Jann Wenner, the founder of Rolling Stone magazine, has now found himself in hotdog water after an interview with New York Times writer David Marchese, where he revealed that the reason he did not include Black or female artists in his book is because they were not in his “zeitgeist,” and he did not feel that female artists were “articulate enough on this intellectual level.”
This is the most stunning admission of covert racism and sexism I’ve ever heard captured on audio.
— Renee (@PettyLupone) September 16, 2023
Jann Wenner is the founder of Rolling Stone.
That he didn’t find artists like Joni Mitchell or Stevie Wonder “articulate” enough to consider them masters is actually insane. 🔊 pic.twitter.com/JxylEm5PSs
The book The Masters: Conversations with Dylan, Lennon, Jagger, Townshend, Garcia, Bono, and Springsteen chronicles conversations with seven white guys whom he considers the greats. It is important to note that up until the NYT article ran, Wenner was on the board of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. His comments—although awful—should come as little surprise because he previously had been accused of showing preferential treatment in rankings, interviews and even induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, which he helped found in 1983. I find this particularly interesting, seeing as how Wenner named his magazine after a song by Muddy Waters, a Black blues musician. Bob Dylan, the first person named in the title of Wenner’s book, also covered a song by Muddy Waters and Mick Jagger—the third—named his entire band after one of Muddy Waters’ songs. When it comes to John Lennon, Bruce Springsteen, Bono, Jerry Garcia, and Pete Townshend, most of them cite Black musical influences. Coincidentally, in a Rolling Stone magazine interview, when Bono discussed Kanye West’s song, “Black Skinhead,” he stated that “it felt like hip-hop wanted its Black leather jacket back from rock ‘n’ roll.”
A 77-year-old white man finding all of these artists as his favorites is not remotely shocking, but the erasure, thinly veiled racism and misogyny is wild, especially in an industry where when it comes to Black and female artists, they are often driving the culture of music while being the least compensated. Presently, rock ‘n’ roll is absolutely a genre with mostly white musicians but its history is a bit darker, literally.
Rolling Stone founder Jann Wenner has been removed from the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame board b/c he called Black and female artists "not articulate enough" to be in his book about Rock & Roll.😐
— Qasim Rashid, Esq. (@QasimRashid) September 16, 2023
Meanwhile, Black people literally invented Rock & Roll.https://t.co/x9XxdAJyMy
Started in the 1940s and 1950s, rock ‘n’ roll was a mélange of gospel, blues, country, jazz, r&b and boogie-woogie. While Black musicians started the genre, once white people got a hold of it, many Black artists were left out of the emerging media presence that was the television. White musicians like Elvis Presley were now making music that had been popularized by Black musicians and they became commercial successes, while Black musicians were often making substantially less than those who were simply managing their careers.
Wenner, knowing this and continuing to deny the source while still satisfying his thirst downstream, is intellectually dishonest at the very least.
In the 1990s, Rolling Stone lost some of its momentum when it was slow to cover the grunge and alternative era, the same era that saw white female musicians like Fiona Apple and Alanis Morrisette, who were just as popular and celebrated (if not more) as their male counterparts. While I would not expect someone who was old enough to be their father to understand their music, to say that they were not intellectual enough is much more an indictment of his intellect than theirs. When we analyze the stereotype of a genius outside the genre of music, the mind usually drifts to a white man. An Einstein. An Oppenheimer. A Newton. A Tesla. A Hawking. A Mozart. A DaVinci; so, it is not a far cry to think that another white man would believe that being white and male are also part of the criteria for being a musical genius.
The irony of Rolling Stone co-founder Jann Wenner dismissing Black and female artists when he got the name of his magazine from a Muddy Waters song and the rock-n-roll genre he loves so much was created by Sister Rosetta Tharpe—a Black woman. pic.twitter.com/m1Z0FsTuTt
— Jenee Darden (@CocoaFly) September 16, 2023
Rolling Stone magazine profited from Black music, even in the title.
Every single issue published was an homage to Black genius. Those same white men who he fawned over got their inspiration from the same Blackness that was not allowed to exist in the same spaces, and you would think someone who chronicled music for the last 50 years would know that. I hope Wenner’s book doesn’t do well. I hope his myopia serves as a reminder that his tastes are not what sets trends and denying the intellectual contributions of Black and female artists isn’t very Rock ‘n’ Roll of him.
In light of Jann Wenner torching his legacy by declaring that women and Black artists are not articulate enough to be on the level of "Masters" (which, dogwhistle), here's a video of Sister Rosetta Tharpe, arguably the inventor of rock and roll. https://t.co/PjBrlHPnE0
— The Theater Lovers | Will & Rachael (@theater_lovers) September 17, 2023
