On This Day in History: 'Spin' Magazine, March, 1990

Picture it! March, 1990. Twenty years ago. Public Enemy’s third album, “Fear of a Black Planet,” was coming out in April-and then-popular music rag Spin put them on the cover. Sort of. They got the big type, but the B-52s got the picture. (“Love Shack” had just been a big hit!) And then there was another of Spin’s long series of interesting if often insanely misguided articles on AIDS-this one by B. D. Colen was totally sensible!

It was about how society was classist and racist and how white straight college kids should use condoms on spring break and not worry very much!

And then there is an article about secretive computer hackers on the Internet! Much of the story is devoted to trying to get the hackers to talk.

Yeah, I dunno. (LOL THE FONT!)

Pretty much the entire rest of the magazine is cigarette ads.

And that, young people, is what we used to do back then. Hang out on some BBS, smoke and have sex.