"Beers and Babes," The Enemy?  by antiGUY

"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 s*** 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!"