JJ DOOM was an American alternative hip-hop duo composed of Jneiro Jarel and MF DOOM .
119-457: On 15 February 2012, the website Pitchfork ran an article stating that JJ DOOM's debut album would be called Key to the Kuffs and released via Lex Records . On 5 July 2012, Lex Records announced that the album was set for a worldwide release on 21 August 2012, and would feature appearances from Beth Gibbons , Khujo Goodie , Boston Fielder, and Damon Albarn . As of August 29, 2012, Key to
238-450: A National Magazine Award for digital design and an Overseas Press Club Award. In December 2023 Rolling Stone collected five National Arts & Entertainment Journalism Awards, four Front Page Awards, and a Deadline Club award. Some artists have been featured on the cover many times, and some of these pictures went on to become iconic. The Beatles , for example, have appeared on the cover more than 30 times, either individually or as
357-432: A paywall by the end of the year. It abandoned experiments with Pitchfork paywalls following criticism from readers. In 2020, Condé Nast laid off the executive editor Matthew Schnipper and the features editor and union chair Stacey Anderson. In 2022 and 2023, Pitchfork had about three million unique visitors a month, down by about 36% from 2021. On January 17, 2024, Wintour announced that Pitchfork would merge with
476-449: A skeleton crew continuing its mission, and said he was pleased with the work it had published since the announcement. On July 2, 2024, Pitchfork named Mano Sundaresan, the founder of the music blog No Bells , as the new head of editorial content. Sundaresan denied that Pitchfork was "going away", and said he aimed to adapt it to modern media and cater to more specialized audiences. That October, five former Pitchfork writers launched
595-633: A "distinguished digital property that brings a strong editorial voice, an enthusiastic and young audience, a growing video platform and a thriving events business". Kaskie said "our needs and wants were converging", and that Pitchfork needed capital and expertise to expand its publication and festivals. The sale boosted Pitchfork's value to advertisers. Pitchfork relocated to the Condé Nast offices in One World Trade Center , Manhattan. Previously, Pitchfork 's independence had been
714-405: A Rolling Stone ". Some authors have attributed the name solely to Dylan's hit single: "At [Ralph] Gleason's suggestion, Wenner named his magazine after a Bob Dylan song." Rolling Stone initially identified with and reported the hippie counterculture of the era . You're probably wondering what we're trying to do. It's hard to say: sort of a magazine and sort of a newspaper. The name of it
833-467: A band. The magazine is known for provocative photography and has featured musicians and celebrities on the cover throughout its history. Vanity Fair called the January 22, 1981, cover featuring John Lennon and Yoko Ono the "Greatest Rolling Stone Cover Ever". The first ten issues featured, in order of appearance: The magazine spent $ 1 million (equivalent to $ 1.51 million in 2023) on
952-463: A consistent content strategy, and packaging a love of music in a compelling way", according to its founder, Alex Young. The critic Carl Wilson said Pitchfork drove a "feeding frenzy about band discovery" in North American music journalism, with publications vying to discover new acts. In the 2000s, Pitchfork was credited with "making or breaking" musical careers, a phenomenon known as
1071-476: A contributing editor until his death in 2005. In the 1970s, the magazine also helped launch the careers of many prominent authors, including Cameron Crowe , Lester Bangs , Joe Klein , Joe Eszterhas , Ben Fong-Torres , Patti Smith and P. J. O'Rourke . It was at this point that the magazine ran some of its most famous stories. The January 21, 1970, issue covered the Altamont Free Concert and
1190-801: A controversy in the White House by publishing in the July issue an article by journalist Michael Hastings entitled "The Runaway General", quoting criticism by General Stanley A. McChrystal , commander of the International Security Assistance Force and U.S. Forces-Afghanistan commander, about Vice President Joe Biden and other Administration members of the White House. McChrystal resigned from his position shortly after his statements went public. In 2010, Taibbi documented illegal and fraudulent actions by banks in
1309-553: A critical review. Itzkoff argued that the obtuse and confrontational style was part of the Pitchfork business model and made their reviews memorable. He suggested that the writers' lack of training or experience, and the fact that they worked for low or no pay, created a sense of authenticity and undermined the authority of traditional media. Schreiber conceded that Pitchfork had a reputation for snobbery, but said its writers were "really just honest, opinionated music fans". In
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#17327721645971428-412: A dedicated UK edition in conjunction with Attitude magazine publisher Stream Publishing. The new British Rolling Stone launched into a marketplace which already featured titles like Mojo and BandLab Technologies's monthly music magazine Uncut . The first issue had a choice of three cover stars (including music acts Bastille and Sam Fender, as well as No Time To Die actor Lashana Lynch), with
1547-444: A difference to social causes. In July 2010, Pitchfork launched Altered Zones , a blog aggregator devoted to underground and DIY music . In 2011, Pitchfork relocated to Brooklyn , New York. On May 21, Pitchfork announced a partnership with the website Kill Screen , in which Pitchfork would publish some of their articles. Altered Zones closed on November 30. On December 26, 2012, Pitchfork launched Nothing Major ,
1666-472: A for-pay model, but has since transitioned to a free-with-print-subscription model. In the spring of 2012, Rolling Stone launched a federated search feature, which searches both the website and the archive. The website has become an interactive source of biographical information on music artists in addition to historical rankings from the magazine. Users can cross-reference lists and they are also provided with historical insights. For example, one group that
1785-451: A four-color press with a different newsprint paper size. In 1979, the bar code appeared. In 1980, it became a gloss-paper, large-format (10 × 12 inch) magazine. Editions switched to the standard 8 × 11 inch magazine size starting with the issue dated October 30, 2008. Starting with the new monthly July 2018 issue, it returned to the previous 10 × 12 inch large format. The publication's site at one time had an extensive message-board forum. By
1904-425: A gap in the market for faster-moving publication that emphasized new acts. Pitchfork could publish several articles a day, greatly outpacing print media. New technologies such as MP3 , the iPod and the file-sharing service Napster created greater access to music, and music blogs became an important resource, creating further opportunity for Pitchfork. The contributors Mark Richardson and Eric Harvey said this
