Topic: Why does Rolling Stone suck so badly?

[British]

My take: The magazine seems hopelessly out of date. Ooh, let's come up with some hip cover! Let's talk about the 20 best Eric Clapton albums EVERY year!

It seems to me Rolling Stone grows more irrelevant every day. But I could be wrong. I haven't picked up an issue in years. But the mag seems to be out of date, as much as the "Colecovision Fan Club" newsletter. And come to think of that, I haven't received my issue of that recently either, HMMM.

[Frayo]

Thank you....Thank you, sir.

I have the same feelings exactly.

I wish they didnt. I mean come on.
They are always doing a best of...and their music articles are so random. They cover just weird mindless selections of hip hop to some stupid obscure indie band about to get its well-deserved death....It pisses me off to see them on someones coffee table...so whem Im a guest at someones house who has an issue....I turn it into toilet paper.

I know there are a sleu of mags that do alternative music....who are they?

<a href="http://photobucket.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v204/Rfrayo/nerd2-1.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting"></a> "I ain't a-Frayo-No Ghost!!!"

[Mechi]

I think it's because they lack in being creative in what they write about. When most of an edition of a music magazine is occupied by an interview to Jessica Alba, then something is wrong.

http://spaces.msn.com/members/mechigc

[Bitter Almonds]

Meh. I feel the same way about Spin and most other "music" magazines. The only mag whose every issue I considered relevant was Cool And Strange Music because it addressed music that needed to be listened to - that you hadn't heard of yet.

[Frayo]

[quote][i]Originally posted by XXX[/i]
<br>Meh. I feel the same way about Spin and most other "music" magazines. The only mag whose every issue I considered relevant was Cool And Strange Music because it addressed music that needed to be listened to - that you hadn't heard of yet.
[/quote]

Is this zine real?
Are they still published?

<a href="http://photobucket.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v204/Rfrayo/nerd2-1.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting"></a> "I ain't a-Frayo-No Ghost!!!"

[British]

After making my angry rant, I looked at the wikipedia article, which shed some light on things. It had a bit of a corporate strategy applied to it. I do realize the good that was in it at one time with Hunter S. Thompson articles, etc, but that time has long gone. Kurt Loder? I don't see anything special about him when he was on MTV. He seemed very wooden. In fact, I read an article in "Rift"(a mpls/st. paul local music rag) where a reader I think on Trouser Press screamed at Kurt for his music reviews.

I also read that Britney's album got 4 stars, while one of Peter Gabriel's relases got 2.

And THEN, IIRC comedian Bobcat Golthwaite made fun of it almost 20 years ago. He screamed "ooh! new seagram's ads!" and may have made fun of Bruce Willis. Mind you, it wouldnt surprise me if they did a feature article on "The Return of Bruno".

I mean, you can only do so many exclusive articles on what Bruce Springsteen had for lunch, and what Johnny Knoxville has been doing for the last week.

I get more entertainment bashing the rather outdatedness of Rolling Stone than the actual contents of the magazine.

[Bitter Almonds]

[quote][i]Originally posted by Frayo[/i]
<br>[quote][i]Originally posted by XXX[/i]
<br>Meh. I feel the same way about Spin and most other "music" magazines. The only mag whose every issue I considered relevant was Cool And Strange Music because it addressed music that needed to be listened to - that you hadn't heard of yet.
[/quote]

Is this zine real?
Are they still published?

<a href="http://photobucket.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v204/Rfrayo/nerd2-1.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting"></a> "I ain't a-Frayo-No Ghost!!!"
[/quote]


They are long-defunct, Frayo. You may still be able to get some back issues of it. I lost the whole lot that I had from the various moves in the past coupla years[xx(]

http://www.danacountryman.com/csm/back_issues.html

[coop41]

Any issue of Rolling Stone over the past 5 years (template):

-16 pages of alcohol ads

-small article on some lost blues legend that died 3 months ago

-small article on the demise of record labels and/or online piracy

-somewhat larger article on which rappers have been________ (shot, killed, arrested,etc.)

-tiny article on hip new band raving about how they will be the next big thing

-Long article on _________ (Paul McCartney, Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan,Sheryl Crow, Radiohead, etc.)

-Overly long Anti-War article

-article on High School kid gone wrong

-Reviews of 9 Rap and Hip Hop CD's (DJ Mastah Jizzbomb got 4 stars last issue!), 2 "must hear" indie bands that sound just like Sonic Youth and The Replacements respectively(on a related note, is there a bigger kiss of death than to say you sound like the Replacements?)

-Review of latest Pearl Jam CD (there's one every issue I think)

-16 pages of ads for "wacky" t-shirts, ipod accesories (and do we really need anything else to plug our ipod into?), marital aides and 900 numbers

-List of the Top fifty albums I will never own


Why do I still subscribe? It's like 12 cents an issue (and did I mention 900 numbers?)

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[randy]

Jizzbomb got 4 stars!!!!????? Awesome dude!!!![;)]

[randy]

A couple months back they actually had a promotion that for something like 90 bucks you would get it for life!!!! Actually thought about it for a bit because-just because most music sucks today, it could get better in the future. Couldnt it? Its gotta--cant get worse!!

[KYYX4ever]

Is Maximum Rock n Roll still around ? Gawd I loved that zine.

[DonGately]

I was just in the market and guess who I saw on the cover of Rolling Stone: Led Zeppelin! Talk about being stuck in a rut!

[British]

[quote][i]Originally posted by DonGately[/i]
<br>I was just in the market and guess who I saw on the cover of Rolling Stone: Led Zeppelin! Talk about being stuck in a rut!
[/quote]

Fuckin' a man. What, was Bruce Springsteen too busy to do a photo shoot?

I know I'm stuck in the 80s, but Rolling Stone has "stuck in a certain time period" down to a marketable art.

[Grunch]

There are two superb mags that I know of and always come with a free CD )ok, a CD you paid for in the subscription prioe).

Uncut - this has been around awhile, out of UK, and is always always excellent IMO. Their CD's are great on top of the articles, etc....and each month, if they highlight an artist or group, they give you a very in depth article about them, always fasinating reading to me.

Paste - a much newer magazine that has good articles, and a CD, and twice in my first year with them (their first year I believe) I've gotten a bonus DVD with videos, music and others stuff along with the CD.

And how could I forget ICE - well, not conventionally a magazine, but an essential monthly chock full of stuff any music collector cannot afford to miss.

These are the only ones I get, and personally find them always excellent reading.

I've considered RS to be like a piece of junk mail for more than 10 years now, maybe fifteen - that's just my opinion. It could have died and gone away, I would not have cared at all. These others are much more interesting and relevant for me.

[hexicon]

I ordered a T-shirt from the Ramones website and received a free 6-month subscription to RS as an alleged thank-you gift.

When I was in junior high, RS was my lifeline. I still remember some of the great cover stories circa 1979-1980, Pretenders, Cars, Tom Petty, etc.

When I started reviewing my recent free copies, based on the ads I determined that the target demographic was a pervy, sex-crazed 22-yr-old frat boy (is that redundant?). So much for music journalism.