Customer Reviews

CREEM: America's Only Rock 'N' Roll Magazine

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Back in the mid-seventies, along with (that "other' rock magazine) Circus, I was an avid reader of: Creem. What set this magazine apart from everything else on the newstands was that Creem was only about rock music, no social commentary or politics like: "Rolling Stone". And while "Circus" was fairly straight journalism, this Mag: Creem. never ever took itself very serious. This rag was fun to read, and contained some really cool photographs of the good, the bad and the ugly. It was a: "Must-Read." And as a source for information on rock music and the wild lifestyle of the artists involved, this publication was second To none.

So, I had very high expectations about this book going in. Well, the major problem I have with this book is that it only scratches the surface of what this magazine was REALLY about. I don't agree with the book's editors, and why this was put together in this form. Again, Creem was: "Low-Brow" entertainment, and that is why that it is remembered so fondly today. But still, this book (in spots) does give you that creemy feeling that made this rag so special. Grace Slick, shows that wonderful breast and Joe Perry has wrecked his Corvette, that is what this magazine was all about. We need more totaled cars & cool breasts...That WAS Creem.

I can remember so much from the over 100 issues that I collected. But, I just didn't find enough great "Boy Howdy" in the pages of this book. This volume is good, but it could have been great. It would take set of books of this size, (at least 10) to bring back Creem for the children of the 21st century in the proper manner. The spirit of Creem was larger than this book would lead you to believe.
I need more Creem....Please!!!

Certainly a different flavor of magazine for those whose knowledge of R n' R begins and ends with Rolling Stone.

A "Can't go wrong" book for a R n' R fan.

This coffee table version of Creem magazine is nicely done in that it gives those unfamiliar with the magazine a taste of what it must've been like. I read every issue of Creem from about 1973 until its demise, and as much as I enjoyed reading this, there is an enormous amount of great stuff missing. So consider this book a primer. What's here is great fun, and provides some laughs and some terrific reading as well. But if there's some enterprising publisher out there who really wants to take it to another level, how about a Creem book that collects the best journalism the magazine had to offer? You won't find the record reviews here (many of which are the stuff of legend). Also missing are regular columns like Letter From Britain, Unsung Heroes of Rock 'N' Roll, Juke Box Jury, Eleganza, Confessions of a Film Fox and many more. Of course it wouldn't have all fit. But too much is missing for this to be the definitive treatment of the magazine. All I know for certain is that if I had an unread Creem, Rolling Stone, Crawdaddy, NY Rocker, Circus, Hit Parader and Trouser Press sitting on the table unread it was always Creem I reached for first. More than any of the others, it shaped what I was listening to, and gave a voice to the rebelliousness and restlessness I was feeling. And it did that while making me laugh. For my money it was the best of a classic bunch of rock magazines from an age we shall not see again. So buy a copy of this. Maybe if it sells enough we'll get the sequel.

Forget Rolling Stone. That rag hasn't been relevant since long before Creem ceased publication. Here is America's Only Rock and Roll Magazine in it's glory. Creem embodied rock and roll a helluva lot more than some of the corporate rock that they covered back when I read it in the late 1970s. The great thing about the magazine was, even if you sometimes didn't care for the bands they did stories on, the writing was fun and stood on it's own merit. Complaints about the band's represented here are misguided. The magazine itself was the star! Youth culture will never again be as innocent, or as powerful as it was during Creem's glory years. If you weren't there to experience it firsthand, this anthology will give you a pretty good indication of what you missed out on.

For years I had been looking for cheap back issues of Creem, the ones I read back in the late '70s and early '80s as a preteen and teen. You see, I totally blame Creem for my love of the Clash, the Pretenders, Cheap Trick, Blondie, Tom Petty, and Springsteen.

They were soundtrack of my high school years. I used Creem's reviews to decide whether to use my hard earned $5 to buy the GenX album or the Tom Petty and the Heartbreaker's second one. (I bought Tom Petty, which I still think was a good choice.)

So I was excited to see a picture of the book last weekend in the Rocky Mountain News and quickly rushed out to a local bookstore with a holiday discount coupon to get it.

I wasn't disappointed. There were so many interviews, pictures and "Star's Cars" ads that I remembered. And some I had no idea they did, like Adam Ant and Duran Duran. (I must have missed those issues because I loved those bands.)

It was wonderful to see the early interviews with Iggy Pop, more on the history of Detroit bands like MC5, and Androgyny in Rock - all articles that were written before I became a Creem devotee.

But I do remember that Pretenders interview - Boy Howdy! And the Clash one too. (It would have been interesting to see later Clash interviews when they acted nice about being in the U.S. and interviewed by Creem.)

But there was so much that they had to leave out - oodles of BackStage pages (which totally went over my head as a teen), an interview with a slightly drunk (off two beers) Springsteen, interviews with Cheap Trick, the Ramones, Tom Petty, et al.

GIMMEE MORE!

I just hope that Creem is successful enough with this book to release another volume or two. I guess I'll have to read 'em online. An all Bruce Springsteen issue or a New Wave/Punk issue would be great, too.

And yes, if you have old issues of Creem in the garage, give me a call.

I started reading Creem in 1974 and bought and kept every magazine until its demise.

Five years ago my wife and I built a house and in order to "downsize" I took every issue that I had to the local trash site and dumped them in ... not thinking I'd ever miss them.

Needless to say ... I miss them.

This is a somewhat nice addition to my library but will never be considered a true replacement for those 150 or so magazines. But it was a Christmas present that almost brought a tear to my eye!

This book captures the attitude and motor oil drenched swagger of the magazine beautifully! The photographs, the "Boy Howdy" beer ads,the articles that make you feel like you're at the show,and then backstage,it's all there! It's a great book that I will keep next to my toilet for many years to come. A "Rama Lama Fa Fa Fa" to the authors for allowing me to be who I am, and let me kick out the jams!

I remember as a kid reading Circus, Hit Parader & Creem. I loved the photos in Creem, I think they were more candid. I think at ten & eleven I didn't really get their humor & sarcasm, but loved the magazine anyway. It was such a raw view of the music scene. No B.S. like what Rolling Stone was printing. There is just enough of Kiss, Alice Cooper and the Stones to make the book worthwhile. There were so many gr8 issues of Creem that I imagine it was hard to compile the best into one book. I do wish they would have had a little less of Iggy or MC5 and maybe put one article of Peter Frampton or Deep Purple in. All in all, gr8 book- Boy Howdy!!

Finding this book was sort of like finding a single love letter from your favorite old flame. Ahhh, the memories begin to flood back, maybe the barest hint of perfume, perhaps a picture falls out and you pick it up. You read the words that can only hint at how much fun the relationship was, but the feeling is fleeting. One letter can't tell the tale. You're older, you've moved on with your life, and so has she.....

Man, oh man. See, back in the day, CREEM magazine was by far the best rock music rag on the planet. Hit Parader and Circus were ok, but neither of them was as raw and dangerous as CREEM was. CREEM didn't just report on the music scene, it helped to DEFINE the scene, it was a vital part of it. The rockers themselves read it, and some of the writers and critics that worked for CREEM were celebrities in their own right. I began reading CREEM in the late 1970's, when I was about 14 years old. It covered the bands that my parents absolutely HATED, so that made it a must-have for me. PLUS, there was always the chance that an issue would have a breast or panty shot in the photo section. SCORE! Those issues always went directly into storage under my mattress. CREEM turned me on to countless bands and helped to expand my mind, and for that I'll always treasure it.

This book? Naught but a trifle, a whisper of what was once greatness. Coffee table sized, packed with articles and pics, but barely a hint of what the magazine was all about. If you've never read CREEM, then this is a decent place to start, and I'll give it 3 stars for it's existence alone. If it can point people to search out back issues in used bookstores and on eBay, then it's done it's job. By no means, however, does it even begin to conjure any of the magic that was the magazine itself. Like that long lost love letter, it can only bring back a few faded memories and inspire a slightly naughty smile in tribute to days gone by. Get thee to a garage sale and see if you can find a box full of those old mags.....oh, and go BOY HOWDY!

Somehow I first discovered CREEM at the Happy Apple in Dearborn. By then it was a slick mag with the Jackson 5 on the cover. I ended up buying the color Mr. Dreemwhip cover and was hooked from there on. That may have been the defining moment in my life. When they went full color later it might have been an affront to Circus and Hit Parader, and even some readers but the writing was still on top. This book attempts to capture the spirit without getting too nostalgic. The photos enclosed here are great. The covers sans article leads and typish coverage was a great idea. For the price (today's) of any issue from '69-'71 you get a great overview of the mag + times. Being an overview a lot of cherished stuff might get tossed, I miss a lot of the reviews but whattaya gonna do? Bangs stuff has been lovingly cared for elsewhere, though the Lou Reed dust-up needs a little revelation. Hopefully this is not the end. The MC5 movie is still floating in the ether, Patti is still sitting on some tapes, Baby Kramer is pissed about this tome, Ben Edmonds has yet to write the history of Dee-troit rock promised so many years ago, and me? I'm waiting to hook up with the elf who had all those great early Iggy + Aerosmith shots at the Beatles-fest all those years ago. ("I usedta work for CREEM. You'll know when they go up for sale...."). C'mon dude, I'm still interested.