Rolling Stone

Title - Rolling Stone

Editor  and Publisher- Jan S. Wenner

Published - Biweekly except for the first weekend in July and Years end since 1967

Plot Summary -  Essentially this is supposed to be a magazine about the modern Music scene in all of its glory.  While this does cover a lot of modern music, including articles about U2, Lady Gaga, Taylor Swift and many others, it would be a disservice to call it a magazine solely about Rock and Roll.  While perusing through the magazines they had sections on Modern Media, such as popular HBO TV Series, True Blood, and Political Articles on items such as what is going on with Wall Street and a political commentary about propositions in California such as the one to make legal the use of Marijuana.    

Critical Evaluation -  While I was not sure whether or not this truly could be classified in the Teen section at any library, evaluators have placed the item there.  And from a writing perspective I would have to say that the articles reach out to a less knowledgeable audience, encouraging them to get involved not only in their Rock and Roll Music, but in the issues for the day.  My only complaint is that much of the writing comes from one ideological bent.  And while I would welcome its viewpoint, it limits its attractiveness to a wider audience by being politically partisan.  I would believe that young people would more easily tune you out the more partisan you seem.

Reader's Annotation - Rolling Stone, the popular magazine about popular music, fashions itself as a magazine devoted to a plethora of topics, wanting to keep the reader engaged on a variety of social, political as well as music issues. Every issue is packed with content about the current music scene as well as a variety of other media.

About the Author - Jan Wenner was born in January 7, 1946 to a Jewish Family.  His family life was interrupted in 1958 by divorce and then was sent to boarding school. Through that time and his going to UC Berkeley in the 1960s he encountered the free speech movement, which would transform him.  Despite dropping out of Berkeley, Wenners ambitions were never tempered. 

His dealings with newspapers began with working on the Daily Californian, the paper of record at UC Berkeley.  After dropping out of Berkeley his mentor at the San Francisco Chronicle got him a job at Ramparts, a leftist magazine actively involved with the Free Speech Movement with which he had become a part.  In 1967 through his love of music and of its encouragement of free speech he decided to start Rolling Stone, borrowing money from his family and his fiancee to get the magazine established.  In its 43 years of existence, Rolling Stone has become a symbol of the free speech movement, and emblematic of the current music scene and trends, reflective of the man behind the scenes.

Genre - Music

Curriculum Ties - Discuss the modern musician as a poet. - Poetry Unit -English Lit

Discuss progressive politics - Political Science

Discuss the Logic arguments - Logic Course / Philosophy

Booktalking Ideas - N/A

Reading Level -Grade 9+

Challenge Issues - Too overtly political -(encouraged the passage of the proposition that would have legalized marijuana in California)

Overtly Sexual - Some Magazine covers and otherwise have sexual content (i.e. True Blood cast naked on the cover with fake blood all over them)

Overcoming Challenge Issues - Bring up the fact that teens need to encounter a variety of different issues and perspectives to be able to promote understanding of others as well as to reinforce why they believe what they believe.

Promote Rolling Stone as a magazine that is a reflection of its culture, something to be talked about and engaged in with parents, not simply viewed passively encouraging parent teen interaction.

Why included - I found it interesting that the library I worked for reclassified Rolling Stone as a teen magazine and shelved it with the other teen magazines.