Rolling Stone is a Disgrace

Once upon a time there was a magazine that was so revered in everything it did. Its reviews were trusted, its stories were fabulous and we could just not get enough of it. Rolling Stone made the rock and roll lifestyle so glamourous (not to mention in the past decade it glamourized it even further with Cameron Crowe’s flick Almost Famous).

Rolling Stone has fallen down a tall mountain from where they once resided. Their articles which used to be so unbiased and so amazing are now residing in the shadows of their former glory. Not only has the magazine become more political than musical, the musical aspect of it that still remains feels phony. The reviews have a feel to them like the reviewer hasn’t even listened to what they’re writing about, or sometimes the praise is so ridiculous for something very obviously not deserving of it, that you wonder if the magazine has been accepting bribes to make certain artists look better.

The covers of Rolling Stone are another thing which used to be so very famous, I mean come ON, there is a freakin’ song written about them! The cover used to be such an extreme honour for anyone who was placed on it. Now, the covers are riddled with such complete garbage that the people actually deserving to be on the covers should be ashamed of the company they now share. No one can ever forget the epic cover by Annie Leibovitz of John Lennon and Yoko Ono with one another… the last photo taken of John Lennon alive. In 2009, the covers range from the deserving Bob Dylan and U2 (TWO and a half times!) to the much bigger list of undeserving including Lil’ Wayne, Adam Lambert, Taylor Lautner, Shakira, Gossip Girl, Megan Fox, and the freaking Jonas Brothers. And that’s all in ONE YEAR! All of those terrible covers and unnecessary features on idiotic “artists” and celebrities just in one year. Not to mention Britney Spears demolishing the covers TWICE in 2008.

As another point, I mean… who the HELL is writing Rolling Stone right now anyways?! I’m a big collector of annual best of lists and decade lists in magazines and of course, I picked up Rolling Stones decade edition to see what they thought of the 2000s. You have no idea how very furious I was to see a complete list of nonsense in their top lists… among the top albums were Jay-Z (who has retired HOW MANY TIMES NOW?!), Eminem (whose fame revolves around making fun of and bashing the lives and careers of others), and 50 Cent (whose entire musical career consists of womanizing, drugs, and guns). Ugh. It bothers me that Kanye West made the list as well, but I could understand that even though he’s a moron… his music is still catchy. Where are all the great indie albums of the decade?! Why is everything on this list cookie cutter top 40 B.S.? For me, it was basically like the artists that made the list were what was expected and not necessarily what was deserving of it. And best songs… REALLY? Beyonce? More Jay-Z (again… RETIRED!!), Eminem, 50 Cent, Missy Elliot, Amerie, Justin Timberlake, Kelis, Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, Snoop Dogg?!! COME ON!

Rolling Stone needs to take a step back and think about what they’re doing. They’re not completely so far off the trail that they can’t go back and fix things, but they are damn close. After changing Rolling Stone’s famous magazine cover sizes to a traditional same old generic layout… they need a proper revamp back to what used to make Rolling Stone so bloody awesome to begin with. Rolling Stone should not be a top 40 magazine; it used to be a rock and roll magazine that has been reduced to complete crap and drivel. Re-evaluate your set up RS… Get your s**t together.