Creem billed itself as 鈥淎merica鈥檚 Only Rock 鈥檔鈥� Roll Magazine.鈥� That wasn鈥檛 just a jab at Rolling Stone, which almost from the beginning was trying to turn into the slick lifestyle magazine it is now; it encapsulated what the magazine was all about. It wasn鈥檛 just about rock ‘n’ roll; it actually was rock ‘n’ roll.
Just like the music it covered, it was loud; it was disrespectful; it was flamboyant; it was sometimes incredibly smart in a direct, guttural, colloquial way. It was sometimes gloriously, brilliantly stupid; it was sometimes just plain stupid. Also like rock ‘n’ roll, the magazine 鈥� and some of the people who made it, wrote for it and lived for it 鈥� couldn鈥檛 last forever.
But local filmmaker Scott Crawford, fresh off the D.C. hard-core punk documentary 鈥淪alad Days” (2014), has captured the story in 鈥淏oy Howdy: The Story of Creem Magazine,鈥� which opens locally at the AFI Silver Theatre in Silver Spring on Saturday night.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a story I鈥檝e always wanted to tell,鈥� Crawford told 草莓传媒. He was exposed to the writing in Creem as a kid; and when he founded Harp, his own D.C.-area fanzine, his goal was to work with 鈥渁s many of the Creem writers I grew up reading as possible.鈥�
A lot of them show up in 鈥淏oy Howdy,鈥� including Jaan Uhelski, who wrote the film, Cameron Crowe, former editor Dave Marsh and rock-critic guru Robert Christgau, as well as posthumous interview clips with legendary critic Lester Bangs and Creem publisher Barry Kramer, who died of overdoses in 1982 and 1981, respectively.
鈥淭he influence that this magazine has had on modern-day journalism 鈥� it鈥檚 huge,鈥� Crawford said. 鈥淎nyone who reads Pitchfork or Rolling Stone today owes a lot to the early writers of Creem, who created this style that鈥檚 never been duplicated but always copied.鈥�
Crawford wanted to document Creem鈥檚 鈥渇reewheeling approach to writing.鈥� One legendary example is Bangs鈥� paean to Lou Reed鈥檚 鈥淢etal Machine Music,鈥� an hourlong fantasia of tape loops and feedback. In 2,475 words, Bangs wrote, “Anybody who got off on ‘The Exorcist’ should like this record. It’s certainly far more moral a product,” as well as references to Barry White, Idi Amin, the Pleasure Chest, the opera 鈥淩igoletto鈥� and the TV show 鈥淟ucas Tanner.鈥�
The film also documents the time Bangs wrote a J. Geils Band concert review on stage while the band played, as well as the time Uhelski took the stage with Kiss in full makeup.
But Crawford also wanted to show the passion with which the Creem staff worked.
鈥淭he writers were encouraged to write what they felt, and if it took 10,000 words 鈥� 鈥� Crawford shrugged. 鈥淭here鈥檚 a freedom in that. It was a different age.鈥�
‘Creem was our Facebook’
From its founding in 1969 upstairs from a head shop in a seedy section of Detroit and moving through the 鈥�80s, Creem sought to document its time and place.
鈥淚f you live in the Midwest,鈥� Marsh said in a vintage interview clip included in the film, 鈥渢he realities of the situation will force you to understand very quickly that it鈥檚 not all laid back and peace and love and good vibes and groovy; it鈥檚 hard work; it鈥檚 discipline; it鈥檚 making something out of the ugliest part of the universe.鈥�
That鈥檚 what Detroit bands such as The MC5, The Stooges and Alice Cooper 鈥� three of Creem鈥檚 favorites 鈥� did, and that鈥檚 what Creem did as well. In a time when rock ‘n’ roll was turning into pop music with swelling strings and denim-clad crooners winking about afternoon delights, Creem documented a scene that rose in opposition and spread nationally and worldwide. And the magazine acted as a form of tribal communication.
鈥淐reem magazine was our Facebook,鈥� Wayne Kramer, of the MC5, tells Crawford in the movie. 鈥淲ho鈥檚 doing what, who鈥檚 doing something cool, who鈥檚 doing something stupid.鈥�
They worked hard, and they cared, because they felt their words mattered, and they probably did. Crawford said he wanted to make the audience feel the 20-hour days that Creem staffers put in and the devotion to their craft. 鈥淭hese people were living it, and that wasn鈥檛 always a good thing necessarily. This was not like a day job 鈥� these people devoted their lives to this music, and documenting it, and writing about it.鈥�
In one of the most affecting passages in the film, a latter-day Marsh tells Crawford, 鈥淓ven in rock 鈥榥鈥� roll it had come to pass that there was a stuffy way of dealing with people. And I thought part of your job as a human being was to oppose that. And if it meant you bled a little for it, so what? Because there鈥檚 some other kid who鈥檚 gonna read this thing, and be freed by it.鈥�
Crawford cuts directly to REM frontman Michael Stipe, who said that as a queer high school outcast, 鈥渕y entire life shifted鈥� when he saw Creem for the first time. He had found his 鈥済ang.”
A lot of people found their gang in the pages of Creem. In addition to Stripe, the film includes interviews with musicians Peter Wolf, Thurston Moore, Kirk Hammett, Joan Jett, Paul Stanley, Gene Simmons and Chad Smith.
鈥淚t was really pretty easy鈥� to get people to talk about Creem, Crawford said. 鈥淭hey鈥檙e there because they love the magazine and what it did for them, not just professionally but personally. 鈥� For the most part, everyone we asked wanted to be a part of it.鈥�
The rest was just a matter of logistics and scheduling, Crawford said, although even that was no small matter: 鈥淲e literally crisscrossed the country many times.鈥�
‘Vacation’
After launching a Kickstarter fundraising campaign聽in 2016,聽Crawford is now showing the completed film at festivals and looking for a distributor. He鈥檚 open to showing 鈥淏oy Howdy鈥� theatrically or through streaming.
As for his hometown premiere on Saturday night, Crawford said, 鈥淚 can鈥檛 wait. 鈥� I have a special place in my heart for the AFI. It should be a fun night.鈥�
He said he went straight from the making of 鈥淪alad Days鈥� into 鈥淏oy Howdy,鈥� and now he鈥檚 at a bit of a loss 鈥� but not much of one.
鈥淔or the last seven or eight years I鈥檝e known exactly what I wanted to do,鈥� he said. 鈥淎nd now all I know is I want a vacation.鈥�
