Rolling Stone and the Summer of Love

By Blair Jackson

Rolling Stone magazine has been celebrating its 40th anniversary this year, and the two issues they’ve put out so far specifically celebrating this milestone are well worth tracking down. The first installment, which came out in May, featured a gaggle of fantastic interviews with musicians such as Paul McCartney, Bob Dylan, Mick Jagger, Neil Young and our own Bob Weir, writers Tom Wolfe and Norman Mailer, filmmakers Steven Spielberg, Martin Scorsese and Michael Moore, and political and cultural figures ranging from Jimmy Carter to Stewart Brand. Great reading!

But it’s their latest anniversary special, dated July 12-26, that will be of particular interest to Dead Heads. The entire issue focuses on the year 1967 and includes excerpts from Rolling Stone’s first issues; fine essays on the cultural and musical revolutions that erupted in that magical year; reflections on how the Summer of Love played in different areas, including L.A., New York, London, Memphis and, of course, San Francisco; a colorful reminiscence by Bob Weir (called “LSD Forced Us to Listen to Each Other”); stories about Monterey Pop and the making of Sgt. Pepper; and perhaps most interesting of all, a fascinating profile of Owsley Stanley (aka Bear), the Dead’s innovative first sound man, benefactor, chemical explorer and the driving force behind the famous Wall of Sound. Bear lives in Australia these days and still does occasional sound and recording work—all of it to his famously exacting standards—as well as work in art and jewelry. To find out much more about Bear, check out his thought-provoking web site, thebear.org.

Bookmark/Search this post with:

Comments

the annoying questionmarks...

On July 18th, 2007 WILLIAMBROCK said:

whats up with all the annoying questionmarks? throughout? all? the printing?

Rolling Stone

On July 20th, 2007 sequoiadean said:

I agree that the article about Owsley was very interesting.

rolling stone

On July 20th, 2007 daloky69 said:

i just got the issue last week end and havent read it all. but so far its is on of the best issues to date. when i start reading it i dont want to put it down. peace/love/and happyness

Rolling Stone Magazine and the "Summer of Love?"

On July 20th, 2007 Candyman said:

If you need RS to find out what went down in '67, you'll know less than you do now.

Jann Weenie?

On July 30th, 2007 narly1 said:

Richard William Narlian
This J.Werner guy claims to be THE founder of R.S.
I remember when he was healded as'the WUNDERKID.
Rolling Stone began as a very small newspaper,published out of an office about as big as the current R.S.'s janitor closet.
The REAL GENIUS behind the beginning of R.S. was a long forgotten(or,memory shoved aside to make room for Werners ego)Ralph J Gleason.
Well,SOMEBODY had to recognize the departed genius.

I have many old issues...

On July 30th, 2007 Ed Sieb said:

of Rolling Stone. I started to read it back around September-October of 1967. I saved many of the original issues, in my archive. It truly was a different newspaper back then. It was indispensible then.

And narly1 is quite correct; Ralph J. Gleason made that newspaper.

The less said about Jann Wenner, the better.

Rolling Stone format change

On July 30th, 2007 paisley said:

...shall we go, you and I while we can...

The most hilarious thing I ever read in the magazine was a guy writing to complain that when the format changed from newsprint to magazine format , he could no longer use it to separate out his seeds from the grass. He was cancelling his subscription. Gotta admit,it was kind of a sea change for the magazine.

yeah...

On July 31st, 2007 marye said:

and then came the military recruitment ads. I think I let my sub lapse about that time.

be here now

On July 31st, 2007 Hal R said:

Yeah, Rolling Stone did lose it's counterculture/antiestablishment edge 35 years or so ago. They sold it at the Greyhound Bus Station in the Iowa farming community I lived near (5 miles away) during late 60's to mid 70's. It was a voice of salvation for me, along with Bleeker Street am radio late at night, underground newspapers from Iowa City and KUNI - a public radio fm station. In RS I got to read about all the bands in the Bay Area (not Green Bay) and England and got turned on to Gram Parsons, Iggy and the Stooges, Hunter Thompson and Philip K. Dick. Might be in part responsible why some Iowa farm kid is now writing in this forum. In college I wrote a paper about how the RS had become corporate (this was late 70's).

However, I do pick up an issue now and then like the Summer of Love one. I read this cover to cover. Probably hadn't done that with a RS since mid 70's. I highly recommend it and the earlier issue Blair mentions.

Do I contradict myself?
Very well then I contradict myself,
(I am large, I contain multitudes.)
Walt Whitman-Song of Myself

And let's not forget