Rolling Stone magazine is a cultural icon. It’s the number one pop culture reference point for 13 million young adults. In addition to its authoritative position in music, Rolling Stone’s sphere of influence reaches into entertainment, movies, television, technology, and national affairs. Rolling Stone covers everything that’s important, trend-setting, and newsworthy to the thought leaders among young adults.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Rolling Stone
Comment: Best magazine on the planet. Love the new format. Definitely worth the money!

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Retirement Home
Comment: Rolling Stone was conceived in the '80s as a counterculture music magazine. It covered acts like the Grateful Dead, CSNY, the Rolling Stones (of course), and the Jimi Hendrix Experience when they weren't part of the pop culture spectrum. Rolling Stone started out as trippy.

Rolling Stone has changed a great deal since its '60s-70s heyday. It is now more of a nostalgia magazine (like their self-adulating 40th anniversary issue,with Baby Boomers like Al Gore, Mick Jagger,etc) It still cares about acts like AC/DC,Bon Jovi,and Guns n' Roses,when young people have moved on. Rolling Stone faces a great challenge- young people's musical tastes are more varied. The iPod has individualized music. The songs dominating iTunes range from High School Musical/Camp Rock/Jonas Brothers songs to the latest rap hit. There's also a great deal of world music available,from the hippieish Putumayo World Music to the hip Six Degrees Records,and Oxfam has their own acoustic "unplugged" label. It's hard to cover such a broad spectrum.

Rolling Stone has also gotten more political-- probably meriting another magazine in itself. I have no problems with musicians having political views,or music magazines having politics,but Rolling Stone stumbles.

Rolling Stone still has hilarious reviews--for music and movies. Their snack-size review of "Everything is illuminated" was pithy,funny,and memorable. I might not always agree with their music reviews, but they're good for some insight or a laugh.

Rolling Stones gather no moss. Unfortunately,this one has. Sort of.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Ordering Magazines on Amazon is Not Like Ordering Products
Comment: When you have a service issue with a magazine you do not have normal access to the folks at Amazon. You don't even have access to the magazine until they actually begin shipping which could take a month or two. In the initial limbo, you get the phone number of a magazine broker. In the case of Rolling Stone Magazine its Wenner Media. But when you dial the number for Wenner, they answer the phone as the New Yorker and disavow any knowledge of Rolling Stone. (As you would expect from the folks at the New Yorker)Guessing this was a phone bank issue I called a dozen or so times and someone actually took down the change of address I needed. Well, the magazine is now arriving on the doorstep but its the wrong doorstep.
And don't I love that in your first week or two of delivery they send you the current issue and dump a copy of the prior month as well. You can imagine how they justify this. (He ordered it a month ago so he is getting what he asked for.) This is really a neat way to handle overstock for them and a month less of service for you. Unless you like your information stale. You still get a year's worth of magazine... its just a little front ended.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: The Best Music News Source Out There, or Biased & Unbalanced To The Nth Degree
Comment: Rolling Stone isn't without its share of problems. Maybe it's because the Internet age has passed them up, or they're just under poor management, but the magazine is far from being top-notch. Every album they've heard will never compare to the oldies like Bruce, Bob and The Stones, and as a result, it's incredibly rare to see an album with more than 4 stars. And frankly, the amateurs at AllMusic.com show them up every single time.

Then there's the politics, which the magazine has seemingly moved to in order to boost sales (bad idea; it fails every single time). Instead of bands like Kings of Leon gracing the cover, Obama's smiling face seemingly glows everytime I read the magazine (4 times in total so far). John McCain on the other hand is portrayed as the anti-christ, sure to kill black people, torture gays, and talk meanly to those nice little terrorists. In fact, according to the magazine, anybody even seemingly close to having an "R" next to their name can't be good, and must be disposed of. And those darn Christians, according to Rolling Stone, they'll seemingly be the death of us all, conspiring against us, ready to kill us in our sleep. Obama and the "D"'s on the other hand can never do any wrong, according to Rolling Stone. I mean really, compared to Rolling Stone, The New York Times and Rosie O Donnell are The Bible and Mother Teresa.

Of course, you can always try your hardest to ignore all of it, I just wish they'd focus more on music. The movie guy on the other hand seems to have a good shake on things (giving "W." 3.5 stars), and he overall does a good job. But of course, the magazine's strongpoint is the music. The interviews with the artists are insightful, and the news is the best in the industry. Their music commentary is also outstanding, with the music editor routinely making great points on the state of the industry. On news and commentary, every other outlet I've seen doesn't even come close.

Overall, if you're a hardcore music fan, and you want the musical insight, news and who's hot and not, there's seemingly still no better source than Rolling Stone. But then again, you have to put up with mediocre music reviews, and blatantly biased and overly magazine-filling political coverage. If you can get the magazine for dirt cheap price, then by all means, buy it. Otherwise, it's totally your choice.

To Rolling Stone: I'm always open to a position in contributing to your fine magazine.

Real Score: 2.5

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Do NOT subscribe through Amazon.com
Comment: Do not subscribe to magazines through Amazon.com. It is the most inept and incompetent service. I have been trying to get their mistake cleared up (duplicate magazines AND incorrect delivery address) for FIVE months.

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