2023-477: A key aspect of its image. Schreiber said it would continue to have "creative independence". The acquisition triggered concern; the New York Observer wrote that was a "death knell for indie rock". The Condé Nast chief digital officer, Fred Santarpia, was criticized when he said the acquisition would bring "a very passionate audience of millennial males into our roster". The Atlantic connected
2142-434: A letter to Rolling Stone publisher Jann Wenner , calling the cover "ill-conceived, at best ... [it] reaffirms a message that destruction gains fame for killers and their 'causes'." Menino also wrote, "To respond to you in anger is to feed into your obvious market strategy", and that Wenner could have written about the survivors or the people who came to help after the bombings instead. In conclusion he wrote, "The survivors of
2261-548: A limited-edition quarterly publication of about 10,000 copies of each issue, printed on glossy, high-quality paper. About two thirds of the content would be original, with the remaining reused from the Pitchfork website. The International Business Times likened the literary aspirations to The New Yorker and the Paris Review . The Pitchfork Review ended after 11 issues in November 2016. As of 2014, Pitchfork
2380-574: A much more expansive look at McChrystal and the culture of senior American military and how they become embroiled in such wars. The book reached Amazon.com 's bestseller list in the first 48 hours of release, and it received generally favorable reviews. Salon ' s Glenn Greenwald described it as "superb", "brave" and "eye-opening". In 2012, Taibbi, through his coverage of the Libor scandal , emerged as an expert on that topic, which led to media appearances outside Rolling Stone . On November 9, 2012,
2499-410: A new means for listeners to discover music. Pitchfork staff conflicted with Condé Nast over its attempts to monetize Pitchfork Music Festival by making it into a "luxury" experience. Santarpia left Condé Nast in 2018, leaving Pitchfork under the purview of Anna Wintour , the chief content officer. Two former Pitchfork staffers told The Verge that Wintour did not care about music or understand
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#17327721645972618-474: A number, these albums were given fixed scores. In the 2000s, Pitchfork reviews were criticized as pretentious, verbose and inaccurate. Itzkoff wrote that Pitchfork was overwrought and sometimes hard to understand, with an abundance of adjectives, adverbs and misused words. Shaer identified examples of "verbose and unreadable writing ... dense without being insightful, personal without being interesting". In City Pages , Thomas Lindsay wrote that its prose
2737-442: A reliable source of recommendations. Without the limitations of print media, Pitchfork was able to champion emerging independent acts that major print magazines, which had to sell millions of copies every year, could not. Schreiber felt the magazines were "not even trying to discover new music ... Publications used to take more chances on artists, putting bands on the cover that they thought deserved to be there." He said Pitchfork
2856-464: A review or $ 40 for a feature. In 2004, following staff tensions about Schreiber's advertising income, Pitchfork started paying writers from their first articles at a slightly improved rate. That year, Pitchfork published a positive review of the debut album by Arcade Fire , Funeral . It became a bestseller and is cited as the first major example of Pitchfork 's influence on independent music, attracting coverage of Pitchfork from outlets such as
2975-443: A separate online publication dedicated to the coverage of video games and video game culture. Gus Wenner , Jann Wenner's son and head of digital for the publication at the time, told The New York Times that "gaming is today what rock 'n' roll was when Rolling Stone was founded". Glixel was originally hosted on Rolling Stone ' s website and transitioned to its own domain by October 2016. Stories from Glixel are included on
3094-407: A short editorial stating that the story "falls within the traditions of journalism and Rolling Stone ' s long-standing commitment to serious and thoughtful coverage of the most important political and cultural issues of our day". The controversial cover photograph that was used by Rolling Stone had previously featured on the front page of The New York Times on May 5, 2013. In response to
3213-531: A signature 10-point scale with punitive zeal." Schreiber said the site's early period "was about really laying into people who really deserved it", and defended the importance of honesty in arts criticism. In 1999, Schreiber relocated Pitchfork to Chicago. He estimated that Pitchfork had published 1,000 reviews by this point. Around the turn of the millennium, the American music press was dominated by monthly print magazines such as Rolling Stone , creating
3332-478: A time when music has proven to be one of our culture's most beautifully progressive spaces". In The Guardian , Laura Snapes wrote that Pitchfork had provided a vital "leading example" and doubted that specialist music journalism could survive without it. She lamented the job losses, saying that Pitchfork had been one of the last stable employers of freelance music writers. Schreiber said that commentators were "premature to eulogize Pitchfork ", as it retained
3451-576: A website that covered visual arts, which closed in October 2013. Pitchfork launched a film website, The Dissolve , in 2013. It closed in 2015, citing "financial challenges". In 2017, Kaskie said he remained proud of The Dissolve and that it was "a huge success from the creative and editorial, design and everything else". In 2013, Pitchfork won the National Magazine Award for general excellence in digital media. That year,
3570-493: A whole and gave it a score of 6.8. The music blog Idolator ran a feature asking readers to guess which lines came from Pitchfork reviews and which were fabricated. In 2010, the writer David Shapiro started a Tumblr blog, "Pitchfork Reviews Reviews", which reviewed Pitchfork reviews and assessed their arguments. It attracted more than 100,000 followers and a profile in the New York Times . Spencer Kornhaber of
3689-451: A writer from Crawdaddy and David Fricke from Musician . Tom Wolfe wrote to Wenner to propose an idea drawn from Charles Dickens and William Makepeace Thackeray : to serialize a novel. Wenner offered Wolfe around $ 200,000 to serialize his work. The frequent deadline pressure gave Wolfe the motivation he had sought, and from July 1984 to August 1985, he published a new installment in each biweekly issue of Rolling Stone . Later Wolfe
JJ Doom - Misplaced Pages Continue
