Fusion (music magazine)

Last updated

Fusion was an American music magazine that was based in Boston, Massachusetts and operated from 1967 to 1974. According to the music journalism archive Rock's Backpages, it was an "influential" publication during that time. [1] It formed out of the teen-oriented publication New England Teen Scene and, along with Crawdaddy! and Rolling Stone , was one of the first US magazines to recognize and critique the increased sophistication of pop music from the mid 1960s onward. [2]

The magazine's co-editor was Ted Scourtis until 1970. [3] Three years later, it was edited by Robert Somma and published by Quality Stuff, Inc. [4] According to the magazine's advertising in July 1972, it was based at 909 Beacon Street in Boston. [5]

Among the writers whose work appeared in Fusion are the following: Ben Edmonds, Loyd Grossman, Lenny Kaye, Danny Goldberg, Nick Tosches, Keith Altham, Michael Lydon, Robert Greenfield, Charlie Gillett, Greg Shaw, Geoffrey Cannon, Jon Tiven, Al Aronowitz, Lester Bangs, Gene Sculatti, Ken Barnes, Metal Mike Saunders, Mitchell Cohen [1] and Keith Maillard. [6] The magazine also published pieces by Barry Miles and David Walley. [7]

The title Fusion is the name of the online arts magazine of Berklee College of Music, which is also based in Boston. [8]

Related Research Articles

<i>Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band</i> 1967 studio album by the Beatles

Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band is the eighth studio album by the English rock band the Beatles. Released on 26 May 1967, Sgt. Pepper is regarded by musicologists as an early concept album that advanced the roles of sound composition, extended form, psychedelic imagery, record sleeves, and the producer in popular music. The album had an immediate cross-generational impact and was associated with numerous touchstones of the era's youth culture, such as fashion, drugs, mysticism, and a sense of optimism and empowerment. Critics lauded the album for its innovations in songwriting, production and graphic design, for bridging a cultural divide between popular music and high art, and for reflecting the interests of contemporary youth and the counterculture.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Derek Taylor</span> English journalist, writer, publicist and record producer

Derek Wyn Taylor was a British journalist, writer, publicist and record producer. He is best known for his role as press officer to the Beatles, with whom he worked in 1964 and then from 1968 to 1970, and was one of several associates to earn the moniker "the Fifth Beatle". Before returning to London to head the publicity for the Beatles' Apple Corps organisation in 1968, he worked as the publicist for California-based bands such as the Byrds, the Beach Boys and the Mamas and the Papas. Taylor was known for his forward-thinking and extravagant promotional campaigns, exemplified in taglines such as "The Beatles Are Coming" and "Brian Wilson Is a Genius". He was equally dedicated to the 1967 Summer of Love ethos and helped stage that year's Monterey Pop Festival.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">When I'm Sixty-Four</span> 1967 song by the Beatles

"When I'm Sixty-Four" is a song by the English rock band The Beatles, written by Paul McCartney and released on their 1967 album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. It was one of the first songs McCartney wrote; he was about 14, probably in April or May 1956. The song was recorded in a key different from the final recording; it was sped up at the request of McCartney to make his voice sound younger. It prominently features a trio of clarinets throughout.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robert Christgau</span> American music journalist (born 1942)

Robert Thomas Christgau is an American music journalist and essayist. Among the most well-known and influential music critics, he began his career in the late 1960s as one of the earliest professional rock critics and later became an early proponent of musical movements such as hip hop, riot grrrl, and the import of African popular music in the West. Christgau spent 37 years as the chief music critic and senior editor for The Village Voice, during which time he created and oversaw the annual Pazz & Jop critics poll. He has also covered popular music for Esquire, Creem, Newsday, Playboy, Rolling Stone, Billboard, NPR, Blender, and MSN Music, and was a visiting arts teacher at New York University. CNN senior writer Jamie Allen has called Christgau "the E. F. Hutton of the music world – when he talks, people listen."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kim Fowley</span> American record producer and songwriter (1939–2015)

Kim Vincent Fowley was an American record producer, songwriter and musician who was behind a string of novelty and cult pop rock singles in the 1960s, and managed The Runaways in the 1970s. He has been described as "one of the most colorful characters in the annals of rock & roll", as well as "a shadowy cult figure well outside the margins of the mainstream".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Within You Without You</span> 1967 song by the Beatles

