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News Article
50 years of Rolling Stone
By Brett Weiss

For five decades, Rolling Stone magazine has provided readers with music journalism, movie reviews, progressive political commentary as well as interviews with some of the hottest celebrities on the planet.

Started by 21-year-old Berkeley dropout Jann Wenner and 48-year-old San Francisco Chronicle columnist Ralph J. Gleason, the publication debuted on newsstands during the fall of 1967.

The first issue, published in San Francisco as the Summer of Love drew to a close, is dated Nov. 9 and features a cover photo of John Lennon posing in his World War II serviceman outfit for the Richard Lester film, How I Won the War. Wenner obtained the image from a pile of publicity stills. In a recent interview, he reflected on the selection of that photo.

“It was two days before press and we didn’t know what to put on the front page,” he said. “It was the best thing we had. But it’s defining, since it encompasses music, movies, and politics. That was a fortuitous accident. But it began our lifelong association with John.”

The first issue of Rolling Stone featured such topics as a Grateful Dead drug bust, the forthcoming Jefferson Airplane album, money missing from the Monterey Pop Festival, and a review that compared Jimi Hendrix’s Are You Experienced with Cream’s debut, Fresh Cream. There was also an interview with singer/songwriter Donovan. The issue is worth as much as $800 to $1,000 in excellent condition. However, buyers should be aware there was a 1986 reprint, which was printed on glossy stock, as opposed to low-grade newsprint of the original.

Wenner included an editorial in the magazine stating the goals and philosophy behind the publication:

“You’re probably wondering what we are trying to do. It’s hard to say: sort of a magazine and sort of a newspaper. The name of it is Rolling Stone, which comes from an old saying: “A Rolling Stone gathers no moss.” Muddy Waters used the name for a song he wrote; The Rolling Stones took their name from Muddy’s song and “Like A Rolling Stone,” was the title of Bob Dylan’s first rock and roll record.

“We have begun a new publication reflecting what we see are the changes in rock and roll and the changes related to rock and roll. Because the trade papers have become so inaccurate and irrelevant, and because the fan magazines are an anachronism, fashioned in the mold of myth and nonsense, we hope that we have something here for the artists and the industry, and every person who “believes in the magic that can set you free.

“Rolling Stone is not just about music, but also about the things and attitudes that the music embraces. We’ve been working quite hard on it and we hope you can dig it.”

One person who “digs” the magazine is Stephen Thomas Erlewine, Senior Editor of Pop Music at Tivo, an online database of music information, reviews, biographies, and metadata found at allmusic.com. Erlewine has been reading Rolling Stone for more than three decades.

“My parents bought me a new issue in 1984 when I was in the throes of Beatlemania,” he said. “It was the ’20 Years Ago Today’ anniversary issue, and it was the first rock magazine I ever read, so it made a big impression on me. I was first drawn to the Beatles cover article, then to the ’Random Notes’ at the front of the book and especially the reviews in the back.” Erlewine also cited the 1987 issue detailing “The 100 Best Albums of the Last Twenty Years.”

“That was my bible in high school,” he said.

Rolling Stone wasn’t the first serious magazine of rock music criticism published in the U.S. (Crawdaddy debuted the year before), but it has been the most popular, outselling such competitors as Circus and Hit Parader.

“Unlike Circus and Hit Parader, Rolling Stone didn’t solely concentrate on music,” Erlewine said. “It made space for cultural criticism, lengthy features, and sometimes fiction, which is one of the reasons it resonated with a larger audience.”

Rolling Stone has a long and glorious history, featuring interviews with such legends as Paul McCartney, Bob Dylan, and Mick Jagger, along with countless newer stars. They’ve published the work of a number of noteworthy writers, including Cameron Crowe, Lester Bangs, Tom Wolfe, and gonzo journalist Hunter S. Thompson, whose most famous work, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, was first seen in the magazine.

Currently, a quick Google search will take you to a number of Rolling Stone’s legacy articles, including: “The True Life Confessions of Fleetwood Mac” (March 24, 1977); “Prince Talks: The Silence Is Broken” (Sept. 12, 1985); “True Confessions: Carrie Fisher Interviews Madonna” (June 13 and June 27, 1991); “Kurt Cobain, the Rolling Stone Interview: Success Doesn’t Suck” (Jan. 27, 1994); and “The Tragedy of Britney Spears” (Feb. 21, 2008).

Despite the popularity of the magazine (nearly 1.5 million subscribers as of 2015), Wenner and company have been under fire since almost the beginning because of their lack of subjectivity regarding certain topics.

“Rolling Stone did have some editorial biases, but every publication does,” Erlewine said. “They didn’t have much patience for heavy metal, glam, glitter, or a fair amount of music made in the UK.”

Heavy metal in particular has received scant coverage in Rolling Stone over the years. When the genre does show up in the magazine, it frequently has a negative slant, but that has changed to some degree within the past few years.

“I don’t know if Wenner is directly responsible for the anti-hard rock bias,” Erlewine said. “He’s certainly not a fan, but the rest of the editors during the ’70s and ’80s also didn’t like metal/hard rock, so it’s not like he shut it all down singlehandedly—it was a group decision. Also, the recent group of editors is much more likely to give greater consideration to metal: witness the terrific KISS cover story by Brian Hiatt.”

The biggest blight on Rolling Stone in its storied history is the Nov. 19, 2014 publication of the 9,000-word “A Rape on Campus” feature. Written by Sabrina Erdely, the article details claims by a University of Virginia student identified only as “Jackie” that she was raped by fellow UVA students at a frat party as part of an initiation rite. Upon further investigation by other journalists, it was discovered that the story was full of holes and that Jackie had fabricated the incident. On April 5, 2015, Rolling Stone officially retracted the article.

Despite this black mark on the magazine, which included lawsuits by several UVA fraternity members, and despite the decline of the print publishing industry due to the digital revolution, Rolling Stone soldiers on, cranking out issues month after month..

In December of last year, Penske Media Corporation acquired a controlling interest in Wenner Media, the parent company of Rolling Stone. Wenner stayed on as editorial director and Wenner Media retained “majority control and editorial oversight” over the magazine.

.”

Rolling Stone back issues remain in high demand. A recent search of completed eBay auctions turned up the following, each described as in Very Good condition:

*Issue #s 95 and 96, which includes both parts of the very first publication of Hunter S. Thompson’s Fear and Loathing In Las Vegas: $499.99.

*#3, with a “Beatles Magical Mystery Tour” feature: $200.

*#s 74 and 75, featuring a two-part John Lennon interview: $180.

*#61, with Charles Manson on the cover: $179.95.

*#108, featuring the recently deceased David Cassidy.

*#30, with an American Revolution cover feature: $174.99.

*#45, featuring Tina Turner: $174.99.

*#22, with John Lennon and Yoko Ono nude on the cover: $169.99.

2/22/2018
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