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Posts Tagged “Rolling Stone”

pointless listmaking

Listicles, By The Numbers

Yesterday, I came across a recent interview with Amanda Petrusich, the author of the new It Still Moves, in which she basically nails the conundrum facing music writing today. Take it away, Amanda and questioner:

RD: Being largely a writer for print, what is your stance on blogs?

AP: I read a ton of blogs, every day. I think the onus is really on print magazines to step up the game. They’ve got to do stuff blogs can’t or won’t or don’t want to do – long, thoughtfully researched articles with lots of access that take months to write – in order to stay alive. But they just keep printing … lists.

More »

5:30 PM on Wed Oct 1 2008
By Michaelangelo Matos
898 views, 15 comments

rock-critically correct

"Rolling Stone" Puts Its Horns Up One More Time

Once again, we present Rock-Critically Correct, a feature in which the most recent issues of Rolling Stone, Blender, Vibe, and Spin are given a once-over by a writer who's contributed to many of those magazines, as well as a few others! In this installment, he looks at the new issue of Rolling Stone: More »

12:00 PM on Wed Sep 24 2008
By Anono-Critic
1,243 views, 9 comments

shrinkage

"Rolling Stone" To Shed A Little Of Its Page Width

Mailboxes and newsstands will feel a little emptier come Oct. 17, when a slimmed-down version of Rolling Stone hits the newsstands. The magazine's dimensions will be shrunk down from its current 10" by 11 3/4 real estate to the standard 8"ish by 11"ish size used by most magazines. It'll also use glossier paper and be perfect-bound on the side, no doubt so various Mick Jagger aphorisms can run up and down the spine. (Might I suggest "I am in the basement / Looking for the truth" for new issue No. 1?) How does founder and publisher Jann Wenner feel about all this? He's trying to put a brave face on it: "All you're getting from that large size is nostalgia," he told the Times, although he did admit that he was "kind of torn about" the change. But is that really the only difference? Let's look at the photographic comparison of the two covers that was helpfully supplied by the Times and a stubbled, familiar-looking spokesmodel: More »

8:53 AM on Mon Aug 11 2008
By Maura Johnston
621 views, 4 comments

Latest by dippinkind: @Ned Raggett: it would help them stand out from the online competition. "You can't wipe your ass with a pitchfork." more »

this is an s.o.s.

Everybody Wants A Piece Of The Jonas Brothers' Action

The Jonas Brothers! They're everywhere, and they're going to be in even more places very soon, what with their recent booking on the MTV Video Music Awards and their Tiger Beat-ready mugs gracing the cover of the new Rolling Stone. (Nice that the editors gave a tip of the hat to last year's Efron shirt-tug in the cover photo.) Now, obviously we've been covering the boys' ascent since they first got sucked into Disney's pop machine. So why is there something about all this JB love that seems a little, well, weird, even though it's synced to the Aug. 12 release of their next album, A Little Bit Longer? More »

10:00 AM on Wed Jul 23 2008
By Maura Johnston
851 views, 29 comments

Latest by puhctek: Is it wrong that I've never come across any of their music before, or is it just some strange vehicle for Disney to scrounge about for some money? more »

Take heart, those of you who fear the imminent demise of the era where people read about music on stapled-and-printed pages: Seven music-related periodicals have made the short list of the Chicago Tribune's annual "50 Best Magazines" list. They are: the Baroque-centric bimonthly Goldberg; the classical mag Gramophone; the indie bible Magnet; the Metropolitan Opera's house organ Opera News; the still-hanging-in-there Rolling Stone, which gets points for its access and being nicer than Pitchfork; and the home-recording obsessives' guide Tape Op. And, um, the NME, which I guess does hold its own in the "soldiering on breathlessly despite the facts being in the way sometimes" department. [Chicago Tribune]

9 comments

rock-critically correct

"Rolling Stone" Finally Embraces Rush

Once again, we present Rock-Critically Correct, a feature in which the most recent issues of Rolling Stone, Blender, Vibe, and Spin are given a once-over by a writer who's contributed to many of those magazines, as well as a few others! In this installment, he looks at the new issue of Rolling Stone: More »

12:00 PM on Wed Jul 2 2008
By Anono-Critic
2,614 views, 11 comments

awwwk-ward

Is Conde Nast Looking To Enter The Music-Magazine Business?

