THE DEATH OF PRINT JOURNALISM: ALTERNATIVE EDITION

The cover of our most recent print publication is graced by none other than Beck. This founding father of the Alternative format, having helped to demonstrate, more than two decades ago, that Modern Rock could bring stylistically eclectic, adventurous music to the mainstream. The Capitol trailblazer continues that trajectory with new single “Dreams,” now on its way to #1 at Alt radio. He’s a fitting cover model for the issue's celebration of our own Karen Glauber’s 25th HITS anniversary (we'll be breaking out more of the content from that section imminently), but he’d doubtless have preferred to avoid an appearance on our Loser rag.

Our Contents page VIP, meanwhile, is none other than Epic ruler L.A. Reid. With A Great Big World’s new smash going everywhere at radio, Reid’s cycle of new-artist hits begins anew. The veteran exec came to Epic with virtually no artist roster and proceeded to rebuild the label virtually from scratch, breaking one act after another—starting with AGBW’s monster “Say Something” in the fall of 2013, then the KONGOS giant, the explosion of Meghan Trainor, a big Fifth Harmony single and now Future, whose recent #1 retail bow marked the artist’s first major breakthrough. But he’ll probably find this HITS Contents Shout-Out epically unwelcome. #BeEpic