NEW YORK – Jann Wenner, who based Rolling Stone mag and used to be a co-founder of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, has been removed from the corridor’s board of administrators after making comments that had been observed as denigrating Black and feminine musicians.
“Jann Wenner has been removed from the Board of Directors of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Foundation,” the corridor mentioned Saturday, an afternoon after Wenner’s comments had been printed in a New York Times interview.
A consultant for Wenner, 77, didn’t in an instant reply for a remark.
Wenner created a firestorm doing exposure for his new ebook “The Masters,” which options interviews with musicians Bob Dylan, Jerry Garcia, Mick Jagger, John Lennon, Bruce Springsteen, Pete Townshend and U2’s Bono — all white and male.
Asked why he did not interview ladies or Black musicians, Wenner spoke back: “It’s not that they’re inarticulate, although, go have a deep conversation with Grace Slick or Janis Joplin. Please, be my guest. You know, Joni (Mitchell) was not a philosopher of rock ’n’ roll. She didn’t, in my mind, meet that test,” he advised the Times.
“Of Black artists — you know, Stevie Wonder, genius, right? I suppose when you use a word as broad as ‘masters,’ the fault is using that word. Maybe Marvin Gaye, or Curtis Mayfield? I mean, they just didn’t articulate at that level,” Wenner said.
Wenner founded Rolling Stone in 1967 and served as its editor or editorial director until 2019. He co-founded the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, which was launched in 1987.
In the interview, Wenner gave the impression to recognize he would face a backlash. “Just for public relations sake, maybe I should have gone and found one Black and one woman artist to include here that didn’t measure up to that same historical standard, just to avert this kind of criticism.”
Last year, Rolling Stone magazine published its 500 Greatest Albums of All Time and ranked Gaye’s “What’s Going On” No. 1, “Blue” by way of Mitchell at No. 3, Wonder’s “Songs in the Key of Life” at No. 4, “Purple Rain” by way of Prince and the Revolution at No. 8 and Ms. Lauryn Hill’s “The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill” at No. 10.
Rolling Stone’s area of interest in magazines used to be an outgrowth of Wenner’s oversized pursuits, a mix of authoritative tune and cultural protection with tricky investigative reporting.
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Mark Kennedy is at http://twitter.com/KennedyTwits