Rolling Stone Cover to Cover: The First 40 Years

by Rolling Stone Magazine (Editor)

Book by

Genres: Music, History, Nonfiction, Pop Culture

216 pages, Hardcover

First published October 9, 2007

About the author

Rolling Stone is a U.S.-based magazine devoted to music, politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner (who is still editor and publisher) and music critic Ralph J. Gleason.

Reviews

[Hank Stuever · Rating 5 out of 5]

In going back and attempting to add the books I read as a kid and young adult, I'd be remiss if I didn't somehow include Rolling Stone, which I read (and studied) with a real fervor.

I can't remember when I first took notice of Rolling Stone; maybe around the time John Lennon was shot, which fascinated me (that would have been 7th grade). I started buying an issue of RS here and there, when I could afford it (or else I read it at the library) and, at the same time, I started really caring about new music. My big sister bought me an RS subscription for Christmas 1983 and, god bless her, she renewed it for years -- all through my high school and college years and a little beyond. I was drawn in by the music, the photos, the ads; but eventually I really started to notice the journalism: the political takedowns (Greider, O'Rourke), the revealing profiles, the gothic tales of murder and drugs and crime.

Rolling Stone was a habit that lasted well into my 30s. Somewhere around 2006 I let the subscription lapse, because I felt like I was being delivered the same magazine over and over. But I missed it and re-upped in 2010 or so. People say it's no longer good. I think they're wrong.

Anyhow, for Christmas or birthday one year I bought my partner Michael this archive collection -- the complete issues through 2007. He's a real magazine hound, but I think I've used this more than he has. It's amazing to just be able to pop in a disc and cruise through back issues, page by page, finding random treasures. Sometimes I'll flip through and it really is like a time warp; it can feel like just a few seconds ago that a particular issue was sitting my dorm mailbox. The magazines from the '80s are amazing -- the depth, the heft, the energy. The search function is good too. I wonder if there's a way to get an update for issues since 2007?

[Blog on Books · Rating 5 out of 5]

When Jann Wenner and Ralph Gleason founded Rolling Stone magazine in a small San Francisco office space in November 1967, computers were the size of a full room and counter culture was the order of the day. Back then, the only way to get the full contents of the magazine in compendium form was to purchase the annual bound books of multiple issues for a lofty price. But alas, technology has changed and now the folks at Bondi Digital Publishing have introduced the Bondi Reader, a groundbreaking, user-friendly browser that allows them to publish a DVD-ROM collection of every word, article, picture and issue from the 40 years of this venerable rock magazine. Suffice to say that everyone knows the impact that Wenner has had both chronicling the worlds of rock'n'roll, film, politics, et al, while also giving a platform to many of the leading voices of a generation - Hunter Thompson, Tom Wolfe, Lester Bangs, William Grieder and others as well as photographers ranging from Baron Wolman to Annie Leibowitz to Herb Ritts (lest we not forget the incredible illustrator Ralph Steadman!). What is different this time is that this Bondi edition, complete with coffee table book and a free subscription, has revolutionized the way publishing catalogs it's finest work. By choosing Rolling Stone (and it's just released Playboy: the 50's), Bondi has found perhaps the best subject to ably demonstrate it's digital publishing prowess, making this an essential holiday purchase and undoubtedly a harbinger of great things to come. Well done! - Tim Devine

[Audra]

... Very handy reference tool for the musically obsessed. The vintage ads are an added bonus. Well done.

[matt. singer. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Best. Thing. Ever.