“But it's Rolling
Stone. He looks harmless, but he does represent the magazine that trashed
Layla, broke up Cream, ripped every album Led Zeppelin ever made. Don't
forget the rules, man. This little shit is the Enemy.” – Almost Famous
As I flip through the first dozen or so
pages of the latest edition of Rolling Stone magazine I begin to wonder,
“is this a music magazine or am I reading 17?” Let’s see you get the cover
with a half naked Jennifer Love Hewitt, taking it off in hopes of revitalizing
her career, “wait, maybe this is Maxim?”
Then you flip open the cover to reveal
a double full-page ad for Polo by Ralph Lauren, flip yet again and you
have a double full page ad for Calvin Klein, “maybe this is GQ?”
Turn the page and you have a two page ad
for Levi’s Low Rise Jeans with a guy that looks like he was a reject from
the Strokes sneering at the camera with his arms crossed, “I’m a tough
guy, who wears women’s jeans!”
Another turn reveals another double full-page
ad this time for Tommy Hilfiger, “ok, I picked up Teen People”. Flip
to the next page and you have a two-page advertisment for American Eagle
Outfitters featuring a garage band with their teen groupie jumping up in
the air. Then you turn the page to see some long hair male model showing
off his armpits in hopes of selling "Crave," Calvin Klein’s “new scent
for men.” Which comes with the tagline, “get it on”. Pondering this I wonder
if I somehow picked up a copy of Gaypride or Instinct Magazine.
Trying to escape that troubling thought
I turn the page and see a two-page ad for Kyocera wireless phones.
Finally on page 15 we get to the table of contents, opposite a full page
spread for DKNY Jeans which features yet another guy who looks like a reject
from The Strokes.
Glancing over the index, “humm, let’s see
what’s new in the world of rock?” Let’s see we have “don’t miss…
The Greatest Lineup In Hot List History…. Matrix sequels, topless yuppie
chicks, Japanese horror flicks, extreme sports, skies, bikes… a clothing
designer…”
wait… ok, we do have “A River Cuomo rant”.
Moving my eyes down the page to the next
item titled “Rock & Roll,” things begin to look promising but then
in small print I see American Idol winner, Tupac and Michael Jackson; but
there is news about the Doors reunion, the new Guns N’ Roses and a bit
about the Leeds festival riot.
Next we have an interview with James Taylor,
ok he doesn’t exactly rock but he is respectable. That is followed by “New
Faces.” This is cool, it’s always great to read about new bands… wait…
Chevelle?… new?… Didn’t I see them on tour with Anthrax two or three years
ago? … Har Mar Superstar… didn’t their debut album came out two years ago?
….
Then we get Random Notes Extra! Which covers
“Who said (and wore) what backstage at the MTV Video Music Awards,”…. So
I am reading 17!
Finally, I see an article devoted entirely
to a music group, “Coldplay” but that is followed by an article about a
female Lenny Bruce and a profile of the actress who is costarring in the
Eminem movie. That is followed by an article about a slightly overweight
young lady whose looking to get some nookie, in an article entitled, “Do
Me.. Or Else..” I flip right over to this one, I have to read this and
it’s nothing more than a writer trying to pass off as the “new girl next
door,” this mildly rebellious and somewhat attractive 18 year old, who
thinks she is the cats meow and likes to sleep around. The gist of the
article is that this is the new trend among the “plain Jane” types, but
it really isn’t, we’ve had girls like this for a long time, they are commonly
known as “sluts”.
In a small box in the center of the page
we get a little bit on music with CD reviews, an article on Funkadelic
and a review of a new book about Bob Dylan.
It really is puzzling, this is supposed
to be the elite of the elite of music publications and there is very little
about music between the covers. Yes, I know Rolling Stone has always had
features about “culture” including films, TV, fashion and the requisite
far leftist-political propaganda pieces that seemed to have been penned
by the folks at the Kremlin and to be honest I’ve read the magazine for
years, not out of genuine interest but really as a bad habit of sorts.
I really never paid too much attention to what was featured. I’d read an
article or two, laugh at a review, toss the magazine in the trash and within
fifteen minutes forgot what I had I read. I’ve always known Rolling Stone
was somewhat of a joke as the line from Almost Famous above mentioned,
their elitist attitude conveyed by aging hippies who were distraught over
the demise of the “San Francisco Sound” and the “Summer of Love,” who in
the late 60’s and much of the 70’s trashed almost every artist who were
making music history and have in fact withstood the test of time. (Don’t
bother looking for the reviews of past classics like Led Zeppelin IV at
RollingStone.com, the reviews featured now are not the original critiques
that were published in the magazine. A bit of revisionist, hindsight from
the folks at RS.) You must remember that the line about Rolling Stone being
the enemy of rock came from a former writer and editor of the magazine,
Cameron Crowe.
Crowe was one of the few redeeming writers
from Rolling Stone over the years, along with Hunter S. Thompson and P.J.
