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Like a Rolling Stone
In this New York Times bestseller, Rolling Stone founder, co-editor, and publisher Jann Wenner offers a "touchingly honest" and "wonderfully deep" memoir from the beating heart of classic rock and roll (Bruce Springsteen). Jann Wenner has been called by his peers “the greatest editor of his generation.”
His deeply personal memoir vividly describes and brings you inside the music, the politics, and the lifestyle of a generation, an epoch of cultural change that swept America and beyond. The age of rock and roll in an era of consequence, what will be considered one of the great watersheds in modern history. Wenner writes with the clarity of a journalist and an essayist. He takes us into the life and work of Bob Dylan, John Lennon, Mick Jagger, Bono, and Bruce Springsteen, to name a few. He was instrumental in the careers of Hunter S. Thompson, Tom Wolfe, and Annie Leibovitz. His journey took him to the Oval Office with his legendary interviews with Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, leaders to whom Rolling Stone gave its historic, full-throated backing. From Jerry Garcia to the Dalai Lama, Aretha Franklin to Greta Thunberg, the people Wenner chose to be seen and heard in the pages of Rolling Stone tried to change American culture, values, and morality.
Like a Rolling Stone is a beautifully written portrait of one man’s life, and the life of his generation.
His deeply personal memoir vividly describes and brings you inside the music, the politics, and the lifestyle of a generation, an epoch of cultural change that swept America and beyond. The age of rock and roll in an era of consequence, what will be considered one of the great watersheds in modern history. Wenner writes with the clarity of a journalist and an essayist. He takes us into the life and work of Bob Dylan, John Lennon, Mick Jagger, Bono, and Bruce Springsteen, to name a few. He was instrumental in the careers of Hunter S. Thompson, Tom Wolfe, and Annie Leibovitz. His journey took him to the Oval Office with his legendary interviews with Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, leaders to whom Rolling Stone gave its historic, full-throated backing. From Jerry Garcia to the Dalai Lama, Aretha Franklin to Greta Thunberg, the people Wenner chose to be seen and heard in the pages of Rolling Stone tried to change American culture, values, and morality.
Like a Rolling Stone is a beautifully written portrait of one man’s life, and the life of his generation.
592 pages, Hardcover
Published September 13, 2022
About the author
Jann S. Wenner
389 books40 followersJann Simon Wenner is the co-founder and publisher of the music and politics bi-weekly Rolling Stone, as well as the owner of Men's Journal and Us Weekly magazines.
Wenner grew up in a secular Jewish family. His parents divorced in 1958, and he and his sisters, Kate and Merlyn, were sent to boarding schools to live. He graduated from high school at Chadwick School in 1963 and went on to attend the University of California at Berkeley. Before dropping out of Berkeley in 1966, Wenner was active in the Free Speech Movement and produced the column "Something's Happening" in the student-run newspaper, The Daily Californian. With the help of his mentor, San Francisco Chronicle jazz critic Ralph J. Gleason, Wenner landed a job at Ramparts, a high-circulation muckraker, where Gleason was a contributing editor and Wenner worked on the magazine's spinoff newspaper. In 1967, Wenner and Gleason founded Rolling Stone in San Francisco.
Wenner grew up in a secular Jewish family. His parents divorced in 1958, and he and his sisters, Kate and Merlyn, were sent to boarding schools to live. He graduated from high school at Chadwick School in 1963 and went on to attend the University of California at Berkeley. Before dropping out of Berkeley in 1966, Wenner was active in the Free Speech Movement and produced the column "Something's Happening" in the student-run newspaper, The Daily Californian. With the help of his mentor, San Francisco Chronicle jazz critic Ralph J. Gleason, Wenner landed a job at Ramparts, a high-circulation muckraker, where Gleason was a contributing editor and Wenner worked on the magazine's spinoff newspaper. In 1967, Wenner and Gleason founded Rolling Stone in San Francisco.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 347 reviews
September 28, 2022
This memoire was a little light on introspection, but I was a fan of Rolling Stone and I enjoyed the story of its early years. I wasn’t that interested in rock star interviews, but the magazine’s coverage of issues like gun control, AIDS, and the environment was impressive and led to multiple National Magazine Awards. The magazine was also a forum for some great writers.
There was a lot of name dropping in this book, but to be fair Wenner seems to have spent almost his entire life with famous people. There was some clunkiness in the presentation of the material. The transitions from one anecdote to another often did not flow well, but for the most part I found the book an entertaining trip down memory lane. Full disclosure, I’ve met Wenner several times (I am not included in the book.)
There was a lot of name dropping in this book, but to be fair Wenner seems to have spent almost his entire life with famous people. There was some clunkiness in the presentation of the material. The transitions from one anecdote to another often did not flow well, but for the most part I found the book an entertaining trip down memory lane. Full disclosure, I’ve met Wenner several times (I am not included in the book.)
July 30, 2022
This book reads like a blog diary. Just disappointing surface level through the amazing history of Rolling Stone through Wenners life. He also seems to just brag about famous wealthy people he was friends with and the things he acquired with money. He mentions great musicians and writers, so star for that. But v disappointed.
September 28, 2022
I'm tempted to give this one star, but that's unfair because it has redeeming qualities. The bad, however, vastly outweighs any of those, but I think that two stars is fair.
Here are some problems:
1) Of the 185,000 words in this book, about half are the names of his famous friends. The other half is mostly comprised of quotes by those famous friends tell Wenner how wonderful he is.
2) He comes across as a colossal a**hole. Now keep in mind that this book follows several commissioned biographies that he scuppered or tried to scupper because of how awful he appeared... Yeah. In this book, he comes across as a psychopath and this is him trying to be nice.
3) There are sooooooo many errors in the Hunter S. Thompson parts. Seriously. These are actually the only parts of the book that tend towards being well written and engaging, but they are riddled with factual mistakes.
4) As I alluded to there, it is horribly written. Or rather, it is horribly edited. Given that Wenner wants us to view him as the greatest editor of his generation, it is amazing that no one apparently bothered to edit this massive screed. It is huge and yet fragmentary. It feels in places like much was cut out with nothing then altered - missing references abound and the narrative (if there is one) jumps from random story to random story with no apparent reason other than showing how great Wenner was and how many rich friends he had.
