Spin (magazine)

Spin was established in 1985 by Bob Guccione, Jr.[2][3] In August 1987, the publisher announced it would stop publishing Spin,[4] but Guccione Jr. retained control of the magazine[5] and partnered with former MTV president David H. Horowitz to quickly revive the magazine.[4] During this time, it was published by Camouflage Publishing with Guccione Jr. serving as president and chief executive and Horowitz as investor and chairman.[4]

In its early years, Spin was known for its narrow music coverage with an emphasis on college rock, grunge, indie rock, and the ongoing emergence of hip-hop, while virtually ignoring other genres, such as country and metal. It pointedly provided a national alternative to Rolling Stone's more establishment-oriented style. Spin prominently placed rising acts such as R.E.M.,[6] Prince,[7] Run-D.M.C.,[8] Beastie Boys,[9] and Talking Heads on its covers[10] and did lengthy features on established figures such as Duran Duran,[11] Keith Richards,[12] Miles Davis,[13] Aerosmith,[14] Tom Waits,[15] and John Lee Hooker.[16]

On a cultural level, the magazine devoted significant coverage to punk, alternative country, electronica, reggae and world music, experimental rock, jazz of the most adventurous sort, burgeoning underground music scenes, and a variety of fringe styles. Artists such as the Ramones, Patti Smith, Blondie, X, Black Flag, and the former members of the Sex Pistols, The Clash, and the early punk and New Wave movements were heavily featured in Spin's editorial mix. Spin's extensive coverage of hip-hop music and culture, especially that of contributing editor John Leland, was notable at the time.

Editorial contributions by musical and cultural figures included Lydia Lunch, Henry Rollins, David Lee Roth and Dwight Yoakam. The magazine also reported on cities such as Austin, Texas, and Glasgow, Scotland, as cultural incubators in the independent music scene. A 1990 article on the contemporary country blues scene brought R. L. Burnside to national attention for the first time. Coverage of American cartoonists, manga, monster trucks, the AIDS crisis, outsider artists, Twin Peaks, and other non-mainstream cultural phenomena distinguished the magazine's early years. In July 1986, Spin published an exposé by Robert Keating on how the funds raised at the Live Aid concert might have been inappropriately used.[17][18] Beginning in January 1988, Spin published a monthly series of articles about the AIDS epidemic titled "Words from the Front".[19]

In 1990, Spin hired John Skipper in the new position of publishing director and president while Guccione, Jr. continued to serve as editor and publisher.[20] In the early 1990s, Spin played an influential role on the grunge era, featuring alternative rock artists such as "Nirvana and PJ Harvey on its covers when more mainstream magazines often failed to acknowledge them".[1]

In 1994, two journalists working for the magazine were killed by a landmine while reporting on the Bosnian War in Bosnia and Herzegovina. A third, William T. Vollmann, was injured.[21]

In 1997, Guccione Jr. left the magazine after selling Spin[17] to Miller Publishing for $43.3 million. The new owner appointed Michael Hirschorn as editor-in-chief.[22][23] A partnership made up of Robert Miller, David Salzman, and Quincy Jones, Miller Publishing also owned Vibe,[22][24] which together made up Vibe/Spin Ventures. In 1999, Alan Light, who previously served as editor of Vibe succeeded Hirschorn at Spin.[25]

Sia Michel was appointed editor-in-chief in early 2002 to succeed Light.[26][27] With Michel as editor, according to Evan Sawdey of PopMatters, "Spin was one of the most funny, engaging music publications out there, capable of writing about everyone from the Used to Kanye West with an enthusiasm and deep-seated knowledge in genre archetypes that made for page-turning reading".[28] In 2003, Spin sent Chuck Klosterman, a senior writer who joined the magazine in the 1990s, on a trip to visit the death sites of famous artists in rock music, which became the basis of his 2005 book, Killing Yourself to Live: 85% of a True Story.[29][30] Klosterman wrote for Spin until 2006.[31]

In February 2006, Miller Publishing sold the magazine to a San Francisco-based company called the McEvoy Group LLC, which was also the owner of Chronicle Books. The purchase price was reported to be "less than $5 million".[32][33] That company formed Spin Media LLC as a holding company.[34] The new owners appointed Andy Pemberton, a former editor at Blender, to succeed Michel as editor-in-chief.[35] The first and only issue to be published under Pemberton's editorship was the July 2006 issue which featured Beyoncé on the cover.[36][37] Pemberton resigned from Spin in June 2006 and was succeeded by Doug Brod, who was executive editor during Michel's tenure.[38]

