The Rolling Stone Magazine was once a piece of artistry on its own and it was cool to read and own one or even being seen reading it. Artists, Record labels and the music industry were fearing their reviews as the influence the magazine had used to sway albums and singles sales.
Today, it is another story! Yes, the magazine industry has been falling for decades, especially with internet coming and playing a huge part into people’s habits, we are now picking up our phones to read articles instead of buying a magazine in a store.
Magazines and newspapers are now fighting for a click so the more juicy the article is, the more click they get, the more sponsors they can get money from. And yes, it’s all about money so what does it mean for the content?
Rolling Stone has been in the deep and falling fast since the 90s and even got financially unstable in 2017 which got a major part of the staff made redundant. The Magazine, through its history, came under fire multiple time, especially for racism as it was printed on white paper… yeah, you know what I mean by that! We do remember when Michael Jackson was refused the cover of the magazine during the “Off The Wall” era for “it is not cover story”.
The Rolling Stone used to have great reviews, articles, interviews, research, analytics on albums, singles and all related music industry pieces and amazing photoshoots of our favorite artists. Their offices used to be filled with professional journalists and music experts, but today they are just goons, wanabees, trend followers and gossipers.
Therefore, their articles today are full of non-sense, no fact checked articles and all based on the “writers” feelings or views on an artist or album or music story. Those “writers” have no knowledge on music, no expertise on the industry and are there just to make sure the magazine gets a maximum clicks. Those people are not writers or journalists but more wanabees that just because they bought an old vinyl in a charity shop to look cool, think they know everything about music.
So when the Rolling Stone released their “200 Greatest Singers of All Time” list on January 1, 2023, voted by the staff and contributors, are we really surprised that the content is… BS? Are we surprised that Michael Jackson is on the list at #86 position? Frankly, knowing the view of the magazine on Michael Jackson, I am even more surprised that Michael is on the list to be honest. Other artists who were snubbed from the list included Celine Dion, Pink, Justin Bieber, Jennifer Hudson, Janet Jackson, Tony Bennett, Madonna, Nat King Cole, and Dionne Warwick, among others.
Many of us took on this bogus list into our social media, including the Jackson Family and even some artist like Pink!
It’s not the first time that the Rolling Stone comes under the Michael Jackson’s fans fury! Just last year, they wrote that Harry Styles is the new King of Pop!
So what does this tell us… Well, it just confirms that The Rolling Stone is irrelevant; is no longer the powerful and fearful music magazine is used to be; but mostly, it tells us that we should not care anymore about what this clickbait magazine is telling us.
The only way to stop them is to never click on one of their magazines, to never purchase one of their magazines, to ignore the magazine, its so called writers and contributors. It is up to us, not only the Michael Jackson fans, but also all music fans and music industry people to stand against their ignorance and give them the feel of importance by clicking and reacting to their attention grabbing piece of content.
The glory years of The Rolling Stone Magazine are over! It’s time for the magazine to retire for good.
