Creem
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
CREEM, "America's Only Rock 'n' Roll Magazine," was a monthly rock 'n' roll publication started in 1969 by Barry Kramer and founding editor Tony Reay. It suspended production in 1988. The late Lester Bangs, who is generally considered to be "America's Greatest Rock Critic," was one of CREEM's original editors. The term "punk rock" was coined by this magazine in 1971. The term "heavy metal" was also first used in its pages.
The magazine was based in Detroit, Michigan, and its separation from the centers of tastemaking and the entertainment industry in the United States encouraged a certain irreverent, deprecatory tone that permeated the magazine. Its location also encouraged it to be amongst the first national publications to cover local artists such as Iggy Pop, Alice Cooper, Bob Seger, Ted Nugent and Parliament-Funkadelic and other Midwesterners such as Cheap Trick and The Raspberries in great depth. CREEM picked up on the punk rock and New Wave movements early on, years before other magazines like Rolling Stone finally woke up. It gave massive exposure to artists like Lou Reed, Bowie and the New York Dolls years before the mainstream press.
The famous "Boy Howdy" milk-bottle logo was drawn by artist R. Crumb, He was paid $50 for the soon-to-be iconic image.
Writers for CREEM included Richard Meltzer, Dave DiMartino, Penny Valentine, Richard Riegel, Rick Johnson, Dave Marsh, Lester Bangs, Jaan Uhelszki, Greil Marcus, Patti Smith, Nick Tosches, Cameron Crowe, J. Kordosh, and Bill Holdship, who became one of the final editors of CREEM in the mid-1980s. The magazine moved its base of operations to Los Angeles shortly before its demise.
Bill Holdship and J. Kordosh were both involved in CREEM's move to Los Angeles after it was purchased by Arnold Levitt, but both of them had already left the magazine before its move to NYC, after Levitt licensed the name to a publisher there, and its ultimate demise. Steve Peters and David Sprague, both fine and able CREEM writers, were the last men standing in the original editorial chain that went back to 1969.
Robert Matheu, a regular CREEM photographer since 1978, and his business partner Ken Kulpa head up the current online resurrection with a talented new staff that includes Editor-in-Chief Brian J. Bowe and veteran CREEM alumnus Jeffrey Morgan, who serves as Canadian Editor.
