The 51 Best* Magazines Ever
*Smartest, Prettiest,
Coolest, Funniest, Most Influential, Most Necessary, Most Important, Most
Essential, etc.
(By
Graydon Carter, Good magazine, 2007)
The
essential strength of a magazine is its ability to amplify. An idea, or an
image, or a story, set within the pages of a magazine and assembled by the
right hands, can become the grist of breakfast chatter, dinner-party
conversation, or elective body debate around the world. Until recently, with
the advent of USA Today and the national editions of The New York Times and The
Wall Street Journal, newspapers were by and large local endeavors. Magazines
were national, and as they became international, their power of amplification
grew exponentially. A woman photographs a dam. Nothing noteworthy in this,
except that the woman is Margaret Bourke-White and the structure is the Fort
Peck Dam. A photograph from that shoot appears on the cover of the first issue
of Life and becomes one of the most known feats of human engineering in the world.
That is amplification.
A
magazine- like the smart, charming gazette you hold in your hands, even in this
age of electronic everything everywhere, is a marvelous invention. Ben Franklin is credited with conceiving of
the first such publication, in 1741. (It was called The General Magazine, and
it began a trend that exists to this day- within six months it had closed its
doors.) Another essential difference between newspapers and magazines is this:
News-papers tell you about the world; magazines tell you about their world- and
by association, your world. Writers, photographers, editors, and designers
bundle the slice of the world they have chosen to explore and deliver it to you
in a singularly affordable, transportable, lendable, replaceable, disposable,
recyclable package. You can buy a magazine almost anywhere. Publishers will
even deliver it to your door, for less than the cost of going out into the
hurried street to purchase one.
I
admire, or have admired, most of the magazines the editors of GOOD have chosen
as milestones or bellwethers—and I don’t mean just Spy or Vanity Fair. But I
have my own temple of greats. These magazines were original in concept and
execution, and in their own ways, either minor or major, helped propel the idea
of the magazine to its current state. I’ll
start with The Spectator, the oldest continuously published magazine in the
English language. A political confection of the essayists Addison and Steele,
The Spectator is an excitable, beautifully crafted Oxbridge pulpit for
England’s Conservative Party, and continues to be a launching pad for political
aspiration: In recent times three contributors have gone on to hold cabinet
posts. There is the trio of magazines to
emerge from the Henry Luce empire: Time, Fortune, and Life. During the early
years of Luce’s “American Century,” Time compressed the world for its audience
of “busy men,” Fortune captured for the first time the look and might of U.S. commerce,
and Life brought the exuberance and nuance of world events and other lives to
its readers. Luce was going to call the magazine “Dime” (for its cover price),
but his wife, Clare Boothe Luce—a onetime Vanity Fair editor—convinced him
otherwise. (In the play The Philadelphia Story, Philip Barry parodied Luce’s
Time & Life empire, calling the publishing company in the play Dime and
Spy.)
Few
magazines capture an era the way The Saturday Evening Post did in the decades
before and after the second World War. It succeeded because it took the new
values of the American Century and placed them before readers wishing to
believe in them. The magazine’s reach was immense, as were its resources.
During the Depression the Post paid P. G. Wodehouse $90,000 for a three-part
serialization of one of his Jeeves books. The fashion magazine Gazette du Bon Ton, part
post-Edwardian fashion curio, part Art Deco masterpiece, lasted a scant 13
years (from 1912 to 1925), but it defined not only salon-age Paris in the years
after the Great War, but also the American flapper era of the 1920s. The New Yorker, a ridiculed fribble catering
to New York’s smart set when Harold Ross founded it in 1925, found its
journalistic footing during World War II, then went on to chronicle postwar New
York and its suburbs in the 1950s and 1960s. It hit a long patch of fossilized
institutionalism during the next two decades, but continues today as one of the
finest vessels for first-rate journalism anywhere.
I
could go on. There was Liberty,
a general-interest magazine that posted above every article the approximate
time it would take the reader to read it. There is The New York Review of
Books, which was started up by Robert Silvers and Barbara Epstein during the
newspaper strike of 1963, and which today commands the high ground of American
intellectualism. There was Esquire during the heady days of the 1960s, when its
editor, Harold Hayes, was sending off the most electric writers of the age to
capture the era. At Rolling Stone, founder Jann Wenner did the same for the
late 1960s and the 1970s.
