Rolling Stone

Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by journalist Jann Wenner and jazz critic and columnist Ralph J. Gleason. Wenner and Gleason saw music as the center of a broader movement that combined politics, art, and social commentary, and they wanted to cover it with the same rigor as traditional reporting. Published biweekly on newsprint, Rolling Stone positioned itself between the underground press and mainstream media, combining accessible language with editorial discipline to speak directly to a new generation of readers.

The February 1, 1969 issue featured Computer Soul, an article by art critic Thomas Albright. Published in the Visuals section, the piece examined computer art at a time when the field was still largely unknown to the public. Albright discussed the 1968 exhibition Cybernetic Serendipity at London’s Institute of Contemporary Arts and The Machine as Seen at the End of the Mechanical Age at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, noting their presentation of works created through collaboration between artists and engineers. He described this new kind of art as a product of the electronic age rather than the mechanical one, highlighting how computers were beginning to serve as tools for image-making and creative research.

Illustrated with examples of early computer-generated graphics, Computer Soul was among the first articles in a major American publication to address digital art. Its inclusion in Rolling Stone reflected the magazine’s broader focus on the cultural changes shaping its generation, where music, media, and technology increasingly intersected.