Spy, an eighties magazine phenomenon, still influential today. From 1986 on, Spy's satirists (led by editor-founders Graydon Carter [b. 1949] and Kurt Andersen [b. circa 1954]) administered an emetic to the horde of public figures gorging themselves on the spoils of Reaganism.

With the fall of so many its '80's villains, Spy lost some of its vitality, but the magazine's investigative reporting and cultural criticism consistently shamed its rivals. Most of Spy's original staff had left by the time the final issue (March 1994) was printed; circulation was a respectable 200,000 but advertising had been a problem because of the title's abrasive approach. (Inside Media reported that one article about fashion-magazine publisher Michael Coady cost the magazine about $200,000 in lost ad revenue.)

Although an in-name-only August '94 relaunch sullied the Spy name, Spy's original ironic stance is now standard-issue for aspiring journalists, and many original staffers occupy prominent positions in magazine publishing. (As Spy ran aground in March 1994, Graydon Carter put Spy hate object Donald Trump on the cover of Vanity Fair, after attending his wedding; Kurt Andersen took over New York magazine in January 1994, but was discharged in August 1996, reportedly for making the retooled lifestyle weekly too Spy-like.)

The second incarnation of Spy was closed&£45;-apparently for good&£45;-after the March 1998 issue because of poor circulation and advertising revenues.

(c) alt.culture