On the other hand, he was an important man in the rock industry and he did understand and care for the music. He also had some role in dozens of pieces of mightily important journalism. Of course, he plays all this up and acts as though his writers and photographers had hardly anything to do with their own creations, but so it goes...
This is book is a work of ego, as most autobiographies are. It is mildly interesting, but I wouldn't recommend it. Go read Sticky Fingers by Joe Hagan. It's better and more accurate.
Here are some problems:
1) Of the 185,000 words in this book, about half are the names of his famous friends. The other half is mostly comprised of quotes by those famous friends tell Wenner how wonderful he is.
2) He comes across as a colossal a**hole. Now keep in mind that this book follows several commissioned biographies that he scuppered or tried to scupper because of how awful he appeared... Yeah. In this book, he comes across as a psychopath and this is him trying to be nice.
3) There are sooooooo many errors in the Hunter S. Thompson parts. Seriously. These are actually the only parts of the book that tend towards being well written and engaging, but they are riddled with factual mistakes.
4) As I alluded to there, it is horribly written. Or rather, it is horribly edited. Given that Wenner wants us to view him as the greatest editor of his generation, it is amazing that no one apparently bothered to edit this massive screed. It is huge and yet fragmentary. It feels in places like much was cut out with nothing then altered - missing references abound and the narrative (if there is one) jumps from random story to random story with no apparent reason other than showing how great Wenner was and how many rich friends he had.
On the other hand, he was an important man in the rock industry and he did understand and care for the music. He also had some role in dozens of pieces of mightily important journalism. Of course, he plays all this up and acts as though his writers and photographers had hardly anything to do with their own creations, but so it goes...
This is book is a work of ego, as most autobiographies are. It is mildly interesting, but I wouldn't recommend it. Go read Sticky Fingers by Joe Hagan. It's better and more accurate.
October 8, 2022
Reading Jann Wenner's memoir, "Like a Rolling Stone," was like taking a tour back in time to a happier, more soul-searching time in my life. I was a child of the seventies but when it came to music it was always rock and roll for my friends and I.
After playing hours of basketball late into the summer evenings, we would walk to the closest deli and buy cases of beer (Back in the Bronx they didn't ask for identification) and drop or smoke whatever illegal substance was available. We would sit on the benches right above the basketball courts, drink our beer, and listen to the music of Dylan, The Doors, The Who, The Beatles, The Stones, Elton John, Pink Floyd, etc. We would converse about the meanings of the lyrics, and more often than not we agreed. Rock and Roll was our anthem, and to this very day, 50 years later, it is still the dominant music force in my life.
Mr. Wenner's memoir is the history of his famous magazine "Rolling Stone," and whereas it was most certainly one of the major driving forces behind the music of rock and roll, it was a magazine that went beyond just the music, and won many awards for outstanding articles on politics, wasteful military spending, the issue of segregation, women's rights, climate change, sexuality, gun safety, etc.
In a sense, it was a magazine, under the leadership of Mr. Wenner, that one might want to compare to 1927 Yankees. He assembled an all-star staff...many of who started at the lowest levels and worked their way up, and Mr. Wenner is not shy in giving credit to the outstanding work that they did.
The memoir is full of the many famous people Mr. Wenner interviewed and who became lifelong friends, but the memoir shines brightest when he recalls the more extensive conversations and friendships he had with Jackie Kennedy Onassis, John Lennon and Yoko Ono, Mick Jagger, Bono, Bruce Springsteen, Michael Douglas, and Hunter Thompson.
Mr. Wenner mostly stays away from bad mouthing any one group or individual. He is at the core a conscientious reporter and editor, and his magazine and the causes he funded and supported is a legacy that will forever live on and yes, "Rock and Roll will never die." I highly recommend.
After playing hours of basketball late into the summer evenings, we would walk to the closest deli and buy cases of beer (Back in the Bronx they didn't ask for identification) and drop or smoke whatever illegal substance was available. We would sit on the benches right above the basketball courts, drink our beer, and listen to the music of Dylan, The Doors, The Who, The Beatles, The Stones, Elton John, Pink Floyd, etc. We would converse about the meanings of the lyrics, and more often than not we agreed. Rock and Roll was our anthem, and to this very day, 50 years later, it is still the dominant music force in my life.
Mr. Wenner's memoir is the history of his famous magazine "Rolling Stone," and whereas it was most certainly one of the major driving forces behind the music of rock and roll, it was a magazine that went beyond just the music, and won many awards for outstanding articles on politics, wasteful military spending, the issue of segregation, women's rights, climate change, sexuality, gun safety, etc.
In a sense, it was a magazine, under the leadership of Mr. Wenner, that one might want to compare to 1927 Yankees. He assembled an all-star staff...many of who started at the lowest levels and worked their way up, and Mr. Wenner is not shy in giving credit to the outstanding work that they did.
The memoir is full of the many famous people Mr. Wenner interviewed and who became lifelong friends, but the memoir shines brightest when he recalls the more extensive conversations and friendships he had with Jackie Kennedy Onassis, John Lennon and Yoko Ono, Mick Jagger, Bono, Bruce Springsteen, Michael Douglas, and Hunter Thompson.
Mr. Wenner mostly stays away from bad mouthing any one group or individual. He is at the core a conscientious reporter and editor, and his magazine and the causes he funded and supported is a legacy that will forever live on and yes, "Rock and Roll will never die." I highly recommend.
September 28, 2022
I opened this autobiography with a passing knowledge of Rolling Stone Magazine and no knowledge of Jann Wenner. I like to follow a person’s passion and their journey. Unfortunately this book falls completely short.
There’s lots of ego and not a lot of self-awareness. Wenner was raised in an extremely affluent environment, went to Cal Berkeley, took on the edgy revolutionary druggy persona, dropped out and somehow founded Rolling Stone. All of the critical details are muddled, memories lost in a drug-addled haze, but there are lots and lots of strong opinions.
His own words make him unlikeable. He touts his edginess but he really comes across as enabled, coddled, a groupie. His resume centers on the a-list people he knows, what Ivy League schools they attended, their summer residences, their yachts, their jets, their island retreats, their drugs, and where he got to go.
