Spin (magazine)

Spin

Kurt Cobain, his wife Courtney Love, and their daughter Frances on Spin, December 1992.
Editor Puja Patel
Categories Music
Total circulation 459,586[1]
Year founded 1985
Company Spin Media
Country USA
Based in New York City
Language English
Website spin.com
ISSN 0886-3032

Spin (often stylized as SPIN) is a music magazine founded in 1985 by publisher Bob Guccione, Jr. The magazine stopped running in print in 2012 and currently runs as a webzine.[2]

History

Spin was established in 1985.[3] In its early years, the magazine was known for its broad music coverage with an emphasis on college rock, grunge, indie rock, and the ongoing emergence of hip-hop. The magazine was eclectic and bold, if sometimes haphazard. It pointedly provided a national alternative to Rolling Stone's more establishment-oriented style. Spin prominently placed newer artists such as R.E.M., Prince, Run-D.M.C., Eurythmics, Beastie Boys, and Talking Heads on its covers and did lengthy features on established figures such as Bob Dylan, Keith Richards, Miles Davis, Aerosmith, Lou Reed, Tom Waits, and John Lee Hooker[4]—Bart Bull's article on Hooker won the magazine its first major award.

On a cultural level, the magazine devoted significant coverage to punk, alternative country, electronica, reggae and world music, experimental rock, jazz of the most adventurous sort, burgeoning underground music scenes, and a variety of fringe styles. Artists such as the Ramones, Patti Smith, Blondie, X, Black Flag, and the former members of the Sex Pistols, The Clash, and the early punk and New Wave movements were heavily featured in Spin's editorial mix. Spin's extensive coverage of hip-hop music and culture, especially that of contributing editor John Leland, was notable at the time.

Editorial contributions by musical and cultural figures included Lydia Lunch, Henry Rollins, David Lee Roth and Dwight Yoakam. The magazine also reported on cities such as Austin, Texas, or Glasgow, Scotland, as cultural incubators in the independent music scene. A 1990 article on the contemporary country blues scene brought R. L. Burnside to national attention for the first time. Coverage of American cartoonists, Japanese manga, monster trucks, the AIDS crisis, outsider artists, Twin Peaks, and other non-mainstream cultural phenomena distinguished the magazine's dynamic early years.

In late 1987, publisher Bob Guccione Jr.'s father, Bob Guccione Sr., abruptly shut the magazine down despite the fact that the two-year-old magazine was widely considered a success, with a newsstand circulation of 150,000. Guccione Jr. was able to rally much of his staff, partner with former MTV president and David H. Horowitz, locate additional new investors and offices and after missing a month's publication, returned with a combined November–December issue. During this time, it was published by Camouflage Associates. In 1997, Guccione sold Spin to Miller Publishing.

Later years

In February 2006, Miller Publishing sold the magazine to a San Francisco-based company called the McEvoy Group LLC, which was also the owner of Chronicle Books.[5] That company formed Spin Media LLC as a holding company. The new owners replaced editor-in-chief (since 2002) Sia Michel with Andy Pemberton, a former editor at Blender. The first issue to be published under his brief command was the July 2006 issue—sent to the printer in May 2006—which featured Beyoncé on the cover. Pemberton and Spin parted ways the next month, in June 2006. The following editor, Doug Brod, was executive editor during Michel's tenure.

For Spin's 20th anniversary, it published a book chronicling the prior two decades in music. The book has essays on grunge, Britpop, and emo, among other genres of music, as well as pieces on musical acts including Marilyn Manson, Tupac Shakur, R.E.M., Nirvana, Weezer, Nine Inch Nails, Limp Bizkit, and the Smashing Pumpkins. In February 2012, Spin relaunched the magazine in a larger, bi-monthly format and expanded its online presence, which covered reviews, extended editorials, interviews, and features on up-and-coming talent.

In July 2012, Spin was sold to Buzzmedia, which eventually renamed itself SpinMedia.[6] The September/October 2012 issue of Spin was the magazine's last print edition.[7] The publication has since become fully digital, and publishes daily online.

Spin Alternative Record Guide

In 1995, Spin produced its first book, entitled Spin Alternative Record Guide.[8] It compiled writings by 64 music critics on recording artists and bands relevant to the alternative music movement, with each artist's entry featuring their discography and albums reviewed and rated a score between one and ten.[9] According to Pitchfork Media's Matthew Perpetua, the book featured "the best and brightest writers of the 80s and 90s, many of whom started off in zines but have since become major figures in music criticism," including Rob Sheffield, Byron Coley, Ann Powers, Simon Reynolds, and Alex Ross. Although the book was not a sales success, "it inspired a disproportionate number of young readers to pursue music criticism."[10] After the book was published, its entry on 1960s folk artist John Fahey, written by Byron Coley, helped renew interest in Fahey's music, leading to interest from record labels and the alternative music scene.[11]

Contributors

Notable contributors to Spin have included:

Year-end lists

SPIN began compiling year-end lists in 1990.

