Tom Kipp was a member of the 1980s Missoula, Montana bands Ein Heit (postpunk) and Deranged Diction (hardcore, though they also wrote and performed history’s first proper grunge songs); he was also the first music critic at The Stranger, beginning in September 1993. He bought his first issues of Rolling Stone (December 1977) and Creem (October 1978) at Circle K convenience stores in Havre, Montana, where he grew up. He is now happily retired in Seattle, where he has lived since 1992.