Spin focuses on the progressive new music scene and young adult culture involved with alternative music. Each issue includes reviews, essays, profiles and interviews on a range of music from rock to jazz.
Founded in 1985 by Penthouse publisher Bob Guccione's son, Bob Jr., Spin magazine aimed to occupy a space forged and outgrown by Rolling Stone, which had since moved on from counter-culture reporting to a more pop-culture focus. Due to its well-funded birth, Spin rode the wave of the burgeoning alternative rock movement and was afforded the luxury of being as controversial as it wanted, forsaking at times somewhat slanted reporting in favor of the punch and jibe. Nonetheless, it brought into America's peripheral vision early stories of the ravages of AIDS in Africa, in addition to standard artist interviews and album reviews. Switching from a tabloid format to a glossy perfect-bound publication, the magazine now reports on fleeting music trends and the Next Big Thing more than it unearths alternative-rock gems, but it still does a good job of uncovering behind-the-scenes-stories, such as the violent acts and deplorably unhygienic conditions of 1999's Woodstock III music festival, in a way no other music magazine does. When the Beastie Boys released Hello Nasty in 1998, Spin published three different editions of the magazine--each with a separate headshot of one member of the renegade hip-hop group. Three years later, Rolling Stone copied the gimmick, featuring the members of boy band 'N Sync individually on five different covers. If Spin's influence in rock journalism was ever in question, this event provides irrefutable proof. --Beth Massa

Customer Rating:
Summary: When awful bands are reviewed by Bohemian Ingrates.....
Comment: oh yeah, I remember a time in music when people used to rush to the cd stores when they heard a song on the radio...the time when Joshua Tree first came out, or when I first heard Stand on BRU, and had to immediately go get the tape from the /spin/ shop in the college town, and yeah when really tiny bands, like Better Than Ezra from N.O., seemed to come out of nowhere, and throw the song, 'good' on the radio, and man music seemed to just drool out of my ears/// I don't know what happened really, maybe I discovered a whole other genre of music, ie. Tiesto, AVB, PVD, Ladytron, Carl Cox, Gabriel and Dresden, or I just dont have anything in common with the sad emo culture who makes bands like dashboard confessional out to be the new Iggy Pop, or on the same token these lemmings who crawl to the corporate swindlers FYE to shell out top sticker cd prices for the new Spears album...

...I remember when I first read Spin, all glossy and shiny cover with a bunch of no named bands, in which I could really try to dig and see who their influences were....I read it for awhile, but then one day, one month if I recall, it had the dudes from the /Strokes/ on the cover, remember, the really close up, tight shots, of the band members looking as if they just rolled out of bed or were going to a methadone clinic, and the same issue has multiple copies with the same content, but different covers with each member of the band, and if I recall, it said the 'Best Band of the Decade?? It had been some time before that, that I had laughed so genuinely hard. I was actually really angry, that anyone, anyone, that appreciates or writes for a music magazine, would ever have the tenacity or testicular fortitude to ever embarass themselves enough to write something like that. I mean here's a group of winey, college yuppies, who think of themselves as hard core, who review music from bands such as the Yeah, Yeah, Yeah's? NO NO NO.

Spin is trash, (Fred Durst, on a cover? enough said, phttt) it's writing is sophmoric and save the personal opinion that the bands they review are more or less worthless, I simply cannot see how this magazine is still around after these many years.

EXCREMENT.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: all right by me !!!
Comment: I like Spin magazine. Sure, it has a lot of ads and they primarily cover newer trends in music. There's not a lot for people who like classic pop vocals here! However, I always like to keep my head tuned in for new artists and the evolution of music; and so for me Spin magazine serves the purpose well. Moreover, the quality of the paper, images and text is great; and the binding is well manufactured, too.

Spin has articles on great new music and hot developments in the music industry. For example, the current issue focuses on R.E.M. and their "resurrection." I love it! They also have smaller articles with pictures of other newcomers to the music scene.

In addition, look for interesting articles like "who earns what" and "the honor roll" of new gadgets like t-shirts and wireless earphones that are rather informative about what's "hip and happening" today. It could be construed as tabloid gossip; but to me it's a great reprieve from heavy duty thinking!

Overall, Spin magazine is a fine choice for those of us who want the latest news and trends from the music industry. The writing isn't exactly Shakespearian; but you didn't buy this to read Shakespeare! The articles are actually rather well written and the humor is OK by me. I recommend this magazine for fans of modern music and people who enjoy updates about their favorite artists and bands.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Informationally Better & More Inciteful than RS
Comment: Spin was the standard "way back when" elipsed in some ways by Paste, Under the Radar, Magnet etc but still comes through in the clutch with reviewers with a a wider frame of reference than many of the above and the opportunity to review odd-ball items and get out that information quickly in its "Spin Mix" column. If the songs they ID aren't on myspace, the band usually is, thus a chance to sample new music. And the greatest advantage to a Spin subscription is that it's so bloody cheap. (Note: In two years, they'll paying YOU to subscribe!) It is respectfully submitted to start your subscription now, but remember to ignore some of the bands it hypes -- but embrace some of the others.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: what?
Comment: i can't believe people are bashing Spin for covering trendy bands. If any magazine should be bashed for such a thing, it should be Alternative Press, the typical myspace users' magazine. Spin does touch on "hot" bands, true, but they also cover not so popular bands that are worth listening to. Spin may not be the perfect music magazine, but i like it more than most of the other options. Especially being a girl, when i pick up a "music" magazine, i want to actually read about music, NOT look at pictures of half naked girls and hot rods thrown in the mix to pick up more viewers, that are totally irrelevant. Spin is easy to read, friendly, and not super snobbish, which is why i like it. Because honestly, if any super indie underground band was mentioned in a major magazine, they would get crap for it, and then the band wouldn't be so super indie secret cool. Spin is an enjoyable light magazine, more diverse than most mainstream music magazines. but if you're looking for an real independent take on music, then go pick up an indie zine.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Spin baby spin
Comment: I've been to a lot of concerts, met a lot of bands, seen a lot of hype, seen a lot of scandal. This magazine is pretty much the best source of any up-and-coming band that you may be hearing on the radio or seeing on MTV.
Not only is SPIN the best magazine for music for "kids my age (22)" but the picture quality is some of the best quality that I have seen in any magazine. I have framed pages out of previous spin magazines, because they were pictures I wanted to keep forever. I would recommend spin magazine to any fan of indie rock especially. Death cab for cutie, the shins, and the flamming lips are just some of the bands that are talked about in SPIN magazine monthly. SPIN magazine does include some rap/hip-hop music that I try to avoid but the indie-rock and rock band information that I receive is some of the best.

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