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Publication Dates: November 9, 1967 - Present

Publication Info: Bi-weekly magazine of the entertainment and music industry.

Rolling Stone magazine was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J. Gleason (Wenner is still editor and publisher). It embraced and reported on the hippy counterculture during the late 1960s and 1970s, and its rise to fame was synchronous with such bands and artists as the Grateful Dead, Beatles, Doors, Rolling Stones, Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin.

While it's focus on music and the recording industry was primary, the celebratory causes of the day were also indelibly stamped upon its pages. The Vietnam War, Environmentalism, Feminism, Abortion and Gay Rights were among the many causes embraced by the left-leaning journal.

Still, music, followed by movies, dominated the magazine, along with hip and often divergent art, photography, and journalism from the likes of Hunter S. Thompson and the infamous rock-journalist badboy, Lester Bangs. Some of the photographers who did the covers and articles, particularly, Annie Leibovitz and Herb Ritts, gained notoriety from their work at Rolling Stone. The magazine was so popular during the 70s that a song parodying popular success, Cover of the Rolling Stone by Dr Hook & the Medicine Show, became a hit single. In an ironic pique of art imitating life, Dr. Hook himself graced the cover, in March of 1973, issue 131.

By the 1980s, Rolling Stone had become somewhat more institutionalized, monetized and adopted ideas (e.g., employee drug testing) shunned by the early culture of the magazine's founders. The entire publishing operation was moved to New York to be closer to the advertising and financial industry centers. It is still owned by Wenner Media, the company created by founder Jann Wenner after buying out his original partner.

PRICING & COLLECTING INFO:

Consecutive run estimates (ranges from good to mint):
• Issues 1-10: $700 - $1650
• 11-24 (through end of 1968): $450 - $900
• 25-49 (all of 1969): $600 - $1500
• 50-100 (January 21, 1970 - January 20, 1972): $900 - $2500
• 101-200 (February 3, 1972 - November 20, 1975): $600 - $1400
• 201-300 (December 4, 1975 - September 20, 1979): $375 - $1000
• 301-400-01) (October 4, 1979 - July 21, 1983): $300 - $850
• 402-500 (August 18, 1983 - May 21, 1987): $275 - $700
• 501-600 (June 4, 1987 - March 21, 1991): $250 - $650
• 601-700 (April 4, 1991 - January 26, 1995): $200 - $500
• 701-800 (February 9, 1995 - November 26, 1998): $200 - $450
• 801-900 (December 10, 1998 - July 4, 2002): $175 - $350

Key Issues:

Issue #1: Initial publication - John Lennon on cover
Issue #3: Beatles, Magical Mystery Tour LP.
Issue #12: Bob Dylan cover.
Issue #39: Brian Jones of the Rolling Stones, dies
Issue #42: Woodstock
Issue #61: Charles Manson cover
Issue #68: Jimi Hendrix dies
Issue #64 & 69: Janis Joplin dies
Issue #88: Jim Morrison dies
Issue #95 & 96: Hunter S. Thompson's Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Parts 1 & 2
Issue #108: David Cassidy nude
Issue #186: John Denver
Issue #208: Donny Osmond
Issue #219: Bob marley dies
Issue #335: John Lennon dies
Issue #351: Stevie Nicks of Fleetwood Mac
Issue #435: Madonna 1st cover
Issue #500: Jon Bon Jovi cover
Issue #674: Frank Zappa obit.
Issue #746: Tupac Shakur dies
Issue #810: Britney Spears 1st cover