For being the publisher of such an edgy magazine I expected an open mind filled with wonder. Instead, he’s rigid in his views, exceedingly harsh to those he deems unworthy. It’s a bit scary that a major media player can gain such traction with such an entrenched, ego-centric, vindictive and unbendable mindset.
The first half of his book, particularly his early life, lacks focus. It’s as if he paged through old Rolling Stone covers to try to get any sense of what went on. He does mention Annie Leibovitz and Hunter Thompson a lot - but his asides work to belittle them. There are also many skip-jumps, all of a sudden things just happened. Again, I’ll put it down to foggy drug memories, or maybe the facts didn’t fit his narrative, but it doesn’t help the writing.
I almost gave up multiple times but slogged on with a morbid curiosity to see how he crafted every detail onto himself. He is totally unaware of how he exposes his insular world. And this was probably my most fascinating takeaway, the complete echo chamber of his lifestyle (and the piles of unintended irony).
The last half of the book does improve, maybe it’s because he can actually remember things, or maybe I was worn down and numb. The very final pages finally find some introspection. After 17 1/2 hours of audio book it’s so welcome but so late. As an editor, he desperately needed an editor.
There’s lots of ego and not a lot of self-awareness. Wenner was raised in an extremely affluent environment, went to Cal Berkeley, took on the edgy revolutionary druggy persona, dropped out and somehow founded Rolling Stone. All of the critical details are muddled, memories lost in a drug-addled haze, but there are lots and lots of strong opinions.
His own words make him unlikeable. He touts his edginess but he really comes across as enabled, coddled, a groupie. His resume centers on the a-list people he knows, what Ivy League schools they attended, their summer residences, their yachts, their jets, their island retreats, their drugs, and where he got to go.
For being the publisher of such an edgy magazine I expected an open mind filled with wonder. Instead, he’s rigid in his views, exceedingly harsh to those he deems unworthy. It’s a bit scary that a major media player can gain such traction with such an entrenched, ego-centric, vindictive and unbendable mindset.
The first half of his book, particularly his early life, lacks focus. It’s as if he paged through old Rolling Stone covers to try to get any sense of what went on. He does mention Annie Leibovitz and Hunter Thompson a lot - but his asides work to belittle them. There are also many skip-jumps, all of a sudden things just happened. Again, I’ll put it down to foggy drug memories, or maybe the facts didn’t fit his narrative, but it doesn’t help the writing.
I almost gave up multiple times but slogged on with a morbid curiosity to see how he crafted every detail onto himself. He is totally unaware of how he exposes his insular world. And this was probably my most fascinating takeaway, the complete echo chamber of his lifestyle (and the piles of unintended irony).
The last half of the book does improve, maybe it’s because he can actually remember things, or maybe I was worn down and numb. The very final pages finally find some introspection. After 17 1/2 hours of audio book it’s so welcome but so late. As an editor, he desperately needed an editor.
October 1, 2022
Why was this such a crappy book? I have two possible explanations:
1. Entitled rich kids grow up to be entitled magazine owners who are so full of themselves there is always a danger they may explode. Honest to God, he name drops at a level that would would give a normal human a hernia of biblical proportions.
2. He forgot the main reason people might be interested in this book. There is a telling moment when he gets to attend the first Allman Brothers concert and says not a word about it. Isn’t it weird that the music magazine founder drops this ball? There is a surprisingly small amount of music in this book, and Wenner is so unlikable that you wonder what the point of reading this is.
It’s a fair question.
1. Entitled rich kids grow up to be entitled magazine owners who are so full of themselves there is always a danger they may explode. Honest to God, he name drops at a level that would would give a normal human a hernia of biblical proportions.
2. He forgot the main reason people might be interested in this book. There is a telling moment when he gets to attend the first Allman Brothers concert and says not a word about it. Isn’t it weird that the music magazine founder drops this ball? There is a surprisingly small amount of music in this book, and Wenner is so unlikable that you wonder what the point of reading this is.
It’s a fair question.
October 9, 2022
In the words of the Beatles-HELP. I came for rollicking stories of the Rolling Stone, but what I got was a master class in avoiding self awareness. The “Last Letter from the Editor” sums it up: Wenner sanctimoniously rails on the (conservative) rich then goes on to talk about his home in Montauk and how the dutiful wife he left could never get over the heartbreak but was, in the end “a happy camper.”
I gave it two stars for the stories of Annie Lebowitz, who also didn’t receive the same praise from Wenner as her male counterparts, but you become so good at seining through Wenner’s black water sewage mess that one can still get the point that Lebowitz is a remarkable artist.
I also echo what many of these reviews pointed out: baffled as to how this could be so poorly written and edited. Some parts of it reminded me genealogy parts of the bible in the banal listing of hires and fires, which makes sense since Wenner clearly views himself as a golden God. The portrait he painted of himself was of a very privileged guy who spent his life marinating in a patriarchal soup (the greatest insights come with the way he treated his mother and wife, and every single female contributor and artist save, I guess, Bette Midler) of wealth and privilege, while preaching against it for everyone else.
I gave it two stars for the stories of Annie Lebowitz, who also didn’t receive the same praise from Wenner as her male counterparts, but you become so good at seining through Wenner’s black water sewage mess that one can still get the point that Lebowitz is a remarkable artist.
I also echo what many of these reviews pointed out: baffled as to how this could be so poorly written and edited. Some parts of it reminded me genealogy parts of the bible in the banal listing of hires and fires, which makes sense since Wenner clearly views himself as a golden God. The portrait he painted of himself was of a very privileged guy who spent his life marinating in a patriarchal soup (the greatest insights come with the way he treated his mother and wife, and every single female contributor and artist save, I guess, Bette Midler) of wealth and privilege, while preaching against it for everyone else.
November 14, 2023
Longest ego trip I’ve ever read
January 28, 2023
Six hundred pages of autobiography.
But as a chronicle of our times, to my goodreads family, it is a necessary read. We can all relate.
And enjoyable.
For anyone over the age of forty and under the age of eighty (who has not spent their entire life on Easter Island).
The best memoir I have yet to read of our time.
Rock and roll, writers, politics, the Beat scene, artists, journalists, independent publishers, photographers…
Thank you, Jann.
But as a chronicle of our times, to my goodreads family, it is a necessary read. We can all relate.
And enjoyable.
