CREEM DOCUMENTARY
Crème :
Creme America's Only Rock 'n' Roll Magazine", was a
monthly rock 'n' roll publication first published in March 1969 by Barry Kramer
and founding editor Tony ..
Final issue: 1989 First
issue:
March 1969
History :
In the winter of 1969, Barry Kramer owned the Detroit record
store Full Circle as well as Mixed Media, a head shop/bookstore and was an
unsuccessful concert promoter and band manager. In a fit of pique at the local
alternative paper rejecting his concert review, he decided to publish his own
paper. Tony Ready, a clerk at the record store, became the first editor, naming
the publication after his favourite band, Cream. Charlie Au ringer became the
photo editor and designer, and Dave Marsh joined soon after at age 19. The
first issue was distributed only in Detroit as a tabloid-sized newspaper. A
deal was struck with a distributor, but many copies were ordered by porn shops
who were confused by the faintly suggestive title, who displayed it next to the
similarly sized Screw magazine. Richard Siegel became circulation director and
within two years CREEM had become a glossy colour magazine, sized for newsstand
distribution, and secured a national distribution deal.
The original offices were at 3729 Cass Avenue in Detroit for
the first two years. An armed robbery of the offices convinced Kramer to move
the operation to a 120-acre farm in Walled Lake, Michigan at 13 Mile and
Haggerty Road. Just before the move, Lester Bangs was hired, originally to
write a feature on Alice Cooper. He had been fired from rival music magazine
Rolling Stone by publisher Jan Winner for "disrespecting musicians"
after a particularly harsh review of the group Canned Heat. Bangs fell in love
with Detroit, calling it "rock's only hope", and remained there for
five years.
Many of the staff members lived in the Walled Lake farmhouse,
with occasional physical altercations between writers. Marsh had objected to
Bangs' poorly housebroken dog, and placed the dog's dung on Bangs' typewriter.
This resulted in a fistfight that gave Marsh a gash on his head. Eventually,
the magazine was successful enough to move to professional editorial offices in
downtown Birmingham, Michigan. After becoming editor in 1971, Bangs left the
magazine in 1976 and never wrote for it again. On January 29, 1981, Kramer died
of an overdose of nitrous oxide, and Bangs died a year later on April 30, 1982
in New York City of an accidental Dragon overdose.
This geographical separation from the majority of the
entertainment industry in the United States, then focused primarily in
Hollywood and New York City, resulted in certain irreverence, a deprecatory and
humorous tone that permeated the magazine throughout its existence. The
magazine became famous for its comical photo captions, which poked fun at rock
stars, the industry, and even the magazine itself. Every year, the tall
Plexiglas pyramid presented as the American Music Award was dubbed "The
Object From Space", and was attributed with the power to force celebrities
to look ridiculous while holding it. The location also meant CREEM was among
the first national publications with in-depth coverage of many popular
Detroit-area artists, such as Bob Seeger, Mitch Ryder, Alice Cooper, The MC5,
The Stooges, Iggy Pop, and Parliament-Funkadelic, as well as other Midwestern
acts such as Raspberries and Cheap Trick.
Influence :
CREEM picked up on punk rock (which many claim the magazine,
and especially Bangs, helped to conceptualize, if not invent) and new wave
movements early on. CREEM gave massive exposure to artists like Lou Reed, David
Bowie, Roxy Music, Blondie, and The New York Dolls years before the mainstream
press. In the 1980s, it also led the pack on coverage of such upcoming rock
icons as R.E.M., The Replacements, The Smiths, The Go-Go's and The Cure, among
numerous others. It was also among the first to sing the praises of metal acts
like Moorhead, Kiss, Judas Priest, and Van Halen. Melvin’s guitarist Roger
"Buzz" Osborne taught Kurt Cobain about punk by loaning him records
and old copies of CREEM.
Alice Cooper referenced the magazine in his song
"Detroit City" – "But the Riff kept a Rocking', the Crème kept
a-talking', and the streets still smoking' today". Thurston Moore of Sonic
Youth said: "Having a certain sense of humour in the rock'n'roll culture –
CREEM nailed it in a way that nobody else was. It informed a lot of people's
sensibilities."
Staff :
Publishers, editors and writers for CREEM included Barry
(and, later, his wife Connie) Kramer, Lester Bangs, Dave Marsh, Billy Altman,
Bob Fleck, John Northland, Ben Edmonds, Ed Ward, Richard Riesel, Rice Siegel,
Robert Christmas, Richard Meltzer, Nick Torches, Grail Marcus, Jeffrey Morgan,
Richard C. Walls, Rob Tyner, Patti Smith, Peter Laugher, Cameron Crowe, Trixie
A. Balm (a.k.a. Lauren Angell), Craig Carpel, Linda Barber, Catherine GIs,
Charlie Au ringer, Todd Weinstein, Laura Levine, Judy Adams, Jana Uhelszki,
Penny Valentine, Susan Whitall, John "The Mad" Peck, Robot A. Hull,
Edward Kelleher (aka, Edouard Dauphin), Rick Johnson, Bruce Malamute, Lotto D.
