I was given strict instructions...

I need to write more. Tom Brokaw told me so. He was sitting in my living room last night, seven months, 1,800 miles, and a television screen away, and what he said, despite such distances, struck a chord. Perhaps blogging was not precisely what Mr. Brokaw had in mind when speaking to a roomful of aspiring journalists at the University of Southern California last March, but the blogosphere (located, as I understand it, right between the atmosphere and the Godosphere) does play a rapidly growing role in modern journalism, and I also see it as a pretty low-key way of getting myself to sit down and write more often. And since three or four people will actually read this, I can try to hold myself to some sort of standard while likely failing to do so.

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Briefly, to explain why I’d even think of writing here in the first place: my name is Ian, and I play guitar and sing backing vocals in Sonicate and, as of a few months ago, Capitol Jay, as well.
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Say what you will about Rolling Stone, but it still is a relevant magazine. As much as it has pained me to see Fall Out Boy, Panic! At The Disco, and, more recently, Kid Rock “gracing” its cover, the truth is, these are extremely popular, chart-topping acts, and giving them face time is the relevant thing for a pop-culture rag to do. And that’s important to remember-- Rolling Stone has been, is, and always will be a pop-culture magazine (yes, counter-culture can be pop). It’s no coincidence the likes of Britney Spears and Fall Out Boy (only after going platinum) get the cover story. Rolling Stone makes their money by reporting on what’s big in the music world at large, not by doing a feature on some indie band that could be next to break through (their non-cover feature on the Arcade Fire was bravely published after the success of Funeral, rave reviews for Neon Bible, and two years after they made the cover of Time magazine’s Canadian edition as “Canada’s most intriguing rock band”). They are relevant in the world of popular culture.

For me, though, what keeps Rolling Stone a relevant media is the attention and space devoted to national politics. I don’t give a shit about Kid Rock’s new album, but I do care an awful lot about the potential U.S. attack on Iran. I also care about being informed of the scam that is cost-plus contracting, pervasive throughout America’s rebuilding efforts in Iraq. Too many news media outlets ignore such stories, especially those with the support of corporate advertising and a large readership. It’s rarely more than a few pages an issue, but for a pop-culture rag, it ‘aint bad. While the majority of Rolling Stone’s music journalism is dictated by what the media and culture provide for at-large consumption, their political journalism steps around the bounds of contemporary mainstream political reporting, bringing home stories that, while often harder to swallow, speak greater volumes about the true state of the union. It is political relevancy and potency, under the guise of a pop-culture rag made relevant by its choice of popular topics.


Ian