3808-434: Is Rolling Stone which comes from an old saying, "A rolling stone gathers no moss." Muddy Waters used the name for a song he wrote. The Rolling Stones took their name from Muddy's song. Like a Rolling Stone was the title of Bob Dylan's first rock and roll record. We have begun a new publication reflecting what we see are the changes in rock and roll and the changes related to rock and roll. However, it distanced itself from
3927-562: Is listed on both Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time and Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time is Toots and the Maytals , with biographical details from Rolling Stone that explain how Toots and the Maytals coined the term " reggae " in their song " Do the Reggay ". For biographical information on all artists, the website contains a directory listed alphabetically. In May 2016, Wenner Media announced plans to create
4046-625: Is one of the most influential music publications to have emerged in the internet age . In the 2000s, Pitchfork distinguished itself from print media through its unusual style, frequent updates and coverage of emerging acts. It was praised as passionate, authentic and unique, but criticized as pretentious, mean-spirited and elitist, playing into stereotypes of the cynical hipster . It is credited with popularizing acts such as Arcade Fire , Broken Social Scene , Bon Iver and Sufjan Stevens . Pitchfork relocated to Chicago in 1999 and Brooklyn , New York, in 2011. It expanded with projects including
4165-637: The Atlantic described Pitchfork as the most influential music publication to emerge in the internet age . Itzkoff, a former editor for Spin , described the Spin staff checking Pitchfork regularly: "If it was lavishing attention on a new band, we at least had to ask ourselves why we weren't doing the same: by then, our value as a trustworthy and consistent filter had waned." The online magazine Consequence of Sound emulated Pitchfork early on, "especially as it came to creating an editorial voice, developing
4284-657: The Los Angeles Times . The contributor Jess Weiss said the review "changed everything". By 2005, Pitchfork was attracting around one million readers a month, with an annual revenue of around $ 5 million. That year, Schreiber said he was uninterested in selling Pitchfork: "It would change into the antithesis of the reason I started it. This is something I am so in love with—this is my entire adult life's work." By 2006, traditional music media, such as print magazines, music video channels and radio stations, had declined or changed focus, but music listeners still sought
4403-512: The Flaming Lips , NYC Ghosts & Flowers (2000) by Sonic Youth , Liz Phair (2003) by Liz Phair and Shine On (2006) by Jet . The Jet review consisted entirely of a video of a chimp urinating into its own mouth and was widely shared. The authors of the Phair and Sonic Youth reviews later changed their opinions and apologized to the artists. In Slate , Amos Barshad cited
4522-462: The Patty Hearst abduction odyssey. One interviewer, speaking for many of his peers, said that he bought his first copy of the magazine upon initial arrival on his college campus, describing it as a " rite of passage ". In 1972, Wenner assigned Tom Wolfe to cover the launch of NASA 's last Moon mission, Apollo 17 . He published a four-part series in 1973 titled "Post-Orbital Remorse", about
4641-659: The Rolling Stone website, while writers for Rolling Stone were also able to contribute to Glixel . The site was headed by John Davison, and its offices were located in San Francisco. Rolling Stone closed down the offices in June 2017 and fired the entire staff, citing the difficulties of working with the remote site from their main New York office. Brian Crecente , founder of Kotaku and co-founder of Polygon ,
4760-471: The United States , it publishes content through Rollingstone.com and numerous international editions. The magazine experienced a rapid rise during the 1970s, followed by a sharp decline into financial turmoil in the 21st century; leading Jann Wenner to sell 49 percent of the magazine to BandLab Technologies in 2016 and 51 percent to Penske Media Corporation (PMC) in 2017. PMC eventually acquired
4879-501: The killing of Meredith Hunter , which won a Specialized Journalism award at the National Magazine Awards in 1971. Later in 1970, Rolling Stone published a 30,000-word feature on Charles Manson by David Dalton and David Felton, including their interview of Manson when he was in the L.A. County Jail awaiting trial, which won Rolling Stone its first National Magazine Award. Four years later, they also covered
JJ Doom - Misplaced Pages Continue
4998-578: The " Pitchfork effect". In 2006, the Washington Post described Schreiber as an "indie-rock kingmaker" and wrote that "an endorsement from Pitchfork ... is very valuable, indeed". Megan Jasper, the CEO of the record label Sub Pop , said favorable Pitchfork reviews would boost sales and that it became normal for indie rock bands to sell 100,000 records, exceeding expectations. Poorly reviewed albums made no impact. After Pitchfork awarded 9.7 to
5117-655: The 1960s and 1970s. One critic referred to the Rolling Stone list of the "500 Greatest Songs" as an example of "unrepentant rockist fogeyism". In further response to this issue, rock critic Jim DeRogatis , a former Rolling Stone editor, published a thorough critique of the magazine's lists in a book called Kill Your Idols: A New Generation of Rock Writers Reconsiders the Classics , which featured differing opinions from many younger critics. Rolling Stone magazine has been criticized for reconsidering many classic albums that it had previously dismissed, and for frequent use of
5236-541: The 1990s, the magazine broadened and shifted its focus to a younger readership interested in youth-oriented television shows, film actors, and popular music. It has since returned to its traditional mix of content, including music, entertainment, and politics. The first magazine was released in 1967 and featured John Lennon on the cover, and was then published every two weeks. It is known for provocative photography and its cover photos, featuring musicians, politicians, athletes, and actors. In addition to its print version in
5355-523: The 1990s. Conservative columnist Jonah Goldberg stated in 2008 that Rolling Stone had "essentially become the house organ of the Democratic National Committee ". Rolling Stone editor Jann Wenner has made all of his political donations to Democrats and has conducted high-profile interviews for the magazine with Presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama . Rolling Stone endorsed Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton in
5474-399: The 2000s, Pitchfork was criticized for focusing on music made by white men. In its early years, its staff comprised almost entirely white men. In 2007, the rapper M.I.A. criticized Pitchfork for assuming that her album Kala had been produced entirely by the male producer Diplo . Another Pitchfork writer described the error as "perpetuating the male-led ingenue myth". M.I.A. and
