WHAM BAM: A California rock institution is...

WHAM BAM: A California rock institution is about to get a major face-lift: BAM magazine, for nearly 20 years an influential biweekly focusing on the state’s music and distributed free in record stores and other music-oriented locales, will shift next month to a “lifestyles” focus, with music as the primary topic.

“It’s still a music publication,” says Bill Holdship, editor of BAM’s Southern California edition, who last week broke the news of the format change to his stunned writers, most of whom will lose their regular columns.

The biggest problem, Holdship says, has been image. BAM (which originally stood for Bay Area Music) started out as a champion of the punk and new-wave world when San Francisco’s Dead Kennedys and L.A.’s Black Flag, X and Go-Go’s were rising. But in the mid-’80s it got a reputation for dealing largely with the “big hair,” Sunset Strip metal bands.

The change will include new words for the title acronym (“Beat Attitudes Music”), a glossy cover and coverage of such “adventure sports” as bungee jumping in addition to music.

The old format will be put to rest with a “best of” issue, probably in late September.