Ventures): It was a very easy sell in that we positioned it as: “What Rolling Stone was to the ’60s, Vibe is to the ’90s.” As soon as we said that, people understood it. I called Jon and said, “Yo, we should call the magazine Vibe.” Quincy loved it.Ĭarol Smith ( former publisher of parenting, Time Inc. Poulson-Bryant: We were set for a September launch when we there was a British magazine called Volume that might launch in the States. Rosemary Bray wrote about how she wants to be mad at Sir Mix-A-Lot but she’s too busy laughing at him. A piece by Lisa Jones about Minneapolis and Prince.
There was a Bonz Malone piece on baseball hat brim etiquette. Van Meter: The opening essay was by Greg Tate on the year in hip-hop. A few weeks later, the name of the magazine was changed to Volume. So I thought, “Well, I can either get stuck writing a hip-hop column in the back of Spin magazine or I can be part of the launch of a Quincy Jones magazine - at the time, I think they were calling it Noise. He said he liked my writing, Quincy Jones liked my writing. Scott Poulson-Bryant ( senior editor/writer, 1992-96): I got a call from Jonathan. And I understood music enough, and was able to talk him through what an issue could look like.įrom left: Rapper Treach of Naughty by Nature on the cover of Time Warner’s August 1992 test issue of Vibe Snoop Dogg on the first official issue of the magazine, which was published in September 1993. At the time there was, like, one black person that worked at every magazine - exactly one - and I knew them all. Jonathan Van Meter ( editor-in-chief, 1992-93): I convinced Rogin because I knew so many people who knew so much about hip-hop. Adam said: “He’s gay and he’s white, but in his heart he’s a 14-year-old black girl.” I called Adam Moss and described what we needed.
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Robin Wolaner ( former vp magazine development, Time Inc.): We knew how to test magazine ideas without staffing up and incurring lots of costs. We put Michael Jordan on the cover and people don’t say, ‘There’s a black guy!’” Though maybe he needed a little more reassurance, because he turned to me and asked, “Is that how it is with rap guys?” He says, “Wait a minute, we publish Sports Illustrated. Because, they said, covers with black faces didn’t sell. Does that mean we have to put black people on the cover?” It was a privately but not publicly stated policy at those magazines not to put black faces on the cover. This dapper guy in a suit and beautifully polished shoes says, “We’re publishing this. I’m summoned to this meeting on the 34th floor. Think of it as an urban youth-culture magazine.” That seemed to make them feel better. Sandow: I said, “Don’t think of it as a rap magazine. Quincy Jones: Celebrating Seven Decades of Music Because everybody was worried it was a fad. Gil Rogin (f ormer corporate editor, Time Inc.): Sandow wrote this 11-page memo about whether Time Warner should start this magazine about hip-hop. And he says, basically, “What the fuck are we going to do? We have a deal with Quincy Jones that says he can do anything he wants to do. Greg Sandow ( former music editor, Entertainment Weekly): I get a call at my desk from Gil Rogin, one of the top three editors at Time. He said, “If you got any ideas, give it to me.” Quincy Jones ( record producer/entrepreneur): Steve Ross said the “synergy” was not working quick enough for the Time Warner people. But the two very different business cultures - hip Warner and stodgy Time - weren’t blending. Two years earlier, Ross had executed the world’s first media megamerger, combining the record companies and film studios of his Warner Communications with the behemoth magazine and book publisher Time-Life to create Time Warner.
In 1991, Steve Ross - the man whom Quincy Jones called his “guru” - called on the vaunted music producer for help. What follows is a selective oral history of the magazine, from its birth and ascent, through its 21st century transformation into a digital cultural bellwether and its 2016 acquisition by the Billboard Music Group.
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