Spy: A Handy Guide

Kurt Andersen has put up a cover gallery of all the issues of Spy with which he was associated. This will be of particular interest to those of us who are old enough to remember Spy but also old enough that we don’t really remember anything these days. If you are too young to know what Spy was, sit back and let me teach you some history.

Spy was a humorous publication that actually played music videos instead of relying on tawdry reality TV crap for attention. It came in three formats: 45, 8-track, and cassingle. It starred Erik Estrada and David Soul, and its final episode was the most watched television program in America until this year’s Super Bowl. Spy’s famous catch phrase was “Where’s the beef?” and it could often be found at Studio 54 partying with Andy Warhol and Bianca Jagger. Spy committed suicide on April 5, 1994, although there have long been some unsavory rumors blaming its wife for its passing. After several years in purgatory Spy resurrected itself in a flash of light and fire as The Waverly Inn. Now you know.