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[sjbrot]

For those who haven't heard, Spin has been sold to a new company and their staff has been switched up, including the editor-in-chief and the publisher, and replaced with previous members of Blender's, the magazine owned and operated by the same people as Maxim, editorial staff. After the shake up went public, Spin scribe and author Chuck Klosterman announced that he would be leaving the magazine.

I realise that a good number of you probably don't have much respect for Spin, but I still think that they are important, at least as one of the major music magazines that covers some alternative-to-mainstream. Plus, they still employ Andy Greenwald to the best of my knowledge.

Thoughts? Opinions? Does anyone out there think this is a bit of a tragedy, or do most just think that their poor track record of late sounded their death long before they were purchased?

[pat101]

Spin isn't an AWFUL magazine, I mean they have some entertaining stuff... sometimes.

[LIVE!Forever]

it can't get much worse then it is already...

probably the captions will be funnier, but they'll still be sucking off the band of the moment every month

[Kai]

Hey, no matter what happens to them, at least they can say that they aren't Blender.

[Combinethresher]

People here mention Spin's tumble into irrelevance as though it had just happened. Please. Spin has been a ad-crammed gossip rag since I was a kid. It's most noticeable in their yearly "blow more smoke up Kurt Cobain's rotting behind" issue. And their 25 years of punk thing was goddamned laughable. They'd be Alternative Press if they didn't have competent layout people.

[sjbrot]

Those are all pretty fair assertions. But they do produce some relevant stuff from time to time. AND they do print Andy Greenwald articles AND they provide a widely accesible introduction into alternative music genres.

Basically, it's the only magazine I can bring myself to buy if I go into a 7-11.

[IronOxide]

Just the other day I ripped a Spin magazine to shreads. I started with the shredder until I could smell the motor overheating. Then I did it my hand.

I genuinely dislike music journalism, except for those little blurbs in Wired.

[Skibas_clavicle]

NOOOOOOOOO! CHUUUUUCK!

I don't care what anyone says, I like Spin. It's really the only music magazine that I can read. This makes me so sad!

[JLM]

Just the other day I ripped a Spin magazine to shreads. I started with the shredder until I could smell the motor overheating. Then I did it my hand.

I genuinely dislike music journalism, except for those little blurbs in Wired.

I dunno...the album reviews in Vice are pretty good/funny.

[Tago Mago]

Awww, that's too bad. Spin was that magazine I would buy now and then and spend hours bitching about its many follies to anyone who didn't leave the room. I especially found Chuck Klostermann to be fairly insufferable, but it's still sad to see them go down. Blender is an absolutely unlovable magazine in every conceivable way.

[Kai]

I genuinely dislike music journalism, except for those little blurbs in Wired.

"Most rock journalism is people who can't write, interviewing people who can't talk, for people who can't read. "
-Frank Zappa


That's like, the 5th time I've used that quote now.

[Combinethresher]

I genuinely dislike music journalism, except for those little blurbs in Wired.

"Most rock journalism is people who can't write, interviewing people who can't talk, for people who can't read. "
-Frank Zappa


That's like, the 5th time I've used that quote now.

You could always count on ol' Frank to cut to the chase with things. Too bad he didn't pass that gene along to either of his worthless sons.

[Kai]

I don't know anything really about his sons. Except their names. But that's about it. I know Dweezil does something musically.  I'm assuming by that it's not very good.

[sjbrot]

"Most rock journalism is people who can't write, interviewing people who can't talk, for people who can't read. "
-Frank Zappa

It seems like a lot of musicians seem to harbour the idea that what they do is mystic and undescribable, rendering music journalism useless. That's not true.

Effective music journalism serves many purposes, the most obvious being simply getting the name of the artist or group out there. More than that, though, it can offer different contexts through which to experience music, and help to enrich the experience for the listener.

[SeanBateman]

Guys I was a music Journalist for a while, and I think I was pretty good at it!

[Combinethresher]

"Most rock journalism is people who can't write, interviewing people who can't talk, for people who can't read. "
-Frank Zappa

It seems like a lot of musicians seem to harbour the idea that what they do is mystic and undescribable, rendering music journalism useless. That's not true.

Effective music journalism serves many purposes, the most obvious being simply getting the name of the artist or group out there. More than that, though, it can offer different contexts through which to experience music, and help to enrich the experience for the listener.

Yes, that is what it should do. Sadly, that's also what it rarely does. I get the feeling that most music journalists really just want to be Hunter S. Thompson, but they can't write as well, so they come off as major douchenozzles that really wish they were in the band they're writing about.