Blooz, John Mendelsohn, Jon Young, Lisa Robinson, Vicki Ark off, Deborah Frost,
Cynthia Rose, Mike Gurley, Sylvie Simmons, Gregg Turner, Chuck Eddy, Mark J.
Norton, Alan Nester, Robert Duncan, Alan Madlane (as Alan Madeleine), Judy Wielder,
Colman Andrews, Jim Esposito, Dave Dilation, Bill Hold ship and John Kurdish.
These last three edited the final versions of CREEM in the 1980s.
The magazine moved its base of operations to Los Angeles in
January 1987 shortly before it ceased publication. Hold ship and Kurdish were
both involved in CREEM's move to Los Angeles after it was purchased by Arnold
Levitt, but both had already left the magazine before its move to New York City
after Levitt licensed the name to a publisher there, and its ultimate demise.
Before licensing CREEM to the New Yorkers, Levitt made Judy Wielder
editor-in-chief of a heavy metal version of CREEM, called CREEM METAL, which
was originally edited by Dilation, Hold ship and Kurdish and which sold well. A
young female audience-targeted spinoff, CREEM ROCK-SHOTS, was also published,
as were countless special editions throughout the '80s. Former William Morris
agent, musician and journalist Mark J. Patrice (aka Dusty Wright) became the
editor during its New York residence over 1992–93. Chris Nadler was the last
editor before the magazine was shut down. Steve Peters and David Sprague were
the final members remaining in the original editorial chain that reached back
to 1969.
Graphic design :
The CREEM logo was designed by Bob Wilson, who also wrote a
regular comic strip, "Mike and Barney". The "Mr Dream whip"
and "Boy Howdy" icons were designed by underground cartoonist Robert
Crumb, reportedly for $50. Both appeared on the cover of the second issue as a
black and white drawing titled Detroit 1969. For the December 1971 issue,
Wilson collared the drawing, which appeared in every following issue in a Crème’s
Profiles, a parody of the then-popular Dewar's Profiles, featuring musicians
and bands holding cans of "Boy Howdy" beer.
Dispute and current ownership
Ownership of the magazine, trademark and intellectual
property has changed hands numerous times since the death of publisher Barry
Kramer in 1981, and the magazine's subsequent bankruptcy.
Arnold Levitt bought the rights to the magazine in 1986 from
Connie Kramer, and added titles including one devoted exclusively to metal
along with numerous monthly special editions, before shutting it down in 1988.
In 1990, he licensed it to a group of Florida investors who published a
bimonthly glossy tabloid version, but it was not successful either.
The release of writer and director Cameron Crowe's
semi-autobiographical film Almost Famous in 2000, and Philip Seymour Hoffman's
portrayal of editor Lester Bangs, resurrected interest in CREEM and rock
journalism of the era. Former CREEM photographer Robert Mathieu formed Crème
Media in 2001 with his cousin Jason Turner and Michigan businessman Ken Culpa.
They negotiated a five-year licensing deal with Levitt, with the option to
purchase the magazine's intellectual property rights for $100,000. They
launched a website and generated new content, primarily to maintain the brand.
As the five-year deadline of the licensing deal approached, Mathieu
sought investors, and got a $52,500 investment from Los Angeles disk jockey
Chris Carter and Barry Kramer's son J.J. Kramer. Mathieu provided the balance
of the $100,000.
Carter and Kramer claim that they were verbally promised
one-third of Crème Media for their investment by Mathieu.
Turner and Culpa claim they were never consulted about the
deal, and never approved it.
Mathieu claims he never promised Carter and Kramer such a
large share for their investment.
In 2007, Kramer sued in New York County and won, as the Court
ruled that Crème Media could take no action without the approval of Carter and
Kramer.
Mathieu tired of the legal battle, and resigned from the
board of Creem Media in 2009. As of 2011, Crème Media, Inc. is defunct.