Single of the Year

Year Artist Song Nation Source
1994 Beck "Loser"  United States
1995 Moby "Feeling So Real"  United States
1996 The Fugees "Ready or Not"  United States
1997 The Notorious B.I.G. "Hypnotize"  United States
1998 Fatboy Slim "The Rockafeller Skank"  England
1999 TLC "No Scrubs"  United States
2000 Eminem "The Real Slim Shady"  United States
2001 Missy Elliott "Get Ur Freak On"  United States
2002 Eminem "Cleanin' Out My Closet"  United States
2003 50 Cent "In da Club"  United States
2004 Green Day "American Idiot"  United States
2005 Gorillaz "Feel Good Inc."  England
2006 Gnarls Barkley "Crazy"  United States
2007 Kanye West "Stronger"  United States
2008 M.I.A. "Paper Planes"  England
2009 Yeah Yeah Yeahs "Zero"  United States
2010 Cee-Lo Green "Fuck You"  United States
2011 Adele "Rolling in the Deep"  England
2012 GOOD Music "Mercy"  United States
2013 Daft Punk "Get Lucky"  France
2014 Future Islands "Seasons (Waiting on You)"  United States
2015 Justin Bieber "What Do You Mean?"  Canada

Album of the Year

Year Artist Album Nation Source
1990 Ice Cube AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted  United States
1991 Teenage Fanclub Bandwagonesque  Scotland
1992 Pavement Slanted and Enchanted  United States
1993 Liz Phair Exile in Guyville  United States
1994 Hole Live Through This  United States
1995 Moby Everything is Wrong  United States
1996 Beck Odelay  United States
1997 Cornershop When I Was Born for the 7th Time  England
1998 Lauryn Hill The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill  United States
1999 Nine Inch Nails The Fragile  United States
2000 Radiohead Kid A  England [12]
2001 System of a Down Toxicity  United States [13]
2002 The White Stripes White Blood Cells  United States
2003 The White Stripes Elephant  United States
2004 Kanye West The College Dropout  United States
2005 Kanye West Late Registration  United States
2006 TV on the Radio Return to Cookie Mountain  United States
2007 Against Me! New Wave  United States
2008 TV on the Radio Dear Science  United States
2009 Animal Collective Merriweather Post Pavilion  United States
2010 Kanye West My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy  United States
2011 Fucked Up David Comes to Life  Canada
2012 Frank Ocean Channel Orange  United States
2013 Kanye West Yeezus  United States
2014 The War on Drugs Lost in the Dream  United States
2015 Kendrick Lamar To Pimp A Butterfly  United States [46]

Note: The 2000 album of the year was awarded to "your hard drive", acknowledging the impact that filesharing had on the music listening experience in 2000.[12] Kid A was listed as number 2, the highest ranking given to an actual album.

See also

References

Footnotes
  1. ↑ "AAM: Total Circ for Consumer Magazines". Retrieved May 7, 2016.
  2. ↑ Chris Welch (December 10, 2012). "Publishers bring 195 new magazines to print in 2012 despite ongoing digital push". The Verge. Retrieved February 14, 2014.
  3. ↑ Christopher Zara (December 22, 2012). "In Memoriam: Magazines We Lost In 2012". International Business Times. Retrieved November 8, 2014.
  4. ↑ Bull, Bart (April 2006). "Messin' with the Hook". Spin. Retrieved May 29, 2012.
  5. ↑ George Raine (March 1, 2006). "S.F. group buys 20-year-old rock music magazine Spin". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved October 17, 2007.
  6. ↑ "Spin Magazine Is Sold to Buzzmedia, With Plans to Expand Online Reach By Ben Sisario July 10, 2012 7:43 am".
  7. ↑ "The Daily Swarm". Retrieved May 7, 2016.
  8. ↑ Johnston 2007.
  9. ↑ Anon. 2012, p. 313; Mazmanian 1995, p. 70
  10. ↑ Perpetua 2011.
  11. ↑ Ratliff 1997.
  12. 1 2 Spin, January 2001.
  13. ↑ spencerkaufman (September 4, 2011). "10 Things You Didn't Know About 'Toxicity'". Loudwire. Retrieved May 7, 2016.
Bibliography

External links

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