Is SPIN really circling the drain?

that's pretty big news, I'd say! they had a bunch of them.

not ME personally. just my ilk, i guess.

I want an ilk.

roffle

harris owned Guitar World forever, and started Revolver as an american Mojo/Q right before Blender came along. So they changed it into a slightly more canny version of Hit Parader or Circus or…Rock Sound? is that what it's called? it has made money, apparently, on the backs of white dirtbags. the editor referenced above doesn't much care for the nu-metal/screamo stuff he must cover…

I think harris still owns King, which wags referred to as "Blaxim."

Goodbye Spin.

http://www.spin.com/reviews/magazine/2006/04/060323_gunsnroses/

I am not sure how producing material of this sort qualifies ms Angel to be a sex columnist? Unless the only questions they will be fielding will be from workers in the adult industry?

i met this girl on ilm and at first the sex was really great but now she thinks the first side of forever changes is better than the second wtf.

please help,
c/d my girlfriend

Both of them are out of the new Spin, though, or so I hear...

The sectional breakdown, so you never have to waste your money on this:

COVER: Dismal layout/design, pathetically cloying typeface, a thudding dumbing-down that simply could not have been imagined. Gag on this: "America's 101 Wildest Parties!" At least the new tagline is mediocre; it could have been outright bad.

MASTHEAD: Pemberton's name makes me anxious. Having Charles Aaron as music editor makes me feel like I'm 40.

FOB - SPIN OUT: awful, 2nd-rate VICE photo gag featuring the absolute worst NYC nightlife has to offer. I don't want to know these people, let alone read about them or hear their response to the inane question of "If you were a musical instrument, what kind of musical instrument would you be?" Seriously, who the fuck wrote this?

FOB - Editor's letter: Embarassingly unfunny. Predictably poorly written. Wow.

FOB - "The Download 20": ZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

FOB - "Barometer": worst lead-off FOB article in a music mag, like, ever. This is how you introduce "music for life"? The second article is actualyl even LESS FUCKING RELEVANT; why is there an article on French rioters?

FOB - "The Joy of Text": this appears to be an unclever idea for a column...Ariane Marder (WTF?) interviews people by text messaging.

FOB - More "Barometer" featuring one of those really, really interesting updates on Pete Doherty. Somebody wake up the fucking editor there and tell them that there are at least 10,000 junkies more interesting than this guy, and probably several hundred who sell more records.'

FOB - "SPIN Looks": This is another VICE-ly stab at relevance where they take a picture of some fame-seeker in New York and then ask a bunch of fashion related questions. Not only dumb, but poorly executed. Several pages later, we have "My Brilliant Career", which is sort of the same thing except they have some editorial assistant's friend who doesn't even work in the music business playing "ten questions." Oh, and then to show how much Pemberton doesn't get it, he repeats the "SPIN Looks" sidebar a couple of pages later with someone who is even more uninteresting than the first.

FOB - "The Brain" : In yet another idea repurposed from Blender, Charles Aaron "answers your ticklish questions" about music. What's with everyone in the mag with even a partial column getting their picture by the header. I'm a fan of Aaron but dude seriously looks like he's got a physics class to teach. Nearby "The Brain" we have one of those advertorials called "SPIN Genius Thing", which tells us how great the $350 Pentax camera is.

FOB - "Send Me An Angel": Here we have the slut column. Words fail me.

Interview - LL COOL J: He was the coolest rapper when I was in high school. In 1986. The "buying guide" sidebar is handy, if pretty much ubiquitous (thanks to Pemberton's alma mater.)

Summer Concert Preview - Kind of better than I thought it might be, but it's nothing new to the magazine.

Feature - Kelis: Is she really going to be hot this year or yet another one-hit wonder?

Feature - "Welcome To Ghost Town": thousands of words on...Chernobyl?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? Have these people lost their fucking minds?????????

Feature - Eddie Vedder: a decent Q&A, although since he's hitting all the major mags it's sort of seems...dated already. Hopefully they've got a Nirvana interview to run next month as a follow-up.

Feature - Parker Posey's picture scrapbook: kind of a good idea, although Posey seems like one of those celebs that only New Yorkers are in love with. That, and I kept wondering where the pics of Ryan Adams were.

Feature - Jack White and his backing band: Is this guy blowing someone at SPIN? Because they are on his jock like white on rice.

Reviews - now called "In & Out": The thing that happens when you slice reviews down to 100 or so words is that you pretty much make them stylishly indistinguishable. In other words, there's no need for bylines since every writer sounds exactly the same. Or, in this case, every review reads like it was lifted from Blender. The section is totally without personality. Same with the video reviews. Congrats, SPIN. You've really cooked this goose well.

BOB - "SPIN Out": Distressingly titled, but simply the absolute worst waste of copy space I've ever seen in a glossy. Ever. Worse than any events listing in any alterna-weekly. And as if listing over a hundred bar nights in a ploy to raise ad revenues wasn't bad enough, SPIN brings back the dingbat known as Ultragrrl as a feature events writer. There are SIX FULL PAGES OF THIS WITH NO ADS TO BREAK ANYTHING UP. It's worthless, unimaginative, and ugly in a way that I am stunned any graphic designer could tolerate.

BOB - "Navigator": Cribbed from CMJ Monthly, this is a city guide. CMJ did this much better. Terribly ugly to look at, so bad that you will never read one entry.

Backpage - "25 Questions For Bill Maher": The biggest question of course is, "Who gives a shit about Bill Maher?"

Admittedly, I had low expectations but this issue floored me. The design alone is so pathetic, so lifeless. The editorial direction has absolutely no focus and the execution is what I might expect from Parade magazine; I'd credit part of this to a new editor but there is no promise anywhere. Blender is ten times better than this.

These things were such a fucking pain in the ass to put together! They can have them!