...I picked up an issue of Rolling Stone. It caught my eye, and I really can't particularly say why. I don't like looking at Lil' Wayne covered in tattoos, in large part because I simply lack trust for people with neck tattoos. I have been trying to immerse myself in more hip-hop culture, due to certain teaching duties as of late, but that's another story. I also wanted to read this Rolling Stone, because after his recent tour stop in South Florida, nearly everyone I knew was talking about the John Mayer interview from a recent interview. (And boy, oh boy, does he sound crazy.) Thus, for the first time since at least 5 years ago, I thought it might be relevant to read Rolling Stone.
Five years ago, a college roommate of mine collected Rolling Stone covers, through her subscription, and made a border around the living room of them. It was kind of a neat work of art, and always gave visitors (and me) something to look at. She also had a subscription to Entertainment Weekly, which I always thought was a lot better written and more substantive. RS, for years, was pandering in their music & film coverage, and ridiculously on-target or even ahead of the game in political coverage. Crazy stuff.
But last year, I browsed through one while at my mechanic's, and found that a) it was a lot slimmer than in the years spent with that roommate of mine, and b) it was even less relevant. The cover story was about Green Day, and while it was an interesting glimpse into Billie Joe Armstrong's personal life, I couldn't take it seriously, mostly because what I'd heard of 21st Century Breakdown never impressed me in the least. Oh well.
So, what do I find in this copy acquired in a turnpike reststop? A profile of Owl City, a single guy in a basement with a laptop, who I already know turns out music that sounds like the Postal Service's cold, wet diarrhea. Seriously, folks.
Some stuff on the Dixie Chicks, Haiti relief, and then we got back on the road and I slept some more, and kept making references to some loser guy collecting Ben Gibbard's bowel problems, and how they ended up on the pop charts.
And then, when I was at my mother's house today, after we had been talking about full body tattoos, I handed her the RS issue with the Lil' Wayne picture on it, and then realized that three of the cover stories were things she would instantly pounce on: a lengthy feature on Jeff Bridges (her favorite actor), an update on The Big Bang Theory (a show she constantly insists I need to watch), and another feature on Sade (one of her favorite all-time singers). She even pointed out there was another feature on Corrine Bailey Rae, one of her other favorite singers.
Now, either my mother happens to have her thumb on the very pulse of pop culture - it happens to all of us right now, and this year happens to be the year of the Oscar for Bridges, finally - or maybe Rolling Stone is catering to a slightly older audience? Maybe they've realized that they've lost their credibility in light of many online music blogs? Still, there is the dichotomy of these stories, geared toward older readers (I don't care what you say, very few 20-somethings are going to be psyched to read about Sade) and the enormously wealthy/famous but generally unremarkable rapper, covered in tattoos taking up all of the cover space.
I don't know. The point being that Rolling Stone, over the years, has gotten slimmer, but not really any more relevant, more interesting. Maybe they've cut some of the fat from their issues.
In some small way, this leads to the bigger question of whether magazines have a real viable future. And even though I might spend more time ragging on it than reading it, I appreciate having the copy of Rolling Stone in my hand. It's so much better than gathering your family around a laptop screen to show them something. Physical reading materials are important, even if they're not terribly cutting edge or insightful. I personally don't see myself using a Kindle anytime soon, and besides that, when I think of magazines, I think of bathrooms inhabited by guys. Most of the guys I know have stacks deep of The Economist and even Blender in their bathrooms, and I don't know that your average e-reader will replace that anytime soon.
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