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For the third installment of our Fortieth Anniversary issues, we're featuring audio excerpts and extended interviews from notable artists, politicians, scientists and visionaries as they discuss the world they helped shape and the future.
Eddie Vedder
Pearl Jam's conversation with Rolling Stone's David Fricke covered the future of the music industry, selling out to advertisers and how being a father has changed him. In this audio excerpt, Vedder discusses the shady groundwork that eventually blossomed into the war in Iraq.
Paul Krugman
Rolling Stone's Eric Bates interviewed the economist and columnist about the most profound economic problems the country faces, whether China will replace the U.S. as the world's superpower and who Krugman thinks the next president will be. In this audio excerpt, Krugman talks about the how technology will affect both the economy and the world over the next twenty years.
Bruce Springsteen
Interviewed by Rolling Stone's Joe Levy, Springsteen talks about what he imagined the future would be like when he was younger, how technology has affected society and how he was inspired by Bob Dylan's Highway 61 Revisited. In this audio excerpt, Springsteen talks about the American identity and how it influences his music.
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Cornel West
In his interview with Robert S. Boynton, the Princeton Religion professor discusses the most profound challenges we face as a nation over the next twenty years, being inspired by Anton Chekhov and John Coltrane, and why he doesn't believe in optimism and pessimism. In this audio excerpt, West talks about how this era will be remembered forty years from now.
Jon Stewart
The Daily Show host's conversation with Jeff Sharlet covered Ralph Nader, why TV news is so bad and what's on his iPod. In this audio excerpt, Stewart talks about whether or not he is optimistic about the future, and how this decade will be remembered fifty years from now.
Bill Maher
In his interview with Mark Binelli, the host of HBO's Realtime gives his 2008 presidential-nominees predictions, talks about whether he's optimistic about the future and predicts where the war on terror will be in fifteen years. In this audio clip, Maher ruminates on what he predicted the future would be like when he was a kid.
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Bill Gates
The Microsoft guru and one of the world's richest (and most generous) men sat down with Jeff Goodell to discuss whether the future turned out similar to his own predictions in the Sixties, why he got into computers and his charity work in Africa. In this audio clip, Gates talks about the biggest problem the most intelligent minds of our era should tackle.
Dave Matthews
In his interview with Anthony DeCurtis, the rocker discusses the role music can play in social change, what world figures he finds most inspiring and whether he is optimistic about the future. In this audio excerpt, Matthews talks about whether albums are the thing of the past, and what the future holds for music.
Bill Clinton
Former President Clinton spoke with Sean Wilentz about the 2008 presidential election, history's view of the Bush administration and how the film High Noon inspired him politically. In this audio excerpt, Clinton talks about our nation's biggest challenge in the next twenty years, as well as what has surprised him the most about the current administration.
Billie Joe Armstrong
David Fricke questioned the Green Day frontman about the failures of the Dubya administration, the current state of pop culture and which songs he'd like played at his own funeral. In this audio excerpt, the pair discuss why the singer never wants to be twenty-one again, and how he handles pressure.
Click
HERE to watch a video of Armstrong on the set of his photo
shoot, where he chats about how his life has changed since his
first appearance on an RS cover in 1994 and how to get people to
connect with music as the industry shifts.
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Bono
In his interview with Anthony DeCurtis, the U2 leader discusses what he imagined the future would look like when he was a kid in Ireland, whether he's optimistic about the future and his pursuit of hard-headed idealism. In this audio clip, Bono grapples with a difficult question: If you could only pursue U2 or activism, which would it be?
Eli Pariser
The executive director of MoveOn.org sat down with Ben Wallace-Wells to discuss the biggest threat against democracy, introducing MoveOn when he was only twenty and the important role technology now plays in politics. In this audio excerpt, Pariser talks about why he started his organization, and what he feels was the most pivotal political moment of the past decade.