Rolling Stone will celebrate its 50th anniversary on November 9, 2017
Just two months before it is about to celebrate the magazine’s 50th birthday, Wenner Media announced on Sunday (Sept. 17) that “it has initiated a process to explore strategic options for its majority interest in Rolling Stone to best position the brand for future growth.”
For decades, the bi-weekly was considered indispensable reading for its exclusive interviews with recording artists, celebrities, politicians and pop culture subjects. The magazine introduced its loyal readers to writers like Ben Fong-Torres, David Fricke, Hunter S. Thompson, Cameron Crowe and others, who became household names.
For many readers, the publication’s most iconic moment was photographer Annie Leibovitz’s photo of John Lennon lying nude next to Yoko Ono, taken on December 8, 1980, just hours before Lennon was murdered. The image adorned the cover of the magazine’s January 22, 1981, edition.
Being the subject of the magazine’s cover story was a huge achievement, not unlike the Good Housekeeping seal of approval. In a far more lighthearted note, in 1972, the modestly successful Dr. Hook and the Medicine Show recorded the song “The Cover of the Rolling Stone.” The group’s manager, Ron Haffkine, met with Rolling Stone’s editor and publisher, Jann Wenner, convincing him that the band was basically providing a radio commercial for his magazine. Wenner was persuaded, and sent Crowe to interview the band.
Related: Our story of “The Cover of the Rolling Stone”
The publication long ago strayed from its rock ‘n’ roll roots. Its 2017 cover subjects are (in reverse order) Dave Grohl, actress Gal Gadot, rapper Kendrick Lamar, Canadian Prime Minster Justin Trudeau, Game of Thrones‘ Emilia Clarke, MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow, Radiohead, Lorde, Chris Rock, Harry Styles, Chuck Berry, President Trump, musician Ed Sheeran, TV host John Oliver, Michael Jackson’s daughter Paris, and Emma Stone.
In recent years, Rolling Stone has grabbed unwanted headlines, particularly for its November 19, 2014, story, “A Rape on Campus,” about an alleged incident on the University of Virginia campus. The magazine ultimately issued three apologies for its faulty fact-checking, and it subsequently retracted the story.
Wenner was among a handful of music industry executives who began the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Foundation in 1983. His critics say that Wenner has wielded an undue influence over the nominating committee, particularly after the death of Rock Hall founder Ahmet Ertegun in 2006. For years, popular and influential artists such as the Moody Blues, Jethro Tull and Joe Cocker, among scores of others, have been overlooked in favor of acts that were often far less successful commercially and whose music, like such inductees as Madonna, Tupac and Donna Summer, did not fit even the loosest definition of rock ‘n’ roll.
In recent years, the barriers have broken down somewhat as such bands as Rush, Journey, Chicago, ELO and Yes have been inducted.
“Rolling Stone is a uniquely powerful brand with enormous opportunities to succeed in today’s environment,” said Gus Wenner, president and chief operating officer of Wenner Media, and the son of its founder, Jann Wenner. “We have made great strides transforming Rolling Stone into a multi-platform company, and we are thrilled to find the right home to build on our strong foundation and grow the business exponentially.”
3 Comments so far
Jump into a conversationBack in the 70s, ‘Rolling Stone’ was a counterculture must read. Over the years, it became the very thing it once railed against. I stopped reading it a long, long time ago.
Rolling Stone has sucked since 1976 or so….it’s a pitiful rag now
$10.00 says any sale will be contingent upon the buyer’s blood oath that ELP and the Moody Blues never darken the doors of the Rock Hall. Time for Jann to let go of his insane bias against prog rock…..