Early history Spin was established in 1985 by
Bob Guccione, Jr. In August 1987, the publisher announced it would stop publishing
Spin, but Guccione Jr. retained control of the magazine and partnered with former
MTV president David H. Horowitz to quickly revive the magazine.
Prince,
Run-D.M.C.,
Beastie Boys, and
Talking Heads on its covers and did lengthy features on established figures such as
Duran Duran,
Keith Richards,
Miles Davis,
Aerosmith,
Tom Waits, and
John Lee Hooker. 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
Spins editorial mix.
Spins 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. Beginning in January 1988,
Spin published a monthly series of articles about the
AIDS epidemic titled "Words from the Front".,
Courtney Love, and their daughter
Frances on
Spin, December 1992 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". 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. In 1997, Guccione Jr. left the magazine after selling
Spin A partnership made up of Robert Miller,
David Salzman, and
Quincy Jones, Miller Publishing also owned
Vibe, which together made up Vibe/Spin Ventures. In 1999,
Alan Light, who previously served as editor of
Vibe succeeded Hirschorn at
Spin.
Later years Sia Michel was appointed editor-in-chief in early 2002 to succeed Light. 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". 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. Klosterman wrote for
Spin until 2006. 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". That company formed Spin Media LLC as a
holding company. The new owners appointed Andy Pemberton, a former editor at
Blender, to succeed Michel as editor-in-chief. The first and only issue to be published under Pemberton's editorship was the July 2006 issue, which featured
Beyoncé on the cover. Pemberton resigned from
Spin in June 2006 and was succeeded by Doug Brod, who was executive editor during Michel's tenure. In 2008, the magazine began publishing a complete digital edition of each issue. 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". In March 2010, the entire collection of
Spin magazine back issues became freely readable on
Google Books. Brod remained editor until June 2011, when he was replaced by Steve Kandell, who previously served as deputy editor. With the March 2012 issue,
Spin relaunched the magazine in a larger, bi-monthly format and, at the same time, expanded its online presence under digital general manager Jeff Rogers. In July 2012,
Spin was sold to Buzzmedia, which eventually renamed itself SpinMedia, which was founded in 1999 by Anthony Batt and Marc Brown. The September/October 2012 issue was the magazine's last print edition. It continued to publish entirely online with Caryn Ganz as its editor-in-chief. who was replaced by Craig Marks in June of the following year. In 2016, Puja Patel was appointed editor and
Eldridge Industries acquired SpinMedia via the Hollywood Reporter-Billboard Media Group for an undisclosed amount.
Matt Medved became editor in December 2018.
Spin was acquired in 2020 by Next Management Partners. Jimmy Hutcheson serves as chief executive officer with Daniel Kohn as editorial director and
Spins founder, Guccione Jr., who rejoined the magazine as creative advisor. In 2024 its week-long
activation at the
South by Southwest conference was sponsored by the United States Army, one of the factors that led to over 100 bands dropping off the festival in protest. In May 2024, the magazine announced it would relaunch its print edition and publish quarterly starting in August. == Books ==