Rolling Stone

Today I read one of my favorite magazines Rolling Stone; it was the newest issue with Bruce Springsteen on the cover. I find it very interesting to read about a variety of artists and entertainments and then how the public responds to them and what reviewers have to say about their work. The magazine covers politics and other issues as well. The magazine like many others has many advertisements everywhere and the artists featured in the magazine also gain publicity too.  One article I read that went with what we talked about in class one day was an article dealing with the price of online music lowering in response to piracy. This tied into class well and reminded me of what Ken Heffner said about the music industry needing to change with the problem of piracy.

The magazine shows quite a bit of the empire. It glorifies artists and sets them up to easily become idols. It is not a bad thing to learn about the people that make your favorite music but this magazine provides a lot of information that we really do not need to know. It glorifies people and makes them seem greater than “normal” people. It also shares the experiences of artists and their involvement in drugs and heavy partying, which also seems glorified even if the magazine does not intend to do this. The whole magazine also tries to sell you things in the straightforward advertisements but also in the articles as well. The artists in these articles are either being praised for their work or their work is being called a little “under par.” In either case the magazine tries to make readers buy Artist’s music and see the movies that are out to see if the reviews in the magazine are accurate. The magazine also had an article about a dangerous Schizophrenia drug was marketed towards misbehaving kids and made sixteen billion dollars as well as a lot of problems for the kids taking the pill. So the magazine addresses some tough issues dealing with the evil of the empire as well.