"Within You Without You" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles from their 1967 album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. Written by lead guitarist George Harrison, it was his second composition in the Indian classical style, after "Love You To", and inspired by his stay in India in late 1966 with his mentor and sitar teacher Ravi Shankar. Recorded in London without the other Beatles, it features Indian instrumentation such as sitar, tambura, dilruba and tabla, and was performed by Harrison and members of the Asian Music Circle. The recording marked a significant departure from the Beatles' previous work; musically, it evokes the Indian devotional tradition, while the overtly spiritual quality of the lyrics reflects Harrison's absorption in Hindu philosophy and the teachings of the Vedas.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Baby, You're a Rich Man</span> 1967 single by the Beatles

"Baby, You're a Rich Man" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles that was released as the B-side of their "All You Need Is Love" single in July 1967. It originated from an unfinished song by John Lennon, titled "One of the Beautiful People", to which Paul McCartney added a chorus. It is one of the best-known pop songs to make use of a clavioline, a monophonic keyboard instrument that was a forerunner to the synthesizer. Lennon played the clavioline on its oboe setting, creating a sound that suggests an Indian shehnai. The song was recorded and mixed at Olympic Sound Studios in London, making it the first of the Beatles' EMI recordings to be entirely created outside EMI Studios.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">It's All Too Much</span> 1969 song by the Beatles

"It's All Too Much" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles from their 1969 album Yellow Submarine. Written by George Harrison in 1967, it conveys the ideological themes of that year's Summer of Love. The Beatles recorded the track in May 1967, a month after completing their album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. It was one of four new songs they then supplied for the 1968 animated film Yellow Submarine, to meet their contractual obligations to United Artists.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">We Love You</span> 1967 single by the Rolling Stones

"We Love You" is a song by the English rock band the Rolling Stones that was written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards. Their first new release of the summer of 1967, it was first released as a single on 18 August in the United Kingdom, with "Dandelion" as the B-side. The song peaked at number eight in Britain and number 50 in the United States, where "Dandelion" was promoted as the A-side and peaked at number 14.

<i>Apple to the Core</i> 1972 book by Peter McCabe and Robert D. Schonfeld

Apple to the Core: The Unmaking of the Beatles is a book by Peter McCabe and Robert D. Schonfeld, first published in the United States by Pocket Books in 1972. Released two years after the break-up of the English band the Beatles, the book covers the business aspect of the group's career, particularly the problems that befell their Apple Corps enterprise.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Teardrops (George Harrison song)</span> 1981 single by George Harrison

"Teardrops" is a song by the English rock musician George Harrison from his ninth studio album Somewhere in England (1981). It was also issued as the second single off the album, in July 1981. As with the lead single, "All Those Years Ago", Harrison completed the song after Warner Bros. Records had rejected his initial submission of Somewhere in England in September 1980. In response to Warner's concerns, he wrote "Teardrops" as an attempt at a commercially oriented song.

<i>KRLA Beat</i>

KRLA Beat was an American rock music magazine that operated between 1964 and 1968. It began in October 1964 as a free newsletter distributed by the Southern Californian radio station KRLA, before being reworked as a more reportage-focused title in February 1965. The music journalism archive Rock's Backpages describes KRLA Beat as "the first American newspaper dedicated to coverage of the top-forty rock-and-roll music scene".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Barbara Charone</span>

Barbara Charone is a UK-based American public relations officer for musical artists and Board Member of Chelsea F.C. Formerly a journalist and music critic, she wrote regularly for the Chicago Sun-Times, the NME and Rolling Stone while still a university student in the early 1970s. After relocating to England in 1974, she worked as a staff writer for Sounds magazine, where she subsequently rose to the position of deputy editor. During the 1970s, she also contributed feature articles and reviews to publications such as Crawdaddy!, Creem and Circus.

<i>Jazz & Pop</i> American music magazine

Jazz & Pop was an American music magazine that operated from 1962 to 1971. It was launched as Jazz and managed by Pauline Rivelli, with finance provided by Bob Thiele, the producer of jazz artists such as Duke Ellington, John Coltrane, Louis Armstrong, Earl Hines and Count Basie. The publication served as a rival title to Down Beat magazine, which had been established in the 1930s.

