Rest Assured, We Can Save It All: Creem Magazine as a Working Class Critique of the Late 1960s Californian Counter-Culture

Nathaniel Hanson

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I would like to extend my sincerest thanks to Dr. Richard Oestreicher of the University of Pittsburgh History Department for providing me with the necessary guidance and criticism during the planning and writing of this paper, as well as Dr. Carleton Gholz of Northeastern University for his help in discussing all things related to Detroit’s music, history, and culture.

Bangs, Lester. “James Taylor Marked for Death” in Bangs, Psychotic Reaction and Carburetor Dung, ed. Greil Marcus. New York: Alfred

A. Knopf, 1987.

Anderson, Terry. The Sixties (New York: Pearson, 2012), 50.

Creem’s slogan

Marsh, Dave. “Will Success Spoil the Fruit?” Creem. 3 (May 1971), 33.

This is a reference to the song of the same name by The Mammas & The Pappas, a band who, though originally from New York, became closely identified with California’s Bay Area counter-culture in the mid-to-late 1960s.

Marsh’ term for the psychedelic counter-culture. See Marsh, “Will Success Spoil the Fruit?”.

For a particularly relevant example of California idealism and counter- cultural values, see these values listed in SDS’ Port Huron Statement. It should be noted that while there was a significant Michigan influence in Students for a Democratic Society, I am treating these students as part of the “intellectual town” demographic in the middle class counter- culture movement.

See Marsh, “Will Success Spoil the Fruit”.

Jefferson Airplane was known for inserting radical liner notes in albums. Also, see the lyrics to the song “Volunteers.”

Reference the U.C. Berkeley protests and Mario Savio’s “Place your selves upon the gears” speech. See Anderson.

See Time magazine. July 7, 1967.

Dave Marsh, Deday Larene, and Barry Kramer. “The Michigan Scene Today!” Creem. April 1970.

See footnote 1.

Here I am referring to the music of the MC5, who I discuss later in the paper.

To illustrate aesthetic and counter-cultural differences, contrast the following songs, all of which were released around roughly the same time: Mitchell’s rendition of “Woodstock” and CSNY’s “Almost Cut My Hair” with The MC5’s “Kick Out the Jams” and The Stooges’ “Raw Power.”

This is perhaps one of the reasons that Bangs panned the MC5 in his audition letter for Creem. Creem entertained writings from its readers, and, particularly in the case of Bangs and writer/director Cameron Crowe, hired fans for writing positions.

From “The John Sinclair Papers” accessed online via the Bentley Historical Library, University of Michigan-Ann Arbor.

The Detroit Riots, as well as the events leading up to them, served as a shock to Detroit, as well as the U.S. as a whole. After the riots, Mo town stars begin to inject a new-found sense of political and cultural critique and awareness into their music. Marvin Gaye’s album What’s Going On? and The Supremes song “Love Child” serve as effective examples of this change. See the BBC 4 Documentary, “Motor City’s Burning: Detroit from Motown to The Stooges.” BBC 4, March 2010.

“Tina Turner: Star’s Cars” Creem. March, 1975.

George Clinton is mentioned in the Star’s Cars section of the October 1978 issue of Creem.

“Motor City’s Burning: Detroit From Motown to The Stooges.” BBC 4, March 2010.

Kramer, 63.

See “Motor City’s Burning: Detroit From Motown to The Stooges.”

See artists like The Clash, Minor Threat, and The Dead Kennedys.




DOI: https://doi.org/10.5195/forbes5.2012.27

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