For anyone over the age of forty and under the age of eighty (who has not spent their entire life on Easter Island).
The best memoir I have yet to read of our time.
Rock and roll, writers, politics, the Beat scene, artists, journalists, independent publishers, photographers…
Thank you, Jann.
October 3, 2022
Like most people of the days of ago, I was a big fan of Rolling Stone. I'd drive to a convenience store in a sketchy part of town during my college days to get each issue. I loved reading Hunter Thompson's stuff and marveled at William Grieder's work. I spent the end of the 1970s and early 1980s reading it.
So with that in mind, I thought it would be great to read about the background of the magazine, its origin and its founder. I was hoping for great insight into the motivation of putting the thing out and the decisions to go after the issues.
Instead, I found a hastily written book that appeared more like Wenner looking at list of all the Rolling Stone covers and mentioning briefly, in his probably drug-addled vague memories, light anecdotes that didn't amount to much. For instance, several times he talks about how funny someone was during an interview, but then never gives details.
There are a few interesting spots and that held me through the entire book. I was intrigued to read about how Wenner dealt with Hunter. I had read other accounts of the insanity of Thompson's writing style and was waiting to see it from the inside. There were brief notes about Thompson's manic behaviors, but they were far and few. I kept hoping more substance. But, alas, it always fell short. Mostly, this was a diary dump from a spoiled, rich kid who liked to drop names more than any Hollywood B list actor. Best buddies with Mick Jagger, hangs out at holidays with Yoko Ono, pals around with Bono of U2.
And, Wenner came across as an unlikable ass, too. He treated his wife horribly and, despite dumping her for a guy when he realized he was gay, he kept her around close still, needing her. It was poor treatment of a woman who seemed supportive of him.
It was a sad take reading the memoirs of the person who enhanced my own late teenaged and early 20s years. The magazine was important. What Wenner vaguely recalls isn't.
The only reason for sticking through the 580 pages or so of this, other than keeping hope alive, was that I tore the miniscus in my knee and couldn't move around much anyway. I was stuck in a chair with the book and hours to waste.
So with that in mind, I thought it would be great to read about the background of the magazine, its origin and its founder. I was hoping for great insight into the motivation of putting the thing out and the decisions to go after the issues.
Instead, I found a hastily written book that appeared more like Wenner looking at list of all the Rolling Stone covers and mentioning briefly, in his probably drug-addled vague memories, light anecdotes that didn't amount to much. For instance, several times he talks about how funny someone was during an interview, but then never gives details.
There are a few interesting spots and that held me through the entire book. I was intrigued to read about how Wenner dealt with Hunter. I had read other accounts of the insanity of Thompson's writing style and was waiting to see it from the inside. There were brief notes about Thompson's manic behaviors, but they were far and few. I kept hoping more substance. But, alas, it always fell short. Mostly, this was a diary dump from a spoiled, rich kid who liked to drop names more than any Hollywood B list actor. Best buddies with Mick Jagger, hangs out at holidays with Yoko Ono, pals around with Bono of U2.
And, Wenner came across as an unlikable ass, too. He treated his wife horribly and, despite dumping her for a guy when he realized he was gay, he kept her around close still, needing her. It was poor treatment of a woman who seemed supportive of him.
It was a sad take reading the memoirs of the person who enhanced my own late teenaged and early 20s years. The magazine was important. What Wenner vaguely recalls isn't.
The only reason for sticking through the 580 pages or so of this, other than keeping hope alive, was that I tore the miniscus in my knee and couldn't move around much anyway. I was stuck in a chair with the book and hours to waste.
October 12, 2022
Clunky "memoir" that reads more like post-it note highlights of his professional life, Jann Wenner calls himself a "journalist" but there's nothing objective about him and Rolling Stone was never true journalism. He says from the start that his purpose is to push his radical liberal agenda on society, to cover up truth in order to make those he supports politically look good, and to "remember the higher duty of the magazine" by making it a tool for social propaganda.
Of course the book is filled with celebrity mentions but absolutely no depth to any of it beyond a few interesting tidbits about which famous music star refused to be interviewed by a common reporter. True to his philosophy of having a "higher calling" to promote radical liberalism, he glosses over the failures and sins of himself, rock stars, politicians, and anyone he wants to keep on his cell phone. He makes snide remarks about those he philosophically disagrees with, but Wenner is so shallow that he fails to show true intellectualism or tolerance of those he disagrees with.
Why people are enamored of the magazine and Wenner is beyond me. I subscribed for a few years and hated its approach with editorial stances hidden within fake objective articles. Wenner doesn't really write that well. The only thing he seems able to do is interview other radical leftist liberals and then place their responses in a Q & A format. This book is basically just the responses from a Q & A with himself with no real narrative flow and little energy used to pull it all together. It's way too long at 555 pages and there's little self-analysis beyond him feeling bad that he dumped his wife and kids for a young hot guy. Even then he writes that he despises saying he was coming out of the closet--Jann Wenner wants to define things under his own terms that promote a very specific image of himself and others, and that makes everything he writes or publishes propaganda.
Of course the book is filled with celebrity mentions but absolutely no depth to any of it beyond a few interesting tidbits about which famous music star refused to be interviewed by a common reporter. True to his philosophy of having a "higher calling" to promote radical liberalism, he glosses over the failures and sins of himself, rock stars, politicians, and anyone he wants to keep on his cell phone. He makes snide remarks about those he philosophically disagrees with, but Wenner is so shallow that he fails to show true intellectualism or tolerance of those he disagrees with.
Why people are enamored of the magazine and Wenner is beyond me. I subscribed for a few years and hated its approach with editorial stances hidden within fake objective articles. Wenner doesn't really write that well. The only thing he seems able to do is interview other radical leftist liberals and then place their responses in a Q & A format. This book is basically just the responses from a Q & A with himself with no real narrative flow and little energy used to pull it all together. It's way too long at 555 pages and there's little self-analysis beyond him feeling bad that he dumped his wife and kids for a young hot guy. Even then he writes that he despises saying he was coming out of the closet--Jann Wenner wants to define things under his own terms that promote a very specific image of himself and others, and that makes everything he writes or publishes propaganda.
February 10, 2023
Well…damn. Jann Wenner is not as cool as i thought he was. I’ve been a Rolling Stone subscriber for many years so i was looking forward to this memoir.
