The brainchild of a young Berkeley dropout named Jann Wenner, Rolling Stone magazine was founded in 1967 with a mere $7,500 and a few volunteers on the second floor of a San Francisco print shop.
Debuting on 9 November 1967, Rolling Stone was the first significant publication that truly understood and explored the tremendous importance and impact of rock & roll on society.
Not only was the magazine home to such respected rock critics as Greil Marcus, Jon Landau and Dave Marsh, but – by using the writers Tom Wolfe, Joe Eszterhas and Hunter S Thompson – Rolling Stone documented some of the biggest stories of the 1970s: Wolfe’s “The Right Stuff”, Thompson’s “Fear and Loathing” articles and in-depth accounts of the Manson Family murders, the Altamont disaster, and the abduction of Patty Hearst.
In 1973, Rolling Stone added politics and art to their musical content and wondered if “rock had run out of things to say”.
Today, Rolling Stone boasts a circulation of more than one million and remains a dominant voice in music and popular culture.
