“As Jann Wenner and Bono mash the gas pedal towards the cliff of irrelevance…
In other words, how can Rolling Stone be so tone-deaf? This single-handedly reveals the inanity of the shenanigans behind the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, this illustrates how Baby Boomers have to get out of the way to let the younger generations flourish. If you think U2‘s album whose name I can no longer remember counts, if you think albums matter, if you think by continuing to polish this turd it will gain traction, you work at Rolling Stone or are in U2 or both.
Despite a self-congratulatory phony press, the truth is credibility reigns. With every wart exposed, it’s important you show you’re in bed with your fans, not the fat cats who run this country who are evidence of everything wrong with it. Rolling Stone imitated Blender and made all their reviews short, not knowing Blender lied about its numbers and was heading for extinction, but this same magazine can’t realize its place in the spectrum, can’t understand that to be relevant you’ve got to be honest?
Why don’t they just get rid of the music. Why don’t they just call it the Matt Taibbi publication. That’s right, Rolling Stone made Taibbi a star, he’s everything the musicians are not. While Bono keeps cozying up to heads of state Taibbi keeps revealing their bad behavior, refusing to apologize all the while.”
The flip side of the Rolling Stone faux pas:
“Getting much less attention is Rolling Stone’s gigantic victory last week, bringing down the Greek system at the University of Virginia.
“So Rolling Stone still has power. Why did it commit such a faux pas by naming U2’s album number one? Does the magazine believe it still lives in the pre-Internet era, where no one can comment upon its decision? Instead, the magazine is now a laughingstock, beaten up online, the younger generation who abhor Bono and his band pushing ever further away from it and refusing to read the good articles that are in the publication.”
The Boss
As for U2…
“Forget about the album. It’s done. Over. History. You need a hit. And you’d be better off recording a new one than trying to pull one out of that turkey you foisted upon us. If you’re really desperate, do a Christmas song. At least you’ll get spins.
And “Rolling Stone,” which once came down on the side of file-traders, can you please bury the album, know that no one listens that way anymore and to declare an overlong opus as important is ridiculous? Can you stop giving every album a three star review? Can you stop putting loyalty over the news?
“Almost no one will check out the album as a result of this endorsement. The negative will outweigh the positive by far. Music is like sports…it’s all about the achievement, the work. And U2 did not deliver. Sorry, no amount of spin will change that.”
Festivals Rule:
“Music is more ubiquitous than ever before, but everybody involved wants to kill it by playing by the old rules. Except in the festival world. That’s where music lives today. We need even more. Destination events where people can be exposed to music and the ethos it engenders, so they’ll partake further.
You can’t lie in a live performance. You can’t steal it either. And no one wants to watch it on their computer. They want to be there.”
Why has our nation devolved into self-congratulatory crap when the truth is we’re caving from within? Where is Devo when you need them?
Rolling Stone’s 50 Best Albums of 2012:
“To make Bruce Springsteen No. 2 is to make me puke! The best thing Springsteen did in the past year was cover U2 yesterday. Springsteen is irrelevant to everybody but his fans. His voice is a rasp and he’s so caught up in his own echo chamber that he can no longer see reality. He’s not a saint, not in the city or New Jersey. He’s got to cut something as meaningful about the hard times in America as he did about AIDS in “Streets of Philadelphia.” He’s got to pull his head out of his ass and realize to be relevant you’ve got to make something everybody likes, not just your fans. And by making this mediocre album number two Wenner shows that he’s in cahoots with Jon Landau, running the R&RHOF as their fiefdom. Yes, Yes can’t be inducted and we have to hear again and again how Bruce is still relevant? Come on!”
Kerouac states the obvious: music is in the ‘ear the beholder’, always has been. Double entendre re: grown long the tooth former’s, more suited to an oldies tour than current – but that is also a subjective take.
Politics too has/always will be evident. No different than Halls of Fame sport variously: former Chiefs Johnny Robinson and Jim Tyrer (among many others) left out the NFL’s makes as much sense ‘Chicago’ (cutting edge back their day the former Chicago Transit Authority) same the music biz – and there are plenty more where such omission comes from. (‘Chicago’ as another oldie ‘Beach Boys’ ranks the top all-time US music currency, one or more categories considered, yet the former is omitted Rock n’ Roll Hall of Fame.