But good lord, this book has no flow. It’s just a bunch of self indulgent braggadocio with random musings that stack on top of each other, lacking any real segue and he rarely gives reference to the year. Wenner doesn’t go into enough detail to make each vignette a compelling read because he’s too quick to get on to the next famous person he wants to tell you about.
There are so many examples i can give where i feel he takes more than his share of credit. When he tells us about giving the eulogy at Hunter Thompson’s memorial (I think it was Hunter, but writes about a lot of dead people, so i might be confused) he kept interjecting himself into his speech, using ‘we’ (as in he and Hunter together), instead of simply talking about Hunter’s accomplishments and character.
The other things that gets me is he owned his own private jet so he could travel the globe with all his famous friends and yet he more than once mentions the urgent need for climate control.
Sometimes i get the feeling all those famous people don’t love him as much as he thinks they do. Maybe they just tolerated him for the reviews.
I do like his politics. I liked when he referenced the older Rolling Stone covers before i had a subscription which made me Google them. I wish the book was more about the Rolling Stone covers than anything else.
I will say this. His sons by his wife Jane are really cute. I also felt sorry for his wife Jane. But i also think his husband Matt sounds like a good guy. I just feel his family has the job of orbiting around him and that would get old i would imagine if you were his wife/husband/or kid.
But good lord, this book has no flow. It’s just a bunch of self indulgent braggadocio with random musings that stack on top of each other, lacking any real segue and he rarely gives reference to the year. Wenner doesn’t go into enough detail to make each vignette a compelling read because he’s too quick to get on to the next famous person he wants to tell you about.
There are so many examples i can give where i feel he takes more than his share of credit. When he tells us about giving the eulogy at Hunter Thompson’s memorial (I think it was Hunter, but writes about a lot of dead people, so i might be confused) he kept interjecting himself into his speech, using ‘we’ (as in he and Hunter together), instead of simply talking about Hunter’s accomplishments and character.
The other things that gets me is he owned his own private jet so he could travel the globe with all his famous friends and yet he more than once mentions the urgent need for climate control.
Sometimes i get the feeling all those famous people don’t love him as much as he thinks they do. Maybe they just tolerated him for the reviews.
I do like his politics. I liked when he referenced the older Rolling Stone covers before i had a subscription which made me Google them. I wish the book was more about the Rolling Stone covers than anything else.
I will say this. His sons by his wife Jane are really cute. I also felt sorry for his wife Jane. But i also think his husband Matt sounds like a good guy. I just feel his family has the job of orbiting around him and that would get old i would imagine if you were his wife/husband/or kid.
December 30, 2022
A fascinating read for someone who grew up in the 60s, 70s and 80s and still wishes he was there .
Growing up in South Africa with censorship, I did not see the magazine until travelling in 1979, but after reading this book ,wish I had seen in from the start.
Jann’s good friends were some of my favourite musicians of all time,so it was fascinating to read about them from a close friend of theirs.
My only small criticism was that some of the more interesting stories were not expanded,and that the name dropping occasionally got annoying…,
I would still recommend to anyone who grew up in this era and listened to music with a passion ,as I did.
Growing up in South Africa with censorship, I did not see the magazine until travelling in 1979, but after reading this book ,wish I had seen in from the start.
Jann’s good friends were some of my favourite musicians of all time,so it was fascinating to read about them from a close friend of theirs.
My only small criticism was that some of the more interesting stories were not expanded,and that the name dropping occasionally got annoying…,
I would still recommend to anyone who grew up in this era and listened to music with a passion ,as I did.
October 17, 2022
I give this review 4 stars for the content, 2 for the author as a person. I went in with an open mind, but in truth the more I read this, the more I felt conflicted in my opinion of Jann Wenner. Like many people, I found Rolling Stone Magazine to be a pivotal force in my teen years. Though I came of age in the 1980s, RS covered many artists who were still relevant to me as well as a few up and coming artists who influenced my music tastes. Wenner, the quintessential Boomer, certainly favors the thoughts, ideas and ideology of his generation, while dismissing the musical tastes of generations after his. RS is essentially a rowdy boy's club. This is a real problem. I understand the profound effect of the 1960s-1970s music on our culture, but I often wonder if the music would have had less impact had there not been so many young people. On the other hand, Wenner's greatest talent seems to be his ability to recognize raw talent and to connect artists and give them a voice. This is powerful stuff. However...this memoir at times reads like a cocaine-induced musical circle jerk around male musicians. It's a bit much to hear about Wenner's private jets to ski trips in Aspen and his private helicopter into Burning Man while bemoaning climate change and the fate of the planet. The chapters on Hunter S Thompson were fascinating. Would love to read this account from Jane Wenner's perspective.
December 11, 2022
I have mixed feelings about this memoir and think one of the best ways to sum it up is to suggest you will both love to hate this book and hate to love it.
It is an enjoyable trip down memory lane with plenty of stories and plenty of name-dropping. Along the way, it seems Wenner is the perfect epitome for the "me" generation as well, as it details an expansive life where one has a front-row seat to the hedonistic life of the well-off including access to the well-known and celebrity.
One aspect I found troubling was the contradiction between Wenner's proclaimed concern for the environment and his own personal practices. For example, at times it seems he is bragging about his globe-trotting lifestyle and life excesses (at one point he tells the story he knows he has arrived at the pinnacle of success while he is traveling alone in his own private jet - at no time do I recall him addressing any sort of the contradiction of his beliefs when contrasted with his practices).
With all of my complaints, it is still an enjoyable memoir, especially to true rock and roll fans.
It is an enjoyable trip down memory lane with plenty of stories and plenty of name-dropping. Along the way, it seems Wenner is the perfect epitome for the "me" generation as well, as it details an expansive life where one has a front-row seat to the hedonistic life of the well-off including access to the well-known and celebrity.
One aspect I found troubling was the contradiction between Wenner's proclaimed concern for the environment and his own personal practices. For example, at times it seems he is bragging about his globe-trotting lifestyle and life excesses (at one point he tells the story he knows he has arrived at the pinnacle of success while he is traveling alone in his own private jet - at no time do I recall him addressing any sort of the contradiction of his beliefs when contrasted with his practices).
