Nothing compares to Sinead O’Connor’s fury at Rolling Stone magazine. The Irish singer-songwriter has just hucked a grenade of shade at the music rag over its decision to feature inexplicably famous sex tape star actual celebrity Kim Kardashian on its front cover, a place traditionally reserved for the music industry’s biggest and brightest talents.
Despite Kardashian’s two biggest and brightest talents being arguably on full display in the cover spread, it was the last straw for O’Connor, who sounded the death knell of music as we know it in what can only be described as an articulate yet expletive-filled verbal annihilation of Rolling Stone magazine and Mrs. Kanye West:
“What is this cunt (‘I don’t smile much because it causes wrinkles’) doing on the cover of Rolling Stone?” O’Connor queried swearily via Facebook post this morning. “Music has officially died. Who knew it would be Rolling Stone that murdered it? Simon Cowell and Louis Walsh can no longer be expected to take all the blame. Bob Dylan must be fucking horrified.”
The singer then went on to call for an official boycott of the magazine, via hashtag: #BoycottRollingStone.
In the 12 hours since O’Connor posted the status, it’s accumulated almost 45,000 likes, almost 8,000 comments and over 12,000 shares, and has even caught the attention of the magazine itself.
Rolling Stone Australia editor Matthew Coyte has taken to his own personal Facebook page to respond to O’Connor’s barbs, and the barbs of her supporters:
“Reading through the comments on this thread I would suggest that none of these naysayers have bought or even read Rolling Stone in years,” he wrote.
“Which leads me to wonder why they feel qualified to voice an opinion on its content or musical relevance? I also find it ironic that no matter how much the music industry decries the negative impact that digital has had on their industry, the majority never hesitate to stick in the boot when it comes to another struggling format – print media,” he continued.
“…Maybe musicians should spend less time whining about the Kardashians (who by the way, just make up for the shortfall in sales since you stopped buying magazines) and more time reading articles that aren’t written in 140 characters or less.”
Coyte has since posted another status, somewhat contradictorily assuring fans that Australia’s Rolling Stone would not be following in the footsteps of its American counterpart and spotlighting the most famous Kardashian:
“I’d like to point out that this is the US edition of Rolling Stone, and that Kim Kardashian won’t be appearing on the cover of the local edition any time soon,” he said.
Meanwhile it’s not the first time O’Connor, who toured Australia earlier this year, has had a celebrity beef. The outspoken musician infamously sparked a war of the words with Miley Cyrus back in 2013, which incidentally also involved Rolling Stone mag.
On O’Connors original status, the most “liked” comment was one by a fan who stated: “Amazing… fake tits, money and no talent get you on the cover of the Rolling Stone! Someone should write a song about that…” To which O’Connor replied: “Someone already did write a song about it,” linking to the Queen classic Radio GaGa.
For all of you young whipper-snappers, to give you some kind of idea about what it used to mean to actually get picked to be on the cover of Rolling Stone, I’d like to direct your attention to a bizarre but awesome song from 1972 by a band called Dr. Hook & The Medicine Show dubbed simply, Cover Of The Rolling Stone.
Check it all out below.
Watch: Queen – Radio GaGa – Live Aid : Wembley London 1985
Watch: Dr Hook – Cover Of The Rolling Stone (Live From BBC Show 1980)
