Me and SPIN, twenty years in the making
This month’s SPIN is dedicated to themselves. It’s a 20th anniversary celebration. Two decades have passed since they’ve opened up shop to give us all a mainstream taste of the alternative. To their credit, SPIN, over the years, has given many up-an-coming bands the chance to bask in the spotlight. Without that chance, widespread America may have overlooked some damn good music. It’s hard to recall, in this era of Internet and small-world syndrome, that there was actually a time when the bulk of us were at the mercy of the truly oblivious—American FM radio and RCA/Capitol Records type mongrels.
But, as I read this Special 20th Anniversary Double Issue I realize that the interviews, the contents, the nostalgia go back to the 80s, a time when I first took music seriously, in a way that reflected who I was as a unique human being. All of Spin's noted bands, all the artists, all the affable influence go back to this odd, fashion-disoriented decade. Yes, I was listening to the Smiths, Echo And The Bunnymen, The Sugar Cubes, The Cure, Siouxsie, Sonic Youth, Violent Femmes, Joy Division. But, a question lingers in my head: where did I learn of this music, if not from the radio? I wasn’t reading SPIN magazine.
To dig through my memory banks is difficult, but after some thought I have to give a slice of credit to a forgotten Canadian radio station CFXX 93.9. As I remember it, the station’s alternative programming was brief, having been bought out by CHUM Limited in 1985. But, for me it was enough time on the air waves to make a difference. After that, I was spending all my babysitting money at the record store, buying up anything “different.” In circa 1984-1985, my clock radio would wake me up for school with the clacking of SCTV’s Doug and Bob Mackenzie singing that “Wake Up” song. Then, I’d roll out of bed to the sounds of the Psychedelic Furs. This was my orientation to great things to come: Jane’s Addiction, Dinosaur Jr., REM, Nirvana, Portishead, Cake.
Just like SPIN, I don’t have enough space to write about all the amazing bands that have made a difference to me in the past 20 years—all the years of my collective adult life. I’m just glad that some how, some way, that music reached me. I suppose that’s where SPIN has been successful over the years, sending us news of the new and nameless. However, I see fewer and fewer unheard-of bands filling SPIN’s pages these days. Most of what's in SPIN can be heard on CIMX 88.7 (better known as 89X, Detroit's Only Source of Alt Rock), which I can't manage to stomach for more than two songs at a time. I find that MAGNET and Alternative Press do a much better job of giving us something new to chew on. And lucky us, all we have to do then is check out myspace to hear a few tracks. It’s great to be living and loving music in 2005.
Sounds to hear:
The Futureheads
Teeth
posted by tanagrame @ 8:58 PM
1 Comments:
Hey Maureen,
Welcome to the blogosphere! I'm going to link to you from my blog as well!
You can set up an option on the dashboard to keep these spam comments from showing up. I had to do it.
-Ryan
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