With all of my complaints, it is still an enjoyable memoir, especially to true rock and roll fans.
December 13, 2022
This book is mostly 2 stars, but some sections for me were 4 stars, so I'm landing on 3. I have totally conflicting thoughts about this book.
Wenner is obviously an asshole - although he doesn't say so himself, lol. The book had to be 554 pages long just to contain his ego. Good lord.
I will give him full credit for launching Rolling Stone magazine at age 21. Wenner was the perfect age in the perfect place at the perfect time for such an endeavor, but still, there were others there who could have done it, but he actually made it happen. And generations are grateful.
He alludes to it obtusely but generally glosses over the fact that he came from a very privileged background. So if he'd have started RS and it had failed, he had the necessary safety net to just shrug it off and move on to the next adventure. I get the feeling he doesn't really understand that only wealthy, white males get to live that life.
One summer during his time at Berkeley, he mentions going to one of his mother's houses in Hawaii where his daily activities were: practicing guitar, getting the mail (he actually included this), hitchhiking to town for a burger and dropping acid. "After two months, when the acid ran out, I went home." Sounds like a tough life.
He mentions the comings and goings of dozens of staff writers, and when he mentions the first female they hired, he says they brought her in at $5K a year. It's the ONLY time he ever mentions a salary in the book. That's not funny, Jann. Women are still getting screwed with lower salaries in the workplace today. If you're going to mention it, you should do it shamefully and with remorse. He also said about his ex-wife, "Jane let her hair go grey, but she was still a striking beauty." A.) Women's grey hair isn't public domain that you get to weigh in on. B.) BUT she was still beautiful? And you're still awful.
The name dropping in this book is just freakin' ridiculous. About half the book is famous people he knows and all the amazing things his famous friends said about him. The gloating on his wealth, access, and lifestyle is, frankly, obnoxious. And kinda tiresome.
Also, considering that he's A MAGAZINE EDITOR, you'd think the book would have had better flow instead of often being piecemeal blurbs that had no relevance to what else was going on in the book.
Lastly, he bitches about nothing being done to mitigate the pending climate change disaster. Says the man with six children, six homes, and a private Gulfstream jet. Really?
There's no self-reflection, no remorse, and pretty much no good he accomplished for anyone (but himself) with all his wealth and influence.
But having said ALL that, I still somehow managed to stay engaged. Part of it is just my love of music and getting the inside view from someone who was "in the room where it happened" as they say in Hamilton. The best part of the book was the beginning of RS and the San Francisco music scene. The more it gets about Wenner, the less enjoyable the book became. A little Jann goes a long way, so 554 pages was definitely overkill.
Wenner is obviously an asshole - although he doesn't say so himself, lol. The book had to be 554 pages long just to contain his ego. Good lord.
I will give him full credit for launching Rolling Stone magazine at age 21. Wenner was the perfect age in the perfect place at the perfect time for such an endeavor, but still, there were others there who could have done it, but he actually made it happen. And generations are grateful.
He alludes to it obtusely but generally glosses over the fact that he came from a very privileged background. So if he'd have started RS and it had failed, he had the necessary safety net to just shrug it off and move on to the next adventure. I get the feeling he doesn't really understand that only wealthy, white males get to live that life.
One summer during his time at Berkeley, he mentions going to one of his mother's houses in Hawaii where his daily activities were: practicing guitar, getting the mail (he actually included this), hitchhiking to town for a burger and dropping acid. "After two months, when the acid ran out, I went home." Sounds like a tough life.
He mentions the comings and goings of dozens of staff writers, and when he mentions the first female they hired, he says they brought her in at $5K a year. It's the ONLY time he ever mentions a salary in the book. That's not funny, Jann. Women are still getting screwed with lower salaries in the workplace today. If you're going to mention it, you should do it shamefully and with remorse. He also said about his ex-wife, "Jane let her hair go grey, but she was still a striking beauty." A.) Women's grey hair isn't public domain that you get to weigh in on. B.) BUT she was still beautiful? And you're still awful.
The name dropping in this book is just freakin' ridiculous. About half the book is famous people he knows and all the amazing things his famous friends said about him. The gloating on his wealth, access, and lifestyle is, frankly, obnoxious. And kinda tiresome.
Also, considering that he's A MAGAZINE EDITOR, you'd think the book would have had better flow instead of often being piecemeal blurbs that had no relevance to what else was going on in the book.
Lastly, he bitches about nothing being done to mitigate the pending climate change disaster. Says the man with six children, six homes, and a private Gulfstream jet. Really?
There's no self-reflection, no remorse, and pretty much no good he accomplished for anyone (but himself) with all his wealth and influence.
But having said ALL that, I still somehow managed to stay engaged. Part of it is just my love of music and getting the inside view from someone who was "in the room where it happened" as they say in Hamilton. The best part of the book was the beginning of RS and the San Francisco music scene. The more it gets about Wenner, the less enjoyable the book became. A little Jann goes a long way, so 554 pages was definitely overkill.
September 16, 2022
Few people have interacted with more celebrities, rock stars and politicians than Jann Wenner, founder of ROLLING STONE. Even fewer possess Wenner's prodigious wordsmanship; in his soaring memoir, LIKE A ROLLING STONE (clocking in at nearly 600 pages), he captures these encounters, fights and friendships with much verve and economy. A Berkeley dropout, Wenner founded ROLLING STONE in 1967. It was revolutionary in that, amid a sea of music fanzines, it took music, especially rock 'n' roll, seriously--particularly when Wenner began to fill his writing staff with such future heavyweights as Hunter S. Thompson and Tom Wolfe. Photographer Annie Leibovitz joined the staff in 1970.
In addition to lengthy interviews and music articles, ROLLING STONE ran long-form journalism pieces on Charles Manson; the 1968 Chicago riots; Karen Silkwood's suspicious death; and, later, AIDS, wars, climate change, prison reform and politics. Wenner digs deep into the magazine's political side. He delights in sharing his friendships with Springsteen, Bono, Dylan, John Lennon and Yoko Ono. He also gives concise insight into his friendships with Jacqueline Onassis ("She was a gossip, and I heard some rarefied stuff") and John F. Kennedy Jr.: "he was polite, funny, and an all-around terrific guy. He also had a temper, was impetuous, and sometimes reckless." In 1995, Wenner ended his marriage of more than 25 years when he fell in love with Matt Nye and came out as gay. In 2019, he sold ROLLING STONE.
