When I stumbled into my early teens, or maybe even before that, I had a strong draw towards music and more specifically bands. Being born in Seattle made me gravitate towards the scene there, even if I lived in Alaska. And what band is synonymous with Seattle? Nirvana of course.

Before the internet we had TV or magazines to get information about bands. Back then, MTV played music, on television. Hard to imagine such a radical concept now. Anyways, this brings me to the topic of the post - Rolling Stone Magazine. One of the first Rolling Stones I ever picked up was the one showed below. Walking by it in the store, I had to have it. As with most kids, this involved begging and pleading with Mom. Eventually I convinced her of all the reasons it was necessary for me to obtain this magazine and she caved.

This was my first interaction with the magazine which I soon had a yearly subscription to.  I brought it home, read it cover to cover, and trusted its insight on movies, music, and television - culture basically. Part of what made it stand apart from the other was its larger than life format - the magazine was big. I knew when it came in the mail because it stuffed the mailbox.

When I stumbled across this article, courtesy of Mr. Gruber, it made a part of me die inside. They are killing the larger format in favor of streamlining operations. Reading in between the lines, it’s about profit. Which is understandable, but shitty from a brand/aesthetic/nostalgia perspective. And the money quote from, Jann Wenner, the founder of Rolling Stone.

“All you’re getting from that large size is nostalgia.”

Yea, that’s probably right. But for this one-time avid reader, it’s the last of a great standard - the big magazine format.  The background of this website is composed of advertisements from a stack of big magazines. And believe me - the experience of flipping through them is so much better than the throw away small format of today. The big magazine format is the equivalent of vinyl in music.

If I could wish a different fate on the magazine, it would be this: build a better website that has more tie-ins with the magazine. Offset costs of doing the bigger magazine (paper, printing, shipping, etc…) with a better digital presence. And for goodness sakes, put Silver Jackson on the cover.

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