Only the Panties Endure
Adam Sternbergh: “There, on the cover, is Britney, a star whose made her career by teasingly peeling away her clothes while also occasionally singing. On Rolling Stone, she's down to her panties. Flip the magazine open and you'll find she's got those tugged half-off as well. America's reigning pop princess is now serving herself up to the nation like a truck stop breakfast: greasy and over easy."”
The article then compares Spears to Courtney Love—yes, that Courtney Love—and rejects the oft-made comparison of Spears to Madonna.
At the end of the article, this quote: “If you pick up the current Rolling Stone, an insert card might flutter to the ground, one we can take for an omen. It's a Rolling Stone subscription card, bearing a photo of the cover from last year's Hot List issue. The cover girl? Jennifer Love Hewitt, also sprawled out in her underwear. When's the last time you thought about her? The hot girls, it seems, are stale-dated. Only the panties endure.”
