Jann Wenner, who co-founded Rolling Stone magazine and also was a co-founder of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, has been removed from the hall’s board of directors after making comments that were seen as disparaging toward Black and female musicians
I saw the headline and was like, “so what’d he say? Was it really outrageous, like antisemitic stuff? Or something vague but problematic?”
And he’s just like, “Well, I just want to go on the record as saying that I have a strong unexamined bias against the cultural contributions of people who don’t look like me. And even though I know this is outdated, stupid, sand definitely outside the bounds of what I can say without consequences, I do not respect women or black people. Next question?”
I’m now bewildered but how stupid he is than his poor judgements.
Wenner seemed to acknowledge 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."
It is especially bizarre considering Rolling Stone is named after a song written by a black person (and a person who definitely meets the definition of a “master” in his book).
If you mean the song Like a Rolling Stone, that was written by Bob Dylan, who is white. Otherwise, I’m not sure what song you’re thinking of, but I am pretty sure that’s the song the magazine was named after.
You’re probably wondering what we’re trying to do. It’s hard to say: sort of a magazine and sort of a newspaper. The name of it is Rolling Stone which comes from an old saying, “A rolling stone gathers no moss.” Muddy Waters used the name for a song he wrote. The Rolling Stones took their name from Muddy’s song. Like a Rolling Stone was the title of Bob Dylan’s first rock and roll record. We have begun a new publication reflecting what we see are the changes in rock and roll and the changes related to rock and roll.
Rock has its roots and foundation in Delta Blues. Which would be the environment that helped influence and shape later known Chicago bluesmen such as Muddy Waters. Without the contributions of the black artists from the Mississippi Delta you would not have any of the music we currently enjoy today.
I saw the headline and was like, “so what’d he say? Was it really outrageous, like antisemitic stuff? Or something vague but problematic?”
And he’s just like, “Well, I just want to go on the record as saying that I have a strong unexamined bias against the cultural contributions of people who don’t look like me. And even though I know this is outdated, stupid, sand definitely outside the bounds of what I can say without consequences, I do not respect women or black people. Next question?”
I’m now bewildered but how stupid he is than his poor judgements.
This guy…
It is especially bizarre considering Rolling Stone is named after a song written by a black person (and a person who definitely meets the definition of a “master” in his book).
If you mean the song Like a Rolling Stone, that was written by Bob Dylan, who is white. Otherwise, I’m not sure what song you’re thinking of, but I am pretty sure that’s the song the magazine was named after.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rolling_Stone#1967_to_1979:_Founding_and_early_history
Ok, fair enough. I didn’t think it would be named after a song that someone who predated rock by decades wrote.
The song is from 1950. Johnny B. Goode came out in 1957. Muddy Waters died in 1983.
Rock has its roots and foundation in Delta Blues. Which would be the environment that helped influence and shape later known Chicago bluesmen such as Muddy Waters. Without the contributions of the black artists from the Mississippi Delta you would not have any of the music we currently enjoy today.
There’s no way this is the first time he’s said shit like this, it’s just the first time anyone cared.