. “They weren’t from LA or New York, and that was a great part of the spirit: you weren’t under the glare that people were on the coasts. You were just rocking out.” And rocking out was what Creem did: just as Detroit itself prized high-energy, high-volume rock, so did Creem .“It had to do with the Detroit sensibility,” says JJ Kramer, son of Creem founder Barry Kramer, who is relaunching the magazine on 1 June. “Blue collar, no bullshit, won’t suffer fools gladly.
. “My favourite ever piece. Creem wasn’t just about the show. It was about everything that led up to the show. It was about everything being a music fan was.”But Creem was a product of its time. Why relaunch it? “It’s in my blood,” says Kramer, who is also associate general counsel and head of intellectual property at the clothing retailer Abercrombie & Fitch. “It’s something I’ve been chasing my entire life.
A flick through the back catalogue reveals a magazine that would be impossible to recreate today. It’s not just that you would be unlikely to be able to assemble such a team of writers – Charles Bukowski, Nick Tosches, Greil Marcus,, Richard Meltzer and scores more, in addition to the regulars – but the bounds of taste would not permit it.