5593-471: The 2001 Tool album Lateralus consisted mostly of a list of the equipment used by the drummer. Some reviews consist only of single images or videos, implying the record is beneath critical analysis. Shaer wrote in 2006 that Pitchfork typically triumphed acts it had "discovered" and attacked beloved legacy acts and bands popular on music blogs. Some believed that Pitchfork deliberately waited for excitement to build around an act before dismissing it with
5712-404: The 3-D hologram cover of the special 1,000th issue (May 18, 2006) displaying multiple celebrities and other personalities. The printed format has gone through several changes. The first publications, in 1967 to 1972, were in folded tabloid newspaper format , with no staples, only black ink text, and a single color highlight that changed each edition. From 1973 onwards, editions were produced on
5831-527: The 3.5-star rating. For example, Led Zeppelin was largely written off by Rolling Stone magazine critics during the band's most active years in the 1970s, but by 2006, a cover story on the band honored them as "the Heaviest Band of All Time". A critic for Slate magazine described a conference at which 1984's The Rolling Stone Record Guide was scrutinized. As he described it, "The guide virtually ignored hip-hop and ruthlessly panned heavy metal,
5950-515: The 49 percent stake from BandLab Technologies in 2019, giving it full ownership of the magazine. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and Ralph J. Gleason . To pay for the setup costs, Wenner borrowed $ 7,500 (equivalent to $ 69,000 in 2023 ) from his family and the parents of his soon-to-be wife, Jane Schindelheim. The first issue was released on November 9, 1967, and featured John Lennon in costume for
6069-594: The Boston Marathon deserve Rolling Stone cover stories, though I no longer feel that Rolling Stone deserves them." In the issue dated November 19, 2014, the story "A Rape on Campus" was run about an alleged gang rape on the campus of the University of Virginia . Separate inquiries by Phi Kappa Psi , the fraternity accused by Rolling Stone of facilitating the alleged rape, and The Washington Post revealed major errors, omissions and discrepancies in
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#17327721645976188-543: The Eighties, which led to an increase in advertising revenue and pages. It also shifted to more of an entertainment magazine in the 1980s. It still had music as the main topic but began to increase its coverage of celebrities, films, and pop culture. It also began releasing its annual "Hot Issue". In the 1990s, the magazine changed its format to appeal to a younger readership interested in youth-oriented television shows, film actors, and popular music. This led to criticism that
6307-517: The Kuffs sold 3,300 copies after debuting at number 148 on the Billboard 200 . 2012 2014 Pitchfork Media Pitchfork (formerly Pitchfork Media ) is an American online music magazine founded in 1996 by Ryan Schreiber in Minneapolis . It originally covered alternative and independent music , and expanded to cover genres including pop, hip hop, jazz and metal. Pitchfork
6426-518: The News That's Fit to Print". The first appearance of the rubric was in 1969. In the 1970s, Rolling Stone began to make a mark with its political coverage, with the likes of gonzo journalist Hunter S. Thompson writing for the magazine's political section. Thompson first published his most famous work, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas , within the pages of Rolling Stone , where he remained
6545-654: The Trail of Dead and Wilco . According to Harvilla, a perfect score given to an album on release "qualifies as a seismic event for the rock-critic universe as a whole". Some reviews experimented with the score system. The 2005 Robert Pollard album Relaxation of the Asshole received a simultaneous 10 and 0; the review for the 2007 Radiohead album In Rainbows , which allowed fans to pay what they wanted to download, allowed readers to enter their own score. After Pitchfork changed its content management system to require
6664-476: The annual Pitchfork Music Festival , launched in Chicago in 2006; the video site Pitchfork.tv and book, The Pitchfork 500 , both launched in 2008; and a print publication, The Pitchfork Review , published between 2013 and 2016. In later years, Pitchfork became less antagonistic and more professional in style, and began covering more mainstream music and issues of gender, race and identity. As of 2014, it
6783-442: The article " Bug Chasers: The men who long to be HIV+ " claimed that homosexuals who intentionally sought to be infected with HIV accounted for 25% of new cases each year. However, the article's cited physicians later denied making such statements. In 2005, the article " Deadly Immunity " by anti-vaccine activist Robert F. Kennedy Jr. attracted criticism for quoting material out of context, and Rolling Stone eventually amended
6902-579: The band Black Kids as the most infamous example of Pitchfork "at its most deleterious". Pitchfork 's review of their debut EP, Wizard of Ahhhs , boosted the Black Kids' career; however, it collapsed when Pitchfork gave their debut album, Partie Traumatic (2008), a score of 3.3, with a review consisting entirely of a photograph of two frowning dogs and a frowning emoticon . Plagenhoef said Pitchfork later became more cautious in publishing negative reviews, as they were no longer "little guys on
7021-420: The comedian David Cross to write a list of his favorite albums. Cross wrote that he was surprised by the invitation, citing several insulting Pitchfork reviews of his comedy albums, and instead wrote a "withering and absurdist" article titled "Albums to listen to while reading overwrought Pitchfork reviews". In 2007, the satirical website The Onion published a piece in which Pitchfork reviewed music as
7140-722: The comment to a 2014 Nielsen report that found that millennial men were heavy music listeners and were more interested in streaming services than other demographics. In 2012, a Pitchfork poll asking readers to vote for their favorite music found that 88% of respondents were male, and statistics recorded by Quantcast in 2015 found that 82% of Pitchfork readers were men, most aged 18–34. Schreiber responded on Twitter that women were "a huge part of Pitchfork's staff and readership" and that Pitchfork aimed to reach "all music fans everywhere". On March 13, 2016, Pitchfork launched its first new design since 2011. That October, Pitchfork had 4.1 million unique visitors, up from 2.7 million
7259-508: The contributor Nate Patrin said Pitchfork had become "what publications like the Village Voice used to be in terms of letting writers go deep without feeling pressured to talk down to readers", with long-form articles and documentaries. By 2017, according to Bloomberg , its reviews had become "as erudite as those of the music magazines that Pitchfork had all but eclipsed in influence". The critic Ann Powers wrote in 2024 that "in
