It's been 50 years since the first issue of Rolling Stone was published in California. The legendary magazine captured the spirit of the time with its unique brand of music journalism, says founding editor Michael Lydon.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/C. Horsten
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When the first issue of Rolling Stone hit the news stands on November 9, 1967 — complete with a photograph of John Lennon on its front cover — nobody could've known that it would still be going strong five decades later.
"Rolling Stone found this audience instantly," remembers the publication's founding managing editor, Michael Lydon. "Immediately we were getting calls. Eric Clapton called up, the Warner Brothers from LA called up."
John Lennon appeared on the first-ever Rolling StoneImage: picture-alliance/AP Photo/M. Lennihan
That first edition featured reviews on albums by Jimi Hendrix and Eric Clapton, and photos and articles about the Grateful Dead following a recent drugs bust.
The magazine captured the spirit of the time, says Lydon, and fast gained a following with its unique mix of music coverage and political journalism.
"It was a mind expanding time," Lydon tells DW. "It was not a niche market kind of thing. Music was the core, that was the thing that brought everybody together."
'We all wanted to be the fifth Beatle'
These days, any aspiring journalist might harbor ambitions of securing a spot on the Rolling Stone news desk, but when Lydon came on board, it was a startup.
Michael Lydon with his typewriter in 1967Image: Baron Wolman
After graduating from college in the 1960s, Lydon's employer, Newsweek, sent him to London, where he interviewed John Lennon and Paul McCartney, both fresh from the success of the 1965 Beatles album Rubber Soul.
However, the real catalyst came during a visit to the Monterey Pop Festival in 1967, to see the likes of Jimi Hendrix, The Who and Janis Joplin.
It was there he met Jann Wenner, the current Rolling Stone publisher, who already envisaged a magazine targeting the new generation of hippy, pot-smoking youth that had become disenchanted with what news stands had to offer.
A few weeks later, in a coffee shop in San Francisco, Wenner asked Lydon to be his first managing editor. Lydon was so inspired by the musicians he would later interview that he wanted to be a part of that crowd.
"I had been looking for something like this," Lydon says. "Just like today when like-minded kids graduate from college and say 'Hey, let's start a website.' It was very much like that in that there was a group of young people in their 20s who all wanted to do something ... we all wanted to be the fifth Beatle."
Jann Wenner, who founded Rolling Stone as a 20-year-old college dropout, is still the magazine's publisher todayImage: picture-alliance/AP Photo/S. Vlamis
Lydon jokes how the wily Wenner piggybacked off the Rolling Stones by appropriating the name of one of the biggest bands in the world. Mick Jagger and Keith Richards themselves took the name from Muddy Waters track Rollin' Stone, while Bob Dylan enhanced it with his release of Like a Rolling Stone in 1965. It's fair to say Wenner knew what he was doing.
"That summer was the 'Summer of Love'," Lydon says. "We were so inspired by the music coming out — Bob Dylan, the Rolling Stones, the Beatles — it was so good, so exciting, it was so in tune with what millions of young Americans and (people) around the world were thinking and hoping for the lives they wanted to create for themselves."
In 1981: John Lennon and Yoko OnoImage: Rolling Stone Magazine/Annie Leibovitz
"We're all brothers and sisters and people really meant that. 'He not busy being born is busy dying,'" he adds, quoting Dylan. "We were really struggling with these things and we wanted to find a voice."
Yet while those big acts were attracting a new breed of audience, Esquire the go-to publication at the time, had started to struggle. Lydon and Wenner could smell blood.
"(Wenner) saw that there was this new generation of hippies and LSD and long hair and bell bottom pants and paisley shirts and all that. That was a new audience," Lydon says. "The magazines that college kids read like Esquire in particular, that was all about fine brands of Scotch and tweed jackets and khaki pants and button down shirts… but all of a sudden...the long haired hippy look, was the look. And Esquire was out of date."
Michael Lydon, 75, today a singer-songwriterImage: M. Lydon
The launch
Working from an attic in a San Francisco office building, the small team, including music critic Ralph J. Gleason, assembled the first issue of Rolling Stone. Its release on November 9, 1967, was followed by tears of joy and champagne, Lydon recalls.
"We all sort of cheered and went home tired but happy, but then were back the next night writing the copy and writing the headlines for issue number two," he says.
Since its launch, Rolling Stone has seen Hunter S. Thompson cover politics and it has investigated some of the most controversial topics in recent human history, such as HIV and the Vietnam War.
Not just music: Rolling Stone has also earned a reputation for its political and cultural journalismImage: picture alliance/dpa/ROLLING STONE
Lydon left the magazine a few issues later to pursue his own freelance work. Looking back, he puts the survival of Rolling Stone down to Wenner's foresight.
"We were just a little tabloid newspaper but he had an idea, somehow, of what it was going to become," he says. "Rolling Stone hit immediately and we were sort of a big deal, (with) people wanting to be interviewed and wanting to have their story in the paper right away."
Lydon, now 75, is a singer-songwriter who's also written several books. Fifty years on, he is still happy to be remembered for his part in the birth of Rolling Stone.
Rolling Stones celebrate 60 years as a band
Their first concert was at London's Marquee Club on July 12, 1962. Six decades later, the Stones' concerts are still among the world's greatest rock'n'roll events.