In 2017, a group headed by Kramer acquired the CREEM brand
and its archives. Kramer is also producing a documentary on CREEM Magazine in
collaboration with New Rose Films.[
Crème :
Crème (which is always capitalized in print as CREEM despite
the magazine's nameplate appearing in mostly lower case letters),
"America's Only Rock 'n' Roll Magazine", was a monthly rock 'n' roll
publication first published in March 1969 by Barry Kramer and founding editor
Tony Ready. It suspended production in 1989 but received a short-lived
renaissance in the early 1990s as a glossy tabloid. Lester Bangs, often cited
as "America's Greatest Rock Critic", became editor in 1971. The term
"punk rock" was coined by the magazine in May 1971, in Dave Marsh's
Looney Tunes column about Question Mark & the Mysteries.
History :
In the winter of 1969, Barry Kramer owned the Detroit record
store Full Circle as well as Mixed Media, a head shop/bookstore and was an
unsuccessful concert promoter and band manager. In a fit of pique at the local
alternative paper rejecting his concert review, he decided to publish his own
paper. Tony Ready, a clerk at the record store, became the first editor, naming
the publication after his favourite band, Cream. Charlie Au ringer became the
photo editor and designer, and Dave Marsh joined soon after at age 19. The
first issue was distributed only in Detroit as a tabloid-sized newspaper. A
deal was struck with a distributor, but many copies were ordered by porn shops
who were confused by the faintly suggestive title, who displayed it next to the
similarly sized Screw magazine. Richard Siegel became circulation director and
within two years CREEM had become a glossy colour magazine, sized for newsstand
distribution, and secured a national distribution deal.
The original offices were at 3729 Cass Avenue in Detroit for
the first two years. An armed robbery of the offices convinced Kramer to move
the operation to a 120-acre farm in Walled Lake, Michigan at 13 Mile and
Haggerty Road. Just before the move, Lester Bangs was hired, originally to
write a feature on Alice Cooper. He had been fired from rival music magazine
Rolling Stone by publisher Jan Winner for "disrespecting musicians"
after a particularly harsh review of the group Canned Heat. Bangs fell in love
with Detroit, calling it "rock's only hope", and remained there for
five years.
Many of the staff members lived in the Walled Lake farmhouse,
with occasional physical altercations between writers. Marsh had objected to
Bangs' poorly housebroken dog, and placed the dog's dung on Bangs' typewriter.
This resulted in a fistfight that gave Marsh a gash on his head. Eventually,
the magazine was successful enough to move to professional editorial offices in
downtown Birmingham, Michigan. After becoming editor in 1971, Bangs left the
magazine in 1976 and never wrote for it again. On January 29, 1981, Kramer died
of an overdose of nitrous oxide, and Bangs died a year later on April 30, 1982
in New York City of an accidental Dragon overdose.
This geographical separation from the majority of the
entertainment industry in the United States, then focused primarily in
Hollywood and New York City, resulted in certain irreverence, a deprecatory and
humorous tone that permeated the magazine throughout its existence. The
magazine became famous for its comical photo captions, which poked fun at rock
stars, the industry, and even the magazine itself. Every year, the tall
Plexiglas pyramid presented as the American Music Award was dubbed "The
Object From Space", and was attributed with the power to force celebrities
to look ridiculous while holding it. The location also meant CREEM was among
the first national publications with in-depth coverage of many popular
Detroit-area artists, such as Bob Seeger, Mitch Ryder, Alice Cooper, The MC5,
The Stooges, Iggy Pop, and Parliament-Funkadelic, as well as other Midwestern
acts such as Raspberries and Cheap Trick.
Influence :
CREEM picked up on punk rock (which many claim the magazine,
and especially Bangs, helped to conceptualize, if not invent) and new wave
movements early on. CREEM gave massive exposure to artists like Lou Reed, David
Bowie, Roxy Music, Blondie, and The New York Dolls years before the mainstream
press. In the 1980s, it also led the pack on coverage of such upcoming rock
icons as R.E.M., The Replacements, The Smiths, The Go-Go's and The Cure, among
numerous others. It was also among the first to sing the praises of metal acts
like Moorhead, Kiss, Judas Priest, and Van Halen. Melvin’s guitarist Roger
"Buzz" Osborne taught Kurt Cobain about punk by loaning him records
and old copies of CREEM.
Alice Cooper referenced the magazine in his song
"Detroit City" – "But the Riff kept a Rocking', the Crème kept
a-talking', and the streets still smoking' today". Thurston Moore of Sonic
Youth said: "Having a certain sense of humour in the rock'n'roll culture –
CREEM nailed it in a way that nobody else was. It informed a lot of people's
sensibilities."
