Rolling Stone is an American based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics and popular culture and is published biweekly. Founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner (who is still editor and publisher) and music critic Ralph J. Gleason, it embraced and reported on the hippy counterculture during the late 1960s and 1970s. Its rise to fame was synchronous with such bands and artists as the Grateful Dead, Beatles, Doors, Rolling Stones, Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin. While its focus on music and the recording industry was primary, the celebratory causes of the day were also stamped upon its pages. The Vietnam War, Environmentalism, Feminism, Abortion and Gay Rights were among the many causes embraced by the left-leaning journal. In the very first edition of the magazine, Wenner wrote that Rolling Stone “is not just about the music, but about the things and attitudes that music embraces.” This has become the de facto motto of the magazine. In its earliest versions, Rolling Stone published a box by its letters section which invited readers who felt that they were qualified to write for the magazine, to send in their work. This drew in many of Rolling Stone’s most illustrious writers in its earlier days, from Greil Marcus who would go on to edit its reviews section and still contributes regularly today, to Lester Bangs who famously sent an obscenity-filled essay to the editors before getting hired. The magazine was so popular during the 70s that a song parodying popular success, “Cover of the Rolling Stone” by Dr Hook & the Medicine Show, became a hit single. In an ironic pique of art imitating life, Dr. Hook himself graced the cover, in March of 1973, issue 131. By the 1980s, Rolling Stone had become somewhat more institutionalized, monetized and adopted ideas (e.g., employee drug testing) shunned by the early culture of the magazine’s founders. The entire publishing operation was moved to NY to be closer to the advertising and financial industry centers. It is still owned by Wenner Media, the company created by founder Jann Wenner after buying out his original partner.

Official Rolling Stone website
Will You Still Need Me, Will You Still Read Me?