Wenner's enormously influential life is masterfully told and should be a treat for pop culture fans and historians alike.
In addition to lengthy interviews and music articles, ROLLING STONE ran long-form journalism pieces on Charles Manson; the 1968 Chicago riots; Karen Silkwood's suspicious death; and, later, AIDS, wars, climate change, prison reform and politics. Wenner digs deep into the magazine's political side. He delights in sharing his friendships with Springsteen, Bono, Dylan, John Lennon and Yoko Ono. He also gives concise insight into his friendships with Jacqueline Onassis ("She was a gossip, and I heard some rarefied stuff") and John F. Kennedy Jr.: "he was polite, funny, and an all-around terrific guy. He also had a temper, was impetuous, and sometimes reckless." In 1995, Wenner ended his marriage of more than 25 years when he fell in love with Matt Nye and came out as gay. In 2019, he sold ROLLING STONE.
Wenner's enormously influential life is masterfully told and should be a treat for pop culture fans and historians alike.
January 5, 2023
I think the saddest thing about this book is how little jann wenner actually cares about music
October 24, 2022
Jann Wenner is not an overly likable guy. That being said, this book is really important. It would be an understatement and disservice to call Rolling Stone a music magazine. It's also impossible to understate how Wenner and RS both formed and changed culture. The book is straight forward and not particularly passionate or rhetorical. It occurs to me that the things that made him a good journalist also make this book a bit dry. He covers so much material; I found myself spending hours going down rabbit holes, needing to know more. I read many of the articles referenced in the book, and was particularly fascinated by Hunter S Thompson's narratives. Wenner does not have to go out of the way to drop names. He was a constant companion some of the most iconic figures of his time. He didn't just run in Jackie-O's circles or the crowds of John and Yoko. He was their circle. Wenner faces his mistakes, the brutality of aging, and his many regrets with as much candor as he shares the big wins. This is not simply a rock memoir. It is a record of our times. Excellent.
September 16, 2023
It’s a mess, but a kinda good one. Not a particularly insightful bio, and considering the depth demanded from Rolling Stone interviews, it’s rather hypocritical in its lack of it. I mean, seriously, a life spent devoted to music journalism and he has very little to say about music??
As all bios do, it starts off heavy about childhood, but the bulk of the rest are lots of short timeline points and an insane amount of name dropping. I’m all for name dropping, but give some juice, some awesome sauce. You know? The only people you get an intimate sense of are Jackie O. and Hunter Thompson.
(And not a single mention of Frank Zappa?? WTF?)
The good thing it does is pay attention to his ENTIRE life - so many bios focus on formative years and fame and then there’s like 40 years of middle life just weirdly skipped over.
But sooo many music artists, but he continually focuses on a handful. I know it’s HIS autobiography and not RS’s, but still…
RS began the year I was born and I first paid attention to it probably during the SNL/Star Wars era of the late 70’s. I’ve subscribed since I was a senior in HS and devour every issue. I probably never knew who Wenner was, or cared, until probably my thirties. Again, it’s HIS bio, not RS’s so I had to navigate that, but questions remain.
How did he just go from a nobody college kid to hanging out with Mick Jagger and John Lennon? How accessible were all these rock stars back then? The book makes it seem like they all just knew each other like magic.
And social issues. He highlights those important to him, but very little personal insight or passion.
It’s a huge life, and a lot to cover, but it was just a lot of surface glare from famous friendships. You’re left wishing for deeper waters.
As all bios do, it starts off heavy about childhood, but the bulk of the rest are lots of short timeline points and an insane amount of name dropping. I’m all for name dropping, but give some juice, some awesome sauce. You know? The only people you get an intimate sense of are Jackie O. and Hunter Thompson.
(And not a single mention of Frank Zappa?? WTF?)
The good thing it does is pay attention to his ENTIRE life - so many bios focus on formative years and fame and then there’s like 40 years of middle life just weirdly skipped over.
But sooo many music artists, but he continually focuses on a handful. I know it’s HIS autobiography and not RS’s, but still…
RS began the year I was born and I first paid attention to it probably during the SNL/Star Wars era of the late 70’s. I’ve subscribed since I was a senior in HS and devour every issue. I probably never knew who Wenner was, or cared, until probably my thirties. Again, it’s HIS bio, not RS’s so I had to navigate that, but questions remain.
How did he just go from a nobody college kid to hanging out with Mick Jagger and John Lennon? How accessible were all these rock stars back then? The book makes it seem like they all just knew each other like magic.
And social issues. He highlights those important to him, but very little personal insight or passion.
It’s a huge life, and a lot to cover, but it was just a lot of surface glare from famous friendships. You’re left wishing for deeper waters.
September 30, 2022
I read of the release of this book. I bought as a guilty pleasure with low expectations. Which were fulfilled….I should say I was a regular reader and big fan of the magazine. When eBay arrived, I purchased a bunch of old editions. It was a pretty constant source for me from 68 and for about 20 years until there was reduced relevance for me. Not the magazines fault
The first 20% was about what I’d hoped. JW is a SF Zelig. He knows the Dead, Airplane, Bill Graham, Leary….went to Monterey, Woodstock. And more. There was little new information but still fun to look thru his eyes.
Then the prototype Boomer story took over ( I don’t actually know Boomers who lived this story).
Drugs, drugs….drugs…..wealth build, meet super people. Become close friends with Mick, Bono, Al Gore….
Jimmy Carter..good, Reagan bad, Clinton good, Any Bush bad….
Environment is going to hell even as JW takes private jets to ride with cool people on private yachts….all the while concerned about the world and it’s people. Oil companies bad. Big homes and…private jets
The last third Just devolved into a sprint of diary like entries.
I think I find the man insufferable and the book too.
But in its time I really was dedicated to reading Rolling Stone.
The first 20% was about what I’d hoped. JW is a SF Zelig. He knows the Dead, Airplane, Bill Graham, Leary….went to Monterey, Woodstock. And more. There was little new information but still fun to look thru his eyes.
Then the prototype Boomer story took over ( I don’t actually know Boomers who lived this story).
