SPIN on Google Books

I suppose this can double as a John Leland thread too.

This John Leland singles column is my vote for the greatest piece of music criticism ever written.

Here's Frank Owen's top ten singles of the 1980s with Touch: "Without You" at #1!!

And you can search all issues!!!

And then right on the very next page, you get Byron Coley's 80 Excellent Records of the 1980s,a list I've been DYING to talk about on here.

Think of the polling opportunities!!

Here's another absolutely genius John Leland Singles column, prolly my fave after "Temporary Music." Damn these years were so heady!!!!

And here's the issue that changed my life: It's Only Rock 'n' Roll, Spin's list of the greatest albums, books, movies, fetishes (who wrote the New Order entry?!?!?) and, of course, singles with Rob Base and D.J. E-Z Rock's 'It Takes Two' notoriously at number one.

Brilliant entries on Fresh, Low Life, and Faith.

Here's Leland's 100 favorite funk singles.

Two fantastic arguments for why Pussy Galore were the greatest rock band of the 1980s (or at least the most 1980s rock band of the 1980s):

Don Howland's 'The Pussy Identity', so goddamn compelling that I built an entire student film around it

Rob O'Connor's devastating review of Historia De La Musica Rock

I'm obviously biased but John Leland's profile of Debbie Gibson, in which a string on her sweater plays a main character, is the best of its kind.

Leland was so good that he even found something useful to say about the freakin' New Kids on the Block Christmas album!

And then, by contrast, check out the godawful review of Nevermind

Oh and an early (American) Simon Reynolds fave: The Ten Most Underrated Albums Of All Time

xpost Although it's fascinating how Lauren Spencer (?) situates Nevermind not with SST or The Pixies or whoever but with contemporary albums by Rush and Guns N' Roses.

Biafra first comments on the amazing house, and asks who did the decorating.
"I did," Ice-T growls. "I broke into enough houses to know how people decorate."

http://books.google.com/books?id=tAU7_ejzzoYC&lpg=PA1&lr=&rview=1&pg=PT74#v=onepage&q=&f=false

I know you could say this about any number of people, but it's really weird seeing someone talk about Eazy-E in the present tense.

A profile on James Brown after prison called "Free At Last."

My eyes nearly bled after spending hours reading these on Thursday morning and afternoon. Luckily my boss was outta town.

Here's where I interview Flaming Lips before anybody else did:

http://books.google.com/books?id=FL-rqqrDxb8C&pg=PA16&dq=flaming+lips+chuck+eddy&rview=1&cd=2#v=onepage&q=flaming%20lips%20chuck%20eddy&f=false

Ha ha, now Scratch Acid:

http://books.google.com/books?id=ym2SY9Ha5AIC&pg=PA23&dq=chuck+eddy+scratch+acid&rview=1&cd=1#v=onepage&q=chuck%20eddy%20scratch%20acid&f=false

This is too fun.

I found the Disco 2 you've alluded to many times, xhuxk.

It's fun to see what albums were being reviewed at the same time. In the first issue there were The Velvet Underground- VU, John Fogerty- Centerfield, Sade- Diamond Life, 'til Tuesday- Voices Carry, Husker Du- New Day Rising--as well as Mick Jagger, Fela Kuti, Bronski Beat, Lloyd Cole (and in the Underground column Butthole Surfers and Scraping Foetus.)

The prose in some of those early reviews is worrisome.

And those record ads: "If You Don't Like the AC/DC Album "Fly On the Wall...Buzz Off!!"

the Disco 2 you've alluded to many times, xhuxk.

I have??? I am drawing a blank on what this is! (Though I'm sure it'll be obvious if you post a link.)

Oh man, thanks Matos for posting this!

This was one of the articles that got me into Wilco: http://books.google.com/books?id=9IgWp27kuBIC&lpg=PP1&lr=&rview=1&pg=PA84#v=onepage&q=&f=false

Real good summing up of John Prine's career, care of a review of the anthology: http://books.google.com/books?id=1XjH458f108C&printsec=frontcover&lr=&rview=1#v=onepage&q=&f=false

Oh, chuck, here ya go:

http://books.google.com/books?id=ZURL7ud3IwsC&lpg=PP1&lr=&rview=1&pg=PA96#v=onepage&q=&f=false

xp Oh wait, Pet Shop Boys, right? No idea what I would've said in that one. (I figured I allude to my Introspective review from the Voice and Behavior interview from Request more, but who knows?)

xxp thanks Alfred!

Reading that link (especially given a lot of pages are out of order) and seeing all the ads is making me even woozier than I was. The Drum Club I ask you.

