Rolling Stone (1-year)

The record reviews are, for the most part, dubious. Rob Sheffield is one of the usual suspects. Three-and-a-half stars for Britney and Destiny's Child? More trustworthy critics include longtime writer David Fricke, Anthony DeCurtis, and Barry Walters. These guys seem to know what they're talking about when they review records.

The only section of the magazine worth reading is the movies section by Peter Travers, a critic I may not always agree with but one I do respect. Travers has enough heart to go against the grain of public opinion by trashing shallow, self-important, corporate driven, Holllywood movies. It really seems that he is criticizing the very hype machine the rest of Rolling Stone seems to embrace.

All in all, RS has its moments, but its getting disappointing within recent years. Here's hoping it can regain the edge it once had back in the 1970s and 1980s.


I cancelled my subscription after 18 years - RS is dead   August 23, 2002
fair_deal_guy (Prior Lake, MN USA)
76 out of 93 found this review helpful

You might as well read Vibe, People or Spin--they're all the same editorially as the current shell that is called Rolling Stone. The quality that used to define RS as a distinguished platform for thoughful cultural reflection is gone.


YEEEEEEEEOOOUUUUCH!!!!   September 11, 2004
"Church of The Flaming Sword"
34 out of 45 found this review helpful

Rolling Stone was a bit too rough for what I wanted to use it for. I'm sticking with Charmin or Quilted Northern.


They've lost it   August 30, 2003
Ben Collins (Ventura, CA United States)
33 out of 35 found this review helpful

Two years ago, Rolling Stone and MTV teamed up to create a list of the "top 100 pop songs of all time." According to that list, the number 10 song OF ALL TIME is, I kid you not, "I Want It That Way" by the Backstreet Boys. It was then that I started to suspect the once-great Rolling Stone was losing it.

In 1967, Rolling Stone started with a simple idea: a "real" music magazine to counteract trendy teenage fluff like "Tiger Beat." As the years wore on, they stayed true to their mission despite the inroads of disco and the MTV pretty boys of the '80s. Sure, artists like Duran Duran appeared on a few covers, but on the whole Rolling Stone worked hard to maintain its credibility, giving much-needed exposure to then-cutting-edge acts like Bruce Springsteen, Tom Petty, U2 and Nirvana.

Then, through a series of mergers and acquisitions, Rolling Stone eventually became part of the Vivendi Universal empire. Soon, pressure to increase circulation and "appeal to a younger audience" escalated. The people at Vivendi, a French water company that knows nothing about entertainment, seem to think "a younger audience" doesn't want to read anything about artists they've never heard of. In fact, "a younger audience" probably doesn't want to read at all; they just want to see a sexy pinup photo of Britney's boobs or Justin's pecs, whatever you prefer.

Now here's where I lost my last shred of respect for RS: All those Britney/boy band covers and the MTV Top 100 fiasco were bad enough, but what gave them the nerve to put CLAY AIKEN on the cover?! Any magazine with a reality-show contestant on its cover instantly loses all "music" credibility. They might as well hold their own "American Idol"-style contest to pick their next cover boy/girl. (You can see where that kind of strategy has gotten Vivendi; now they're desperate to sell off their entertainment assets so they can get back to what they know best, preventing cholera and dysentery among the French.)

In its heyday, Rolling Stone was a rallying point for those who truly appreciate great music. Today it's a glorified pinup fanzine with slightly better writing and production values than "Tiger Beat." Come on, Clay Aiken on the cover? Imagine the Rolling Stone of 1967 with an Ohio Express cover.


more reactive than proactive these days...   June 14, 2002
mary_1979 (Ashland, WI United States)
31 out of 34 found this review helpful

What Rolling Stone does well, it does consistently well at. The political articles are usually good, as are the pieces on current larger issues in music (i.e. napster, contract battles, etc). That, and for basic stuff like album reviews and billboard chart info, it's fairly solid. (Of course, you can just read those online and skip purchasing the magazine entirely.)

Having said that, the musical content of the magazine gets swept along with whatever's popular at the moment (two years ago, it was teen pop stars on every cover; now it's cookie-cutter nu-metal bands). So, if you aren't a fan of what's hip at the moment, the musical portions of the magazine will probably bore you to tears. And ultimately, if you're out to read a music mag, you should be drawn to the musical content, right? Instead, if you're out to discover new bands and music, I'd recommend going to something like UnCut or Q, which, while also loaded with advertisements, at least talk about people you haven't seen on MTV twenty billion times already.