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#17327721645977378-629: The debut album by Arcade Fire , Funeral (2004), it became the fastest-selling record in the history of Merge Records . Other acts whose careers were boosted by Pitchfork in the 2000s include the Dismemberment Plan , Clap Your Hands Say Yeah , Modest Mouse , Broken Social Scene , Bon Iver and Sufjan Stevens . Schreiber said they wanted to create a roster of artists whom people discovered with Pitchfork and became associated them. The managing editor, Scott Plagenhoef, downplayed their influence, saying Pitchfork merely "accelerated
7497-419: The depression that some astronauts experienced after having been in space. After the series, Wolfe began researching the whole of the space program, in what became a seven-year project from which he took time to write The Painted Word , a book on art, and to complete Mauve Gloves & Madmen, Clutter & Vine , a collection of shorter pieces and eventually The Right Stuff . The magazine began running
7616-468: The end of the 2000s, Pitchfork had become influential in the music industry, credited for launching acts such as Arcade Fire and Bon Iver . Employees at record labels and record stores would use it to anticipate interest in acts. It was also attracting large sponsors such as American Express and Apple . The influence of Pitchfork on music careers declined around the turn of the decade, as streaming and social media fractured audiences and reduced
7735-488: The end of the 20th century, which were publishing content about Star Wars , nu metal and pop punk. He characterized the Pitchfork voice as that of the outsider mocking the mainstream. In The Verge , Elizabeth Lopatto wrote that early Pitchfork reviews were unpolished and sometimes unprofessional, and "brash, sometimes bizarre, often typo-ridden", but that this distinguished Pitchfork from traditional media and made it fun to read. Contributors to Pitchfork said it
7854-648: The film How I Won the War on the cover. It was in newspaper format with a lead article on the Monterey International Pop Festival . The cover price was 25¢ (equivalent to $ 2.27 in 2023) and it was published bi-weekly. In the first issue, Wenner explained that the title of the magazine came from the old saying "A rolling stone gathers no moss." He also mentioned the 1950 blues song " Rollin' Stone ", recorded by Muddy Waters , The Rolling Stones band, and Bob Dylan 's 1965 hit single " Like
7973-513: The following decade, Pitchfork shifted its editorial range and style. It began running news and features alongside reviews, coming to resemble a more conventional music publication. It also diversified from indie rock to cover mainstream music including pop, rap and metal, and began covering issues of gender, race and identity in music, influenced by movements such as MeToo and Black Lives Matter . Schreiber said that "our tastes broadened with age and experience", and that Pitchfork could make
8092-630: The foreclosure courts, after traveling to Jacksonville , Florida and sitting in on hearings in the courtroom. His article, "Invasion of the Home Snatchers", also documented attempts by the judge to intimidate a homeowner fighting foreclosure and the attorney Taibbi accompanied into the court. In January 2012, the magazine ran exclusive excerpts from Hastings' book just prior to publication. The book, The Operators: The Wild and Terrifying Inside Story of America's War in Afghanistan , provided
8211-515: The grand tradition of rock criticism, joining the ranks of imperious and opinionated writers". Schreiber described the reviews of one early Pitchfork writer, Brent DiCrescenzo, as dense with dialogue and pop culture references, "exploring outlandish scenarios". Pitchfork 's style changed in the 2010s as it broadened its scope and audience, shifting to poptimism . The contributor Craig Jenkins said Pitchfork had needed to change its "walled-in" perspective, and that it had been "antagonistic toward
8330-689: The impression of a "forward-facing, vibrant title". Unlike other music publications, which typically assign scores out of five or ten, Pitchfork uses a decimal scale of 0.0 to 10.0. The system has drawn mockery as arbitrary and overprecise. DiCrescenzo described it as "knowingly silly", and in 2021 Pitchfork wrote that it was an "admittedly absurd and subjective" signature element. Schreiber said he liked its absurdity and how "it felt kind of scientific without any actual science to it". Early reviews used percentages rather than decimals. By 2021, Pitchfork had published more than 28,000 reviews. Pitchfork reviews do not represent an editorial consensus but
8449-414: The internet throwing rocks at big artists". Rolling Stone Rolling Stone is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music , politics , and popular culture . It was founded in San Francisco, California in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason . The magazine was first known for its coverage of rock music and political reporting by Hunter S. Thompson . In
8568-458: The internet. Schreiber announced his departure on January 8, 2019, saying he wanted to "keep pushing boundaries and exploring new things". The Los Angeles Times said the departure came at a time of "existential change" for the media industries, citing the rise of streaming services and social media and the downsizing of many major music publications. That month, Condé Nast announced it would put all its publications, including Pitchfork , behind
8687-481: The journalistic form and temperament of the time". While it was widely mocked, it boosted Pitchfork 's profile. Schreiber said he understood the review would make Pitchfork subject to ridicule, but "wanted Pitchfork to be daring and to surprise people". In 2001, Pitchfork had 30,000 daily readers. In 2004, Pitchfork hired its first full-time employee, Chris Kaskie, formerly of the satirical website The Onion , to run business operations. Kaskie later became
8806-462: The late 1990s, this had developed into a thriving community, with many regular members and contributors worldwide. However, the site was also plagued with numerous Internet trolls , who vandalized the forum substantially. The magazine abruptly deleted the forum in May 2004, then began a new, much more limited message board community on their site in late 2005, only to remove it again in 2006. In March 2008,
8925-458: The magazine due to be a bi-monthly publication. In February 2022, Rolling Stone announced the acquisition of Life Is Beautiful , saying, "Live events are an integral part of Rolling Stone's future." In 2023 Rolling Stone was nominated for its first-ever Emmy award in the "Outstanding Interactive Media" category for its investigation into "The DJ and the War Crimes". The piece also won