Staff :
Publishers, editors and writers for CREEM included Barry
(and, later, his wife Connie) Kramer, Lester Bangs, Dave Marsh, Billy Altman,
Bob Fleck, John Northland, Ben Edmonds, Ed Ward, Richard Riesel, Rice Siegel,
Robert Christmas, Richard Meltzer, Nick Torches, Grail Marcus, Jeffrey Morgan,
Richard C. Walls, Rob Tyner, Patti Smith, Peter Laugher, Cameron Crowe, Trixie
A. Balm (a.k.a. Lauren Angell), Craig Carpel, Linda Barber, Catherine GIs,
Charlie Au ringer, Todd Weinstein, Laura Levine, Judy Adams, Jana Uhelszki,
Penny Valentine, Susan Whitall, John "The Mad" Peck, Robot A. Hull,
Edward Kelleher (aka, Edouard Dauphin), Rick Johnson, Bruce Malamute, Lotto D.
Blooz, John Mendelsohn, Jon Young, Lisa Robinson, Vicki Ark off, Deborah Frost,
Cynthia Rose, Mike Gurley, Sylvie Simmons, Gregg Turner, Chuck Eddy, Mark J.
Norton, Alan Nester, Robert Duncan, Alan Madlane (as Alan Madeleine), Judy Wielder,
Colman Andrews, Jim Esposito, Dave Dilation, Bill Hold ship and John Kurdish.
These last three edited the final versions of CREEM in the 1980s.
The magazine moved its base of operations to Los Angeles in
January 1987 shortly before it ceased publication. Hold ship and Kurdish were
both involved in CREEM's move to Los Angeles after it was purchased by Arnold
Levitt, but both had already left the magazine before its move to New York City
after Levitt licensed the name to a publisher there, and its ultimate demise.
Before licensing CREEM to the New Yorkers, Levitt made Judy Wielder
editor-in-chief of a heavy metal version of CREEM, called CREEM METAL, which
was originally edited by Dilation, Hold ship and Kurdish and which sold well. A
young female audience-targeted spinoff, CREEM ROCK-SHOTS, was also published,
as were countless special editions throughout the '80s. Former William Morris
agent, musician and journalist Mark J. Patrice (aka Dusty Wright) became the
editor during its New York residence over 1992–93. Chris Nadler was the last
editor before the magazine was shut down. Steve Peters and David Sprague were
the final members remaining in the original editorial chain that reached back
to 1969.
Graphic design :
The CREEM logo was designed by Bob Wilson, who also wrote a
regular comic strip, "Mike and Barney". The "Mr Dream whip"
and "Boy Howdy" icons were designed by underground cartoonist Robert
Crumb, reportedly for $50. Both appeared on the cover of the second issue as a
black and white drawing titled Detroit 1969. For the December 1971 issue,
Wilson collared the drawing, which appeared in every following issue in a Crème’s
Profiles, a parody of the then-popular Dewar's Profiles, featuring musicians
and bands holding cans of "Boy Howdy" beer.
Dispute and current ownership
Ownership of the magazine, trademark and intellectual
property has changed hands numerous times since the death of publisher Barry
Kramer in 1981, and the magazine's subsequent bankruptcy.
Arnold Levitt bought the rights to the magazine in 1986 from
Connie Kramer, and added titles including one devoted exclusively to metal
along with numerous monthly special editions, before shutting it down in 1988.
In 1990, he licensed it to a group of Florida investors who published a
bimonthly glossy tabloid version, but it was not successful either.
The release of writer and director Cameron Crowe's
semi-autobiographical film Almost Famous in 2000, and Philip Seymour Hoffman's
portrayal of editor Lester Bangs, resurrected interest in CREEM and rock
journalism of the era. Former CREEM photographer Robert Mathieu formed Crème
Media in 2001 with his cousin Jason Turner and Michigan businessman Ken Culpa.
They negotiated a five-year licensing deal with Levitt, with the option to
purchase the magazine's intellectual property rights for $100,000. They
launched a website and generated new content, primarily to maintain the brand.
As the five-year deadline of the licensing deal approached, Mathieu
sought investors, and got a $52,500 investment from Los Angeles disk jockey
Chris Carter and Barry Kramer's son J.J. Kramer. Mathieu provided the balance
of the $100,000.
Carter and Kramer claim that they were verbally promised
one-third of Crème Media for their investment by Mathieu.
Turner and Culpa claim they were never consulted about the
deal, and never approved it.
Mathieu claims he never promised Carter and Kramer such a
large share for their investment.
In 2007, Kramer sued in New York County and won, as the Court
ruled that Crème Media could take no action without the approval of Carter and
Kramer.
Mathieu tired of the legal battle, and resigned from the
board of Creem Media in 2009. As of 2011, Crème Media, Inc. is defunct.
In 2017, a group headed by Kramer acquired the CREEM brand
and its archives. Kramer is also producing a documentary on CREEM Magazine in
collaboration with New Rose Films.[
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