<i>Lennon Remembers</i> Book by Jann Wenner

Lennon Remembers is a 1971 book by Rolling Stone magazine co-founder and editor Jann Wenner. It consists of a lengthy interview that Wenner carried out with former Beatle John Lennon in December 1970 and which was originally serialised in Rolling Stone in its issues dated 21 January and 4 February 1971. The interview was intended to promote Lennon's primal therapy-inspired album John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band and reflects the singer's emotions and mindset after undergoing an intense course of the therapy under Arthur Janov. It also serves as a rebuttal to Paul McCartney's public announcement of the Beatles' break-up, in April 1970.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Beach Boys' 1968 US tour with Maharishi Mahesh Yogi</span> 1968 concert tour by the Beach Boys

In May 1968, the American rock band the Beach Boys undertook a concert tour of the United States with Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, their Indian meditation guru. The tour preceded the release of the Beach Boys' Friends album, which similarly reflected the influence of the Maharishi's Transcendental Meditation (TM) technique on the band, and was a commercial and critical failure. The program comprised a set of songs by the Beach Boys, followed by a lecture from the Maharishi on the benefits of meditation. Twenty-nine concerts were originally scheduled, many of them in college venues, but the venture was abandoned after three days of low ticket sales and hostile audience reaction to the Maharishi's segment. The guru's commitment to making a documentary film about himself, for Four Star Television, was cited as a further impediment.

Harvey Kubernik is an American author, journalist and music historian. From the mid 1970s, he wrote for music publications such as Melody Maker, Los Angeles Free Press, Crawdaddy! and Phonograph Record. His articles, interviews and reviews have since been published in many other music magazines, including Goldmine, Mojo, Musician, Classic Rock, DISCoveries, Uncut, Mix, Harp and Hits, and in the Los Angeles Times. During the 1970s and early 1980s, he also worked as an A&R director for MCA Records and as a record producer.

<i>101 Albums That Changed Popular Music</i>

101 Albums That Changed Popular Music is a musical reference book written by Chris Smith, an American journalist, author and cultural critic. It was published in July 2009 by Oxford University Press.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Judith Sims</span> American journalist, music critic and magazine editor

Judith Sims was an American journalist, music critic, and magazine editor. She was the editor of the rock magazine TeenSet in the 1960s. Later she was the Los Angeles bureau chief for Rolling Stone.

<i>TeenSet</i> Music magazine for teens

TeenSet was an American music and fan magazine published by Capitol Records. Beginning in 1964 as a free album insert for fans of the Beach Boys, the magazine was sold separately in 1965 and it grew in popularity. It was introduced as a vehicle to promote the Beach Boys and other Capitol artists, but in the hands of editor Judith Sims, the magazine broke new ground, rising above its fan club origin. Quickly establishing itself as the gateway to the inner circle of the Beatles at the height of Beatlemania, TeenSet parlayed this trust to introduce their readers to new artists, in the process greatly increasing the visibility of Buffalo Springfield, the Doors, Janis Joplin and the Mothers of Invention. The magazine benefited from articles by music critic Sue Cameron, London correspondent Carol Gold, psychedelic maverick Robert Shea, and photographs from Jim Marshall and Michael Ochs. It began as an early teen girls' magazine but by 1968 was shifting to focus on late teen girls and young women in their early twenties.

References

  1. 1 2 "Fusion". Rock's Backpages . Retrieved July 17, 2017.
  2. Burns, Gary (2009). "Beatles News: Product line extensions and the rock canon". In Womack, Kenneth (ed.). The Cambridge Companion to the Beatles. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. p. 227. ISBN   978-0-521-68976-2.
  3. "Interviewing Frank Zappa in Fall River for Fusion Magazine, 1967". Music Museum of New England. Retrieved July 17, 2017.
  4. "Fusion Magazine – No. 83, February 1973 by Robert Somma". AbeBooks . Retrieved July 17, 2017.
  5. "Fusion subscription offer". Billboard . July 22, 1972. Retrieved July 17, 2017.
  6. "Literary Resource Center: Keith Maillard". Gale Group. 2012. Retrieved 23 September 2018.
  7. Raup, Avo. "Fusion". afka.net. Archived from the original on July 6, 2017. Retrieved July 17, 2017.
  8. "About FUSION". fusionmagazine.org. Retrieved July 17, 2017.