Image: Robin Utrecht/picture alliance
60 years of Rolling Stones
They keep on rolling: The Stones are still touring across Europe, 60 years after the band played their first-ever gig, at London's Marquee Club on July 12, 1962. A new four-part BBC documentary series, "My Life as a Rolling Stone," focuses on the four core members, Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Ronnie Wood and the late Charlie Watts. Here's a look at how they became so legendary.
Image: Robin Utrecht/picture alliance
Starting out with rhythm and blues
Mick Jagger and Keith Richards met each other at school. In 1962, they founded The Rolling Stones. Also performing at their first concert in London were Tony Chapman (drums), Dick Taylor (bass) and Ian Stewart (piano). Another line-up followed with Brian Jones (second guitar), Bill Wyman (bass) and Charlie Watts (drums), who performed on the first album, The Rolling Stones, in 1964.
Image: Getty Images
Bad boy band
With their feel-good pop, The Beatles were already achieving world fame in 1964. That's why Andrew Loog Oldham, then manager of the Stones, wanted to create a group to counter the Fab Four. They were to become famous as the "bad boys" — though during their first TV performance in the show "Ready Steady Go," they came across as harmless good guys.
Image: Getty Images
A different image
One year later, on September 11, 1965, the Stones gave their first concert in West Germany — in the somewhat conservative city of Münster. The police had a hard time keeping their fans under control. Most residents in Münster, however, eyed the Stones with suspicion. In fact they were lucky. Fans in Berlin demolished a stage during a later concert, which would take seven years to rebuild.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/Otto Noecker
Sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll
During the late 1960s, no other band came to embody the image of the hedonistic rock band more than the Stones. Groupies and heavy drug use were par for the course. Hard drugs eventually took their toll on Stones guitarist Brian Jones. He left the band in June 1969 and a short time later, drowned in his swimming pool under mysterious circumstances.
Image: Imago
An ingenious idea
In May 1965, the Stones went on their third tour across the US, playing cover versions of rock hits once more. They still hadn't produced enough songs of their own. One night, Keith played a new melody on his guitar, and loved it so much that he recorded it and had Mick listen to it. It was the hookline of their first worldwide hit, "Satisfaction."
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Shock in Altamont
The Altamont Free Concert, initiated by the Stones management, was intended as a peaceful counter event to Woodstock. Alongside the Stones on stage were, among others, Santana, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, and Jefferson Airplane. When the Stones appeared, the crowd got out of control and the concert had to be interrupted. Hells Angels were behind the commotion.
Image: picture-alliance/AP
The end of the hippie era
When the Stones started playing "Under my Thumb," a man collapsed in front of the stage after a member of the Hells Angels stabbed him in the back. The band was deeply shocked. "If Woodstock was the dream," said British photographer Eamon McCabe later, "then Altamont was the nightmare." This day, December 6, 1969 is said to mark the end of the hippie era.
Image: picture-alliance/AP
1973, still with Mick Taylor (2nd from left)
The band faced tax troubles in the 70s, which led them to flee to France, where they recorded "Exile On Main St." in 1972, considered by many to be the best Stones album ever. In 1974, guitarist Mick Taylor left and was replaced by Ron Wood.
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Drug-fueled 1970s
Drug busts complicated the band's international tour plans. Charged with "possession of heroin for the purpose of trafficking," Keith Richards was sent to rehab to avoid a long prison sentence, while Mick Jagger continued his jet-set lifestyle. Musically, they experimented with different musical genres, dabbling in funk ("Miss You" in 1978) and disco ("Emotional Rescue" in 1980).
Image: Michael Putland/Avalon/Retna/picture alliance
An amazing live band
Overcoming those problems, by the 1980s the band was back to doing what they do best: performing live concerts. They were in such demand that they easily filled entire football stadiums — including in Germany in 1982, where they played many legendary shows.
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Rocking around the world
Even after founding member Bill Wyman left in 1993, the Rolling Stones simply carried on into the next millennium, playing stages around the world. The idea of a farewell tour popped up a few times, but they kept on rocking. Despite their age, they never failed to put on spectacular shows. This photo was taken in 2003 in Moscow.
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'I'm a rolling stone'
In 2006, Japanese fans enjoyed a Stones concert in the city of Saitama, north of Tokyo (pictured). Some time later, the Stones performed in the Serbian capital of Belgrade. True fans know where the band's name came from: Apparently, Brian Jones was inspired by the blues hit "Mannish Boy" by Muddy Waters, which contained the line, "I'm a rolling stone."
Image: AP
2021: Charlie Watts dies
He was the Stones' backbone. But in 2004 drummer Charlie Watts was diagnosed with cancer. Radiation therapy led to recovery, and he continued touring with the Stones for many years. His last concert was in August 2019, as part of the "No Filter" tour. Two years later, he died at the age of 80.
Image: Ian West/PA/picture alliance
The new man on the drums
At 65, he is way younger than all other members: Steve Jordan was first hired to fill in for a few gigs and finish the Stones' "No Filter" tour in the US after Charlie Watts' death. Now he has joined the world's longest-serving rock band on their European tour.
