Cultural Significance

In 1967, Jann Wenner and a small group of rock & roll believers came together in a San Francisco loft with big ideas and little funding to create ‘Rolling Stone’.  San Francisco had become the hot center of the counterculture after the Human Be-In and people enjoyed listening and dancing to the Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, and Big Brother and the Holding Company.  John Lennon was on the first cover, which appeared on Nov. 9, 1967.  Over the years Mick Jagger, John Lennon and Paul McCartney have each graced the cover 17 times, either by themselves or with their band mates or spouses, and Bob Dylan racked up 13 cover appearances with Bruce Springsteen getting 11.  The 1972 Dr. Hook and the Medicine Show song ‘The Cover of ‘Rolling Stone’’ features these lyrics “the thrill that’ll gitcha/When you get your picture/On the cover of the Rolling Stone.”  This rendition of Shel Silverstein’s song won the group the honor of gracing the cover in 1973.  Tiger Beat magazine was founded in 1965, but that was marketed primarily to adolescent girls.  Teen Beat magazine was founded in 1967, about 5 months before Rolling Stone came out, and that was also geared toward teenaged readers.  Rolling Stone’s goal was not just to listen to music but to look at the world through the lens of that music and at one time, its cover had become the most sought-after real estate in rock and roll.  Sadly, once the magazine became a hit, it was changed by the very culture it had helped create, because as newsstand sales rose, Wenner became hungry for still more newsstand sales.

Last week we had Apple Doesn’t Fall Far from the Tree where the theme was a song from artists who have famous musician parents suggested by Paula of Light Motifs II.  This week the theme is to find songs by an artist or a group that was featured on the cover of Rolling Stone magazine.  Take some time to read the posts of other bloggers who respond to this music challenge, and even better, read as many of them as you can as you will probably find many enjoyable songs and it is quite possibly that you will learn a thing or two.  Share your music with others and post a video, try do some research and let everyone know something about the song that you post.  Tell everyone why you like the song, whether it was a hit, or what you think the song is about.  Show the lyrics, let’s all listen to our favorite songs and explore some new music.  Try to find a song that fits the theme, then write your post and create a pingback, or you can just place your link in the comments section.

Suggestions
• Try to use the prompt words or at least conform to a general theme, as you see it.  If the song you select does not meet the criteria, then please explain why you chose this song.
• It would be good if you could post the lyrics to the song of your choice, as this is helpful for the people that want to follow along with the music.
• Please try to include the songwriter(s) – it’s a good idea to give credit where credit is due. It would also be a good idea to give credit to the singer and the band associated with your song.
• Your post can be as long or as short as you want it to be, but please try not to include too many videos as that just makes it take longer to look at all of the other posts.
• Link to the YouTube video, or you can pull it into your post, so others can listen to the song.
• Ping back to this post or place your link in the comments section below.
• Read at least one other person’s blog, so we can all share new and fantastic music and create amazing new blogging friends in the process.
• Feel free to suggest future prompts.
• Have fun and enjoy the music.

This week I will be writing about the Crosby, Stills & Nash song ‘Just a Song Before I Go’, and next week, I will be writing about the song ‘Here Comes The Sun’ by The Beatles.  The upcoming prompts will be:
November 20, 2022 – Songs with recognizable intros suggested by Clive from Take It Easy
November 27, 2022 – Motown songs
December 4, 2022 – Indie Rock or Indie Pop songs
December 11, 2022 – Power Pop songs