Average Rating: 
Rating:  - Not As Good As it Used to Be
I have been a faithful subscriber to RS for almost twenty years, and I have witnessed the magazine slowly transform from a credible rock and roll journal to the music equivilent of Tiger Beat. In the 1980s, Rolling Stone's passion was music, and it often gave well-deserved nods to artists that were on the cutting edge: U2, Prince, REM, the Smiths, and so on. These days, its attempts to sell copies are getting more desperate as they feature people like Britney, NSYNC, and BSB on their cover sometimes as much as twice a year. I have nothing against teen pop; after all, RS gave Duran Duran a cover story in the 1980s. But it's troubling to see a magazine follow trends when they used to create them.The record reviews are, for the most part, dubious. Rob Sheffield is one of the usual suspects. Three-and-a-half stars for Britney and Destiny's Child? More trustworthy critics include longtime writer David Fricke, Anthony DeCurtis, and Barry Walters. These guys seem to know what they're talking about when they review records. The only section of the magazine worth reading is the movies section by Peter Travers, a critic I may not always agree with but one I do respect. Travers has enough heart to go against the grain of public opinion by trashing shallow, self-important, corporate driven, Holllywood movies. It really seems that he is criticizing the very hype machine the rest of Rolling Stone seems to embrace. All in all, RS has its moments, but its getting disappointing within recent years. Here's hoping it can regain the edge it once had back in the 1970s and 1980s.
Rating:  - don't like it....
at all. .I just don't like it.There aren't even any good music issues.This magazine is totally boring and commercial.It has more features on britney and n'sync than any teen magazine.I'm also not a fan of the photos.It's your typical "sex sells" magazine
Rating:  - more reactive than proactive these days...
What Rolling Stone does well, it does consistently well at. The political articles are usually good, as are the pieces on current larger issues in music (i.e. napster, contract battles, etc). That, and for basic stuff like album reviews and billboard chart info, it's fairly solid. (Of course, you can just read those online and skip purchasing the magazine entirely.) Having said that, the musical content of the magazine gets swept along with whatever's popular at the moment (two years ago, it was teen pop stars on every cover; now it's cookie-cutter nu-metal bands). So, if you aren't a fan of what's hip at the moment, the musical portions of the magazine will probably bore you to tears. And ultimately, if you're out to read a music mag, you should be drawn to the musical content, right? Instead, if you're out to discover new bands and music, I'd recommend going to something like UnCut or Q, which, while also loaded with advertisements, at least talk about people you haven't seen on MTV twenty billion times already.
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