That arguments as to ‘what’ it is exactly constitutes ‘rock’ as compared another style for another discussion, R&RHOF already having skewed that line of demarcation by way some of their current enshrinees. That it should be? performance based – $ales and/or quality work produced – also debatable & not definitive measure, apparently.
Upshot: bias as consensus validates nothing, just different ends partiality, parvenu.
Great piece, Mr. Lefsetz.
Good or bad, I happen to be a huge fan of Taibbi for all sorts of reasons, none of which are real closely tied to the once revered Rolling Stone.
He’s been a frequent guest on Imus in the Morning, my personal mentor, and talked of the time he got into it with a NYT writer and made a cream pie out of horse, ahhhh, love juice (which I’m sure he didn’t) and threw it in the guy’s face.
Back while we were waiting for white smoke to rise from the Vatican he penned a ridiculously irreverent piece entitled “52 Funniest Things About the Upcoming Death of the Pope.” It was horrible and funny all at the same time.
Hes done some great pieces on the secrets behind Wall Street, inside looks at the Tea Party; Im just a fan, right or wrong.
The dude does his research and cranks out some very intriguing work. He can have opinions 180 degrees out of phase from mine and I love reading him just the same!
Huh, I thought Rolling Stone went out of business a few years ago. Learn something new every day.
RS has been written off by critics who desperately want to make a name for themselves since at least the Seventies when Hunter S. Thompson’s articles became less frequent and more forgettable.
It was savaged by the British press for not embracing the Sex Pistols and early punk rock quickly enough.
Clearly, the magazine has has had its ups and downs in the 47 years of its existence. Just as clearly, it no longer has the clout to break new artists/groups the way it once did. And that’s fine with me. However, to play the generation card in insisting that the magazine and, well, boomers in general get out of the way is nothing more than click bait.
Its music coverage has suffered over the years, but David Fricke remains one of the best critics out there who’s been churning it out for decades.
Playboy in the Fifties, Esquire in the Sixties, RS and National Lampoon in the Seventies, Spy Magazine in the Eighties/early Nineties. They’ve all had their time and only the first two still have some presence. Now I guess it’s Vibe that’s the current hot one, but who knows for how long. Despite your tantrum, Rolling Stone’s music coverage still has at least a shred of credibility among its readers, old and young. and not just because of Matt Taibbi.
If anyone thinks albums don’t matter, don’t bother with hipster HQ Pitchfork, which still has a separate section devoted to the supposedly outdated format.
Agree 100% with the HOF. Nothing but a suck-up to the music industry and its supposed tastemakers.
Thanks hearne for bringing on another KNOW NOTHING!!!!!
This wrongsetz dude is another failure. Sorry dude..I know you haven’t
got a big famous name like Glaze who gets recognized at every QT…or a big readership blog like hearne (lets see the
google analytics) …but you obviously aren’t aware of what’s happening in music.
So let Harley fill you in:
U2: some of the biggest grossing music releases and concert tours ever in history
Springsteen: some of the biggest grossing music releases and concert tours
Rolling Stones: 4.6 million people paid big bucks to see a band play
songs some over 40 years old..and they still sell music.
So where does this “writer” get the idea they’re irrelevant.
He can’t.
Hey dude…maybe you need to go see taylor swift…or listen to
Mileys dads one hit single… go see lady gaga….or maybe take into account the changing
look of music before you attack the bands that have had staying
power and yes theyre still relevant. Very relevant!
What made you write this insane article?
I’ve read RS a few times. Not into musical reviews. After reading reviews by
hearne and the guy on kcc they have no affect on 95% of the people who listen
and buy/download music.
Who cares? At one time people were interested in reading about music…now
its on the internet and they can hear it for themselves for free. We used to have
to depend on these reviewers to tell us what was good or bad before the music
came out…now we can hear it for ourselves as K pointed out.
Pharell Williams has “Happy”…I hated it…but it catapulted him to a mega star
and millions and millions of dollars on tv/radio and internet. I didn’t need
anyone to tell me what I liked.
And why get so upset over people’s taste in music.
ITS MONEY WRONGSETZ…..ITS MONEY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
fESTIVALS YOU SAY? No money for those festivals. The one in Tenn.
had a bunch of losers then featured Elton john at 10pm the last night of the
festival. What are you looking for…another Woodstock?
