Exactly. Rolling Stone was trying to appeal to a demographic that didn’t buy magazines.
But if they didn’t go that route, they become Readers Digest for Boomer stoners.
They did a pretty amazing job remaining relevant for as long as they did when you think about it. Someone above pined for the days of PJ O’Rourke. I don’t think O’Rourker starting writing there until the mid 80s - or 20 years into their run. When I started reading in the late 80s, the big 3 names were O’Rourke, Bill Greider, and Thompson - who would occasionally publish some drug-addled gibberish that we pretended was still “classic Hunter.”
I think you can make a strong argument that Thompson maybe wrote three worthwhile things after the late 70s. I spent so much money over the years on compilations that included yet another excerpt from Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail......