Jann Wenner's opinions finally get him kicked off the RRHOF board

[blueschica]

Jann Wenner, of course, is the co founder of Rolling Stone magazine. (His then wife's family supplied the money and co founder Ralph J Gleason, a jazz guy, supplied the excellent writing and editorial skills until he died eight years later.) Anyway, Wenner has just published a book, The Masters, containing interviews with some rock folk. How and why he selected people has gotten him in trouble. No love lost here. He's had some book events cancelled too. Fingers crossed Geddy's new book sells 100,000x this.

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/music-news/jann-wenner-rock-roll-hall-of-fame-black-female-musicians-comments-1235592239/

Edited September 17, 2023 by blueschica

[BastillePark]

My wife and I were just talking today about this asshole. It's taken too long for this to happen but I'm glad it finally did. 

[Timbale]

I was gobsmacked by that NYT interview.  Not by his opinions, necessarily (it does not surprise me that he is a bigoted guy) but that he seemed totally unprepared for the question...and just kept shooting himself in the foot.  Epic-level stupidity. 

[grep]

Who?

[Principled Man]

The best way to get a no-class, dishonorable man to go away is to let him talk all he wants. 

 

Sooner or later, he will hang himself with his own words.      

[BigMontanaSKY]

Funny confession- I read Rolling Stone for a long time. Someone gifted me a subscription.

 

That being said, RS was there to market "sure bet" musical acts, and publish some decent articles on topics people should have been interested in.

 

Wenner needs to retire on his pile of money and go volunteer at a petting zoo or something. Just my 2 cents.....

[JohnRogers]

12 hours ago, blueschica said:

Jann Wenner, of course, is the co founder of Rolling Stone magazine. (His then wife's family supplied the money and co founder Ralph J Gleason, a jazz guy, supplied the excellent writing and editorial skills until he died eight years later.) Anyway, Wenner has just published a book, The Masters, containing interviews with some rock folk. How and why he selected people has gotten him in trouble. No love lost here. He's had some book events cancelled too. Fingers crossed Geddy's new book sells 100,000x this.

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/music-news/jann-wenner-rock-roll-hall-of-fame-black-female-musicians-comments-1235592239/

I really knew nothing about this guy till the AM news report. Rolling Stone was something I barely read or clicked on. Wenner sounds like an out of touch maga-douche. There is a way to answer the question with out sounding like a bigot. An articulate deep thinker would know that.

 

Quote

Maybe I’m old-fashioned and I don’t give a [expletive] or whatever.

Then don't apologize. I really loath the fake, forced, apology.

[invisible airwave]

7 hours ago, BigMontanaSKY said:

Funny confession- I read Rolling Stone for a long time. Someone gifted me a subscription.

 

That being said, RS was there to market "sure bet" musical acts, and publish some decent articles on topics people should have been interested in.

 

Wenner needs to retire on his pile of money and go volunteer at a petting zoo or something. Just my 2 cents.....

I would not be surprised if he decided to follow up the Rush cover with Kartrashian on the next issue.  Good riddance.

[Principled Man]

I've always thought that Jann Wenner is a dooshbag.

 

I've always disliked Jan Hammer's music and that stupid "keytar" he always plays.   

 

Coincidence?  I think NOT!  There is something suspicious going on.....    

[HemiBeers]

On 9/17/2023 at 6:27 PM, Principled Man said:

I've always thought that Jann Wenner is a dooshbag.

 

I've always disliked Jan Hammer's music and that stupid "keytar" he always plays.   

 

Coincidence?  I think NOT!  There is something suspicious going on.....    

but Jan Smithers was a hotty back in the day....

 

https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0810453/

[Principled Man]

1 hour ago, HemiBeers said:

but Jan Smithers was a hotty back in the day....

 

https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0810453/

Bailey Quarters was 1000x hotter than Jennifer.  

[Timbale]

Two things continue to fascinate me about this story, one fairly trivial, and one more fundamental.

