From 1969 to 1989, Creem was the go-to source for anyone looking for music journalism a little more edgy than Rolling Stone and a little less photocopied than the zines in the foyer of their local used bookstore. Not only was Barry Kramer’s Detroit-based magazine the home of influential music writers like Lester Bangs, Robert Christgau, and Greil Marcus, but it coined the term “punk rock” in the early ‘70s.
J.J. Kramer, son of the publication’s publisher, and Scott Crawford, a former music writer and editor himself, are currently in the process of jump-starting Boy Howdy! The Story Of Creem Magazine. “We’re traveling the country talking to musicians, artists, poets, eccentrics and ex-Creem staffers to bring the story of the most unflinching and uncompromising music magazine in America,” the documentarians explain on the film’s Kickstarter page. “We’re working with the full cooperation of the late publisher Barry Kramer’s estate—which will provide access to a wealth of archival material and never-before-seen photographs.”
They’ve already bagged interviews with Alice Cooper, Sonic Youth’s Thurston Moore, and the MC5’s Wayne Kramer, and they’re planning to pull in a bunch more, assuming they can reach their $100K fundraising goal. They’re already one-third of the way there, with a little less than a month to go. The trailer for the documentary certainly makes it look like a project worthy of anticipation: