Spex (magazine)

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Spex
Spex logo
description Music and pop culture magazine
Area of ​​Expertise subculture
language German
publishing company Piranha Media
Headquarters Berlin
First edition September 1980
attitude December 2018
Frequency of publication bi-monthly
Editor-in-chief Dennis Pohl
editor Alexander Lacher
Web link spex.de
ISSN (print) 0178-6830

Spex was a monthly, then bimonthly music and pop culture magazine from Cologne and Berlin from 1980 to 2018 . It was continued as an online magazine until 2020. The magazine mainly deals with topics and works from the subcultural area.

history

Founding phase (1980–1982)

Group photo of the Spex founders, August 1980 (Siegfried Syniuga, Gerald Hündgen, Wolfgang Burat, Clara Drechsler, Christoph Pracht, Bernhard Schaub, Peter Bömmels, Wilfried Rütten)

In September 1980, a publisher collective brought to Gerald Hündgen , Clara Drechsler , Dirk Scheuring , Wilfried Rütten and Peter Bömmels in Cologne , the first issue of the magazine out the first 555 should be called, but then after the English punk band X-Ray Spex named has been. The large-format magazine differed from the numerous fanzines of the time in that it was not copied but printed and was sold not only in independent record stores but also at train stations via a wholesaler. The first phase of the issue was determined by the cultural optimism of punk and new wave . Despite the knowledgeable reporting, the authors' texts were characterized by their personal, deliberately unprofessional handwriting. Christoph Twickel, who later wrote for Spex himself , outlined the style in his farewell log on SPON as follows: " To the majority, it may have seemed as if those in the know were only writing for their own kind . The formulation that Spex co-founder Clara Drechsler used is more appropriate The last printed edition now published. You just didn't want to write about pop culture 'as an outsider'. In the eighties that was in fact what set the Spex editorial team away from the tract-like, instructive-objectifying style of the seventies rock journalism. "

Style formation (1983–1992)

After the end of the music magazine Sounds , Spex developed into the leading German-speaking, subculture-oriented music magazine. Spex often spotted trends so other media picked up topics and discussions from the magazine. In November 1983, for example, one of the first German-language reports about Madonna appeared in Spex . Important sound authors (such as Diedrich and Detlef Diederichsen , Andreas Banaski , Michael Ruff, Xao Seffcheque and Olaf Dante Marx ) switched to Spex , which allowed the magazine to flourish both literarily and theoretically. Diedrich Diederichsen worked as editor-in-chief from 1985 to 1990; He started as co-editor in 1988 and stayed that way until 2000. The concept of only building an editorial team to such an extent that there are hardly any restrictions for the authors led to an exemplary mix of essays, articles and subjective spellings. Spex thus also shaped the style of pop literature . Formative authors of the Spex were u. a. also Ralf Niemczyk (also editor and co-editor), Lothar Gorris (editor from 1985–1989 and co-editor), Hans Nieswandt (editor from 1990–1993), Sebastian Zabel (also editor), Manfred Hermes , Harald Hellmann , Markus Heidingsfelder , Mark Sikora , Olaf Karnik and Jutta Koether (long-time editor and co-editor from 1985 to 2000). Also Rainald Goetz and Joachim Lottmann texts published in Spex . Christoph Pracht (owner of the CCCP advertising agency) designed the magazine with a clearly structured layout. In 1988 three Spex authors were involved in founding the “Rave Club” on Cologne's Hohenzollernring.

Cultural Studies (1993–1999)

After the magazine changed its subtitle from “Musik zur Zeit” to “Magazin für Popkultur ”, it became more political and increasingly took up less musical than academic trends. Above all, the names of the Spex authors Mark Terkessidis (editor from 1992–1994), Tom Holert (editor and co-editor from 1996–1999), Sandra and Kerstin Grether and finally Dietmar Dath (editor-in-chief from 1998–2000) stood for the so-called " pop left ". From 1993 to 1998 Christoph Gurk was editor-in-chief of the paper. In 1995 Wolfgang Tillmans joined as co-editor. Other influential authors during this period included a. Marcel Beyer , Christian Storms, Christoph Twickel , Lars Brinkmann, Oliver von Felbert and Tobias Nagl.

Towards the end of the 1990s, a crisis began to emerge, which was both financial and related to the content of the paper. The differently developing scenes and groupings of the readership were found less and less in the articles of Spex . But also new, partly free alternative publications led to a decrease in circulation at Spex . Dietmar Dath processes this phase of the magazine in his novel " Phonon or Staat ohne Namen ".

Piranha Media and Uwe Viehmann (2000–2006)

At the turn of the year 1999/2000, the Spex publishing company was sold to Piranha Media . This also ended the self-publishing practice practiced up to that point. The managing director of Piranha Media, the Munich publisher Alexander Lacher, became the magazine's editor. Lacher made the integration of a fashion series a condition for a continuation of the title. Most of the old employees left the paper after the takeover. Uwe Viehmann was appointed editor-in-chief and adjusted Spex based on the changed market conditions. The Spex was printed in four colors from now on. As an addition to the magazine, a CD-ROM was included in the first two years, and later an audio CD with a compilation of article-related pieces of music. During this period, Spex was accused on the one hand of an uncritical attitude towards the advertising and music industry, on the other hand the new course and the quality of the magazine were also confirmed by various prizes and awards ( LeadAward and ADC Award ).

