Is Rolling Stone the ‘mom jeans’ of the magazine world? [classic article]

I have been battling a series of colds and dastardly attorneys as of late, so I haven’t had a chance to pick up the latest edition of RollingStone magazine, the 40th anniversary edition. Stephen Colbert had Jann Wenner on as a guest: the founder of RollingStone.

I sat bolt upright when Stephen mentioned that in their list, “40 Songs That Changed the World,” there was no Southern Rock! No Skynyrd, no Allman Bros. I have lots of songs that I like that aren’t necessarily musically important. But don’t tell me that “Sweet Home Alabama” didn’t set off a series of social commentaries! I’ve been booking musicians for years who can’t get out of a gig without “Freebird” being requested — and that’s north and south of the Mason-Dixon line. The examples are endless…

I was still a little kid when Dr. Hook came out with “Cover of the Rolling Stone,” and I thought it was a genius marketing trick.

Rolling Stone is so desperate to keep up “with what the kids are doing,” they’ll kowtow to any half-assed rap group or tattooed chick whining about losing her girlfriend. It’s the same with Saturday Night Live. Now, I’m not so out of it as to exclaim, “I don’t even know who this band is!”, but I’m here to say, “The Emperor has no clothes.”

I just can’t imagine leaving out an entire genre of rock music off such a huge list. And let’s be honest: would you rather have the bank that Skynyrd takes in during any given summer, or that of any nose-pierced band that RollingStone extolls?

This is why I call them the “mom jeans” of the magazine world: desperate to stay in the game.