hard Questions”; a dive into KISS guitarist Paul Stanley‘s paintings called “The KISS Guy Can’t Paint”; a profile of Scowl; an excerpt from Why Patti Smith Matters; the Scene Police column “Talking Shit About Our Social Betters”; and Who the F*ck? “Throwing Stones At Glass Animals”.
Of the new pieces, Who The F*ck? strikes at the heart of Creem‘s original tone. By doing as little research as possible, writers are tasked with tearing down the top arena rock acts of today, with David Carnie debuting the column with a look at Glass Animals—or Ass Glanimals, as he thinks they’re called—and the band’s hit “Heat Waves”, which has ridden the top of Billboard‘s Hot Rock & Alternative chart for 35 weeks.
“How does anything hold anyone’s attention for more than three to five minutes, let alone 35 weeks? I feel like a song that is 35 weeks old should be able to make a sandwich for itself,” Carnie writes.
Head on over to the newly revamped Creem Magazine to check out new and archival content.
[H/TÂ Pitchfork]