Rolling Stone - Criticism

Criticism

One major criticism of Rolling Stone involves its generational bias toward the 1960s and 1970s. One critic referred to the Rolling Stone list of the "99 Greatest Songs" as an example of "unrepentant rockist fogeyism". In further response to this issue, rock critic Jim DeRogatis, a former Rolling Stone editor, published a thorough critique of the magazine's lists in a book called Kill Your Idols: A New Generation of Rock Writers Reconsiders the Classics (ISBN 1-56980-276-9), which featured differing opinions from many younger critics. Conservative columnist Jonah Goldberg criticised the magazine writing that "Rolling Stone has essentially become the house organ of the Democratic National Committee." Rolling Stone editor Jann Wenner has made all of his political donations to Democrats.

Hunter S. Thompson, in an article that can be found in his book Generation of Swine, criticized the magazine for turning against marijuana even though the magazine embraced it in the 60s and 70s when Thompson was a frequent contributor.

Rolling Stone magazine has been criticized for reconsidering many classic albums that it had previously dismissed and for frequent abuse of the 3.5 star rating. Examples of artists for whom this is the case include, among others, The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, AC/DC, The Beach Boys, Nirvana, Weezer, Radiohead, Depeche Mode, Outkast and also Queen. For example, Led Zeppelin was largely written off by Rolling Stone magazine critics during the band's most active years in the 1970s. However by 2006, a cover story on Led Zeppelin honored them as "the Heaviest Band of All Time". A critic for Slate magazine described a conference at which 1984's The Rolling Stone Record Guide was scrutinized. As he described it, "The guide virtually ignored hip-hop and ruthlessly panned heavy metal, the two genres that within a few years would dominate the pop charts. In an auditorium packed with music journalists, you could detect more than a few anxious titters: How many of us will want our record reviews read back to us 20 years hence?" Another example of this bias was that the album Nevermind, by grunge band Nirvana, was given three stars in its original review, despite being placed at No. 17 in "The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time" list in 2003. Also, when The Beatles' Let It Be was released in 1970, the magazine originally gave the album a poor review, yet in 2003, Rolling Stone ranked it number 86 in the magazine's list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.

The hire of former FHM editor Ed Needham further enraged critics who alleged that Rolling Stone had lost its credibility.

The 2003 Rolling Stone's 100 Greatest Guitarists of all Time article's inclusion of only two female musicians resulted in Venus Zine answering with their own list entitled, "The Greatest Female Guitarists of All Time".