The
single binding aspect of all the magazines subsequently mentioned in this
issue, and this will seem obvious, but far too many editors ignore it, is that
for a publication to succeed it has to have a point. It can’t just come into
being because the owner wants to impress his friends. Or because market studies
have shown an opening in a certain line of interest. Many of the big magazine
companies, such as Time Inc., are run these days not by people who love
magazines but by people in search of profit. Great magazines come from the gut
and the heart. Take anything that comes out of the Dave Eggers factory, for
example—they are unique, irreplaceable, and should be cherished.
Magazines-
or, rather, certain magazines- aren’t going away anytime soon. They have
survived radio, movies, and television. And they have, so far, not perished at
the altar of the internet. It will take something not known of today to replace
the power of the combination of words and image when, as I have just said, they
are aligned by the right hands. Magazines that tell stories in type and
pictures will survive the coming electronic revolutions. Magazines that merely
deliver information will have to either become stronger and more vital, or
drown in the turbulent wakes of change.
GOOD's
51 Best Magazines Ever:
1.
Esquire [Under Harold T.P.
Hayes (1961–1973)] Esquire had
the men’s magazine formula backward. An uncommon example of a magazine that
sold out first before establishing itself as a literary force, Esquire was
launched in 1933 as an early juggs-and-journalism rag (illustrated of course,
not photographed), but its most important period began in 1961. Under the
leadership of new editor Hayes, the magazine’s pages got bigger, future
celebrities Gay Talese and Tom Wolfe ushered in New Journal-ism, and design
titan George Lois produced the most iconic magazine covers ever. Esquire
captured last century’s most dynamic decade, visually and literarily altering
the way Americans thought about their changing country. Sonny Liston as black
Santa Claus? The unsuccessful quest to interview Sinatra? Anti-Vietnam-War
Muhammad Ali as St. Sebastian? We rest our case.
2.
The New Yorker
A
rare cultural touchstone both relevant and revered nearly a century after its
inception in 1925, The New Yorker has remained a beacon of intellectual clarity
and incisive reporting to over-educated bourgeoisie far beyond the borders of Manhattan. With a design
that has changed only imperceptibly over the decades (except for
earth-shattering changes under mid-1990s editor Tina Brown,who
allowed—gasp!—color and—the horror!—photographs), all that’s different at the
magazine are the stories it covers. The New Yorker today is just as willing to
publish a barely illustrated, three-part, 30,000-word jeremiad on climate
change as founding editor Harold Ross was happy to devote an entire issue to
one article on the aftermath of the Hiroshima
bombing. This is not to mention the fiction, humor, poetry, criticism, and
cartoons—all parts of a consistently brilliant editorial vision.
3.
Life (1936–1972)
Before
cable TV and the internet, there was Life. Publishing giant Henry Luce (Life,
Fortune, Time) helped fuel Americans’ natural curiosity by turning a
then-failing general-interest magazine into a glossy weekly with 50 pages of
pictures (by photographers such as Alfred Eisenstaedt and Margaret
Bourke-White) and captions (written precisely to fit in neatly justified
blocks) in every issue. For 36 years, Life showed us the world—for pennies a
week.
4.
Playboy
It
would be tough to overstate the greatness of a magazine that had Marilyn Monroe
as its first centerfold, and Kerouac, Steinbeck, and Wodehouse on call by its
fifth anniversary. Launched in 1953 by the grotto-dwelling, robe-wearing
Playboy himself, by the 1960s its table of contents was a veritable who’s-who
of the best writers of the day and their most compelling subjects. While the
magazine has lost its footing as the culturally relevant read for men, its
signature “Playboy Interviews” still deliver the kind of no-holds-barred ranting
and raving that made it famous. All that, and we haven’t even mentioned the
naked girls.
5.
The New York Times Magazine
Since
Sept. 6, 1896, The New York Times Magazine has without fanfare done what it
does best: publish smart, populist stories that no one else will touch. Never
sold on newsstands, it is to this day perfectly positioned to uphold a sacred
but troubled tenet of the journalist’s code: reporting news that matters to the
world, instead of news that matters to circulation managers and newsstand
consultants. This same freedom spills over to the design—minimalist, original,
and completely refreshing.