 

The part that is funny to me is that after having run the most important music magazine ever for at least 40 years, dealing with very famous musicians who are releasing albums, film stars releasing films etc.… Jann Wenner seemingly has completely no idea how to get a media story straight before doing an interview. The fact that he was unprepared to have that conversation, and to not think in 2023 that an interviewer might ask about the fact he was featuring 7 straight, white dudes, was hilariously shocking to me. All he had to say was these are seven of my favourite musicians talking about Rock 'n' roll, and their perspective speaks to me, and I'm excited to share it with you. To see someone that involved with media fumble an interview that badly is amazing.

 

But the more important and more troubling aspect of that interview is that it shows how his biases may very well have compromised the coverage that certain artists received from a (at the time) very important and influential publication. As Rush fans, we know a tiny little bit about that. It is no secret that Wenner disliked Rush, and clearly his taste affected the coverage, or more accurately, the lack of coverage that the band received from the magazine. And that was a band made up of three straight, white males. Wenner's absurd opinion that black musicians and female musicians do not have insight into music itself clearly must have impacted who got coverage and who didn't. Again, the influence of Rolling Stone in the 70s and 80s cannot be understated… And to think of his role as a cultural gatekeeper when he held views like that is super problematic.

Edited September 20, 2023 by Timbale

[BigMontanaSKY]

18 hours ago, Timbale said:

Two things continue to fascinate me about this story, one fairly trivial, and one more fundamental.

 

The part that is funny to me is that after having run the most important music magazine ever for at least 40 years, dealing with very famous musicians who are releasing albums, film stars releasing films etc.… Jann Wenner seemingly has completely no idea how to get a media story straight before doing an interview. The fact that he was unprepared to have that conversation, and to not think in 2023 that an interviewer might ask about the fact he was featuring 7 straight, white dudes, was hilariously shocking to me. All he had to say was these are seven of my favourite musicians talking about Rock 'n' roll, and their perspective speaks to me, and I'm excited to share it with you. To see someone that involved with media fumble an interview that badly is amazing.

 

But the more important and more troubling aspect of that interview is that it shows how his biases may very well have compromised the coverage that certain artists received from a (at the time) very important and influential publication. As Rush fans, we know a tiny little bit about that. It is no secret that Wenner disliked Rush, and clearly his taste affected the coverage, or more accurately, the lack of coverage that the band received from the magazine. And that was a band made up of three straight, white males. Wenner's absurd opinion that black musicians and female musicians do not have insight into music itself clearly must have impacted who got coverage and who didn't. Again, the influence of Rolling Stone in the 70s and 80s cannot be understated… And to think of his role as a cultural gatekeeper when he held views like that is super problematic.

Unfortunately, institutionalized racism will always exist.

[grep]

2 hours ago, BigMontanaSKY said:

Unfortunately, institutionalized racism will always exist.

Well, we can hope that as the old racists die off that the institution will crumble. 

[1-0-0-1-0-0-1]

On 9/20/2023 at 3:22 PM, Timbale said:

It is no secret that Wenner disliked Rush, and clearly his taste affected the coverage, or more accurately, the lack of coverage that the band received from the magazine. And that was a band made up of three straight, white males.

 

Wenner fancied himself an intellectual, and liked to bump elbows with influential (white male) musicians whom he also saw as intellectual in order to validate himself. Ironically enough, Geddy, Alex and Neil are/were clearly intellectual (without trying to be) who happen to be white men who wrote intellectual music. You'd think they'd be right up Wenner's alley, but I guess he saw them as math rock nerds and not cool like Springsteen and Jagger.

 

Wenner is a nobody, a smug and bigoted pseudo-intellectual fraud.

[Principled Man]

1 minute ago, 1-0-0-1-0-0-1 said:

Wenner is a nobody, a smug and bigoted pseudo-intellectual fraud.

