The two-part documentary (last night, tonight) on the
history of Rolling Stone Magazine airing on HBO is half decent. I have a legitimate soft spot for some of the magazine's earliest contributors. Annie Leibovitz inspired me to study photography, for example, and writers Ben
Fong-Torres, Jon Landau, Joe Eszterhas and P.J. O'Rourke were must reads
when I was younger. It's worth noting, however, that I had little patience for Hunter Thompson's
"gonzo journalism."
I stopped reading Rolling Stone once it became vastly less relevant and interesting in the 1980s, though Matt Taibbi's reporting on the financial services industry over recent years has been powerful. That said, Rolling Stone certainly reached a low point when it published that prettified, publicity-shot cover photo of the heinous Boston Marathon bomber in 2013.
I stopped reading Rolling Stone once it became vastly less relevant and interesting in the 1980s, though Matt Taibbi's reporting on the financial services industry over recent years has been powerful. That said, Rolling Stone certainly reached a low point when it published that prettified, publicity-shot cover photo of the heinous Boston Marathon bomber in 2013.
Entitled Rolling Stone: Stories from the Edge, the HBO/Alex Gibney/Blair Foster project is uneven to use a
critic's phrase. Some of it reminds viewers of the magazine's journalistic high-water marks during
Watergate, Vietnam and the Patty Hearst abduction as well as their legendary
coverage of rock, blues and jazz. Other parts of the documentary, however, are tedious if not
not tawdry. Yes, it's worth watching, but perhaps only once.
Photo of Rolling Stone founder/editor Jann Wenner courtesy of Bettmann/Getty