Rolling Stone? Pfffft. If you were into hard rock/metal in the late 80's, the only one of your favorite bands you would have seen accomplish that was Motley Crue in 1987. Even then, they were poster children for a venemous article ('Heavy Metal: It's Loud, It's Ugly and it Won't Go Away') that pretty much trashed the genre at that time. I was so incensed I cancelled my long-running subscription and found a new mag to curl up with while I listened to my new Bullet Boys cassette.
That rag was the glorious Larry Flynt-published RIP Magazine. Until it's arrival, (outside of Metal Edge, which i'll be talking about later) your options were either Circus or Hit Parader...the former not good for much else other than concert pictures to hang on your bedroom wall and the latter looked like they had a 12-year old for a design editor.
RIP was like the Cadillac of metal magazines...real interviews instead of monthly regurgitation of press clippings, professional photography versus photocopied fan photos and coverage of a diverse line-up of artists from death to speed to glam. Seriously, you could find an article on Anthrax sandwiched between pieces on Vixen and King Diamond. Plus (see above), where else could you WIN A GREAT WHITE LEATHER JACKET?!
But, like the genre it covered, the mag started to jump the shark w/ the grunge/alternative boom of the early 90's and eventually died off in it's attempt to stay relevant. Shortly thereafter, I went back to suckle at the teat of Rolling Stone, until the Internet pretty much rendered it as useless as a Great White leather jacket and 'artists' like Britney and The Backstreet Boys adorned it's cover. Hmmmm.
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