Cover Story

AC/DC and the Gospel of Rock

Big beats and bigger riffs: The Aussie crew return for the first time in eight years with Black Ice, their best album since Back to Black. By David Fricke

VIDEO: Go Behind the Scenes of AC/DC's Rolling Stone Cover Shoot
PHOTO GALLERY: AC/DC Through the Years
PHOTO GALLERY: Behind the Scenes at AC/DC's Rolling Stone Cover Shoot
VIDEO: Watch behind-the-scenes footage of AC/DC at the video shoot for "Rock N Roll Train"
1980 FEATURE: "AC/DC Shrugs Off a Death and Rocks On"
1978 FEATURE: "AC/DC's High Voltage Sound"

NATIONAL AFFAIRS

The Bailout Profiteers

The financial disaster looks a lot like Iraq: a "free-fraud zone" where contractors cash in on the mess they helped create. By Naomi Klein

The Briefing: Nuclear Delusions

Why nuclear power is back — and what could go wrong with our radioactive future. By Susan Q. Stranahan

My Campaign Memories

From Mitt Romney as Kmart shopper to Hillary Clinton as a horse, a few favorite moments from the campaign trail.
By Matt Taibbi

NEW BLOG: Taibbi Unbound
ARCHIVE: Matt Taibbi in Rolling Stone

FEATURES

Inside the Mexican Drug War

In the U.S., the War on Drugs is a political slogan for a policy disaster. But in Mexico, it is a multisided civil war that has killed 5,000 and brought the government close to collapse. A report from the front lines just across the border. By Guy Lawson


VIDEO: Guy Lawson on the bloody war next door, plus a guide to Mexico's drug lords

Wheels '08

From Hinder to Solange, music's brightest stars test-drive this year's models.


FEATURE: Boyz Under The Hood: Inspired by a renegade teacher, the kids at Philly's toughest high school are building green cars to save the environment – and themselves. By David Kushner
PLUS: How Neil Young turned his gas-guzzling Lincoln into a green machine

Fall Gaming: How Real Can It Get?

Blood, battlegrounds and killer graphics: first looks at this year's hottest games, from Resistance 2 to Fallout 3.

PLUS: Ozzy Osbourne tries his hand at the new Guitar Hero: World Tour

COUNTDOWN: The 50 Best Rock & Roll Video Games of All Time By Scott Steinberg
Q&A: Nintendo Designer Mutates Music Games
PROFILE: Reality Bytes: Being good — or evil — has its price in Peter Molyneux's Fable II

Rock & Roll

The Dead Reunite

The band puts aside its differences and gets together for its first show in four years.

INDUSTRY: AC/DC Score Hit With Wal-Mart

CLASSIC ALBUM: Forty Years Later, Van Morrison Returns to Astral Weeks in L.A.

BOOKSHELF: De Niro, Cannibals and Punk Rock: The True Adventures of the Clash

ON THE ROAD: Rise Against's Punk-Rock Explosion

ON THE ROAD: TV on the Radio: The Hardest-Working Art Rockers in America

IN THE STUDIO: Franz Ferdinand Return to the Dance Floor on Third CD

CHECKING IN: Queen Reign Supreme Once Again

Q&A: James Hetfield

PROFILE

Fleet Foxes' Perfect Harmony

How the Seattle hippies overcame social anxiety to craft one of the year's most gorgeous and laid-back debuts

Reviews

Taylor Swift: Diary of a Teen Princess

The country singer paints a vivid portrait of love and heartbreak on Fearless

PLUS: New discs from The Knux, Little Joy, T-Pain, Hinder, Rachael Yamagata, Travis, Love is All, Lordi, Marc Broussard, Parts and Labor, Rodney Crowell, Lee Ann Womack and White Denim

REISSUES: The Smiths and Genesis

ALL REVIEWS

KEY TRACKS: Hear the best of this issue's review section

Movies

Slumdog Millionaire

Danny Boyle's comedy is one of the year's best
By Peter Travers

PLUS: Repo! The Genetic Opera, The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, Role Models, Synecdoche, New York, Soul Men and High School Musical 3

BLOG: Travers Take

Also In This Issue...

Fricke's Picks

SUICIDE'S BIRTHDAY PARTY: New York Aggro-throb Duo Suicide

THE SOLO MARTIN REV: The Suicide Keysman's Seventh Solo Disc

A PUNK-JAZZ RUCKUS: New York's Curlew

EAST VILLAGE BLUES: The White-City Folk of Eden and John's East River String Band

ONLINE EXCLUSIVES

CAMPAIGN '08 IN ROLLING STONE: Read "John McCain: Make-Believe Maverick"; "The Truth About Sarah Palin"; Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Greg Palast's investigative reporting on the GOP's attempt to block the vote; and all of our election coverage.

THE COMPLETE QUEEN FILES: Read Rolling Stone's first major feature on the band, from 1977, plus a 1981 account of their South American tour.

THE BEST NEW MUSIC: Hear Rolling Stone's favorite new albums: Ray LaMontagne, the Kaiser Chiefs and more.

TOUR REPORT: Inside the biggest rock tour of the fall: a report from the Who's New York-area show, including photos.