6.
Mad [Post comic book, before the death of founder
William Gaines (1955–1992)]
Mad
was the skeptical wise guy. Ever ready to pounce on the illogical,
hypocritical, self-serious and ludicrous, it was also essentially celebratory:
to accurately parody something, you ultimately have to love it. Mad transposed
onto the printed page the anarchic humor of the Marx Brothers and Looney Tunes,
parodying comics, radio serials, movies, advertising, and the entire range of
American pop culture. Nowadays, it’s part of the oxygen we breathe; and Mel
Brooks, Saturday Night Live, and The Simpsons would be unthinkable without it.
7.
Spy [Until it was sold to fun-sponge Jean Pigozzi
(1986–1991)] With the exception
of knock- knock jokes, most of what you find funny today probably came from
these pages. In typical Spy fashion, that might not be exactly true, but it’s
certainly close enough, and the well-informed post-ironic humor behind
everything from The Daily Show to Gawker owes more than a little debt to Spy
and its founding editors Kurt Andersen and Graydon Carter (see intro; 31). The
design was pitch-perfect, the stories of office hijinks are publishing-world
legends, and its impact on the landscape of American culture is immeasurable.
8.
Wired [Early years until Condé
Nast buyout (1993–1998)] Pages
oozing with retina-burning inks and startling layouts broadcast a vision of the
future that was both utopian and tangible. Wired was able to bridge the
cultural divide between geeks and the rest of us because they saw that in our
democratic digital tomorrow, we were all geeks. They let us in on the secret
that technology wasn’t news, but how it affected our lives was. But Condé Nast
giveth (see 2; 31; 45) and Condé Nast taketh away: Its 1998 purchase gradually
sapped the infectious energy that so characterized Wired’s early years. Still,
it’s rare to find something as perfect to its cultural moment; both a mirror and
a lens, a tribute and a battle hymn. What’s next, indeed.
9.
Andy Warhol’s Interview [Until
Warhol’s death (1969–1988)] When
an era’s biggest celebrity/artist/pop-culture icon decides to start a magazine
about celebrities, art, and pop culture (though mostly celebrities), it’s bound
to be interesting—if all you care about is interviews with famous people and
their pretty pictures, that is. It turned out Warhol was onto something, as he
often was, and even way ahead of the curve. Should you be tracing the origins
of our present celebrity worshiping culture, this isn’t a bad place to start.
10.
Colors [The first 13
issues, under Tibor Kalman (1991–1996)] Like
the screaming and still-bloody newborn that appeared on its first cover, Colors
popped wildly onto the scene in 1991. It was an exuberant, often shocking
magazine that fearlessly mirrored the world—in all its peculiarity, fantastic
injustice, and rampant possibility. The brainchild of feather-ruffling
photographer Oliviero Toscani and designer/big thinker/wildman Kalman, Colors
was wholly underwritten by Luciano Benetton (and his clothing company), which
kept it nicely free of common media constraints. Originally published from New York, an
international staff put out front-to-back-themed issues in five bilingual
editions, each one packed with in-your-face photography that could communicate
to anybody, anywhere. From its conspicuous start, Colors challenged all sorts
of expectations, including what a magazine could be.
11.
Rolling Stone [Before the move to New
York (1967–1976)] Rolling Stone,
during its 1970s heyday, left a blank space on its letters page so that
aspiring contributors could write a record review and send it to the editors in
the hopes of being published. What’s more amazing, this is how editor Jann
Wenner found Lester Bangs and Greil Marcus. Before becoming disturbingly
un-cutting-edge, Rolling Stone compiled the zeitgeist of a musical revolution.
12.
National Geographic
Founded
nine months after the eponymous society in 1888, and framed in its instantly
recognizable yellow, the magazine didn’t publish photos as covers until 1959.
Whereas it initially charted and shot unknown civilizations, it has now become
a visual catalog of civilizations in decay, and is still the benchmark for
global photojournalism.
13.
Collier’s Weekly
Reporters
for Collier’s, founded in 1888, were some of the first to get down in the muck
and start raking. Its influence was vast—Congress passed important laws based
on evidence printed in the magazine, including a 12-parter on unregulated
medicines and a pre-The Jungle essay on slaughterhouses by Upton Sinclair. Also try McClure’s
14.