Something an editor told me they wanted who was then dismissed so it was killed by some replacement and I forgot about for a couple until someone at a party told me they're read my Stryper thing in their latest subscription copy.

http://books.google.com/books?id=5oyYjDeNc_AC&pg=PA22&lpg=PA22&dq=George+Smith+stryper+spin&source=bl&ots=3p7L6VUQrU&sig=xocMXmddcRPnr3zkpkKhONjGY-o&hl=en&ei=tnySS7zcCYSEswPUo5n7CA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CAYQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=&f=false

good lord ... feeling like I'm 14 again here. it feels funny.

Best albums of 2003!

http://books.google.com/books?id=dJ7nHM_LvUUC&lpg=PP1&lr=&rview=1&pg=PA40#v=onepage&q=&f=false

er, 1993

In a gaffe they continue to apologize profusely for at every oppportunity, Spin names Teenage Fanclub's Bandwagonesque Album of the Year over Nirvana's Nevermind:

http://books.google.com/books?id=5zrzfgLFgUYC&lpg=PP1&rview=1&pg=RA1-PA56#v=onepage&q=&f=false

This is AMAZING, btw.

And here they actually reviewed my record, a year earlier. They they fired that guy, too.

http://books.google.com/books?id=VVODZz_egcEC&pg=PA38&lpg=PA38&dq=Dick+Destiny+spin&source=bl&ots=B6Xa9RLZGG&sig=STd6LAXys8L4Jg83DcO2loPwUo4&hl=en&ei=X4CSS9FGmLq2A9ikocsI&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=3&ved=0CA8Q6AEwAg#v=onepage&q=&f=false

A subscription to Spin is $9.99. That's insane. Is it still worth it?

Actually, Amazon says $9.95.

Jayzus. I have to leave the house to run errands. Instead I'm reading Jim Greer on why Robyn Hitchcock's "She Doesn't Exist" is the greatest song Hitch ever wrote.

OMFG! I've been trying to find John Leland's Singles column on Public Enemy for years. This thing totally changed my life. I remember where I was when I read this and then when/where I bought the tape of Bum Rush the Show then popping it into my Walkman to go out for run and having my white suburban mind blown.

http://books.google.com/books?id=baaFL4PyjS0C&lpg=PA1&lr=&rview=1&pg=PA34#v=onepage&q=&f=false

This issue was huge for me when I was in college: Spike Lee guest edits. No idea if it holds up now, but anyway:

http://books.google.com/books?id=hV6_z7r2zQMC&printsec=frontcover&lr=&rview=1#v=onepage&q=&f=false

It also gives readers an opportunity to see when the originals when the magazine was one of the leading AIDS deniers.

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=Peter+Duesberg+AIDS+SPIN&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&oq=

yeah I remember Spin's irresponsible coverage of AIDS/HIV - appalling. tho to be fair the John Leland stans on the thread probably didn't read the magazine's non-music articles.

Yeah, did they ever address that era of their AIDS reporting and, I guess, apologize? I remember it was very confusing at the time.

No, we stopped reading them. (xpost)

Honestly it was that AIDS conspiracy coverage that kept me from looking at the magazine at all outside of the briefest of glimpses. No question I missed some excellent writing on music but even so.

haha in my case I think I made it through half of one of the Celia Farber pieces. even before I knew they were irresponsible or whatever they just seemed impenetrable. but I was a teenager, which is probably why.

I wouldn't have articulated it this way at the time but in high school ('89-'93), Spin > RS for music pieces and RS > Spin for non-music pieces.

no those Celia Farber pieces were impenetrable (insert Bob Guccione Jr joke here)

hey GORGE - and chuck too - i got the official word that there will be a book coming out compiling all the issues of andy shernoff's teenage wasteland gazette. hopefully sooner rather than later. worth it for meltzer's non-music stuff alone, but even without that stuff they are a serious kick in the head.

I've never seen an issue so it'll certainly be worth keeping the old eye peeled.

I did a search on Leland, and came up with this Jay Smooth description of a 2005 Public Enemy conference panel at NYU. Really cool to discover that Chuck D was in the audience at one of the Clash's Bonds shows:
http://www.hiphopmusic.com/archives/000829.html

Looking at this makes me wish I had an iPad.

― Mark, Sunday, March 7, 2010 12:23 PM (2 years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

This is pretty genius:
http://andrewhearst.com/blog/2012/03/spy_magazine_ipad_archive

"Our Readers Picks The Top 100 Songs Of Our Time"
Does anyone have input on what's going on with this thing? There's no way that's an accurately tallied list based on actual votes from readers with zero input from promotion companies and record labels who were trying to push shit onto consumers. No one actually listened to "The Sweater" by Meryn Cadell in 1993.. SPIN was paid to include that song at #100. I can't think of any other reasonable explanation why that song would've been included here because there's no way anyone actually included that in their votes for "The top songs of our time."

I love this...it really stands the test of time of relevence!!!!

I would've been too young at the time to care if I had actually seen this but looking at it now the whole thing just looks strange.

first time i've ever seen the thing. pretty entertaining tho. the smell of goat boys...