O’Rourke, but for the most part the magazine has had a long history of
bad taste and an elitist attitude. Some smartass is at this point saying,
"aG, you just described yourself!" My retort, "whatever, we don't pretend
to be the be all and and end all of music journalism. We give you our views
and let your express your own. Plus, we never named Eminem artist of the
year!" Maybe that bad taste and elitist attitude came from the founder
and publisher of Rolling Stone, Jann Wenner; who is another example of
a 60’s counter culture radical who later in life discovered the joys of
capitalism and sold out (Just look at how many hippies traded their love-beads
in for SUV's and became Yuppies, as soon as reality smacked them square
in the face). Who would have guessed back when the magazine first started
that Wenner would one day sell part of his publication to the largest record
company in the world (Rolling Stone online is owned by Vivendi Universal
Net USA Group, Inc.) Long time editor Ben Fong Torres deserves a mention
as well. He wasn’t much of a writer but as an editor he proved to be just
what the magazine needed and really helped make it the elite of the music
elite press or at least the most popular publication. On the other hand,
he is largely responsible for the before mentioned bad taste of the music
criticism featured between the pages of Rolling Stone over the years.
Apart from music, I have an ongoing joke
with one of my friends about Peter Travers, the famed film critic of Rolling
Stone. When we see that a new “action” blockbuster is coming down the pike
we predict that the films advertising will include a quote from Travers
praising the film as “a [insert adjective] thrill ride!” or it will at
least include the term “roller-coaster”.
Ok, Rolling Stone has always pretty much
sucked, so why my sudden interest? A few weeks ago I was at a show talking
with a publicist whom I’ve known for quite a while. She mentioned Rolling
Stone and some recent changes to the magazine. She pointedly said, “Rolling
Stone is trying to become Blender!” Like I said, I never really paid
much attention to the magazine and didn’t really notice any recent changes.
Sure, I got a laugh when they started proclaiming Avril the savior of rock
and the teen punk rock answer to Britney Spears but aside from that, it
really fell below my radar. After that conversation I put her comment out
of mind but when the new issue of Rolling Stone came out I picked it up
to see if there was any truth to the claim that they were trying to become
Blender. At that point I did notice a difference, the magazine had actually
expanded from roughly 80 pages to about 120, but most of that expansion
is comprised of additional advertisements. I then compared the content
to the most recent issue of Blender and yes there were some similarities.
Both have feature stories on Jennifer Love Hewitt. However, flipping through
Blender, I saw that they had far more music coverage than you find in Rolling
Stone. So I wouldn’t say that Rolling Stone was trying to become Blender
but looking at the content it looks like they have become the print version
of MTV.
Upon researching the change in Rolling
Stone I discovered that behind the scenes there was a significant change
recently; the magazine has a new editor, Ed Needham. That revelation is
a bombshell as Needham’s previous claim to fame was heading For Him Magazine,
the U.K.’s answer to Maxim, with a focus on "beer and babes". That
explains a lot, especially the half nude cover of Jennifer Love Hewitt
and all of the trendy fashion advertisements.
Why did Wenner turn the helm over to the
editor
of a mens fashion and racy culture magazine? It appears that the legendary
magazine’s circulation has tumbled over ten percent this year. (What do
you expect when you name Eminem’s Slim Shady the album of the year?) So
the aging mag needed a kick-start from someone who had succeeded in the
21st century's leading trend among magazines geared towards 18-35 year
old males; you guessed it, “beer and babes!” Although he promised
to keep the focus on music when he took over, one look at the latest issue
seems to counter that claim. If Needham wants to keep what little
musical credibility Rolling Stone has left, he should pick up and study
a copy of the new Filter
Magazine; a new publication that does a far better job of covering
music, film and culture.
It’s hard telling if Needham will last
or if Wenner’s gamble on him will pay off but the next time I run into
my publicist friend I will have to tell her, “Rolling Stone isn’t trying
to become Blender. It is far worst than that!”
FAN
SPEAK: Agree, Disagree or Don't Care?
Fan
Speak:
Posted by aG:
To be honest with you Anuj, I've one ever read one issue so I couldn't give an informed opinion about that pub.
Posted by Anuj:
What do ya think of Revolver?
Posted by zephyr:
I think the only time I ever purchased a copy of RS,was during my trip to Singapore. Ironically I was out in the jungle and I ran out of TP so I had to tear the pages of RS to wipe my arse, I kid you not.
Posted by
Morgasm: Despite being a bit of a rag for ads--
makes you wonder just how seriously you can take the "leftist" writing--
RS has always been a very well written and informative rag. The fashion
ads are not a new thing, they've always been there as long as I can remember.
Posted by
Rocky Racoon!: I still quite enjoy the odd read of Rolling
Stone. Theres some good articles in there and lists n stuff in there.
Posted by
BK: I don't read Rolling Stone a lot but I
quickly bought that copy but only because of the Jennifer Love Hewitt pics.
I'm going to marry her someday. Please don't laugh at me. It could happen.
Posted by
Joe Camel: I'm 25 and I live in Argentina. I don't
know if luckily or unluckily, RS is the only "serious" rock magazine here.
I buy it every month and I never get dissappointed with its contents. I
can always read news about bands I like. For example, a few months ago,
they sold an issue dedicated entirely to the history of the Rolling Stones,
celebrating their 40th anniversary. Maybe its because most of the people
in here listens to rock music, rock n' roll, hard rock, heavy metal, etc.,
so we don't have to read articles about hip hop, rap, and all that crappy
music. Maybe that's the biggest difference between the argentinian edition
and te american edition of RS. I never had the chance to read the american
edition of RS, but based on your comments, it's like "People" magazine
with a bit of music news.