Ultimate Classic Rock

Metallica’s Kirk Hammett, Kiss leaders Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons, Alice Cooper, Joan Jett and others will be seen in the documentary Creem: America’s Only Rock ’n’ Roll Magazine when it opens in theaters in August.

The publication was launched in Detroit in 1969 by Barry Kramer and Tony Reay, and became a leader in music journalism during the ‘70s, particularly when its staff included Lester Bangs.

The publication is credited with coining the phrase “punk rock” and with exposing punk, New Wave and heavy metal to the public long before mainstream media followed. Despite enduring business problems since publication ceased in 1989, its reputation remains powerful.

“Featuring appearances from Alice Cooper, Cameron Crowe, Joan Jett, Wayne Kramer, Michael Stipe, Paul Stanley, Gene Simmons, Kirk Hammett, Thurston Moore, Peter Wolf and many more Creem contributors and famous fans, the highly anticipated documentary celebrates the irreverent, wild-child publication out of Detroit,” distributors Greenwich Entertainment said in a statement.

Creem: America’s Only Rock ‘n’ Roll Magazine is produced by JJ Kramer (son of Creem co-founder and publisher Barry Kramer) and Jaan Uhelszki (who was part of the original magazine) and directed by Scott Crawford, who made Salad Days: A Decade of Punk in Washington, D.C., 1980-90). The movie is scored by MC5 founder Wayne Kramer.

The statement notes that the movie “captures the messy upheaval of the ’70s just as rock was reinventing itself. The film explores Creem’s humble beginnings in post-riot Detroit and follows its upward trajectory from underground paper to national powerhouse. Along the way, we meet the rock critics who would influence a generation — Crowe, Uhelszki, Dave Marsh, Lester Bangs, Susan Whitall, Sylvie Simmons and Patti Smith — before bearing witness to Creem’s imminent demise following the tragic deaths of Bangs and Barry Kramer.”