9044-434: The magazine published its first Spanish-language section on Latino music and culture, in the issue dated November 22. In September 2016, Advertising Age reported that Wenner was in the process of selling a 49% stake of the magazine to a company from Singapore called BandLab Technologies . The new investor had no direct involvement in the editorial content of the magazine. In September 2017, Wenner Media announced that
9163-415: The magazine was emphasizing style over substance. After years of declining readership, the magazine experienced a major resurgence of interest and relevance with the work of two young journalists in the late 2000s, Michael Hastings and Matt Taibbi . Rob Sheffield also joined from Spin . In 2005, Dana Leslie Fields , former publisher of Rolling Stone , who had worked at the magazine for 17 years,
9282-572: The magazine's name was a nod to the Rolling Stones in an addition to "Rollin' Stone" and "Like a Rolling Stone". The magazine's long-running slogan, "All the news that fits", was provided by early contributor, manager and sometime editor Susan Lydon . She lifted it from an April Fools issue of the Columbia Daily Spectator which posted "All the news that fits we print", a parody of The New York Times ' slogan, "All
9401-538: The men's magazine GQ , resulting in layoffs. The merge drew criticism and triggered concern about the implications for music journalism. Pitchfork was created in February 1996 by Ryan Schreiber, a high school graduate living in his parents' home in Minneapolis . Schreiber grew up listening to indie rock acts such as Fugazi , Jawbox and Guided by Voices . He was influenced by fanzine culture and had no previous writing experience. Schreiber initially named
9520-509: The men's magazine GQ . Staff including Patel were laid off, leaving around a dozen editorial staff, including some working on multiple Condé Nast publications. Max Tani of Semafor reported that the remaining staff were "depressed and embarrassed" by the merge. One writer who was laid off, Andy Cush, said "there was this real sense of despair ... about ever having a place to do the kind of work you feel like you're good at and that you're interested in again". As of that month, Pitchfork had
9639-419: The most daily active users of any Condé Nast publication. Journalists reacted with sadness and concern for the future of music journalism. Tani and The Washington Post 's Chris Richards expressed disgust that Pitchfork , once independent and provocative, would be absorbed into an establishment men's magazine. The music critic Ann Powers wrote that the merge felt "like a highly conservative move at
9758-532: The music site Hearing Things , which aims to "capture the original independent spirit" of Pitchfork . In November, Pitchfork announced that it had canceled Pitchfork Music Festival but would continue to produce events and "create spaces where music, culture, and community intersect". Pitchfork's unusual, passionate and stylized reviews differentiated it from the more scholarly and formal style of print magazines such as Rolling Stone . The critic Steven Hyden said it offered an alternative to music magazines at
9877-436: The music, playing into stereotypes of the cynical hipster . In 2018, the music journalist Robert Christgau described the early years of Pitchfork as "a snotty boys' club open to many 'critics' ... Too many amateur wise-asses and self-appointed aesthetes throwing their weight around." Many scathing early reviews were by Brent DiCrescenzo, who wrote lengthy reviews that rarely addressed the music. For example, his review of
9996-507: The need for gatekeepers. Streaming services began to fulfill Pitchfork 's function of helping new artists find audiences, and independent music criticism moved to podcasts and YouTube . Declining music industry revenues reduced advertising spending, and Pitchfork faced competition from advertisers such as Facebook . According to the Los Angeles Times , "The internet era that birthed Pitchfork 's blend of saucy writing, outre tastes and massive popularity [was] by and large over." Over
10115-904: The opinion of the individual reviewer. Writers who did not want to use their names, or failed to include bylines with their submissions, were credited as Ray Suzuki, similarly to the filmmaker pseudonym Alan Smithee . In The Ringer , Rob Harvilla wrote that a 10.0 from Pitchfork "carries all the historical weight of five stars in Rolling Stone or five mics in The Source ... with its maddening and theoretically precise approach to decimal places, such that an ocean of feeling separates an 8.1 from an 8.9". Pitchfork has awarded perfect scores to more than 50 albums, most of them in its "Sunday Reviews" feature, which publishes retrospective reviews of classic albums. Artists who have received perfect scores on release include Radiohead, Fiona Apple , Kanye West , Bonnie "Prince" Billy , And You Will Know Us by
10234-414: The outcry, New England–based CVS Pharmacy and Tedeschi Food Shops banned their stores from carrying the issue. Also refusing to sell the issue were Walgreens ; Rite-Aid and Kmart ; Roche Bros. and Stop & Shop ; H-E-B and Walmart ; 7-Eleven ; Hy-Vee , Rutter's Farm , and United Supermarkets ; Cumberland Farms and Market Basket ; and Shaw's . Boston mayor Thomas Menino sent
10353-514: The past decade Pitchfork had nurtured many of the best and most influential writers working today". She felt that "great music writing messes with productivity by creating a space to slow down and really immerse in someone else's creative work ... The best writing at Pitchfork or anywhere reflects that process and is as variegated as the human experience itself." In 2015, The Guardian credited Pitchfork for pioneering design techniques that combined print design and technical innovation to create
10472-619: The photographs of Annie Leibovitz in 1970. In 1973, she became its chief photographer, and her images appeared on more than 140 covers. Rolling Stone recruited writers from smaller music magazines, including Paul Nelson from Sing Out! , who became record reviews editor from 1978 to 1983, and Dave Marsh from Creem . In 1977, the magazine moved its headquarters from San Francisco to New York City . Editor Jann Wenner said San Francisco had become "a cultural backwater". Kurt Loder joined Rolling Stone in May 1979 and spent nine years there, including as editor. Timothy White joined as
10591-576: The president and co-owner. Pitchfork 's first professional editor, Scott Plagenhoef, was hired shortly afterwards. Kaskie and Plagenhoef are credited for turning Pitchfork into a professional operation. It began to scale quickly; the more money it made, the more resources it had for reviews and articles. As of 2004, Pitchfork had eight full-time employees and about 50 freelance staff members, most of whom worked remotely and co-ordinated through phone and internet. Writers were unpaid for their first six months, after which they could earn $ 10 or $ 20 for
