Comments on: Project X Spins Top 35 Rock Lists Compiled By “Spin”

By: Michaelangelo Matos

Michaelangelo Matos — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 12:26:23 +0000

one thing I meant to mention but forgot to is how the book excerpts, especially, in the meetings-of-minds list sort of reframed rock history in a way that undercut neat historiographical patterns–made the footnotes the main story, a good trick for the article’s length at least.

By: Alfred Soto

Alfred Soto — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 09:41:10 +0000

This is the first issue of SPIN I ever bought, and it’s long gone. When are they gonna do a better job of maintaining their archives?

By: The Gavin Report

The Gavin Report — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 06:00:25 +0000

Wow, I haven't thought about that piece in a long time. I'd guess it was among my first half-dozen professional bylines. (The first, also for Spin: a review of the girl group put together by MC Hammer, Oaktown's 3-5-7.)

It was inspired by a Harper's Index entry that toted up the top three words in Springsteen songs (which I believe included girl and street). I was pleased that some months later Harper's included my tabulation of the top three Madonna words in another Index entry (and delighted that you remember it after all these years).

Also, "Word Up" was one of the most overused music-magazine headlines of the era, second only to "The Politics of Dancing."

By: cheesebubble

cheesebubble — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 04:22:40 +0000

Never a huge Spin reader but the whole "whatever happened to" makes me think of the Canadian magazine Chart [ChartAttack.com] the British mag Q [q4music.com] . They're both still around and, good god, if they don't generally stink! When and why did they demote themselves to Tiger Beat fodder?

These days, I think some of the best music writing is found in free publications like Exclaim [Exclaim.ca] and also online via several sites - try [CokeMachineGlow.com] for instance. I highly recommend reading Exclaim and suggest a subscription if you're not able to benefit from their free distribution across Canada.

By: Chris Molanphy

Chris Molanphy — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 09:52:16 +0000

Best post you've done recently. Nice job.

@Al Shipley: My friend sent me that quiz late last week, and it ate up a whole workday. I then forwarded it to a friend (ahem...someone mentioned above), and he passed it on to another dude who refined the idea in a new quiz by "tag-clouding" lyrics to some '80s songs. Try it out:

[www.cruzich.com]

By: Charles A. Hohman

Charles A. Hohman — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 08:16:25 +0000

Superb piece. This issue was a bit before my time, but I have considerable (and somewhat sentimental) fondness for Spin’s Sia Michel era, and still consult the 2003 Ultimate List issue. A bit snarkier and self-satisfied than what’s described above, but it effectively (if temporarily) upstaged Blender’s stranglehold on the geeky music list market.

By: Al Shipley

Al Shipley — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 07:39:03 +0000

Those last few lists kinda remind me of this lyrics quiz that places all the words from a given song in alphabetical order:
[www.themorningnews.org]

By: rizzuto

rizzuto — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 04:31:57 +0000

Great post. I remember that issue, in fact — it’s the one that alerted me to Tragic Mulatto!

By: NedRaggett

NedRaggett — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 03:27:52 +0000

Great post -- I've muttered elsewhere that something always kept me from checking out Spin much at the time (probably a combination of Guccione Jr. and the AIDS conspiracy theorizing) but in retrospect I missed out on a magazine which would have been far more in tune with my mindset than RS ever possessed.

"32. January 29, 1983: Prince appeared on Solid Gold. Prince brought his entire stage set-up, complete with lights, ramps and backdrop, not to mention eight backing musicians, and then lip-synced '1999.'"

I remember this VERY well. In fact, let's see...dang, apparently not on YouTube. Anyone else finding it?