Beyond the Printed Press: An Archival Deep Dive into SPIN Magazine

Rough-edged. Restless. Insatiably curious. A little aggressive. And a little bit cocky.

Founded in the year 1985 by ambitious publisher Bob Guccione, Jr., SPIN Magazine saw its quick progression of popularity in the earliest years of its publication.

In the era of online media, it is easy to overlook the vast and colorful history of what originated as printed press. The field of music reporting and rock criticism has seen a variety of changes as the decline of print and shifts within the music industry have pursued over the course of the almost four-decade lifespan of music’s own SPIN Magazine.

“There is no shortage of people longing to read features, interview and more from writers with real excitement about music,” said Guccione in the magazine’s original introduction. “The world needs a lot of things before it needs more magazines. However, I thought a lot of people might want SPIN, including myself.” After an 18-year hiatus from the magazine, Guccione has returned for a six-month editorial residency, with a mission to compile 30 of SPIN’s greatest stories and republish them online for an entire new generation of music lovers.

Within a year of its creation, infamous music industry executive Scott Cohen took to the likes of former Van Halen vocalist David Lee Roth in an early round of SPIN’s exclusive cover stories. In an exclusive tell-all interview, Cohen wrote of the ambitious prospects of a solo career and the ‘technicolor’ spark Roth brought to fans of rock ‘n’ roll, in his 1986 article, “It’s Only Roth ‘N’ Roll.”

In the aftermath of a highly publicized, and extremely volatile, fight between Roth and the Van Halen entity, both decided to go their separate ways, with each replacing the other to continue a steady flow of songwriting and performances.

“I really believe in postal instant press,” said Roth. “Go to the magazine, rip off the format, use the print type, whatever, take a picture of yourself jumping off a building, and put it up everywhere. Even if you’re not playing, announce that you are. After a while, people will get used to seeing the name.”

It was an era of extreme publicity, pre-internet, where controversy sold to the highest bidder. Roth, in an effort to solidify himself within a genre in which he already ruled highly, sought to push his vocalist career far beyond what he had done up until that point. He went on to say, “Rock ‘n’ roll is probably the best form of entertainment. That’s why it lasted so long. I want to do it.”

As Cohen wrote, he fit Roth’s responses in a series of subsections, with leading language that prompts the reader to continue, as it wasn’t always clear what Roth would say next. Those who consume an article in this way feed on the mystery of questions asked and answered, a format that Cohen excels within. His writing style preceding his array of questions elevated what may seem like rudimentary information when reading a profile story.

Almost two-and-a-half years following his David Lee Roth cover story, Cohen was tasked with interviewing a band that operated in the peripheral of rock ‘n’ roll, given documented inspiration, but in the limelight of a genre far newer: New Wave. In his 1988 article titled, “Music For Moderns,” Cohen is marked as a SPIN staple, reporting on the rise of a music category set to dominate radio stations for years to come.

“Inmates on tier three at the Upstate Correctional Facility fail to comprehend why Depeche Mode, although they aren’t a charted act and don’t end up in the Top Ten, nevertheless play the same halls as Fleetwood Mac, who sell five million albums,” wrote Cohen.

He went on to ask lead singer Dave Gahan what other bands of the time he would have chosen to be in, given the chance.

“New Order, the Smiths, maybe the Cure,” Gahan said. “I often read interviews with New Order where Hoky talks about being one of the last surviving punk bands. That’s something I like.” Riding the coattails of the punk movement, while also cementing their roots in early eighties synth pop and rock roots, Depeche Mode spearheaded the rise of New Wave with a new demographic of listeners and a severe lack of care for insurmountable success.

“If a band can have zero stage presence, Depeche Mode has it,” Gahan continued. In a decade known for its glitz and glamour, these British newcomers shed the dramatics, opting for an approach much more relaxed. Ultimately, their success was a steady incline, with more of a cult following than an overflow of public fandom.

Cohen, as seen within his previous work on the David Lee Roth cover story, did not shed his interview formatting and style, and instead continued to elevate it with personal commentary and useful insight in providing the questions he asked those he interviewed. In a time where entertainment magazines were extremely competitive, whether harboring a story with extreme outreach or an interview with the biggest stars of the time, Cohen offered SPIN an entertaining perspective, no doubt encouraging readers’ loyalty to the publication.

As the first decade of SPIN Magazine came to a close, eighties glam rock had been swiftly replaced by the likes of the early nineties Seattle grunge movement. American writer and longtime SPIN staff member Michael Corcoran wrote of the early beginnings of one of the Big 5 grunge bands in his 1989 article, “Why Soundgarden Thought Being Compared to Led Zeppelin Was “a Thorn” in Their Side.”

“Soundgarden are all meat and hair and ripped knees, the band most likely to succeed from the Seattle scene,” said Corcoran. He went on to detail the happenings of the band’s early stages: the gigs, music, and subsequent label loathe that many grunge bands harbored at the time.

“When we first got stuck with that Led Zep tag three years ago, I thought it was O.K.,” said lead singer Chris Cornell. “Back then, everyone in Seattle was into the Smiths and the Cure and Led Zeppelin was very 70s, very uncool. We were outcasts from the goofy art rock scene, which was fine by me.”

Cornell and his bandmates, although very much underground by ’89, went on to set precedent as one of the most successful bands of the decade, even if their toughest competition was stunted my more than one untimely death.

In the vivid and almost friendly nature of Corcoran’s descriptive writing, he wrote of Soundgarden and their various members in a nature almost akin to their songwriting: raw and unscripted. Within a magazine dedicated to the gritty truth surrounding the industry and its various characters, Corcoran attributed a sort of excellence to their publication, with a clear understanding of what the consumer wanted to read.

As magazine that still runs a mission statement originally seen in the inaugural issue of its publication, SPIN lives up to its original complex, a publication dedicated to the curious, the aggressive, and vehemently flexible. In its nearly 40-year run, SPIN Magazine has garnered an incredibly vast impact upon the music industry and its many success stories.

Romantic- definitely! Irreverent- sure! Unpredictable- yes. Very alive.