Magazines from the 1980s
For a rundown on Bride’s, check out the 1969 issue that I did last year. One generation later, the 80s version is both different and samey. It focuses a lot less on Your Life As A Wife-To-Be, Welcome To The … Continue reading Let’s Read Bride’s Magazine, 1983!
Interview was founded in 1969 by Andy Warhol and his cool art friends to give to other cool art friends as a “look how cool we are” gift, sort of like a zine but with far more pretentious production values … Continue reading Let’s Read Interview, January 1989!
Omni was a science and science fiction magazine published from 1978 to 1995. Founded by Penthouse founder Bob Guccione and his wife Kathy Keeton, the magazine published science fiction short stories and a mix of articles on serious science and the paranormal. … Continue reading Let’s Read Omni, July 1985!
France, an English language tourism magazine, has been published quarterly by The French-American Cultural Foundation since 1985. It has a curiously familiar tone, as if the intended audience has already been there and intends to visit semi regularly. It also … Continue reading Let’s Read France, Summer 1988!
Cat Fancy, the “magazine for responsible cat owners”, has been published in some form or another since 1965, currently running as a bimonthly renamed in 2015 to Catster (I know, it’s terrible). Click here for a great article about what happened … Continue reading Let’s Read Cat Fancy, December 1988!
Not that long ago we went through a different issue of California, so to recap: California began life in 1976 as New West, a lifestyle and general interest magazine aimed at the glamorous young people who were moving to California, Nevada, Utah, and … Continue reading Let’s Read California, December 1986!
Us magazine, while perfectly fine in what it does, is not really the most groundbreaking of publications. I think of it as basically People with a slightly bigger budget. It covers the same things – movie and music reviews, celebrities, … Continue reading Let’s Read Us, June 1983!
Vanity Fair started in its earliest incarnation as Dress in 1913, one of Mr. Conde Nast himself’s first magazines. It had its ups and downs, eventually being absorbed into Vogue in the 30s and then revived as its own publication again … Continue reading Let’s Read Vanity Fair, September 1988!
Sassy, commonly known by generation X girls as The Greatest Teen Girl Magazine of All Time, ran from 1988 to 1994. Founded by unstoppable force Jane Pratt and staffed by a handful of indie music enthusiasts, Sassy reached out to the crowd who … Continue reading Let’s Read Sassy, December 1988!
Circus began in 1969 as a pop music magazine, trending to whatever was hot on the scene at the time. After struggling for a few years, the magazine found its core audience in teenage metalhead boys in the late 70s and … Continue reading Let’s Read Circus, October 1984!
Comics Feature ran from about 1980-1987. That’s approximate, as it’s hard to find substantial information on fanzines. Fanzines, in case you don’t know what separates them from normal magazines, are independent publications dedicated to the core of a fandom. Comics … Continue reading Let’s Read Comics Feature, February 1984!
Boys’ Life is the official magazine of the Boy Scouts of America, and has been going for over a century. There’s not much actual Boy Scout-exclusive content in it, so even if you were never a Boy Scout there’s still … Continue reading Let’s Read Boys’ Life, December 1986!
California began life in 1976 as New West, a lifestyle and general interest magazine aimed at the glamorous young people who were moving to California, Nevada, Utah, and Arizona in droves at the time. The magazine was sold to Rupert Murdoch … Continue reading Let’s Read California, July 1982
The 1980s! It was a gross decade full of gross people. You may have been born at some point in this decade, as I was, and the event of your birth was a tiny pinpoint of light in an otherwise … Continue reading Let’s Read The Saturday Evening Post, September 1983!
