In November 1967, the first issue of Rolling Stone was published. I was 21, the co-founder and editor. I was still a boy. This picture was taken in our office that month. I never envisaged what lay ahead; never had any idea of the defining journalism we’d undertake or how we’d be interviewing presidents. My ambition was simply to put out a music magazine for a few years.
If you were to trace our exact origin, you’d probably go back further to October 1965, and a concert at San Francisco’s Fisherman’s Wharf: the first time I met my co-founder Ralph Gleason. I was a 19-year-old student at the University of California; he was a 48-year-old pot-loving jazz critic with the city newspaper. When I went over to say I liked his work, he already knew who I was. He said, “I read you in the student paper, kid.” That was a huge deal to me. He became a great friend and mentor.
By 1967, I’d dropped out of uni, and had no real idea what I wanted to do with my life. Ralph and I would talk about how there were no magazines writing seriously about rock’n’roll; not just about the music but the whole social and cultural worldview developing around it. So, we figured we’d start one.
We raised $7,500 (£5,700). My mum gave us some – she said good luck and never expected to see it again. A printing business offered us free office space in its loft on the condition we used its presses. We hauled desks and a couple of couches up there. It was enough: in the early months it was just me and a few part-time contributors. Initially we didn’t even give all our stories bylines because we didn’t want readers realising how few writers there were. We called it Rolling Stone as a nod to the band, but also to both a Muddy Waters and Bob Dylan song.
The first issue is on the wall behind me. The lead story was an investigation into money reportedly going missing at Monterey pop festival. That was a statement of intent: we were showing we weren’t another fanzine; we were professional with good reportorial skills – something like that anyway.
The cover was a publicity shot of John Lennon in a war film. There was no special reason for using it, it was just a good image. But it’s fitting in hindsight. It encompasses music, movies and politics, which is what we became about. And, of course, we ended up having a long association with John himself. His last interview was with us. The cover picture for that was taken only days before he was shot.
We had Mick Jagger and Pete Townshend in our first few issues. Mick said he agreed because he knew we weren’t going to ask him his favourite colour like every other magazine at the time.
Now my son, Gus, and I are selling. We’ll still be involved, but publishing is changing and this is the best way to stay ahead of the curve.
Over the past 50 years, it’s our influence on liberal politics, and the talent we’ve published – Hunter S Thompson, Annie Leibovitz – that have made me especially proud. But that first night we went to print remains one of my most treasured memories. We bought champagne, found some plastic glasses, and went downstairs to watch it roll off the press. I felt such elation. I remember thinking, “We can’t get better than this. We’ve already topped out.”
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