someone needs to tell RS that the glory days are over, folks. i got a renewal notice the same day the recent issue arrived, with guns and roses on the cover. LAME! it was the final straw after that irritatingly self aggrandizing Summer of '67 special issue.

a new disney boy TV confection is progress, because at least it's focused on the now. but i still won't be renewing.

col

I actually watched High School Musical (Hey sometimes you make bad choices when you're a theatre kid and your theatre friends recommend stuff to you.) The problem here is that on further research, the kid didn't even sing most of his own songs for the movie because his voice is in a lower range, and the filmakers wanted someone who could sing tenor for the role so they got someone else to sing most of the songs. So now his musical accomplishments seem suspect to me, so why put him on the cover? Someone else made the comment that he's starring in the movie version of Hairspray, and again I question if it's really him singing. I guess what I'm really asking is why is he on the cover!!!??

Rilo-Andy

antistar

I think music writing just doesn't have a lot to say these days with the advent of blogs and everything being online. Take Spin for example, which I get for free. The first section I turn to is always "72 Hours in...", which is always interesting. I will read Raftery's articles. But most of their reviews are of bands I've never even heard of. Small labels can't be bringing in a lot of ad dollars or readers.

Juancho

Vulture.Protein

And change that story title while you're at it or she's going to call you up while she's having breakfast one of these days.

nonce

But the middle of the "book," as they say in the biz, goes from impressive to embarrassing almost issue-to-issue. There's actually a good crop of regulars writing for the magazine right now - including some friends of mine, so obviously I'm biased - but the need to produce newsstand-friendly cover fodder results in a lot of johnny-come-lately crap that Blender, lately, has put to shame.

Chris Molanphy

Ned Raggett

Backstreet Boys, N'Sync...Jennifer Love Hewitt.

Clay Aiken in 2003...AND Ruben Studdard!

I could go on and on...at least Blender is consistent and puts a hot chick on the cover nearly every issue, regardless of musical merit.

dsven

RS is definately mediocre and all the mags generally have their moments. Still, small props for minor relevency for once.

The bomb that is Blender is the one that really rags me though, that mag used to make me laugh..... now I'm just like, "What, Clarkson again!"

Bah.

Tenno

Bob Loblaw

I once interviewed Bob Guccione, Jr when he was still editor of SPIN, and he openly admitted he launched the magazine in 1985 because he felt RS was "no longer meaningful."

The messier truth is, RS's worth as a magazine has waxed and waned over the years - I really liked it in the mid-'90s, for example, when SPIN surprisingly started sucking, but in the late '80s/early '90s it was often clueless. Right now is one of the mediocre periods; it'll probably come back again, when the next wave of good writers comes in, or if the music business rights itself.

Chris Molanphy

Bazooka Tooth

Lucas Jensen

also, everyone seems to be forgetting that he has a starring role in Hairspray.

AL

The Van Buren Boys

Hyman Decent

I have mixed feelings about this cover choice - don't like it for myself but see the wisdom/sales savvy - but anyone crying "not true to your history" need only look at RS's
1972 topless (virtually bottomless) David Cassidy cover for a reminder that everything complained about in the comments - from "TV star" to "teen girl sweater meat" - is not unprecedented.

Chris Molanphy

Audif Jackson Winters III

King of Pants