On the cover of Rolling Stone

Bruce Springsteen appeared on the August 24, 1978 cover of Rolling Stone magazine. He was 28, and had finally made it. Pop stars are routinely baptized as such on the iconic cover of the magazine. Britney Spears made her first appearance at the experienced age of 17. In 1971, 11 year-old Michael Jackson appeared under a provocative question about how late his bedtime was. As rock legends die of various excesses, the Rolling Stone cover treatment has become a valediction and validation. John Lennon appeared on the first cover in 1967 when he was 26, and posed for the famous Annie Liebovitz cover on the day he died at age 40.

So Lonesome I Could Cry

On August 15, 1952, Hank Williams bought the baby blue Cadillac he'd eventually die in. On August 16, “Jambalaya” hit #1. On August 17, he was jailed for public drunkenness in Alexander City, Alabama, where he was vacationing. He was 28. Williams appears seven times in A Book of Ages.