In 2008, the magazine began publishing a complete digital edition of each issue.[39] For the 25th anniversary of Prince's Purple Rain, in 2009, Spin released "a comprehensive oral history of the film and album and a free downloadable tribute that features nine bands doing song-for-song covers of the record".[40]

In March 2010, the entire collection of Spin magazine back issues became freely readable on Google Books.[41] Brod remained editor until June 2011 when he was replaced by Steve Kandell who previously served as deputy editor.[39] In July 2011, for the 20th anniversary of Nirvana's 1991 album, Nevermind, the magazine released a tribute album including all 13 songs with each covered by a different artist. The album released for free on Facebook included covers by Butch Walker, Amanda Palmer and Titus Andronicus.[42]

With the March 2012 issue, Spin relaunched the magazine in a larger, bi-monthly format and, at the same time, expanded its online presence.[43] In July 2012, Spin was sold to Buzzmedia, which eventually renamed itself SpinMedia.[44] The September/October 2012 issue was the magazine's last print edition.[45][46] It continued to publish entirely online with Caryn Ganz as its editor-in-chief.[46] In June 2013, Ganz was succeeded by Jem Aswad,[47] who was replaced by Craig Marks in June of the following year.[48]

In 2016, Puja Patel was appointed editor[49] and Eldridge Industries acquired SpinMedia via the Hollywood Reporter-Billboard Media Group for an undisclosed amount.[50] Matt Medved became editor in December 2018.[51]

Spin was acquired in 2020 by Next Management Partners. Jimmy Hutcheson serves chief executive officer[52] with Daniel Kohn as editorial director[53] and Spin's founder, Guccione Jr., who rejoined the magazine as creative advisor.[52]

Year	Artist	Album	Nation	Ref.
1990	Ice Cube	AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted	United States	[115]
1991	Teenage Fanclub	Bandwagonesque	Scotland	[116]
1992	Pavement	Slanted and Enchanted	United States	[117]
1993	Liz Phair	Exile in Guyville	United States	[118]
1994	Hole	Live Through This	United States	[119]
1995	Moby	Everything is Wrong	United States	[120]
1996	Beck	Odelay	United States	[121]
1997	Cornershop	When I Was Born for the 7th Time	England	[89]
1998	Lauryn Hill	The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill	United States	[122]
1999	Nine Inch Nails	The Fragile	United States	[123]
2000	Radiohead	Kid A	England	[124]
2001	System of a Down	Toxicity	United States	[125]
2002	The White Stripes	White Blood Cells	United States	[126]
2003		Elephant		[127]
2004	Kanye West	The College Dropout	United States	[128]
2005		Late Registration		[129]
2006	TV on the Radio	Return to Cookie Mountain	United States	[130]
2007	Against Me!	New Wave	United States	[131]
2008	TV on the Radio	Dear Science	United States	[132]
2009	Animal Collective	Merriweather Post Pavilion	United States	[133]
2010	Kanye West	My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy	United States	[134]
2011	Fucked Up	David Comes to Life	Canada	[135]
2012	Frank Ocean	Channel Orange	United States	[136]
2013	Kanye West	Yeezus	United States	[137]
2014	The War on Drugs	Lost in the Dream	United States	[138]
2015	Kendrick Lamar	To Pimp A Butterfly	United States	[139]
2016	Solange Knowles	A Seat at the Table	United States	[140]
2017	Kendrick Lamar	Damn.	United States	[141]
2018	The 1975	A Brief Inquiry into Online Relationships	England	[142]
2019	Big Thief	Two Hands	United States	[143]
2020	Fiona Apple	Fetch the Bolt Cutters	United States	[144]
2021	Turnstile	Glow On	United States	[145]
2022	Weyes Blood	And in the Darkness, Hearts Aglow	United States	[146]

Note: The 2000 album of the year was awarded to "your hard drive", acknowledging the impact that filesharing had on the music listening experience in 2000.[124] Kid A was listed as number 2, the highest ranking given to an actual album.

Additionally, the following albums were selected by the magazine as the best albums of their respective years in retrospective lists published decades later for years prior to the magazine's 1990 introduction of year-end album lists:

Year	Artist	Album	Nation	Ref.
1971	Led Zeppelin	Led Zeppelin IV	England	[147]
1981	King Crimson	Discipline	England	[148]
1982	Kate Bush	The Dreaming	England	[149]