Editing Creem (section)

==History==
In the winter of 1969, Barry Kramer owned the Detroit record store Full Circle, as well as Mixed Media, a head shop/bookstore, and was an unsuccessful concert promoter and band manager. After the local alternative paper rejected a concert review he had written, he decided to start publishing his own paper. Tony Reay, a clerk at Kramer's record store, became its first editor, and came up with its name, a tribute to his favorite band, [[Cream (band)|Cream]]. Charlie Auringer became the photo editor and designer, and [[Dave Marsh]] joined soon after at age 19. The first issue was distributed only in Detroit, as a tabloid-sized newspaper, but then a deal was struck with a distributor. Many copies were ordered by porn shops who were confused by the faintly suggestive title, and who displayed it next to the similarly sized [[Screw (magazine)|''Screw'' magazine]]. Richard "Ric" Siegel became circulation director, ''Creem'' become a glossy color magazine sized for newsstand distribution, and within two years had secured a national distribution deal.<ref name="SourCREEM1">{{cite news|last=Holdship|first=Bill|title=Sour CREEM The life, death and strange resurrection of America's only rock 'n' roll magazine|url=http://www2.metrotimes.com/editorial/story.asp?id=12383|access-date=3 January 2013|newspaper=Metro Times (Detroit, MI)|date=January 16, 2008|archive-date=May 21, 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080521020607/http://www.metrotimes.com/editorial/story.asp?id=12383|url-status=dead}}</ref>

For the magazine's first two years, its offices were at 3729 Cass Avenue in Detroit. An armed robbery of the offices prompted Kramer to move the operation to a 120-acre farm in [[Walled Lake, Michigan]], at 13 Mile and Haggerty Roads. Just before the move, [[Lester Bangs]] was hired, originally to write a feature on [[Alice Cooper]]. He had been fired from the rival music magazine ''[[Rolling Stone]]'' by publisher [[Jann Wenner]] for "disrespecting musicians" after a particularly harsh review of the group [[Canned Heat]]. Bangs fell in love with Detroit, calling it "rock's only hope", and remained there for five years.<ref name=SourCREEM1 />

Many of the staff members lived in the Walled Lake farmhouse, where there were occasional physical altercations between writers. One day, Marsh, who objected to Bangs' poorly housebroken dog, placed the dog's dung on Bangs' typewriter. This resulted in a fistfight that gave Marsh a gash on his head. Eventually, the magazine was successful enough to move to editorial offices in downtown [[Birmingham, Michigan]]. In 1971, Bangs became editor,<ref>{{cite book|last=Harrington|first=Joe|title=Sonic cool : the life & death of rock 'n' roll|year=2002|publisher=Hal Leonard Corp.|location=Milwaukee, WI|isbn=0-634-02861-8|page=[https://archive.org/details/soniccoollifedea00harr/page/226 226]|edition=1st|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/soniccoollifedea00harr/page/226}}</ref> and in 1976 he left the magazine; he never wrote for it again. On January 29, 1981, Kramer died of an accidental overdose of [[nitrous oxide]]. A year later, on April 30, 1982, Bangs died in New York City of an accidental [[Darvon]] overdose.<ref name=SourCREEM1 />

The magazine's offices were geographically separated from most of the entertainment industry in the [[United States]], which was then primarily based in [[Hollywood, Los Angeles|Hollywood]] and [[New York City]]. It was known for its irreverent, deprecatory and humorous tone, and became famous for its comical photo captions, which poked fun at rock stars, the industry, and even the magazine itself. The magazine dubbed the tall Plexiglas pyramid that was presented to the winner of the annual [[American Music Award]] "the Object From Space", and said it was endowed with the power to force celebrities to look ridiculous while holding it.<ref name="Backstage">{{cite journal|title=Backstage - Where the stars tank up & let their images down|journal=CREEM|date=May 1985|page=66|url=http://creemusa.com/creem-magazines/creem-magazine-issues/1985-creem-magazine-issues/may-1985-creem-magazine-issue/|quote=Cory Hart watches amazededly as the Object forces Stephen Still and Cyndi Lauper to grin sheepishly for the rest of their lives beginning now!|access-date=3 January 2013|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130117225743/http://creemusa.com/creem-magazines/creem-magazine-issues/1985-creem-magazine-issues/may-1985-creem-magazine-issue/|archive-date=17 January 2013}}</ref> Because of the magazine's location, it  was among the first national publications to provide in-depth coverage of many popular Detroit-area artists, such as [[Bob Seger]], [[Mitch Ryder]], [[Alice Cooper]], [[The MC5]], [[The Stooges]], [[Iggy Pop]], and [[Parliament-Funkadelic]], as well as other Midwestern acts such as [[Raspberries (band)|Raspberries]] and [[Cheap Trick]].