Leading rock music magazine set to go native

M. Taufiqurrahman, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

In the early 1950s, blues singer Muddy Waters composed an influential song, a rework of the Delta standard Catfish Blues, titled Rollin' Stone, a song so powerful that it inspired a group of white London boys to set up a band named after it, provoked the greatest folk singer to pen his best song ever, and sparked a drive for a San Francisco writer to set up a magazine of the same name.

Waters' three offspring are still alive and kicking. Although the Rolling Stones has ceased to produce new material, it is still one of the best live bands on earth, while Bob Dylan's Like A Rolling Stone has been dubbed the best rock song by the aforementioned magazine, Rolling Stone.

First published by Jaan S. Wenner in 1967, in the throes of massive social and political upheaval that swept across America, Rolling Stone survived the ups and downs of rock journalism and helped define the music press in the process.

With its competitors, the likes of Creem, Melody Maker or New Musical Express, being forced to disband as a result of cutthroat competition, Rolling Stone thrived by dint of its cutting edge reporting and writing style.

The magazine has published every story about pop and rock stars who have forever left their imprint on the history of pop music, from Beatles singer John Lennon to pop idol Justin Timberlake. It also gave an almost equal proportion of its space to political affairs, from the downfall of then U.S. President Richard Nixon to firsthand reporting on the role of mercenaries in U.S.-occupied Iraq.

Despite its accomplishments, the magazine has also been criticized for its tacit alliance with the music industry, to a point where it has often been dubbed a record industry hype sheet.

Rock critic Robert Meltzer was quoted by In Their Own Write: Adventures In Music Press as saying that Rolling Stone was a principal factor in the dumbing, maiming and calming down of the public's taste for rock 'n' roll that was once wild and anarchic.

The magazine has also served as a training ground for important figures in journalism and the entertainment industry. Film director Cameron Crowe, gonzo journalist Hunter S. Thompson and producer for Bruce Springsteen's records Jon Landau were among the magazine's alumni.

Starting on May 2, the influential newspaper will be available for readers here with the maiden publication of the Indonesian Rolling Stone, its first adaptation in Asia.

After a year-long negotiation, Wenner Media LLC, the mother publisher of Rolling Stone, finally granted local media company JHP Media a license for local publication of the magazine.

The license gives JHP Media the credentials to publish Rolling Stone in Indonesian along with the rights to dig deep into the magazine archives for its publication here.

Such rights enable JHP Media to publish materials deemed to be the most suitable for local conditions.

For example, after the first issue that carries a cover story on reggae legend Bob Marley, the Indonesian edition of Rolling Stone will carry stories profiling 100 legends of rock, combining two past editions.

Unlike its English edition, which is published once every two weeks, the local version will hit the newsstands on a monthly basis.

Indonesian Rolling Stone editor-in-chief B. Haryo Pambudi said that the magazine would soon gain ample readership and would survive, despite the nation's poor reading habits.

"We will work very hard to maintain the image of this famous brand," he said, adding that the magazine's New York headquarters would help steer the course.

Will the local adaptation live up to the magazine's glowing reputation? Only time will tell.