It’s music dude….it’s not a football game or a rodeo.
And lastly …anyone with don imus as a mentor….let’s just say they’re
not too bright or too intelligent. The guy is about on his last ride thru
the hills….nothing intelligent or worthwhile to listen to (I can’t even tell
you where to catch him) but he can take that phony Montana crap he
spews out and stfu!!!! He’s been cooked for years…another hanger on.
Now that guys irrelevant…you only need to look at whats left of his fans!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
#1 story on WaPo today about how Rolling Stone never verified the big rape story–
Asked on a Slate podcast what she cited as substantiation of the claims in the story, Erdely said, “I will just say that I found her story — I found her to be very credible.”
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/erik-wemple/wp/2014/12/02/rolling-stone-whiffs-in-reporting-on-alleged-rape/?tid=pm_pop
Ruroh, another Duke Lacrosse eff up possibly?
This article reminds me of a letter I wrote to RS years ago in regards to U2. I think it was their “Pop” album. I told them “Lemon” was the worst song I’d ever heard and I was sick of them kissing U2’s ass. I said U2 could release an album of them farting to kazoos and RS would give it five stars and the album of the year. And yes they do the same to Springsteen. Bob Dylan too. I still subscribe to RS, mostly because it’s $6 a year I think. Several times a year Dylan is on the cover and I just don’t get it. I’m 46 and I have never once in my life been at a party where somebody put on Bob Dylan for the party to listen to. I know some reading this will give me a bunch of shit because I don’t like him but I don’t know ANYBODY that likes him. Oh yeah, RS once proclaimed Prodigy would be the biggest band in the world. That was pretty funny.
I don’t get the hate for Dylan, he is one of the best songwriters in human existence. I could understand people not liking him as a performer but the writing is tight.
right dude….Dylan moved an entire nation to action.
He would never win American idol or the voice…but his
music moved millions of americans and did more to
change society than any other musician in America’s
history.
He woke us up!!!
We need another Dylan right now!!!!!!
Another Dylan in this day and age is impossible. He wouldn’t be accepted by the industry and, at best, would be marginalized on some small-time indie label.
Dylan himself has said if he were starting out today, he wouldn’t be a musician.
As my father used to say …”that’s horseshit son”, and this is. I haven’t read Rolling Stone since on three successive covers, they put Marilyn Manson, Dennis Rodman and Howard Stern in the 90s.
But to say this person or that person is irrelevant is pure folly.
Paul McCartney worked harder than anyone half his age at Sprint Center this summer. He’s 72 and “irrevelant”. You couldn’t get a ticket for the show.
Springsteen could kick the ass of most people reading this and he sells out EVERY friggin show and he’s “irrelevant”.
I’ll pass along a quick story from a few years ago. I want to parent day at Notre Dame to visit my son. They, like generations before, had the speakers in the window and cranked the tunes. I thought it was amusing that I heard The Beatles, Queen, Bruce Spingsteen, U2, Pink Floyd and a number of “irrelevant” bands. When I asked a kid where his music was, he said “this is our music.” When I said something about it being my music, he said, “yeah but our music sucks.”
Lefsetz is a grouchy old fuck. I think the people who need to be irrelevant are the people who say this or that is irrelevant.
Lefstez is forgetting who holds the biggest piece of the disposable income pie. It’s the boomers who are over 45. the 25-54 demo has become, shall we say “irrelevant.”
RIGHT ON RALEY!!!!!!!
You know more than wrongfretz ever did about music.
Just like I put sasquatch and chuckles the sad old man in their
place on a regular basis…you did the ssame with wrongfretz.
thanks for helping my point better. I wrote that he was
wrong.Nice to see a good guy use some facts and data to prove
that these guys don’t know what they’re talking about.
If this dude wants to readabout current loser music tell him to
pick up a copy of TIGERBEAT!!!!!!!!! (is that still out?) anyway
you get the idea………..hahahahaha…
raley said this dude is a “grouchy old f*ck” (no cuss word with Harley without ***)…
then this dude fits right in with K/shoedog/sasquatch/chuckles.
I mean get these guys together one night and let the guy who fantasizes
about Harley tell some “ghost” stories and make some smores on the campfire.
Raley…never heard you use those words. Good for you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!