Berlin editorial office (since 2007)

A move from Cologne to Berlin sought by the publishing house management failed for the time being in the summer of 2006 due to resistance from the editors. However, at the turn of the year 2006/2007 the move was completed. The entire editorial team, including editor-in-chief Uwe Viehmann, opposed the move and was then dismissed by the publisher's management. The relocation and the associated dissolution of the Spex editorial team was accompanied by numerous violent critical reactions and statements from the journalistic public.

Max Dax took over the management of the property as the new editor-in-chief; in the March 2007 issue he introduced himself to the readership. The publication frequency of the magazine was changed from eleven issues per year to a bi-monthly publication. Following the heyday of the magazine, debates should be able to develop again with its help. Under the new management, detailed interviews were printed, the narrative dimension of the articles unfolded in more space - but also visual aspects such as detailed “weird” fashion series, large-format photos and clearly structured design were emphasized. In theoretical terms, the paper now pursued a pragmatic-critical approach. Questions about socio-cultural change and a sense of responsibility were discussed, for example, in the series of articles "Digital Evolution". The artistic focus was on avant-garde and contemporary art . The influential authors include a. in appearance: Robert Defcon, Jens Balzer , Klaus Theweleit and the editorial team Jan Kedves and Wibke Wetzker.

In October 2010, Jan Kedves and Wibke Wetzker were appointed to the magazine's editor-in-chief after Max Dax had given up his post. In April 2012 Torsten Groß (editor of Rolling Stone ) took over the position of editor-in-chief. The editorial team was completed by Arno Raffeiner, Annika Reith, Daniel Gerhardt and Jennifer Beck as online editor. In 2013 the former editor-in-chief Dax and the journalist Anne Waak published a book with texts from 33 1/3 years of Spex, which were supposed to document the change in the language of music journalism. At the beginning of 2016, Arno Raffeiner took over the editor-in-chief from Torsten Groß. Dennis Pohl joined the editorial team in June 2016.

Discontinuation of the print edition (2018)

In issue 383 of October 15, 2018, editor-in-chief Daniel Gerhardt announced the discontinuation of the print edition. The last edition, Bye SPEX! What's next? (No. 384, January / February 2019), was published on December 27, 2018.

In an online obituary at Die Zeit , Georg Seeßlen , himself a Spex author, summarized the development and the changed meaning of the magazine: “Pop, fashion, music and also art in the state of experience, experimentation, the fundamental here and now. The fact that the magazine was named after the band X-Ray Spex with the grandiose poly styrene as its center did the rest: Spex was n't about punk and new wave, Spex was punk and new wave, ”he describes the beginnings. “From the music at the time the path went to the magazine of pop culture . This meant, among other things, no longer being 'in' so naturally, but instead pursuing a political, theoretical, 'left' approach that resulted in a tremendous differentiation in the patchwork of musical, aesthetic and discursive scenes and sub-scenes, with the loss of a reliable one Movement in the morning has to be done. ”In the Berliner Zeitung , Markus Schneider regretted:“ With the Spex attitude, a piece of youth is going away. ” Der Spiegel praised the magazine as“ the most influential German magazine for pop culture issues ” . The last issue made the readers melancholy: "Because it is also a report from an era when pop was more than just good music."

The former Spex authors Kerstin and Sandra Grether wrote a critical review of the prevailing sexism in music journalism, which was also to be found at Spex: “When we went from readers to authors, the following was true: if not one of us two, one Wrote articles about female musicians from Germany, these were mostly ignored - and with them a steadily growing local scene of indie rock acts by women, queers and trans * women. Always it was the German singing male indie rock acts against which the story is told of the magazine - until they no longer knew if Tocotronic the Spex has invented or Spex Blumfeld. In its entire 38-year history, there were only seven female musicians from Germany on the cover of the magazine, we counted it up. ”Diedrich Diederichsen said goodbye to the magazine with impressions from everyday editorial work during his time as editor.

Since February 2019, Spex has been operated as an online magazine under editor-in-chief Dennis Pohl. The digital Spex subscription cost 15 euros and included access to the digitized Spex archive with all issues from the past 38 years.

Dissolution of the editorial team (2020)

In June 2020, Deutschlandfunk Kultur reported that the entire remaining editorial team would be terminated at the end of the month. On the website, the publisher announced a possible restart in the fall.

Edition

The Spex has in recent years considerable bearing lost. It was last 15,584 copies in 2014; after that no more figures were reported to the IVW. This corresponds to a decrease of 6319 pieces compared to 2004.