10710-432: The previous October. With Schreiber aiming to make it the world's best repository for music content, Pitchfork began creating videos and retrospective articles, covering classic albums released before its founding. Kaskie announced his departure from Pitchfork in May 2017. He had been frustrated by his diminished role under Condé Nast and Pitchfork 's reduced autonomy. On September 18, 2018, Schreiber stepped down as
10829-487: The process". After Pitchfork awarded 0.0 to Travistan (2004), the debut solo album by the Dismemberment Plan singer Travis Morrison , his solo career effectively ended. Years later, Morrison described the experience as "frightening and awful". Schreiber said he felt bad for him, but that it was important for Pitchfork writers to be honest. Other albums to receive 0.0 include Zaireeka (1995) by
10948-408: The rapper Chief Keef was arrested for violating a probation sentence by using a rifle in a promotional video by Pitchfork . Staff later described the episode as a low point and an example of how Pitchfork mishandled hip-hop artists. In December, Pitchfork launched The Pitchfork Review , a quarterly print journal focused on long-form music writing and design-focused content. Pitchfork planned
11067-493: The remaining 51% of Rolling Stone magazine was up for sale. In December 2017, Penske Media acquired the remaining stake from Wenner Media. It became a monthly magazine from the July 2018 issue. On January 31, 2019, Penske acquired BandLab's 49% stake in Rolling Stone , gaining full ownership of the magazine. In January 2021, a Chinese edition of the magazine was launched, while in September 2021, Rolling Stone launched
11186-489: The run-up for the 2016 U.S. presidential election . Rolling Stone has criticized Republican Presidents George W. Bush and Donald Trump . In 2006, it described Bush as the "worst president in history". The magazine featured Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau on its August 2017 cover with the headline "Why can't he be our president?" One major criticism of Rolling Stone involves its generational bias toward
11305-548: The school, filed a $ 7.5 million defamation lawsuit in Charlottesville Circuit Court against Rolling Stone and Erdely, claiming damage to her reputation and emotional distress. Said the filing, " Rolling Stone and Erdely's highly defamatory and false statements about Dean Eramo were not the result of an innocent mistake. They were the result of a wanton journalist who was more concerned with writing an article that fulfilled her preconceived narrative about
11424-495: The singer Björk argued that this was part of a wider problem of journalists assuming that female artists do not write or produce their own music. In 2024, the Pitchfork contributor Andrew Nosnitsky argued that hip-hop, not indie rock, was the "defining music" of his generation, but that Pitchfork was viewed as the defining music publication for "purely mechanical and straight-up white-supremacy reasons". Pitchfork has attracted multiple parodies. In 2005, Pitchfork invited
11543-407: The size of their biggest show ever. That's the goal, man. To put fucking Titus Andronicus in front of 10,000 people." In April 2008, after acquiring the live music show Juan's Basement , Pitchfork launched Pitchfork.tv , a website displaying interviews, music videos and feature-length films. In November, it published a book, The Pitchfork 500 , covering the preceding 30 years of music. By
11662-441: The spring of 2010. The expectation was that the restaurant could become the first of a national chain if it was successful. As of November 2010, the "soft opening" of the restaurant was planned for December 2010. In 2011, the restaurant was open for lunch and dinner as well as a full night club downstairs on the weekends. The restaurant closed in February 2013. Bigger headlines came at the end of June 2010. Rolling Stone caused
11781-680: The story and its problems by the dean of the Columbia School of Journalism . The report uncovered journalistic failure in the UVA story and institutional problems with reporting at Rolling Stone . Rolling Stone retracted the story on April 5, 2015. On April 6, 2015, following the investigation and retraction of the story, Phi Kappa Psi announced plans to pursue all available legal action against Rolling Stone , including claims of defamation . On May 12, 2015, UVA associate dean Nicole Eramo, chief administrator for handling sexual assault issues at
11900-399: The story with corrections in response to these and other criticisms. The August 2013 Rolling Stone cover, featuring then-accused (later convicted) Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev , drew widespread criticism that the magazine was "glamorizing terrorism" and that the cover was a "slap in the face to the great city of Boston ". The online edition of the article was accompanied by
12019-445: The story. Reporter Sabrina Erdely 's story was subject to intense media criticism. The Washington Post and Boston Herald issued calls for magazine staff involved in the report to be fired. Rolling Stone subsequently issued three apologies for the story. On December 5, 2014, Rolling Stone ' s managing editor, Will Dana, apologized for not fact-checking the story. Rolling Stone commissioned an outside investigation of
12138-398: The stuff that the average person would be appreciating". Plagenhoef felt that the inflammatory "stunt reviews" were limiting, and wanted Pitchfork to be seen as trustworthy and thoughtful. Snapes said some had lamented the change, suggesting that it made Pitchfork "a less specific proposition". However, she felt it reflected modern music consumption and found it heartening that Pitchfork
12257-436: The top editor. He was replaced by Puja Patel, who had worked at Spin and Gawker Media , as editor-in-chief on October 15. Schreiber remained as a strategic advisor. He said he later realized that Condé Nast did not understand Pitchfork and had unrealistic expectations of its performance. Patel came under pressure to cut costs amid declining traffic from social media, and competition from streaming platforms, which offered
12376-802: The two genres that within a few years would dominate the pop charts. In an auditorium packed with music journalists, you could detect more than a few anxious titters: How many of us will want our record reviews read back to us 20 years hence?" The hiring of former FHM editor Ed Needham further enraged critics who alleged that Rolling Stone had lost its credibility. The 2003 "Rolling Stone's 100 Greatest Guitarists of all Time" article, which named only two female musicians, resulted in Venus Zine answering with their own list, entitled "The Greatest Female Guitarists of All Time". Rolling Stone ' s film critic, Peter Travers , has been criticized for his high number of repetitively used blurbs . In 2003,
