Just Us Girls: Spin Magazine, October 2009

In my search for a more text-based piece to work on, which took place primarily through the internet, I found myself distracted by every possible website or article within my reach: I wasted time on social sites (naughty), researched the long-term effects of caffeine (horrific), and skimmed music blogs for what I liked (sad). However, while I was subscribing to one of, in my opinion, the best music magazines published today, Spin Magazine, it struck me that it might be useful to choose projects that I was actually interested in for this class. I was going to do one of their articles on the Strokes back in 2006 on a personal preference but it wasn't available online; once I was done shouting at my computer, I decided to upload the latest issue of Spin and look for something that looked good.

The result, my choice, is a feature on highly-hyped California band Girls and the disturbing life story of its creator Christopher Owens, which is linked below:

Click images for a larger view

Generally, this is a good article in the usual music journalism format: it tells the tale of the band through a brief interview experience while praising the album and giving the dirty gossip about the artists. Spin Magazine is usually honest to the music it covers, however, so it's less harsh (see: NME Magazine, any article, probably) on Girls in this issue.

Moment By Moment, Section By Section

The front picture is captivating: the bandmates pictures, Owens and White, hold a certain stoicism in their expressions that pull me as a reader to this article. The title, "Just Us Girls", lies in direct contrast to the photograph and is never actually referred to in the article's text. It does, however, resonate with me and sticks in my mind for a very long time. Along with the subtitle, which mentions Owens's struggle with a "religious cult and years of druggy disarray", the front to this story is intriguing and well managed.

The text runs in the following order: a brief quote and memory from the interview, along with a brief description of Owens and his tortured past, make up the introduction; the body text speaks of his childhood, musical influences, friendly influences, drug years, and musical ambition; the conclusion again recalls the interview with another memorable quote. This format is common in this type of journalism and quite effective - however, it lacks innovation and originality. It reads like a dry biography to someone who is used to reading music magazines - which, ideally, a subscriber would be. Otherwise this is a good article with memorable, colorful descriptions and quotes, such as the following examples.

Mostly attractive are the quotes from Owens instead of the writer of the article:

Owens:

• “[Music is] about finding a reason to be alive’.”
• Owens on escaping the cult he was raised in: “You literally grow up in a bubble... It’s a total mystery.”
• “I want to be like John Lennon--an important songwriter.”
• “Yeah, life sucks, but there’s an alternative... Hang out with your friends. Have a good time."

Everdell, the writer:

• The song descriptions are kind and rich: “‘Hellhole Ratrace’, the doleful, slow-building, heartbreakingly honest paean to simple pleasures”; “the disarming, ingenuous lyrics [of “Lust for Life”].
• “When he speaks passionately, you believe every word.”

The subject of the article is what makes this piece, not the writing; visually, the pictures are great and nostalgic, and the text is reasonably arranged. If I were to rate this article on a scale of one to ten, I would give it a six and a half.