METALLICA's Kirk Hammett, R.E.M.'s Michael Stipe, Suzi Quatro and RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS' Chad Smith are among the musicians who appear in the newly released trailer for a documentary film titled "Creem: America's Only Rock 'N' Roll Magazine", which premiered at the SXSW Film Festival last year. The trailer features vintage videos and various Creem covers throughout the seventies and eighties.
"I lived by what was printed in Creem magazine," Hammett says in the video, which can be seen below.
Capturing the messy upheaval of the 1970s just as rock was re-inventing itself, the documentary film explores Creem magazine's humble beginnings in post-riot Detroit, follows its upward trajectory from underground paper to national powerhouse, then bears witness to its imminent demise following the tragic and untimely deaths of its visionary publisher, Barry Kramer, and its most famous alum and genius clown prince, Lester Bangs, a year later. Fifty years after publishing its first issue, "America's Only Rock 'N' Roll Magazine" remains a seditious spirit in music and culture.
The documentary "Creem: America's Only Rock 'N' Roll Magazine", formerly known as "Boy Howdy: The Story Of Creem Magazine", is directed by American filmmaker Scott Crawford, his second film after making the doc "Salad Days" previously. The film features additional interviews with Alice Cooper, Joan Jett, Paul Stanley (KISS), Gene Simmons (KISS), and more. It was produced by Barry Kramer's son, JJ Kramer, and Creem alum Jaan Uhelszki, and features music by MC5's Wayne Kramer (who is also interviewed for the film).
Greenwich Entertainment will release "Creem: America's Only Rock 'N' Roll Magazine" in select theaters starting in August.
