Article Author:
Associated Press
David Bauder
NEW YORK (AP) — Creem has been around for 20 years and is back in 1989 next month.
Return J.J. Kramer was bequeathed the magazine when his father and founder, Barry Kramer, died when he was four years old. It would reappear at a much different time, with a marketing scheme that the late author Lester Bangs and the makers of the fake "Boy Howdy" beer could hardly have imagined.
The first new issue, the glossy quarterly magazine, is due out in September and will only be available to users with a $79 subscription.
Founded in Detroit, Cream was Rolling Stone's slightly rude little brother. The name was a deliberate misspelling of his band Cream, one of his first editor favorites.
Detroit is best known for Motown his soul, but was also a hotbed of rock and roll for artists like MC5, Iggy Pop, Alice Cooper, Mitch Ryder, and Bob Seger. In its 1970s heyday, hard rock bands, and later the punk onslaught, provided the magazine's backbone.
Cream was an incubator for talented authors such as Dave Marsh, Robert Christgau, Lisa Robinson, Cameron Crowe, and Grail Marcus.
Rock stars were not put on cream pedestals. The review was sexist, profane, and potentially nasty. His bangs were the toughest and his feud with Lou Reed was legendary. Cream teased the stifling Dewar's Scotch profile ad campaign by depicting the artist holding a beer can emblazoned with the "Boy Howdy" logo drawn by cartoonist Robert Crumb. In his 2019 documentary for
magazine, former R.E.M. I realized that I had found a gang of people.
"Buying cream was a bit like buying Playboy," actor Jeff Daniels said in the documentary. "You didn't want either of your parents to see you."
Kramer's death from a drug overdose in 1981 marked the beginning of the end. His son was named as a preschool "Chairman of the Board" in the magazine's masthead. Barry Kramer's widow, Connie, as a publisher, deputized because his son was underage, sold the publication in 1985 when it went bankrupt. Cream stopped publishing four years after him.
Bravely like a nine-year-old, J.J. "I've spent most of my life trying to get to this point," he told the Associated Press before the revival. It's like it was pre-determined in a way I couldn't fight it.
It took several years, but Kramer regained control of Cream. It helps that he is an intellectual property attorney.
Now he is serving as chairman again and is putting together a plan for a comeback with John Martin, CEO and former co-publisher of Creem Entertainment. The idea is to put Creem at the center of a media company that includes podcasts, merchandise and branded entertainment.
“Why no Creemfest?” Martin asked. "It's something that should and sounds like it should exist."
But he's no longer in the 1970s. Rock and roll doesn't influence culture as much as it once did. Popular music is dominated by rap and pop. The music press is as diffuse as the music itself. Well-made rock'n roll his glossy on the market, such as Mojo and Uncut, are based in the UK.
Kramer and Martin believe there is still room for publications to draw in rock and roll fans, from Haim fans to Metallica fans.
"When was the last time you laughed at a book about music?" Martin said.
Bangs, who died in 1982, is no more, he said, but there are many new voices important to the current scene, some working on forums like Substack.
The mix of articles in the first issue speaks to Creem's intended breadth. For nostalgists, there are excerpts from an unreleased book on The Who, a re-evaluation of his 1972 rock album by The Osmonds, and a revival of "Star's Cars" featuring Slash and his wheels. I have. There are articles about new artists of varying popularity levels like Mac DeMarco and Amyl and the Sniffers, as well as rap like Lil Aaron and KeiyaA and his R&B personality. Samir Husni, founder and director of
Magazine Media Center, said he had already paid for the subscription and was impressed with the new business plan. Many people fondly remember Creem and would be interested in the reboot, he said.
"They're not looking for customers to count, they're looking for customers to count," he said. Husni says.
That said, magazine revivals are more likely to fail than succeed, he said. Brands may have value, but they have no value if people think their time is up. Husni said Creem may need to reconsider its plans to not offer the magazine on newsstands and bookstores.
Revival is physically, emotionally and mentally exhausting, Kramer said. There were many times he could--and probably should---walk away, he said.
But he and Martin are convinced that there is a market for reimagined creams and have a plan in place to reach it.
"We He's not a band," Kramer said. "We are moving this magazine and brand forward."
