The Seeker of Good Songs
Well-Known Member
(I just came across this even though it's been out a couple months already)
from: http://www.slicingupeyeballs.com/2010/03/16/spin-magazine-archives-google-books-80s-college-rock/
Earlier this month, Spin dropped a goldmine into Google Books: scans of nearly every issue of the music magazine, from its May 1985 debut up through October 2009. And you can read it all for free, nerding out, page by page, through nearly 25 years of music history. With that in mind, we here at Slicing Up Eyeballs World HQ spent a good chunk of last weekend perusing the magazine’s late-’80s years, marveling at the ridiculously dated ads (mainly for beer, cigarettes and lots of blank cassettes, plus theKenny G-pitched Casio “digital horn” or MTV “Remote Control” occasional full-pagers), but also being reminded of how much space Spin bravely devoted to chronicling the AIDS epidemic and bashing the PMRC’s war on music.
Still, the main attraction was the ability to revisit Spin’s music coverage, which touched quite a bit on what, at the time, were the increasingly mainstream sounds of college rock and the indie underground, from American heroes The Replacements, Hüsker Dü and R.E.M. to Brit imports such as The Cure and Morrissey.
Below we’ve assembled links to some of the highlights of the key ‘85-’90 era (plus just a few later pieces), sticking to cover stories and features, but not yet delving into record reviews, to keep things somewhat simple. Just for fun, we’ve also thrown in links to many of the full-page ads for albums and tours (The Cure was perhaps Spin’s greatest musical advertiser of the era, with Elektra shelling out for everything from “The Cure in Orange” to the band’s little-remembered Integration box set).
Dive in yourself at Google Books, or just check out the direct links below.
See the highlights of Spin’s ’80s college rock era after the jump…
Morrissey
[September 1986 feature], [May 1988 Viva Hate ad], [June 1988 cover], [June 1988 cover story], [April 1989 concert review], [April 1990 feature], [November 1992 cover], [November 1992 cover story]
The Smiths
[June 1985 feature], [May 1987 Louder Than Bombs ad]
from: http://www.slicingupeyeballs.com/2010/03/16/spin-magazine-archives-google-books-80s-college-rock/
Earlier this month, Spin dropped a goldmine into Google Books: scans of nearly every issue of the music magazine, from its May 1985 debut up through October 2009. And you can read it all for free, nerding out, page by page, through nearly 25 years of music history. With that in mind, we here at Slicing Up Eyeballs World HQ spent a good chunk of last weekend perusing the magazine’s late-’80s years, marveling at the ridiculously dated ads (mainly for beer, cigarettes and lots of blank cassettes, plus theKenny G-pitched Casio “digital horn” or MTV “Remote Control” occasional full-pagers), but also being reminded of how much space Spin bravely devoted to chronicling the AIDS epidemic and bashing the PMRC’s war on music.
Still, the main attraction was the ability to revisit Spin’s music coverage, which touched quite a bit on what, at the time, were the increasingly mainstream sounds of college rock and the indie underground, from American heroes The Replacements, Hüsker Dü and R.E.M. to Brit imports such as The Cure and Morrissey.
Below we’ve assembled links to some of the highlights of the key ‘85-’90 era (plus just a few later pieces), sticking to cover stories and features, but not yet delving into record reviews, to keep things somewhat simple. Just for fun, we’ve also thrown in links to many of the full-page ads for albums and tours (The Cure was perhaps Spin’s greatest musical advertiser of the era, with Elektra shelling out for everything from “The Cure in Orange” to the band’s little-remembered Integration box set).
Dive in yourself at Google Books, or just check out the direct links below.
See the highlights of Spin’s ’80s college rock era after the jump…
Morrissey
[September 1986 feature], [May 1988 Viva Hate ad], [June 1988 cover], [June 1988 cover story], [April 1989 concert review], [April 1990 feature], [November 1992 cover], [November 1992 cover story]
The Smiths
[June 1985 feature], [May 1987 Louder Than Bombs ad]
