In late 1967, Jann Wenner, a 21-year-old Berkeley dropout living in San Francisco, published the first issue of Rolling Stone. He envisioned the magazine as a chronicle of the growing rock & roll scene, a publication of record for the artists he and his generation loved: the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, Janis Joplin, the Grateful Dead. Over the next five decades, Rolling Stone writers interviewed the stars of every era, from David Bowie and Rod Stewart, to Michael Jackson and Madonna, to Nirvana and Beastie Boys.

But it wasn’t just the revealing interviews that kept the readers coming back – to accompany each story, the magazine featured stunning photography from masters like Annie Leibovitz and Mark Seliger. As part of the magazine’s 50th anniversary, Abrams Books has compiled some of the best work into a decade-by-decade book, looking back on the best articles, the best artists, the best scoops and the best shots from 1967 to 2017. Here, a look at some of the stunning work featured in the book.