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Elon Musk Wanted To Be In Rolling Stone - And Now He Is

Elon Musk Wanted To Be In Rolling Stone - And Now He Is

Can't fault the man for fulfilling a lifelong ambition, even if it took him over 18 years.

Chris Ogden

Chris Ogden

Elon Musk has long been at the very top of the tech game, but it's easy to forget that at one time he was an aspiring millionaire like everyone else. Well, no, still not quite like everyone else.

But, actually like everyone else, Musk had ambitions that hadn't yet been satisfied, as he outlined in a 1999 news segment about his growing success.

The time capsule interview, which found its way online in 2015, was recorded as part of CNN's ambitious Perspectives series, with CNN at the time calling it "its most ambitious weekly documentary series ever".

The video features Musk in his late 20s, just as he had sold the newspaper content management system Zip 2 for a cool $307 million (£232 million), along with his first wife Justine.

There are a few oddities about Musk in the video which look very strange to us watching it now: the unfashionable tan-blazer, his enthusiastic confidence, compared to his now cautious attitude discussing new Tesla cars or his ambitious SpaceX program.

What's particularly interesting about the video comes at the end of the segment when Musk is asked whether he'd be satisfied with being on the front cover of Fortune or Forbes, two very reputable business magazines.

His answer is quite surprising: "I'd like to be on the cover of Rolling Stone, that'd be cool," Musk replied. Elon Musk, wanting an alternate career as a rock star there.

Like most print magazines, Rolling Stone's star has fallen somewhat since its youth-focused 90s heyday but it is still known for being a sound authority on pop culture.

So it's particularly cool to see that this past week, Musk finally got his wish to be on the front cover of the rocking magazine, over 18 years on from that dated interview:

Credit: Rolling Stone

Neil Strauss's cover story calls Musk the "Architect of Tomorrow". It's apparently a fascinating insight into the entrepreneur's life, if you're into reading that kind of thing.

"I try to do useful things," Musk is quoted as saying. "That's a nice aspiration. And useful means it is of value to the rest of society. Are they useful things that work and make people's lives better, make the future seem better, and actually are better, too? I think we should try to make the future better."

It just goes to show: what Elon Musk wants, he eventually gets.

Source: Inverse

Featured Image Credit: PA

Topics: Science, tesla, elon musk, Celebrity, Documentaries, SpaceX, Technology