 

Oh-oh, yes I'm the great pretender

Pretending that I'm doing well

My need is such I pretend too much

I'm lonely and you all can tell

[ozzy85]

On 9/21/2023 at 1:21 PM, 1-0-0-1-0-0-1 said:

 

Wenner fancied himself an intellectual, and liked to bump elbows with influential (white male) musicians whom he also saw as intellectual in order to validate himself. Ironically enough, Geddy, Alex and Neil are/were clearly intellectual (without trying to be) who happen to be white men who wrote intellectual music. You'd think they'd be right up Wenner's alley, but I guess he saw them as math rock nerds and not cool like Springsteen and Jagger.

 

Wenner is a nobody, a smug and bigoted pseudo-intellectual fraud.

Rolling Stone back then did not like heavy metal or hard rock when it came out. Rush got a slagging in the press, as well as Led Zepplin, Black Sabbath, Grand Funk Railroad etc. It was all lumped in as dumb music your long haired little brother would like. Read some of Christgau's record reviews. Same thing, mostly. Seems like a lot of "real" hippies thought music peaked in 1967-69 and not much else matters. Even Rush was too populist for them.

[BigMontanaSKY]

I'm just going to come out and say it- rock and roll started with black Americans, and progressed to seem inclusive, but some music scenes are not.

 

IMO no one has really pointed out Wenner's faulty views, so he's been happy to hold on to them.

 

This is exactly why rap music blew up like it did- on it's own terms, mostly financed independently. I remember people being disgusted by Public Enemy and NWA. 

 

On a sad note, a LOT of musicians who matured in the 1960-70s experience some terrible treatment from record companies. Artists don't tend to look at the financial long term of being an artist for a living.

 

 

[treeduck]

On 9/17/2023 at 1:59 AM, blueschica said:

Jann Wenner, of course, is the co founder of Rolling Stone magazine. (His then wife's family supplied the money and co founder Ralph J Gleason, a jazz guy, supplied the excellent writing and editorial skills until he died eight years later.) Anyway, Wenner has just published a book, The Masters, containing interviews with some rock folk. How and why he selected people has gotten him in trouble. No love lost here. He's had some book events cancelled too. Fingers crossed Geddy's new book sells 100,000x this.

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/music-news/jann-wenner-rock-roll-hall-of-fame-black-female-musicians-comments-1235592239/

[ozzy85]

On 9/26/2023 at 9:06 AM, BigMontanaSKY said:

I'm just going to come out and say it- rock and roll started with black Americans, and progressed to seem inclusive, but some music scenes are not.

 

IMO no one has really pointed out Wenner's faulty views, so he's been happy to hold on to them.

 

This is exactly why rap music blew up like it did- on it's own terms, mostly financed independently. I remember people being disgusted by Public Enemy and NWA. 

 

On a sad note, a LOT of musicians who matured in the 1960-70s experience some terrible treatment from record companies. Artists don't tend to look at the financial long term of being an artist for a living.

 

 

Agreed. Take look at Carlos Santana. Fantastic long career. Learned his playing style based on the blues. Multiracial band . Articulate . Came up during the rise of Rolling Stain. would call him a master.

[BigMontanaSKY]

2 hours ago, ozzy85 said:

Agreed. Take look at Carlos Santana. Fantastic long career. Learned his playing style based on the blues. Multiracial band . Articulate . Came up during the rise of Rolling Stain. would call him a master.

lol @ Rolling Stain

 

Side note- Bill Graham apparently gave Carlos a huge boost career-wise, since he recognized his raw talent and potential.

 

Also- Carlos Santana put out some great live albums. Anyone wishing to get a taste for what was coming out of that scene in the 1970s would be smart to pick up those albums in whichever medium that suits them (digital or record store.)

 

Back on topic, IMO Wenner became like Lorne Michaels, and stopped thinking outside of the box. (Aside from his obvious bigoted thought processes.) People get comfortable or stagnant and they stop changing and growing.......