New York
[(1968–1976)]
The
model for pretty much every regional magazine since, New York (previously the Sunday supplement
to the New York Herald Tribune) was founded by editor Clay Felker and designer
Milton Glaser. They curated a unique blend of local politics, gossip, national
news, and lifestyle features—until they were forced out by Rupert Murdoch, who
bought New York
in a 1976 hostile takeover.
15.
Atlantic Monthly
Founded
by Emerson and Longfellow in 1857, The Atlantic was the Boston Brahmin answer
to overly intellectual magazines from New
York (until a recent move to D.C. stole its
identity). Throughout its 150-year history, The Atlantic has continued to be
both sophisticated and deliberate, while only barely dumbing things down for
the increasingly culturally illiterate masses. Also try Harper’s
16.
Ebony
Often
called the Life of black America,
Ebony was founded by John H. Johnson in 1945 with a $500 loan, borrowed against
his mom’s furniture. By the time Johnson died last year, his magazine had
spawned a publishing empire, the first, and for a long time, only black-owned
one in the country.
17.
Details [Original incarnation,
pre-Condé Nast (1982–1988)] Launched
in 1982 under the legendary Annie Flanders, Details was the ultimate insider
look at New York’s
downtown cool. It knew how to dress, what music to listen to and, most
importantly, where to party. It went on to have countless identity crises, and
no longer comes even close to downtown cool.
Also try Index
18.
Ramparts [The most left-wing
magazine on our list.] Famous for
radical 1960s muckraking, Ramparts broke the story on the CIA infiltration of
college campuses during the Vietnam War, published the diaries of Che Guevara,
and attracted some of the left’s brightest stars. Rolling Stone’s Wenner got
his start there; so, too, did Mother Jones founder Adam Hochschild.
19.
Might
More
than the start of founding editor Dave Eggers’ career, Might (1993–1997) was
the definitive expression of Clinton-era/internet-boom post-college confusion.
Admittedly and ambivalently entangled with pop culture, Might was nonetheless
the youth magazine that refused to pretend the latest CDs, books, movies, and
TV shows were the most important things in life. Also try Vice
20.
Portfolio
Created
by art director/ editor Alexey Brodovitch (of Harper’s Bazaar) and editor/art
director Frank Zachary (of Holiday and Town
& Country), Portfolio only existed for three issues in 1950 and 1951—but
its integration of form and content is still inspiring over half a century
later. Brodovitch exploited his medium to its fullest, using foldouts,
die-cuts, and other printing tricks to feature the work of artists and
designers like Charles Eames, Paul Rand, Saul Steinberg, and many others. Also try Artforum
21.
National Lampoon [From
its founding through its best-selling issue (1970–1974)]
Started
in 1970 by Harvard Lampoon alumni, National Lampoon obliterated the idea that a
college degree made you a grown-up. Deeply profane and juvenile, it launched
the careers of Michael O’Donoghue and director John Hughes; spawned a
syndicated radio program that featured Chevy Chase,
John Belushi and Bill Murray, and spun off a series of movies that began with
Animal House.
Also try Army Man
22.
Wallpaper [(1996–2002)]
Founded
by former journalist Tyler Brûlé, Wallpaper (like a lot of the magazines in
this list) showed up in the right place at the right time. At the height of the
dotcom boom, Wallpaper talked about “the stuff that surrounds you” to a
gener-ation hungry for soft-core design pornography. Brûlé sold out to Time
Warner in 1997, but the flavor of the magazine didn’t change that much until he
left in 2002.
23.
Cosmopolitan [Under
editor Helen Gurley Brown (1965–1997)] Launched
in 1886 and later bought by William Randolph Hearst, Cosmo already had a
million-plus circulation by the 1930s. But it was Brown, who in 1965
single-handedly reinvented the magazine (and the genre) by giving ladies
something to talk about other than falsies, pot roast, and marrying a lawyer:
casual sex. Also try GQ
24.
Highlights
With
a stranglehold on the dentist waiting-room market, Highlights has been
entertaining (and subtly educating) the pediatric-fluoride set since 1946. From
the vaguely preachy “Goofus and Gallant” to the awesomely interactive back
covers (nope, that hammer doesn’t belong in the tree), Highlights hasn’t missed
a beat in half a century. Also try Dynamite, Nickelodeon Magazine
25.
