Hootie and the Blowfish
Rolling Stone has announced they won’t change policies or staff following their retraction of “A Rape on Campus.” What has prompted past action? Complaining about a yanked Hootie and the Blowfish review, later published in City Pages.
Jim DeRogatis wrote a review of the 1996 album Fairweather Johnson*, titled “American Blandstand.” After his review got pulled and replaced with a more favorable one by Elysa Gardner, DeRogatis complained to the New York Observer.
The Observer quoted a spokesman for Rolling Stone saying the review swap was a matter of writing quality and not opinion, and DeRogatis saying Rolling Stone Editor and Publisher Jann Wenner is not necessarily a Hootie fan, but “a fan of bands that sell eight and a half million copies” of a record. The day after the piece ran, DeRogatis was fired. (A follow-up piece in the Observer said Rolling Stone would not discuss DeRogatis’s departure for reasons of employer-employee privacy.)
Read DeRogatis’ full review below while listening to the soothing sounds of 1996.
• A Good Blowfish Is Hard to Find (City Pages)
* correction: original post erroneously said DeRogatis’ review was for Cracked Rear View.