Correspondence +^ LOVE LETTERS & ADVICE
February 2020 | Rolling Stone | 11
Music That
Defined the 2010s
For everyone about to complain about
the number-one album, My Beautiful Dark
Twisted Fantasy [“The Best Albums of the
Decade,” RS 1335], it epitomized hip-hop
as a high-concept art form and ushered
in a new wave of black vulnerability in
songwriting. Genius.
—James Jake, via Facebook[Interstate Gospel at number nine] —
More proof that it deserves a Grammy!
—Deb Basinger, via TwitterI appreciate how ROLLING STONE‘s list of
best albums of the decade is almost an
explicit rebuke of the “rock is dead” criti-
cism that emerged over the past 10 years.
In that vein, it didn’t include Cage the
Elephant, who cemented modern rock.
—Spencer Wagner, via TwitterWarren’s Resilience
wrote, “So ready to vote for Elizabeth: Thoughtful,
educated, caring, and inspiring! Can you imagine
these same questions answered by a Republican?”
Others were not convinced of Warren’s electability.
“I honor all that she is, but Warren cannot beat
Trump,” tweeted Alice Croll. “He wounded her with
Pocahontas and will continue to demoralize her on
the socialism angle.” Kelly Epperson had a message
for those still doubting: “I wish all the naysayers
would just read the interview and listen to what she
says, not what others have told you she’s saying.
It could lead you to stop parroting the party line.”For our January cover [“Elizabeth Warren: The
Rolling Stone Interview,” RS 1335], the Massa-
chusetts senator sat down with staff writer Tessa
Stuart to talk country music, policies, and why she
will be the best president. While the fight for the
Democratic nomination continues, Warren clearly
won over some readers. “I have a new admiration
for her,” tweeted Nik Donaldz. “This is a fasci-
nating interview, particularly when she explains
how ‘far left’ plans are actually rooted in so many
Americans’ realities, like student-loan debt. She’s
passionate for the right reasons.” Anita Johnson“Don’t think
a woman can’t
beat Trump.
I started out
all-in for
Warren, and
this interview
reminded
me of why I
liked her in the
first place.”
—@OriginalSlicey, via Twitter@JWoutlaw13:
“If she likes
Hank Williams,
then she’s OK
with me.”CO
UR
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CL
INT
ON
PR
ES
IDE
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AR
Y William Greider was a great
journalist who never thought
of himself that way. He
thought of himself as a man
with a job to do — which
was to use his talents to call
out the crimes of the rich
and privileged, and do what
he could to restore faith in
American democracy. Born
in Ohio in 1936, he began his
journalism career in 1960
at the Wheaton Daily Journal
in Illinois, and joined The
Washington Post in 1968. He
moved to ROLLING STONE
in 1982 and spent 17 years
here as National Affairs editor.
From a cramped Washington,
D.C., office on 17th Street NW,
Greider filed stories about
everything from the nuclear
freeze to the impeachment
of Bill Clinton. He was one of
the first journalists in America
to take the climate crisis
seriously, writing about the
risks of a superheated planetin the late 1980s. There was
nothing flashy about Greider:
He wrote in blunt language,
and smoked Camel unfiltered
cigarettes, and never went
to A-list parties. (“Your job
is to tell the truth,” he told
me at lunch in D.C. one day.
“And don’t be fucking lazy!”)
Greider’s books, including
Secrets of the Temple: How
the Federal Reserve Runs the
Country (1987) and Who Will
Tell the People: The Betrayalof American Democracy
(1992), were powerful explo-
rations of the battle between
capitalism and democracy
that, 30 years later, feel
prophetic. “Politics is not a
game,” he wrote in 1992. “It
exists to resolve the largest
questions of society — the
agreed-upon terms by which
everyone can live peaceably
with one another.” He died
on Christmas Day at the age
of 83. JEFF GOODELLWilliam Greider, 1936-
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