Rolling Stone's cover photo of Tsarnaev provoked upheaval for glorifying terrorism. The magazine defended its cover page, saying a profile of Tsarnaev was best suited for its commitment to serious and thoughtful coverage of the most important political and cultural issues of day.

And the cover of the issue, which comes out tomorrow (July 19), features the familiar self-shot photo of Tsarnaev that turned up everywhere after the bombing on April 15. From news outlets and outraged readers to the mayor of Boston and even artists whom the magazine has written about, it seems everyone has an opinion on the controversial cover. And most of those opinions seem to lean toward outrage.

For example, Motley Crue bassist Nikki Sixx asks in a Facebook post, "Why put him on the cover of a supposed music-oriented magazine? You treat him with the same honour as those of us who have made the cover based on our craft?" Poison frontman Bret Michaels, speaking to our own 96.5 the Fox in Bismarck, N.D., agreed, stating "I don't know why we would ever, ever, EVER wanna give these guys any credit or make them even remotely infamous."

It added that many of its readers are in the same age group as the bombing suspect, and it was important for the publication to explore the issue. With controversy swirling over the latest Rolling Stone cover - it features Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev and teases how he "became a monster" - the magazine has come out with an online statement.

As an editor's note to the Web version of the story, Rolling Stone writes:

"Our hearts go out to the victims of the Boston Marathon bombing, and our thoughts are always with them and their families. The cover story we are publishing this week falls within the traditions of journalism and Rolling Stone's long-standing commitment to serious and thoughtful coverage of the most important political and cultural issues of our day. "

It continues:

"The fact that Dzhokhar Tsarnaev is young, and in the same age group as many of our readers, makes it all the more important for us to examine the complexities of this issue and gain a more complete understanding of how a tragedy like this happens."

Along with harsh criticism from those who feel the cover story is inappropriate, CVS has announced a boycott of the issue. The chain says it will not sell the August edition of Rolling Stone "out of respect for the victims of the attack and their loved ones."

In a statement on the top of the story, the magazine's editors said their 'hearts go out to the victims of the Boston Marathon bombing'. According to the BBC, the mayor of Boston, Thomas Menino, said the magazine's cover 'rewards a terrorist with celebrity treatment'.

A number of US retail chains have announced they will not stock the edition.

Janet Reitman, Rolling Stone's contributing editor, spent two months interviewing Tsarnaev's friends and family for the forthcoming issue's article.