Sassy [The best teen
magazine on our list, Until it moved from LA (1987–1994)]
Rewriting the rules of teen magazines, Sassy
addressed its readers in a smart, sarcastic voice. Its frank coverage of sex,
drugs, and politics, and its support of indie music and fashion earned
everlasting devotion from its fans and the ire of conservative groups who
pressured Sassy’s advertisers, resulting in its demise. Also try Dirt
26.
The Saturday Evening Post
It
wasn’t until 95 years after The Saturday Evening Post’s 1821 launch as a weekly
magazine of current events and popular fiction that its then-editor met a
22-year-old artist named Norman Rockwell. After running his first cover
illustration in 1916, Rockwell churned out American classics for the SEP on a
weekly basis. Also try Newsweek, Time
27.
The Face [(1980s)]
Though
ostensibly a music magazine, The Face realized that cool tunes didn’t matter
unless everyone looked good. With the innovative marriage of fashion and music,
“the best dressed magazine” quickly became the arbiter of style and cool in
1980s England.
Also try i-D
28.
Sports Illustrated
This
ur-sporting tome brought joy and titillation through that unique magazine
innovation: the football-phone giveaway in the 1980s. A golden age under
Frenchman André Laguerre (1960–1974) saw the rise of serious reportage that
baptized a generation of sports writers as legitimate cultural players. Also:
Swimsuit Edition—a pivotal moment in the lives of young men everywhere.
29.
Eros [The most controversial
magazine on our list.] Ralph Ginzburg was the first American publisher
ever to go to jail over the content of a magazine—this one. A gender-neutral
quarterly devoted to intelligent eroticism, Eros helped spark the sexual
revolution. Four issues were published in 1962 before Ginzburg was indicted for
“distributing obscene literature.” Also
try Hustler
30.
Fuck You/ A Magazine of the Arts
“I’ll
print anything” was the motto of founder Ed Sanders, but Fuck You mostly
printed work from famous Beat writers. A proto-’zine (it was printed on a
mimeograph machine in Sanders’ basement, starting in 1962) Fuck You was an
inspiration to countless other out-of-the-mainstream underground publications.
31.
Vanity Fair
If
culture is the collection of stories we tell about ourselves, Vanity Fair might
just be our greatest raconteur. Its contributor roster since its founding reads
like a social register of talent (both words and pictures), and the 1980s
revival at Condé Nast ushered in a renewed time of plenty: increased
circulation, exclusive stories, and unparalleled visibility.
32.
The Whole Earth Catalog [Original incarnation (1968–1972)] A bible for the counterculture
proto-dork (read: the future billionaires club of northern California), WEC stuffed every oversize page
with cheek-puckering idealism for purchase—think Buckminster Fuller manifestos
and folk-style autoharps. Between the lines was the implicit power of
centralized, comprehensive information- as Steve Jobs once said: “Like Google
in paperback form, 35 years before Google.”
33.
Fortune [Until the death of founding editor Henry
Luce (1930–1967)] It was a different era when a great financial
publication might also be one of the most beautiful. Launched just months after
Black Tuesday, the oversize Fortune came with an exorbitant $1 cover price
(most other magazines sold for pennies), justifying its cost with stunning
graphic covers followed by hundreds of luscious pages brimming with business
information and beautiful photography. Also
try: Fast Company, Inc.
34.
People
A
1974 spin-off of Time’s “People” section, notably read for its various annual
issues of superlatives (most beautiful, best/worst dressed, sexiest), it
occupies a unique space in the world of celebrity journalism: It may sit next
to tabloids on supermarket shelves, but stars who grace its pages are covered
willingly.
35.
Ms. [The greatest women’s
advocate on our list.] Since its
launch in 1971, Ms. has consistently informed policy, making it as much a
provocateur as a political force. Gloria Steinem made history when, pre-Roe v.
Wade, she printed the names of women who admitted to having abortions. It has
since broken taboo stories like domestic violence and sweatshop labor—all
before the colored ribbons made activism cool. Also try Bitch, Bust
36.
Games [Before it was
sold (1977–1990)]
Games’ wonderful dreamland of mind-boggling conundrums—for a time edited by the
New York Times crossword guru Will Shortz—was the perfect read for anyone whose
mind required strenuous workouts. Lest it seem uncool, know that it was owned
by Playboy.