Watch as Charlie Rose casually drops Vanity Fair bigwig Graydon Carter and Rolling Stone honcho Jann Wenner, "What's this story that, uh... Conde Nast wants to buy Rolling Stone?" into a conversation about Hunter S. Thompson. If only Carter had been drinking from his complimentary glass of water at that moment—we would have seen the greatest spit-take ever. Instead, we just see him looking really surprised and angry, and mentally taking Rose off any reservation lists at the Waverly Inn. I suspect that this 30-second clip cut by Gawker (and noticed by Folio) will quickly become the Zapruder film of media machinations on this slow Friday, so, y'know, have at it. (And send any tips to the the normal address, of course.) [Folio via Gawker]

11:45 AM on Fri Jun 27 2008
By Maura Johnston
364 views, 1 comment

Latest by GeorgeLang: Great -- Now Rolling Stone will be 300 pages long with enough perfume samples to send you into Anaphylactic shock.[blog.newsok.com] more »

go on, nbc, dust your glasses off

"Today" Can't Remember What Jay-Z Looks Like


Anyone wondering why Today would bother to ask "what is Rolling Stone's fascination with Barack Obama?" discovers just how unfamiliar NBC News must be with the gritty street culture promoted by the magazine when a picture of rapper Joe "Pump It Up" Budden appears at 1:20, alongside a mention of former Def Jam CEO and 60 Minutes subject Jay-Z. Ironic, as you'd think it'd be much harder to find a photo of Joe Budden. The narrator seems to finds the tastes and opinions of this Obama fellow (he likes rap... but doesn't like the naughty lyrics!) perplexing throughout the piece, so maybe we should just be glad they didn't show John Legend when describing Obama's love for Steve Wonder. [TVNewservia Nah Right]

3:30 PM on Thu Jun 26 2008
By Anthony Miccio
158 views, 3 comments

Latest by jasonelias: Well they could put that powder keg John McCain on the cover but they actually want to sell magazines. more »

Is Rolling Stone preparing on launching a "Perez Hilton-esque" music blog—with "look at me and all the famous people I drink with" correspondent Austin Scaggs as figurehead, and six unpaid interns who will reportedly "have to work 8 a.m. to 7 p.m., Monday through Friday" doing the actual legwork—within the next month or so? And what on earth might "Perez Hilton-esque" mean in the context of RS, anyway? Will Scaggs be photographed on red carpets wearing shower caps and ill-fitting hoodies? Is minimal competence at MS Paint required of the interns? The mind reels. [Gawker]

7 comments

corporate t-shirts still suck

Totally Irrelevant Magazines: The T-Shirt Edition

If you're an aging baby boomer who enjoys clothing that you think might give you some cultural credibility, Macy's and Rolling Stone are teaming up to bring the conspicuous back into conspicuous consumption. More »

4:15 PM on Tue Jun 10 2008
By Dan Gibson
1,324 views, 15 comments

rock-critically correct

"Rolling Stone" Picks Up Its Well-Worn Six-String

Once again, we present Rock-Critically Correct, a feature in which the most recent issues of Rolling Stone, Blender, Vibe, and Spin are given a once-over by a writer who's contributed to many of those magazines, as well as a few others! In this installment, he looks at the new issue of Rolling Stone: More »

12:00 PM on Fri May 30 2008
By Anono-Critic
1,998 views, 14 comments

rock-critically correct

"Rolling Stone" Flies With The Eagles

Once again, we present Rock-Critically Correct, a feature in which the most recent issues of Rolling Stone, Blender, Vibe, and Spin are given a once-over by a writer who's contributed to many of those magazines, as well as a few others! In this installment, he looks at the new issue of Rolling Stone: More »

