Rolling Stone, once the media mecca of music madness has gone soft. Maybe it needs some Viagra or a daily vitamin, but this Freak things even hard-core steroids can’t bring this puppy back from the land of Muzak, pop goddesses and felonious Eminem worship.

I do have a subscription to Rolling Stone, but I never paid for it. Someone had sent me a link to a site that was offering a few one year subscription to several magazines – In retrospect I now know I should have taken Good Housekeeping or Muscle And Fitness - but Rolling Stone was always my personal source for accurate, up to the minute information. [uncontrollable laughter]

The Rolling Stone I Remember

It wasn’t often that I found copies of Rolling Stone where I lived, being a small town buried deep in England I had to settle for more localized information and pray that someone left a copy laying around the laundry or pub. The magazine was massive, usually over 150 pages, thicker than any other magazine on the market – except the monster publication Modern Bride. The pictures were always top notch, the writing unbiased and a wide variety of artists represented. My personal addiction was the classified adds. Seeing the ads for Iron Maiden spiked bracelets, rock concert photos, t-shirts and – for a brief period of time – pen pals.

I remember seeing Duran Duran on the cover, New Kids on The Block being ripped to shreds, the death of Randy Rhodes, The first Lollapalooza concert tour, Cat Stevens leaving music for religion, Madonna’s infamous cover, the rise of Metallica, the Dalai Lama interview and probably a thousand other points of interest.

Yes, this was the place to turn to get a fix for your music addiction. Not only did they cover music, but current events, new groups, concert tours and of course a little bit of good old gossip. It had the best writers, awesome photographers and a staff that gave the whole story – no matter how good or bad.

The Metal Years

In the transition between metal, rock, glam and the ominous pop scene, Rolling Stone sat as the front-runner in metal media coverage. Even ousting Circus and Metal Fan with coverage, interviews and never before seen photos. While Rolling Stone tried to remain middle of the road and even out all the different genres – they slit their own throats when they started to cave in to ‘the popular vote’. Writing about bands over and over again, mentioning them page after page and acting like an MTV knock off – only in print form. This was the beginning of the end.

Come On, This Mag Rocks!

Sure, if you are Tom Hanks washed away on a deserted island – this mag is perfect. It’s lost its style, sense of reporting and it’s overall appeal. Is it any wonder they are highly promoting the online version, offering free issues with subscriptions and promising ‘subscriber only’ issues. Come on people, get your shovels and help me bury this media dinosaur. Now, I will say this in defense Rolling Stone, they still have the most accurate chart information which covers pop, college releases, top 40, country, cutting edge and the Billboard top 50. However, the line up of genres changes from issue to issue so sometimes it’s hard to keep track of your favorite group. One of the best things about the chart listings is it offers you the number of weeks it’s been on the Billboard chart, it’s present position and the previous weeks slot.

From time to time they do have excellent articles, some of which fit in the music genre and others that don’t The Tommy and Pamela Lee story a month and a half ago was a nice kick in the pants to what the media often reports about the two star crossed, less than brainy, plastic Hollywood stars. The story spread over eight pages; another faux pas of Rolling Stone. Do they really need to have a story continue for eight pages, making it much like a game to play the “continued on page 59” game? If you have that much information, print it on subsequent pages and move the advertisements around. Most of the time the pages aren’t labeled so I have to find the closest page and count backwards or forwards to find the continuation. :]~ Raspberries to Rolling Stone.

The Disillusioned Reader

The straw that broke the Freak’s back came with issue 873, the July 19, 2001 issue that I received a few days ago. Unless my calendar is wrong, this is still June so how can they release something for mid-July that will surely be outdated by time that date rolls around? The issue was so thin I didn’t even realize it was Rolling Stone when the mailman handed me my mail. The issue features Staind on the cover with the catchy cover title Kirsten Dunst Gets Kinky. The issue is a measly 60 pages long – with 23 of those pages being advertisements. 23 pages? That’s a little less then half of the magazine! Sure two of them are for Rolling Stone giveaways and contests, but in my eyes that’s still an advertisement. To make things worse, seven of the pages are full-page pictures of people who are featured. Leaving even less in the way of actual readable material.

The Media Wh-ores That Rolling Stone Loves

I swear, if this magazine weren’t being sent to me free I would probably have to hunt down someone at the main office and demand a refund. I feel violated, so much so that I am canceling my free subscription. Do we really need seven separate mentions of Eminem’s ‘career’? Yet another three blurbs of N’Sync? [sorry Kristinafh] Overkill of Weezer [sorry Sleestakk] and Brittany Spears on more pages than I care to count? Not to mention an overdose of Moby, followed by the pop divas Destiny’s Child and then a close third, the movie Pearl Harbor getting a mention on every other page. I haven’t see overexposure like this since Hanson and The Spice Girls dominated the airwaves [oh the horror].

For a magazine that claims to be a free press and reports the whole story, they sure do paint a pretty picture of the pop icons. A prime example is issue 981, the summer concert guide that is supposed to give detailed information about the summer line-ups. Sure that sounds like a great idea but it’s too bad Rolling Stone didn’t follow through. This issue is 88 pages long, 43 pages are advertisements and seven pages are half advertisements. The summer concert section is all of 8 pages long, two of which are full-page ads for the story. Sorry, but something tells me that there are more concerts tours than that going on this summer. They list no dates in particular but rather the starting date of the tour or the ending date. Some prices are listed but most are a ballpark price range. When I see the cover that states in big, bold letters Rolling Stone LIVE Summer Concert Guide I fully expected the entire issue to be dedicated to covering the events, locations, dates and ticket vendors.

How To Get If, That Is, If You Want It

You can pick this up at almost any newsstand, bookstore or grocery store. But buyer beware, the price is more than a gallon of milk, pack of cigarettes or a nice slice of London Broil or almost 2 and a half gallons of gas. What will this mag set you back? Sit down and get ready – a staggering $3.95. Now, if I did the math right it beaks down to .15 cents a page – yes, you are paying .15 cents a page [and remember 23 of those pages are advertisements].

If you want to feel less of a sting you can subscribe and receive before it hits the newsstand. You can choose between 39 issues for $19.97 or 26 issues for $17.97. There are numerous reader response cards that you can fill out and mail in, postage free, to start your subscription.

The Bottom Line

Great things can’t last forever, and that’s just the fact of life. Eventually all the fads run their course and it seems that Rolling Stone has just plain run out of gas. With all the information available on the internet, almost seconds away from even the novice computer users fingers, why would you want to turn to a magazine that simply recycles what is yesterdays news?

The subscription price is tolerable when compared to the newsstand price, but even so, it’s just throwing hard earned cash out the window. The issues are filled with two cent words from writers that desire to be comics rather than entertainment reporters. I hate to sound harsh, but this magazine was once the king of the hill, now it’s clearing tables and stealing tips from the big boys.

As always, thanks for the read! ^V^ Freak ^V^

End Note

Maybe someone can tell me, is it ‘Nsync or N’Sync? Rolling Stone has it spelled ‘NSync [issue 873, page 19, Performance section]. Sorry if it’s misspelled.



Recommended: No

Favorite Type of Music: Alternative Rock