37.
The Paris Review [Until
George Plimpton’s death (1953–2003)] The
first magazine to publish literature by Adrienne Rich, T.C. Boyle, and Phillip
Roth, the New York-based Paris Review is renowned for its virtu, its interviews
(Hemingway, Faulkner, Kerouac) and its community: 50 years of literati parties
at founding editor-in-chief George Plimpton’s East Side apartment. Also try
Granta
38.
Popular Mechanics
In
the golden industrial years (1930s–1950s)
Popular
Mechanics was a perfect magazine at the perfect time. As the industrial age
matured and science and tech-nology entered people’s everyday lives, Popular
Mechanics was there to hold hands and calm nerves (“Written so you can
understand it,” proclaimed every cover). The future never looked so good. Also try Omni, Popular Science, Seed
39.
The Little Review
Founded
in 1914, this literary journal’s list of contributors is eye-popping: Ezra
Pound, T. S. Eliot, James Joyce, William Butler Yeats, Marcel Duchamp, Ford
Madox Ford, Emma Goldman, Carl Sandburg, Gertrude Stein, Wallace Stevens, and
William Carlos Williams. And it wasn’t just leftovers: Ulysses was first
published in its pages, garnering founder Margaret Anderson a $50 fine for
obscenity and an obscure but important place in the history of modern
literature.
40.
Ray Gun [During the
peak of the grunge era (1992–1996)] Founding
art director David Carson walked a fine line between typesetting brilliance and
visual schizophrenia. Despite eventually folding in 2000 & appropriation of
its style by mainstream outfits, Ray Gun spent its first few years laps ahead
of the curve aesthetically and in its music coverage.
41.
Brill’s Content
Brill’s
Content was an inside-the-sausage-factory look at media for people who eat
sausages, not those who make them. From 1998 to 2001, watchdog-in-chief Steven
Brill demanded more from the press through accountability, transparency, and
shame. Content’s lasting gift was the awkwardly revolutionary premise that
journalism is for consumers, and serving them should be a priority.
42.
Domus
Founded
and edited by the Milanese architect Gio Ponti (1927–1979), the monthly Domus
shone a spotlight on modernist décor and architecture. Domus championed Italian
forward-thinkers like Carlo Mollino, and international innovators like Charles
and Ray Eames, who guest-edited an issue in 1963.
43.
Wet [Maybe the weirdest magazine on this list.]
The self-described “magazine
of gourmet bathing” existed from 1976 to 1981 as a uniquely Angeleno tangent to
New Wave—think Less Than Zero as read by an avant-guard artist. Published in Venice Beach,
founder Leonard Koren featured young talents Matt Groening, Matthew Ralston,
and April Greiman. Bright, bold, and bizarrely on point.
44.
Lucky
Founded
in 2000, Lucky is essentially shopping porn, though the “I read it just for the
articles” excuse isn’t transferable for the simple reason that there aren’t
any. Makeup brushes, silk camisoles and slingbacks make up the centerfolds—always
with price tag and contact number—which helped Lucky mint the “magalog” genre.
45.
Vogue
Founded
in 1897, Vogue is as renowned to this day for its editrixes as for its fearless
trendsetting- though it hasn’t been the same since 1971, when they canned the
infinitely quotable Diana Vreeland (“People who eat white bread have no
dreams,” “Pink is the navy blue of India”). The Starbucks of fashion mags,
there’s still a franchise based in every fashion mecca worldwide.
46.
The New England Journal of Medicine The peer-reviewed medical and
surgery quarterly frequently boasts the highest “impact factor” (a measurement
the number of times a journal is cited by other articles) of any American
medical publication, and occasionally even flirts with casual readability. Also try Nature, Science, Scientific American
47.
Architectural Record
Architectural
Record chronicled, in simple and elegant design, the blossoming of modern
architecture in America,
giving space to architects like Frank Lloyd Wright and Louis Sullivan to
publish treatises that changed the field forever.
48.
