On the Cover of the Rolling Stone
Throughout the Mix Tapes series, Mix and Boy-Lee read magazines in the convenience store across the street from school. Mix reads Rolling Stone. He reads others, but Rolling Stone is mentioned more than any other.
This is Rolling Stone’s 50th anniversary. In the first issue of this year with Emma Stone on the cover, the editors tell readers about this. During the course of the year, the writers will write about the history of Rolling Stone.
I’m not going to give the details of Rolling Stone’s history because they can do it. I’ll just tell you about some things I know and issues I had.
I took a look at EBAY and a few other sites to see if anyone collects these old issues. The first issue is worth $300 to $455. The copies on sale have to be original. Rolling Stone has reissued copies several times over the years. That first cover had John Lennon on the cover. It's been on posters, images, and reissues several times. They write about how they were able to get Lennon for their little magazine when it started.
I got a subscription to Rolling Stone somewhere around 1985. I think U2 was on the cover. At the time, U2 was a band that most Americans didn’t know. Unforgettable Fire had sold well in this country, but they weren't the superstars they would become. U2 was known as a live act to see. I had seen clips of a concert called “Live at Red Rocks.” They put it out on VHS and Mtv played sections of it. Rolling Stone was one of the first mainstream magazines to write about U2.
Over the years I learned of bands before I ever actually heard the bands. On the last page of the magazine, they had different sales charts, albums, singles, and college radio. By 1986 I had heard of bands like Hoodu Gurus and Concrete Blonde without ever hearing their music for a few more years. There was no Youtube or iTunes to go to when you learned of a band. Radio was horrible at the time when it came to new or small bands. Rolling Stone broke bands for those in areas with lousy radio.
Magazines have to sell, so the front covers were usually more pop bands or stars that everyone already knew. Madonna was on a lot of covers during the 1980s. Up till the late 1990s, John Lennon and Bruce Springsteen had the most covers. Even though they gave space to unknowns, they still had to sell copies.
I kept their year-end double issues for years. They recapped the year and were loaded with pictures. I thought those copies would be worth money later, but it wasn't worth the storage and time.
I’m going to write more about Rolling Stone in the future, when I have more memories to write about.