![](\"https:\/\/www.celebitchy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/coverimages52960642.jpg\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Jann Wenner is the co-founder of Rolling Stone magazine and he was deeply involved with music journalism and music criticism for decades. He was also the co-founder of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Late last week, the NY Times published an interview with Wenner as he promotes his memoir, Like a Rolling Stone.<\/em> In the memoir, he focuses on his view of the \u201cmasters\u201d of rock, and those are seven white guys. The Times called him out on that, questioning why he wouldn\u2019t even mention the contributions of Black artists or female artists as music masters. Here\u2019s that section:<\/p>\n NYT: History will speak. This is also a history-will-speak kind of question. There are seven subjects in the new book; seven white guys. In the introduction, you acknowledge that performers of color and women performers are just not in your zeitgeist. Which to my mind is not plausible for Jann Wenner. Janis Joplin, Joni Mitchell, Stevie Nicks, Stevie Wonder, the list keeps going \u2014 not in your zeitgeist? What do you think is the deeper explanation for why you interviewed the subjects you interviewed and not other subjects?<\/p>\n JW:<\/strong> Well, let me just. \u2026<\/p>\n NYT: Carole King, Madonna. There are a million examples.<\/strong><\/p>\n When I was referring to the zeitgeist, I was referring to Black performers, not to the female performers, OK? Just to get that accurate. The selection was not a deliberate selection. It was kind of intuitive over the years; it just fell together that way. The people had to meet a couple criteria, but it was just kind of my personal interest and love of them. Insofar as the women, just none of them were as articulate enough on this intellectual level.<\/p>\n NYT: Oh, stop it. You\u2019re telling me Joni Mitchell is not articulate enough on an intellectual level?<\/strong><\/p>\n Hold on a second.<\/p>\n NYT: I\u2019ll let you rephrase that.<\/strong><\/p>\n All right, thank you. It\u2019s not that they\u2019re not creative geniuses. It\u2019s not that they\u2019re inarticulate, although, go have a deep conversation with Grace Slick or Janis Joplin. Please, be my guest. You know, Joni was not a philosopher of rock \u2019n\u2019 roll. She didn\u2019t, in my mind, meet that test. Not by her work, not by other interviews she did. The people I interviewed were the kind of philosophers of rock. Of Black artists \u2014 you know, Stevie Wonder, genius, right? I suppose when you use a word as broad as \u201cmasters,\u201d the fault is using that word. Maybe Marvin Gaye, or Curtis Mayfield? I mean, they just didn\u2019t articulate at that level.<\/p>\n NYT: How do you know if you didn\u2019t give them a chance?<\/strong><\/p>\n Because I read interviews with them. I listen to their music. I mean, look at what Pete Townshend was writing about, or Jagger, or any of them. They were deep things about a particular generation, a particular spirit and a particular attitude about rock \u2019n\u2019 roll. Not that the others weren\u2019t, but these were the ones that could really articulate it.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n [From The NYT]<\/p>\n Ah, you see, he\u2019s not racist or sexist, it\u2019s just that Black artists and female artists aren’t articulate enough, that\u2019s all. This is all a huge f–king mess and it exploded the second the Times published the piece. By Sunday, Wenner was removed from the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Foundation\u2019s board, and hours later, Wenner issued an apology:<\/p>\n Wenner issued an apology through his publisher Little, Brown and Company, saying \u201cIn my interview with The New York Times I made comments that diminished the contributions, genius and impact of Black and women artists and I apologize wholeheartedly for those remarks. \u2018The Masters\u2019 is a collection of interviews I\u2019ve done over the years,\u201d he continued, \u201cthat seemed to me to best represent an idea of rock \u2019n\u2019 roll\u2019s impact on my world; they were not meant to represent the whole of music and its diverse and important originators but to reflect the high points of my career and interviews I felt illustrated the breadth and experience in that career. They don\u2019t reflect my appreciation and admiration for myriad totemic, world-changing artists whose music and ideas I revere and will celebrate and promote as long as I live. I totally understand the inflammatory nature of badly chosen words and deeply apologize and accept the consequences.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n [From Variety]<\/p>\n Someone pointed out (correctly) that the white artists Jann Wenner considers the rock and roll \u201cmasters\u201d all grew up worshiping Black artists like James Brown, Little Richard, Chuck Berry, Stevie Wonder, Lead Belly, Ray Charles, BB King, Muddy Waters and Aretha Franklin. Anyway, I have no idea why he even apologized since he really feels like Black and female artists aren\u2019t articulate.<\/p>\n Photos courtesy of Cover Images.<\/small><\/p>\n\n
\n
![](\"https:\/\/www.celebitchy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/coverimages49061957.jpg\")
<\/p>\n