Development of the number of copies sold

literature

  • Ralf Hinz: Cultural Studies and Pop - On the Critique of Judgment in Scientific and Journalistic Speeches on Popular Culture. West German publishing house, Opladen / Wiesbaden 1998
  • Mark Siemons: The pop intellectuals, the irony and the war. An episode from the tumult of distinction. In: Kursbuch , 142, 2000.
  • Richard Gebhardt: On the reception of cultural studies in 'Spex - Magazin für Pop-Kultur'. In: The Toolbox of Cultural Studies . Edited by Lothar Mikos and Rainer Winter. Bielefeld 2001, pp. 175-200.
  • Pascal Jurt: Interview with Diedrich Diederichsen about his time at Spex. " As obscure as it was barely possible ", in: Jungle World No. 9, February 28, 2013
  • Harun Maye: Living in a magazine. Spex social democratizes pop. In: Ästhetik & Kommunikation , 34, 2003, issue 122/123, pp. 161–167.
  • Harun Maye: The return to the concrete. The new journalism in German magazines for pop culture. In: Texts on Art , 14, 2004, Issue 55, pp. 96-103.
  • Max Dax , Anne Waak: Spex. The book. 33 1/3 years of pop . AV - The Other Publishers, 2013, ISBN 978-3-8493-0033-3
  • Harun Maye: The Spex Years . In: Mercury . tape 73 , no. 836 , 2019, pp. 64–70 ( merkur-zeitschrift.de [PDF]).

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Christoph Twickel: At the end of the printed "Spex": No sympathy with the majority . In: Spiegel Online . December 28, 2018 ( spiegel.de [accessed December 31, 2018]).
  2. ↑ FAZE Trip # Cologne (Part 1) - Where does Cologne techno come from? In: FAZEmag -. August 28, 2019, accessed June 24, 2020 (German).
  3. ^ Open letter from Alexander Lacher to Dietmar Dath. December 26, 2006, archived from the original on April 7, 2014 ; accessed on October 15, 2018 .
  4. ↑ Daniela Burger: ( Page no longer available , search in web archives: Spex CD-ROM ) - Diploma thesis, University of Applied Sciences Potsdam , 2001. (About the CD-ROMs that were produced as a booklet insert from 2000–2001; also contains information on the magazine itself. )@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / interface.fh-potsdam.de
  5. ↑ 2003 nominated for “Lead Magazine of the Year” and “Still Life Photography of the Year”; 2004 2nd prize for "Visual Leader of the Year" and 1st and 3rd prize for "Fashion and Lifestyle Article of the Year" and 2nd Prize for "Lifestyle Online Magazine of the Year"; 2005 2nd prize for "Illustration Contribution of the Year"; 2006: 3rd prize for “Fashion and Lifestyle Contribution of the Year”.
  6. ↑ 2003 bronze for design, bronze in the category “magazine articles”, as well as two awards for the cover design; 2004 bronze for design, as well as one award in the category “journal articles”; 2005 silver for design, award for cover design. In 2007, Bureau Mario Lombardo's creative work was awarded for Spex .
  7. ↑ We leave the cathedral in Cologne. Spex is not moving to Berlin . de: Bug News, August 24, 2006
  8. ↑ Reinhard Jellen : Spex is being shredded. The relocation of the music magazine from Cologne to Berlin marks the end of an era . ( Memento from November 17, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Telepolis , December 21, 2006
    Jens Balzer: In: Berliner Zeitung , December 21, 2006
    Ralf Niemczyk: Surrounded by madness . In: taz , December 22, 2006
  9. ↑ Julian Weber: Boiled, evaporated . In: taz , October 15, 2010
  10. ↑ Christian Werthschulte: Back to music with a new boss . In: taz , March 31, 2012
  11. ↑ There is always loud shouting anyway . In: taz , March 18, 2013
  12. ↑ Change at SPEX: Arno Raffeiner becomes editor-in-chief . SPEX, January 27, 2016
  13. ↑ Daniel Gerhardt: The end is near - SPEX is being discontinued. In: Spex.de. October 15, 2018, accessed October 15, 2018 .
  14. ^ "Spex": headquarters of German pop criticism . In: time online . ( zeit.de [accessed on October 15, 2018]).
  15. ↑ Markus Schneider: In memory of Spex: History is made . In: Berliner Zeitung . ( berliner-zeitung.de [accessed October 24, 2018]).
  16. ↑ RAP: More than music. In: Der Spiegel . No. 1/2019, December 29, 2018, p. 98.
  17. ↑ Kerstin Grether, Sandra Grether: Sexism in Music Journalism - Unheard of. In: Spiegel online. December 27, 2018, accessed December 31, 2018 .
  18. ^ Diedrich Diederichsen: caretaker of madness. In: SZ.de . 2nd December 2018.
  19. ↑ Jan Kedves: "Spex" will be continued as an online magazine. In: SZ.de . 20th December 2018.
  20. ↑ On the way to settlement? Pop magazine "Spex" without editing. Retrieved June 19, 2020 .
  21. ↑ mdr.de: The waste paper on June 19, 2020: Intersubjective correct | MDR.DE. Retrieved June 19, 2020 .
  22. ↑ Lars Fleischmann: From the music magazine "Spex": Leise Trauer . In: The daily newspaper: taz . June 22, 2020, ISSN  0931-9085 ( taz.de [accessed June 23, 2020]).
  23. ↑ according to IVW , fourth quarter in each case ( details on ivw.eu )