Rock mag Creem attempts comeback after more than 30 years

NEW YORK (AP) — Creem, which billed itself as “America's only rock ‘n’ roll magazine” during two decades of existence that ended in 1989, is being revived next month.

The return is a remarkable story of persistence by J.J. Kramer, who was bequeathed the magazine at age 4 upon the death of his father, founder Barry Kramer. It will reappear during far different times, with a marketing plan that the late writer Lester Bangs or makers of the fake “Boy Howdy” beer could hardly conceive of.

The first new issue, a glossy quarterly, is due out in September and only available to people who spend $79 for a subscription.

Founded in Detroit, Creem was the impish, slightly rude younger brother of Rolling Stone. The name was an intentional misspelling of the rock band Cream, one of the first editor's favorites.

Though known best for Motown soul, Detroit was also a rock ‘n’ roll hotbed with artists like MC5, Iggy Pop, Alice Cooper, Mitch Ryder and Bob Seger. Hard rocking bands, and then the onslaught of punk, provided the magazine's backbone in its 1970s heyday.

Creem was an incubator of writing talent like Dave Marsh, Robert Christgau, Lisa Robinson, Cameron Crowe and Greil Marcus.

Rock stars weren't put on a pedestal in Creem, and its reviews could be nasty — along with sexist and profane. Bangs was the toughest, and his feud with Lou Reed was legendary. Creem poked fun at a stuffy Dewar's scotch profiles ad campaign by picturing artists holding beer cans emblazoned with a “Boy Howdy” logo drawn by cartoonist Robert Crumb.

In a 2019 documentary about the magazine, former R.E.M. singer Michael Stipe recalled first seeing Creem while in high school detention, realizing that he'd found the perfect gang of misfits.

“Buying Creem was a little bit like buying Playboy,” actor Jeff...