Almost Famous: 10 Great Bands That Should Have Been On The Cover Of ‘Rolling Stone’, But Were Not

“F*ck them.”

Those were Louis C.K.’s accurately bitter words to describe his feelings for Rolling Stone, which recently put the Like-SO-Cute-Boston Bomber-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named on its once-hallowed cover. It’s easy and fun to bash Rolling Stone — like anything that was once counterculture (Captain Beefheart was on the cover in 1970, for Christ’s sake), it eventually becomes culture, and with that, comes the “sell out, not what it used to be” accusations. (See also: The Simpsons.) But they’re not exactly makings things easy for themselves, not when Justin Bieber and The Voice hosts stare back at you when you open your mailbox.

In honor of C.K.’s comments, let’s take a look back at other “f*ck them” Rolling Stone moments, specifically: 10 great bands (and only bands) that have should have graced the magazine’s cover, but never did, along with the lesser artists who were put on the cover the same year the deserving group released an amazing album. That Spin Doctors photo only gets better and better


1. The Velvet Underground

Year They Should Have: 1970 (when Loaded came out)
Who Was On the Cover That Year: Charles Manson

2. Sleater-Kinney

Year They Should Have: 1997 (when Dig Me Out came out)
Who Was On the Cover That Year: Jewel, Spice Girls, Jakob Dylan

3. The Replacements

Year They Should Have: 1984 (when Let It Be came out)
Who Was On the Cover That Year: Duran Duran

4. My Bloody Valentine

Year They Should Have: 1991 (when Loveless came out)
Who Was On the Cover That Year: Sinead O’Connor, Black Crowes, and Chris Isaak

5. The Smiths

Year They Should Have: 1986 (when The Queen Is Dead came out)
Who Was On the Cover That Year: Jim McMahon, John Mellencamp, and Van Halen (with Sammy Hagar)

6. Pixies

Year They Should Have: 1989 (when Doolittle came out)
Who Was On the Cover That Year: Bon Jovi

7. Hüsker Dü

Year They Should Have: 1984 (when Zen Arcade came out)
Who Was On the Cover That Year: Culture Club

8. Public Enemy (more of a group than a band, but whatever)

Year They Should Have: 1990 (when Fear of a Black Planet came out)
Who Was On the Cover That Year: Paul McCartney (for the 300th time)

9. The Kinks

Year They Should Have: 1969 (when Arthur (Or the Decline and Fall of the British Empire) came out)
Who Was On the Cover That Year: “Groupies”

10. Sonic Youth

Year They Should Have: 1988 (when Daydream Nation came out)
Who Was On the Cover That Year: George Michael and Lisa Bonet

(Via Getty Image)

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