Our benevolent Google overlords have somehow acquired the rights to put the entire back catalog of Spin up on the Web. The search functions aren’t what they might be, so you’ll just have to browse. Pick a random issue in the late ’80s and have some fun. My professional career started at Spin–the first piece of writing I ever got paid for, in 1989, was a review of Oaktown 357, a girl group put together by MC Hammer. It’s in there somewhere, but the issue I’m linking to today is about a decade later, cover date July 2000. (For a few weeks that summer, I had the unusual distinction of having written simultaneous cover stories in both Rolling Stone and Spin.) Leading indicator of the magazine industry’s health: that issue ran 174 pages, roughly twice the length of a current Spin pamphlet. Go here, and if you want to read my cover story on Matchbox 20, type “92” into the little box at the top of the screen (just to the right of Contents). If you just want to see a picture of me wearing a cowboy hat, type “34.”

posted 23 March 2010 in Articles, Outside and tagged Matchbox 20, Spin. 3 comments