Brand New Beat: The Wild Rise of Rolling Stone Magazine

by Peter Richardson

Genres: History, Music, Nonfiction

368 pages, Hardcover

Published April 7, 2026

Reviews

[Nancy]

I read Part 1. It was like reading a textbook. I thought it would be interesting since I lived in San Francisco and was familiar with many of the places mentioned, but there was little emotion or any story for me to connect with.

[John Schorg]

Reading this reminded me of Rolling Stone Uncensored, a book from years gone by that also covers the early history of the magazine. There's nothing wrong with that, especially when the story is told as concisely as it is here. All the usual highs and lows are covered, with the emphasis on the years the magazine was based in San Francisco. Both books will do you fine, and if it helps you avoid Jann Wenner's awful autobiography, all to the better.

[Scott Campbell]

A very concise, maybe even too much so, account of the first ten years of Rolling Stone's existence. As an overview it works just fine, but it skims so fast over so much information that I was left wanting more. The only people who are clearly defined are Jann Wenner and Hunter S. Thompson. I would have liked to learn more about some of the other people involved in the magazine, especially Ralph Gleason, and about some more of the stories they ran. But that would have led to a much bigger book and one of the reasons I picked this book up was its size. So, despite my complaints, I enjoyed it very much and had a hard time putting it down.

[Adria]

I enjoyed the historical details and learning about the 1960s and 1970s from a pop culture perspective. My opinion of Jann Wenner remains unchanged (arrogant douchebag) but I thank him for co-founding a magazine that enhanced my musical, political, and cultural education. I'm so glad I read RS in the 80s and 90s, when it was still paper-only and wrote about important issues. And I still wish I could write like Hunter Thompson.