Rolling Stone cover is in 3-D

The cover of Rolling Stone magazine has been coveted, mocked, debated and even sung about (remember the tongue-in-cheek 1970s hit “The Cover of the Rolling Stone,” penned by Shel Silverstein and performed by Dr. Hook?), but with the issue now on stands, it takes on a whole new dimension: It’s 3-D.

For the 1,000th issue of Rolling Stone, 2 million copies were printed with a detachable, hard-plastic cover that gives you the illusion of depth and, if you stare at it too long, a bit of a headache.

The image on the cover is inspired by the collage-crowd featured in the album art for “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band,” and it brings together more than 150 notable faces, among them the expected one-name music stars (Elvis, Madonna, Bono, Prince), world leaders (Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton, Nelson Mandela), heroes of counter-culture (William S. Burroughs, Allen Ginsberg, LSD inventor Albert Hoffman), two professional athletes (Muhammad Ali and Michael Jordan), a few aliens (Darth Vader, E.T., Mork) and some cartoon characters (Bart Simpson, Waldo and Kenny of “South Park”).

Only one person appears twice: John Lennon, once in his Fab Four era, the other in his 1970s mode and standing with Yoko Ono. That’s fitting considering Lennon was the face on the first issue of Rolling Stone, in November 1967.

How much has changed since then? The new issue also has a 3-D back cover: It’s an ad for Target.

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-- Geoff Boucher