loveless
god
Bringing ballet to the masses. Sticking to the funk.
Posts: 2,804
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Post by loveless on Sept 19, 2023 15:23:03 GMT
I think the culture moved at such a speed back then that...two, three, four, or five years into existence, when Rolling Stone was full on Santana/James Taylor/CSNY/Stardust and Golden (and, yes, fully indulging the likes of Grace Slick, as it happens), their very existence and reach (and, I would say, tone) made it possible for the "little brother" to be an inevitable - and much needed - snotty alternative.
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loveless
god
Bringing ballet to the masses. Sticking to the funk.
Posts: 2,804
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Post by loveless on Sept 19, 2023 15:27:00 GMT
And...in defense of Rolling Stone IN THEIR DAY (all of which is almost entirely anecdotal to a person my age)...giving a voice/canvas to Hunter S. Thompson...and occasionally allowing pure art into their reviews section (I can't remember the name of the guy who wrote the original reviews of Deja Vu and Woodstock, but...that was good shit). Obviously, it couldn't last.
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Post by davey on Sept 19, 2023 15:31:06 GMT
I think most of RS’s reputation for being in-the-know was a carryover from its once-superior political writing.
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Post by Charlie O. on Sept 19, 2023 15:31:36 GMT
And...in defense of Rolling Stone IN THEIR DAY (all of which is almost entirely anecdotal to a person my age)...giving a voice/canvas to Hunter S. Thompson...and occasionally allowing pure art into their reviews section (I can't remember the name of the guy who wrote the original reviews of Deja Vu and Woodstock, but...that was good shit). Obviously, it couldn't last. J.M. Young, or something like that? They also had Lester Bangs for a time, when Greil Marcus was their reviews editor.
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Post by Charlie O. on Sept 19, 2023 15:33:55 GMT
I'll also admit that the first edition of The Rolling Stone Record Guide - the one with the red cover - was one of my bibles for a time. Turned me on to a lot of great music.
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Post by Charlie O. on Sept 19, 2023 15:36:52 GMT
Their Encyclopedia Of Rock & Roll (which I never actually owned) had some truly great writing in it, too.
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loveless
god
Bringing ballet to the masses. Sticking to the funk.
Posts: 2,804
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Post by loveless on Sept 19, 2023 15:45:31 GMT
Much as I do lament the sort of self-enshrinement and carbonization and institutionalization of the magazine, the fact that (at a certain point in history) "Where else were you going to get a 10 page interview with Townshend?" is not nothing, and...all of the sort of little paperback anthologies I'd find in used bookstores as a kid (compilations of their record reviews or interviews) went a long way towards my own sort of "foundational" understanding of my own musical pre-history.
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Post by fearlessfreap on Sept 19, 2023 17:11:10 GMT
Their Encyclopedia Of Rock & Roll (which I never actually owned) had some truly great writing in it, too. I had this - a large red covered book? Lester Bangs did a chapter on heavy metal that painted the genre as an extremely broad church that today's metalheads would shit bricks over. It had Marcus's Rod Stewart chapter with the quote about how nobody ever betrayed their talent like he did. I remember the library at the University of Buffalo had all the volumes bound. I read some of the first issues and there were ads for the general public to submit record reviews. I'm pretty sure that's how Lester Bangs got his start with a negative Kick Out the Jams piece. J.M. Young was great, I always thought he could have been an excellent fiction writer, no idea whatever became of him.
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Post by adamcoan on Sept 19, 2023 17:33:35 GMT
He had a successful lunchtime show in the U.K for years, recipes,politics and pop !
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Post by Charlie O. on Sept 19, 2023 17:45:56 GMT
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Post by Charlie O. on Sept 19, 2023 17:48:50 GMT
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Sneelock
god
you're gonna break another heart
Posts: 8,549
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Post by Sneelock on Sept 29, 2023 22:07:41 GMT
As soon as Wenner stepped up to be the face of the magazine is when I decided I didn't like him. I mean, seriously, he was NEVER a rock and roll guy. he was always somebody who wanted to be counted among famous people.
I think Annie Leibovitz was like that too - that 'you're not cool enough to go in the back room and snort coke with us" sort of image. that had fuck all to do with rock and roll. she took some good pictures and he published some good writing but both always struck me as snobs & poseurs.
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Post by Stacy Heydon on Sept 30, 2023 7:38:47 GMT
Interesting in the link Charlie provides, it says Wenner started the magazine with 7,500 dollar loan from family members. That must've been a hell of a lot of money in 1967. No wonder it was successful!
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Post by Charlie O. on Oct 1, 2023 2:50:24 GMT
Greil Marcus puts in his two cents:
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