Punch [The longest running
satire magazine on our list (1841–1992)]
A
direct descendant of French satirical publications like Le Caricature and Le
Charivari, Punch counted Kingsley Amis, Quentin Crisp, and P.G. Wodehouse among
its contributors; perfected what we know as a magazine cartoon (a one-panel gag
with a caption but no dialogue); and coined the now-ubiquitous term “cartoon”
to describe it—all under the aegis of its glove-puppet mascot, Mr. Punch.
49.
Loaded
The
perverted done-it-all older brother of the lad mags, the U.K.’s Loaded
has, since 1994, outdone its American siblings in terms of nudity, crassness
and, we suspect, binge drinking. It also nailed that irreverent I-know-you-are-but-I-am-cooler
tone well before Americans started importing British editors to try to
replicate it.
50.
The Source [Until the
start of the burnout (1988–1994)] Started
in 1988 as a Harvard radio-show ’zine, it was the first magazine to give
frontline coverage to the war on drugs, expose NYPD brutality, and introduce
the world to a guy named Biggie Smalls. Its fall from grace was wince-worthy,
but it wasn’t called the hip hop bible (by its own founders, mind you) for
nothing.
51.
Tiger Beat
When
they fell weak-kneed for Elvis, screamed for John and Paul, fainted for David
Cassidy, swooned for Donny Osmond, or melted for Luke and Jason, Tiger Beat was
there on the super-market shelves in all its Technicolor glory, shining like a
beacon of hunkdom for the teeny boppers of the day.
Top Magazine Covers Of Last 40 Years
(By The Associated
Press)
A list of the top magazine
covers from the last 40 years, as decided by judges in a contest from the
American Society of Magazine Editors:
1. Rolling Stone, Jan. 22,
1981, John Lennon & Yoko Ono.
2. Vanity Fair, August 1991,
Demi Moore.
3. Esquire, April 1968,
Muhammad Ali.
4. The New Yorker, March 29,
1976, Saul Steinberg drawing of Manhattan.
5. Esquire, May 1969, Andy
Warhol.
6. The New Yorker, Sept. 24,
2001, Illustration of World Trade Center.
7. National Lampoon, January
1973, "If You Don't Buy This Magazine, We'll Kill This Dog."
8. Esquire, October 1966,
"Oh my god — we hit a little girl."
9. Harper's Bazaar, September
1992, "Enter the Era of Elegance."
10. National Geographic, June
1985, Afghan refugee.
11. Life, April 30, 1965,
18-week-old fetus.
12. Time, April 8, 1966,
"Is God Dead?"
13. Life, Special Issue,
1969, man on the moon.
14. The New Yorker, Dec. 10,
2001, illustration of New York City map.
15. Harper's Bazaar, April
1965.
16. The Economist, Sept.
10-16, 1994, photo of camels, "The trouble With mergers."
17. Time, June 21, 1968,
"The Gun in America."
18. ESPN, June 29, 1998,
Michael Jordan.
19. Esquire, December 2000,
Bill Clinton.
20. Blue, October 1997.
21. Life, Nov. 26, 1965,
Vietcong prisoner with eyes and mouth taped.
22. George, October/November
1995, Cindy Crawford.
23. The Nation, Nov. 13,
2000, George W. Bush.
24. Interview, December 1972,
Andy Warhol.
25. Time, Sept. 14, 2001,
World Trade Center.
26. People, March 4, 1974,
Mia Farrow.
27. Entertainment Weekly, May
2, 2003, The Dixie Chicks.
28. Life, April 16, 1965,
dying pilot & helicopter crew
29. (tie) Playboy, October
1971.
29. (tie) Fortune, Oct. 1,
2001, man covered in ashes near World Trade Center.
31. Newsweek, Nov. 20, 2000,
image of Al Gore/George W. Bush.
32. Vogue, May 2004, Nicole
Kidman.
33. (tie) Newsweek, July 30,
1973, Nixon White House and tape recorder
33. (tie) Wired, June 1997,
"Pray."
35. New York, June 8, 1970,
"Free Leonard Bernstein!"
36. People, Sept. 15, 1997,
black-and-white portrait of Princess Diana.
37. (tie) Details, February
1989, Cyndi Lauper.
37. (tie) Fast Company,
August/September 1997, "The Brand Called You."
37. (tie) Glamour, August
1968, Katiti Kironde II
37. (tie) National
Geographic, October 1978, gorilla with camera.
37. (tie) Time, April 14,
1997, Ellen DeGeneres.
