ReZoom

"Rolling Stone" magazine was at one time the unconditional voice of the music revolution. Not rock 'n' roll -- that existed years before Jann Wenner launched the fledging publication in San Francisco 40 years ago -- but the music revolution that witnessed the Beatles shift from a mop-top boy band to a bunch of Bob Dylans that could harmonize. That music revolution buried be-bop, killed doo-wop and put rockabilly on life-support, where it lives to this day.

This year, the magazine will roll out three special issues commemorating its 40th anniversary. The first was released in April. It tracked the progress of the baby boomer generation through interviews with the likes of Bob Dylan, Mick Jagger, Paul McCartney and Steven Spielberg. The second, not coincidentally, hits newsstands later this month, celebrating the anniversary of the magazine as well as "the summer of love," the backdrop to which Wenner and his staff embarked on their journey to report on rock 'n' roll.

In the 40 years since, "Rolling Stone" has reported on much more than music, but at the time it had no competitors – nobody was writing about rock 'n' roll, says Wenner. Over the last 40 years, the magazine has evolved into a music magazine with one foot in the socio-political and the other ankle-deep in general pop culture.

The magazine grew in similar steps as the generation it followed for most of its existence. Starting out a petulant music periodical, when baby boomers started to graduate college, get real jobs and take an active interest in politics, so did the magazine.

Through writers like Hunter S. Thompson and P.J. O'Rourke, the magazine maneuvered its political voice into a national contender. This was fully realized when Wenner, Thompson and O'Rourke interviewed the candidate who would become the first Baby-Boomer-in-Chief, Bill Clinton, who appeared on the cover in 1992.

The cover, Clinton knew, was for a long time the highest denomination of celebrity currency – more than "Vanity Fair," "GQ" or "TIME." But since that time, the magazine has gone through some changes. It's still a youth culture publication at heart, which means it must refocus every few years to the next generation's pop idols. Consequently, rock 'n' roll gets less and less coverage as fickle kids jump to different music (currently it's hip-hop.)

Old standards still get recognized: Dylan, the Beatles (in one form or another) Springsteen, the Rolling Stones. Perhaps the most the interesting evolution is how Wenner and "Rolling Stone" manage to mix those icons in with Britney Spears, Tupac Shakur and Amy Winehouse and not come off like a middle-aged magazine desperately clinging to being cool.

A boomer move if ever there was one.

The series concludes in November with a forward-looking issue where artists and pundits will attempt to predict the future. Good luck with that.

*Click to hear song sample; you may need to download a (free) version of RealPlayer first.

Want more? Click here to check out our Music section.