Rolling Stone Magazine - what a mockery of itself - and don't forget that waste of airwaves called MTV.
Rolling Stone USED to be a great source of industry insider information--as well as all the charts, new artist features, and was targeted at industry professionals (we're talking up to about 1995 or so). Non-industry folks read it because it was nice for them to have a window into what we got to see before most other folks did.
Sadly, the editors and publishers wanted to take the magazine to the mass public...many of the experienced contributors balked and left. Rather than find other experienced people they just hired recent grads (with the empitus that since they were going to target the mainstream public and males/females 15 to 25 that they might as well hire those "living the life" to do it. Industry people dumped it and went back to Radio & Records, Allaccess.com, FMQB (was about to go out of business). They went from punchy, powerful, and insightful articles and exposes to lengthy, bogged down, boring, (many times politically slanted) mush. While readers did get 2 page articles on The Red Hot Chili Peppers (in '95), they also got 10 page articles of mush on why Madonna, TuPac, PeDiddy, and Biggie Smalls were more of a trailblazer than Elvis or BB King. Only the young folks actually believed the mush.
What it's been since 1998 is beyone me because that was when I ditched my subscription.
The Hall has and always been a platform to be batted around like a tetherball at the whims of whatever niche group can stuff the ballot box at the time. Real trailblaizers still sit by the sidelines waiting for their induction, while some flash-in-the-pans still get nominated.
ROX
