‘Creem’ captures raw power of rebellious rock magazine
Creem magazine called itself “America’s Only Rock ’n’ Roll Magazine” and that was true in two ways: (1) Unlike Rolling Stone, which dealt with culture in general, Creem was entirely focused on rock music; and (2) the magazine was rock ’n’ roll. It embodied the rock aesthetic just in the way it was written.
Years later, it’s difficult to convey to people who weren’t alive at the time just how important this magazine was to teenagers in the mid1970s. But the new documentary “Creem: America’s Only Rock ’n’ Roll Magazine” gets us part of the way there.
Before the internet, before MTV, back when rock performers, writers and consumers were almost entirely under the age of 30, Creem magazine was a missive from a world of exuberance, total skepticism and absolute honesty. It suggested a promised world where young people got to run everything. In that way, it embodied for the coming generation a vision of what journalism itself needed to be — outrageous, surprising, personalitydriven and engaged in a direct communication with its readers.
Recently, I happened to find an old Creem from 1976 and was impressed anew with the energy jumping off of every page. Future scholars looking into the cultural mindset of the mid’70s need to make a Creem immersion their first step. Without it, they won’t have a clue what young people were thinking.
Produced by J.J. Kramer, the son of Barry Kramer, the Detroit recordstore owner who started the magazine, the documentary tells the story of the magazine’s emergence, how it began in a dingy office space in Detroit’s redlight district. Eventually, there was a stint where the magazine operated on a farm, with all the editors and contributors living under the same roof, followed by Creem’s relocation to an office in Birmingham, Mich.
The elder Kramer is presented as a troubled and erratic guy, but someone who possessed a remarkable instinct for talent. He hired the 19yearold Dave Marsh as editor in chief and later the 20yearold Lester Bangs, both of whom became major figures in rock ’n’ roll journalism. The film was cowritten by another pioneering rock critic, Jaan Uhelszki, who also appears in oncamera interviews. Uhelszki grew up in Detroit and began as a subscription agent with Creem, later getting her stories published at outlets throughout the country, including The Chronicle.
Notably, though the magazine promoted Michigan artists such as Suzi Quatro and Bob Seger, Creem was no less plugged into the New York scene. Before anybody else was writing about Patti Smith and Blondie, they were famous to the readers of Creem.
The film features interviews with some devoted readers who went on to become musicians, such as Chad Smith of the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Jeff Ament of Pearl Jam. They all speak of Creem with the kind of awe and reverence reserved to the totems of one’s youth.
For sure, there was some rock ’n’ roll lifestyle going on there, because the magic came with a body count. It also didn’t last long. Though the magazine technically existed from 1969 to 1989, Creem started to fade when Bangs left in 1976. By the end of the decade, it was no longer what it had been.
But as the documentary shows, while it lasted, it was really something.