1:00 PM on Wed May 21 2008
By Anono-Critic
1,604 views, 7 comments

180s

"Rolling Stone" Tries To Wash That "Hills" Cover From Its Offended Readers' Memories

Anyone with a working knowledge of The Hills and Don Henley & Co. can feel free to draw parallels between each of the individual cover subjects of Rolling Stone's last two issues; me, I'm just going to wonder what demographic Jann Wenner et al are going to pander to next time out. Maybe this guy? More »

2:45 PM on Thu May 15 2008
By Maura Johnston
1,277 views, 14 comments

yay, journalism!

Five Ways To Not Write A Trend Piece On Music Blogs

Ah, trend stories, the bane of every journalistic enterprise. On the one hand, they are handy for editors who want to know what "the kids" who will be taking their jobs and houses are up to. On the other hand, they're generally vacuous glosses on subjects that are way too surface-gleaning to even be called "superficial." Greg Sandoval at CNet took the world of "music blogging" under his trend-story wing this morning, and if nothing else it's a primer in how not to tackle this admittedly knotty, yet way too often completely misunderstood subject. Five anti-lessons after the jump. More »

9:30 AM on Mon May 5 2008
By Maura Johnston
1,067 views, 6 comments

Latest by blackmailismylife: I'm calling for a LOLapatine meme starting now. more »

sigh

"Rolling Stone" To Readers: Buy This Magazine Or We'll Have To Figure Out More Ways To Pander To Non-Music Fans While Subtly Making Fun Of Our Cover Subjects

One would think that RS' head honchos would have held the $25k-a-throw hooker story for pairing with the inevitable Ashley Alexandra Dupre cover, but I guess desperate times call for desperate measures.

1:30 PM on Tue Apr 29 2008
By Maura Johnston
1,305 views, 11 comments

downturns

Four Reasons Music Magazines Are Doing Almost As Well As The Music Business

This year has been a rough one for music magazines: their ranks are thinning, the business they're covering is becoming more notable for being one that's putting out a product people don't want to pay for than anything else, and now Crain's New York Business puts into numbers what anyone who picked up a music magazine probably noticed already: Ad pages at the big four magazines are down substantially from last year's tallies, even as the magazines are increasing their rate bases. (Only Spin has weathered the downturn, with its ad pages actually up 22% since 2007.) Why? More »

3:45 PM on Mon Apr 21 2008
By Maura Johnston
1,266 views, 10 comments

Latest by porkch0p31: I haven't read Rolling Stone for years and years. It's just not an enjoyable magazine anymore ... and they certainly don't "keep it real." more »

synergies

Support Jann Wenner's Kid, Get A Free Subscription To "Blender"

Yes, that's right: If you buy a ticket to the May 2 New York City show by the Ellis Unit, which features Rolling Stone publisher Jann Wenner's son, Gus, on guitar and vocals, you get a free subscription to Blender—a $9.97 value that brings your real price for the $20 ticket down to a mere $10.03 (plus service charges, which will probably mean that you're out $20 anyway). I wonder if this means that Jann has no hard feelings about the Joe Levy decampment? Click the screenshot to enlarge. More »

9:30 AM on Tue Apr 15 2008
By Maura Johnston
403 views, 3 comments

Latest by Lucas Jensen: @NickEddy: There already is a fantastic band called Gregor Samsa. more »

rock-critically correct

"Rolling Stone" Shines A Light On Its Inspiration

Once again, we present Rock-Critically Correct, a feature in which the most recent issues of Rolling Stone, Blender, Vibe, and Spin are given a once-over by an anonymous writer who's contributed to several of those titles—or maybe even all of them! After the click-through, a look at the new issue of Rolling Stone: More »

1:00 PM on Fri Apr 4 2008
By Anono-Critic
1,562 views, 13 comments