12495-439: The underground newspapers of the time, such as Berkeley Barb , embracing more traditional journalistic standards and avoiding the radical politics of the underground press . In the first edition, Wenner wrote that Rolling Stone "is not just about the music, but about the things and attitudes that music embraces". In a 2017 article celebrating the publication's 50th anniversary, Rolling Stone ' s David Browne stated that
12614-753: The website Turntable , but changed it after another website claimed the rights. The name Pitchfork was inspired by the tattoo on the assassin Tony Montana in the film Scarface . Schreiber chose it as it was concise and had "evilish overtones". The first review was of Pacer (1995) by the Amps , and the record store Insound was Pitchfork 's first advertiser. Early Pitchfork reviews focused on indie rock and were often critical. The Washington Post described them as "brutal" and "merciless", writing: "The site's stable of critics often seemed capricious, uninvested, sometimes spiteful, assigning low scores on
12733-452: The website started a new message board section once again, then deleted it in April 2010. Rolling Stone devotes one of its table of contents pages to promoting material currently appearing on its website, listing detailed links to the items. On April 19, 2010, the website underwent a redesign and began featuring the complete archives of Rolling Stone . The archive was first launched under
12852-470: Was able to take risks as it was not interested in appeasing bands, record labels or advertisers. In 2006, Pitchfork had 170,000 daily readers and was publishing five album reviews a day, with six full-time employees. Schreiber said that Pitchfork was able to sustain paid freelancers and eight employees, though they were "always cutting it close". He said he had attracted interest from investors, but wanted to retain control and that journalistic integrity
12971-551: Was an important part of Pitchfork 's early popularity, as music fans could share and listen to recordings while reading daily updates. In 2000, Pitchfork ' s 10.0/10.0 review of the highly anticipated Radiohead album Kid A , written by Brent DiCrescenzo, generated a surge in readership and was one of the first signs of Pitchfork becoming a major publication. One of the first Kid A reviews published, it attracted attention for its unusual style. Billboard described it as "extremely long-winded and brazenly unhinged from
13090-619: Was an inaugural inductee into the Magazine Hall of Fame. In 2009, Taibbi unleashed an acclaimed series of scathing reports on the financial meltdown of the time. He famously described Goldman Sachs as "a great vampire squid ". In December 2009, the Los Angeles Times reported that the owners of Rolling Stone magazine planned to open a Rolling Stone restaurant in the Hollywood & Highland Center in Hollywood in
13209-486: Was facing mounting financial problems, and Kaskie spent the year attempting to find funding. On October 13, 2015, the American mass media company Condé Nast announced that it had acquired Pitchfork . At this point, Pitchfork had about 50 employees, with editorial and video production staff in Brooklyn and advertising, sales and development staff in Chicago. The Condé Nast CEO, Bob Sauerberg, described Pitchfork as
13328-472: Was florid and sometimes impenetrable, and contained factual errors. Similar criticisms came from Rob Harvilla of the East Bay Express and Claire Suddath of Time . Responding to criticism in 2006, Schreiber said he trusted his writers' style and opinions. In its early years, Pitchfork was criticized as mean-spirited and elitist , and for publishing reviews that do not meaningfully discuss
13447-676: Was hired as editorial director and runs the site from the main New York office. Following the sale of Rolling Stone ' s assets to Penske Media Corporation , the Glixel content was merged into the routine publishing of Variety , with Crecente remaining as editorial director. In 2017, Graham Ruddick of The Guardian described Rolling Stone as a "rock'n'roll magazine turned liberal cheerleader". Bruce Schulman wrote in The Washington Post that Rolling Stone has "routinely support[ed] liberal candidates and causes" since
13566-536: Was his priority. In August 2006, an internal Pitchfork server containing promotional copies of hundreds of albums was hacked, including the forthcoming Joanna Newsom album Ys . In the mid-2000s, Pitchfork expanded its operations. In 2006, it launched the annual Pitchfork Music Festival in Chicago. The first Paris Pitchfork Music Festival was held in 2011. Kaskie said it was exciting to see acts Pitchfork had championed playing to large crowds: "We start to see these bands playing in front of audiences 10 times
13685-680: Was immediately divisive among music fans. In the Washington Post , J. Freedom du Lac described Pitchfork as entertaining, "hilariously snarky" and "occasionally even enlightening". The Los Angeles Times writer August Brown described it as "raucous, passionate, sometimes blinkered but always evolving". In Slate , Matthew Shaer wrote that the best Pitchfork reviews were "cagey, fierce, witty and graceful". The journalist Dave Itzkoff described Pitchfork reviews as "defiantly passionate and frustratingly capricious" with an "aura of integrity and authenticity that made such pronouncements credible, even definitive, to fans ... insinuating themselves into
13804-422: Was receiving around 6.2 million unique visitors and 40 million pageviews every month, with an expected annual revenue growth of 25 to 40 percent. Its primary revenue came from advertising. According to the media analytics firm Comscore , Pitchfork had 2.47 million unique visitors that August, more than the websites for Spin or Vibe but fewer than Rolling Stone 's 11 million. By this point, Pitchfork
13923-418: Was receiving around 6.2 million unique visitors every month. The influence of Pitchfork declined in the 2010s with the growth of streaming and social media . In 2015, it was acquired by the mass media company Condé Nast and moved to One World Trade Center . The Pitchfork president, Chris Kaskie, left in 2017, followed by Schreiber in 2019. In 2024, Condé Nast announced plans to merge Pitchfork into
14042-443: Was reviewing a variety of genres and artists. Under Puja Patel, who became the editor in 2018, Pitchfork covered more female, non-binary, queer and non-white artists. Pitchfork also switched to a more professional style. The editor Amy Phillips illustrated this by comparing her coverage of the announcement of two Radiohead albums, years apart; the first was excitable, whereas the second was more professional and factual. In 2014,
14161-478: Was unhappy with his "very public first draft" and thoroughly revised his work, even changing his protagonist, Sherman McCoy, and published it as The Bonfire of the Vanities in 1987. Rolling Stone was known for its musical coverage and for Thompson's political reporting and in 1985, they hired an advertising agency to refocus its image under the series "Perception/Reality" comparing Sixties symbols to those of
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