At Music Monday, the first of a two-part interview with Susan Whitall, former Creemster and current author of Fever, a biography of Little Willie John. Keep your eye out for part two, apparently a week from now.

Growing up in the ’60s, music was really revolutionizing society, and vice versa…to be a kid and immersed in it to such an extent that the latest Beatles or Temptations album mean standing in line for hours outside a record store, there was an intensity there that I think may not exist today. Having said that, if there had been a hip, exciting magazine about film in Detroit, or books… I may have drifted there. But in the ’60s music was the top form of expression, so to have a magazine about music in almost my back yard, was too tempting. Really, Creem was more than a music magazine too, we had stories of cultural interest, on movies, books etc. There really were few limits, as long as it was entertaining, so it was a great laboratory of writing.