Why Does Rolling Stone Inspire Celebrity Verbal Diarrhea?

By Jo Piazza Posted Feb 18th 2011 11:15PM

Something about being on the cover of Rolling Stone seems to make celebrities, particularly those with a Y chromosome, feel like they can unleash a trail of verbal diarrhea. It may be that the gravitas of achieving a Rolling Stone cover makes them feel like the Big Man on Campus. That moment quite possibly dictates to the likes of John Mayer, Adam Lambert and now Justin Bieber that they have reached a career peak that allows them to say the most ridiculous things.

Remember Mayer's January 2010 interview, where he talked about his hunt for "the Joshua Tree of vaginas." Mayer also couldn't stop spewing to RS about his breakup from Jennifer Aniston, in an entirely oversharey kind of way.

"I've never really gotten over it. It was one of the worst times of my life," Mayer said, adding in a particularly brash way, that since Aniston he is constantly rejected by women. "Blowing me off is the new s**king me off!"

A year earlier, 'American Idol' runner up Adam Lambert chose to affirm what everyone already knew and come out in his Rolling Stone cover interview. He was also controversially candid about his prior drug use.

And that brings us to Bieber and his Rolling Stone moment, where he says that he doesn't believe in abortion, even in cases of rape.

"Um. Well, I think that's really sad, but everything happens for a reason. I don't know how that would be a reason. I guess I haven't been in that position, so I wouldn't be able to judge that," Bieber said.

What the Lambert and Bieber interviews have in common is the author, Vanessa Grigoriadis, who as an astute questioner may be responsible for the confessional nature of the RS interviews. She did somehow manage to get some alone time cruising with the Biebs in his SUV, where she was able to ask the 16-year-old his views on abortion.

A less skilled interviewer, particularly in these days of bite-sized access for celebrity interviewers, would have never thought abortion was a topic of interest in a Bieber interview.

At the end of the day, the reason rock stars treat Rolling Stone like a confessional is because it is at the intersection of interest and importance -- it affords them an elevated status, and because Rolling Stone still bothers to employ really good writers and interviewers, people who ask questions outside the realm of what's your favorite food and what inspires you, they get the good stuff.

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Comments

(22)

Sunday 20 February

By FosterBoys

Vote down Vote up Report this

That really is a silly question. It's like asking, "Why does the ground get wet when it rains?"

He answers honestly, you have a problem.
He answers dishonestly, you have a problem.

Ask a question, get an answer. Let it GO.

Friday 25 February

By makessense2me

Verbal diarrhea? The writer of this article had a Freudian self conscious analysis of his/her own stuff. Kudos to Justy for having convictions and sticking by them. There are many of us who oppose abortion and to say so is not verbal diarrhea!

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