Drugs, drugs….drugs…..wealth build, meet super people. Become close friends with Mick, Bono, Al Gore….
Jimmy Carter..good, Reagan bad, Clinton good, Any Bush bad….
Environment is going to hell even as JW takes private jets to ride with cool people on private yachts….all the while concerned about the world and it’s people. Oil companies bad. Big homes and…private jets
The last third Just devolved into a sprint of diary like entries.
I think I find the man insufferable and the book too.
But in its time I really was dedicated to reading Rolling Stone.
October 22, 2022
A chronological story of Jann Wenner's life, and the story of Rolling Stone magazine. Sometimes Wenner spends too much time talking about certain people and events. But it's his life, so who am I to complain that he spent too much time on certain things, and not enough on others?
The ultimate judgment is I'm glad I had the opportunity to read this book. Since I'm close to Wenner in age maybe there is some jealousy that my life wasn't as exciting as his, but I guess one has to admire all that he accomplished with his life. WORTH READING.
The ultimate judgment is I'm glad I had the opportunity to read this book. Since I'm close to Wenner in age maybe there is some jealousy that my life wasn't as exciting as his, but I guess one has to admire all that he accomplished with his life. WORTH READING.
October 18, 2022
Being a long-time reader of Rolling Stone magazine (and perhaps one of the few females to read it since its early days—as a quarter-folded newspaper), I enjoyed reading Wenner’s memoir, laced with his self-deprecating humor and written in clear, direct prose. Wenner has more than a healthy ego, and while that does permeate the book, I also came away understanding his journalistic ethos and standards, his deep love for his children and spouses, his loyalty to his friends, and comprehend that he is being as honest as a memoir can be without torching his relationships and, to some degree, his legacy. Early San Francisco days and the lasting relationship with Hunter Thompson, Ralph Gleason, and editors and magazine contributors, as well as the glitterati of rock and roll (Jagger, Springsteen, Dylan, etc.) figure prominently and name-dropping becomes a first-name only affair through much of the book—belying his intimacy with the famous and talented. I had no idea of his long-lasting friendships with Jackie O & Caroline Kennedy, Yoko Ono, Michael Douglas, and Robin Williams. The reader gets a back stage pass to concerts, the Oval Office, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and places like Aspen, Sun Valley, San Francisco, NYC, Long Island and the Hudson Valley. His chapters are punctuated with short excepts, are somewhat chronological—often blurring what year events took place for me—and Wenner attempts and often succeeds at true introspection. Anyone who enjoys retrospectives of the 60s, 70s, etc., books about journalism, rock and roll, popular culture, and some anecdotal gossip will enjoy this testosterone-laden, glittering, informative, and frank memoir.
October 11, 2022
Jann Wenner, the founder and longtime editor of Rolling Stone magazine, embodies all the hopes and problems of baby boomers. He believed and fought hard for the ideals of the sixties, created the first media outlet to take the counterculture and rock music seriously, and worked hard politically to further his ideals (campaigning against guns, for legalization of some drugs, and for progressive candidates). At the same time, he was narcissistic, a selfish hedonist, who ping-ponged from project to project and person to person as long as his attention was engaged. Still, he had many lifelong friends and many people loved him--from Mick Jagger, the Kennedy clan, Bruce Springsteen, to Bono, George McGovern, and John Kerry, and others. He was the main force in creating the Rock and Roll Museum. He started Outside Magazine, Men's Journal, and revitalized US Weekly. All that to say, despite the author's shortcomings, the book is fast moving, interesting, not very deep, but a wonderful window into the birth and maturing of popular music. I enjoyed it.
December 24, 2022
I really enjoyed all 554 pages of Jann's memoir. Man, what a life...I was a Rolling Stone subscriber for a good part of my life, all through college and all the way up to the day he put the Boston Marathon killer on the cover in a sexual innuendo way. That not only turned me off and I unsubscribed immediately but was also glad to read so many others were offended by that cover as well. He lost millions in advertisers' dollars immediately. What a knuckle headed move. The guy put a bomb next to a baby carriage for God's sake. Notice I won't even mention the creep's name.
But for decades this was my go-to magazine. As an avid Album collector, RS's reviews meant a lot to me about which new music to buy, who were the artists really, behind those shades. And all the political campaigns, the Birth of Gonzo literature starring Dr, Hunter S Thompson and that lovely random notes section.
I learned a lot about the rock and rollers in this book, the behind-the-scenes stuff.
Jann had an incredible wealth-filled life and literally met everybody but boy did it ever catch up to him.
Four stars all the way!
But for decades this was my go-to magazine. As an avid Album collector, RS's reviews meant a lot to me about which new music to buy, who were the artists really, behind those shades. And all the political campaigns, the Birth of Gonzo literature starring Dr, Hunter S Thompson and that lovely random notes section.
I learned a lot about the rock and rollers in this book, the behind-the-scenes stuff.
Jann had an incredible wealth-filled life and literally met everybody but boy did it ever catch up to him.
Four stars all the way!
November 22, 2022
Reads like he edits…clear and minimal. More insightful of others than himself. Interesting but not read every word interesting. Appreciated the Index (a la Warhol Diaries) as one can look up whomever one chooses (ie Bono or Hunter S Thompson or Jagger.) For many it will be a walk thru a time rich in creativity, experimentation, trailblazing….in music, journalism, politics and sexuality. For others more of a day in the life experience. Excavate and you will find something that resonates though it will be something you can pick up and put down and pick up again later sort of read—which ultimately is it’s overall value if not charm.
September 27, 2022
A mind-numbing combination of unbridled egomania and incessant name-dropping. After a while, you stop reading this book and start rooting for it to be over.
January 11, 2023
The magazine "Rolling Stone" is a major reason why I wanted to become a journalist. I've read it since I was in high school and have been a subscriber for around 20 years. I have Jann S. Wenner to thank for founding the magazine that has influenced my life in countless ways. It's a publication that's motivated me to become a climate activist, one that has prompted me to check out countless books and musicians, and one that has informed me of vital news and political happenings affecting me and my loved ones.
Wenner's book is a chronological look at his life from birth onward. He had a rebellious nature that dates back to childhood, one that shaped him into activist actions from a teen on.
In addition to learning about how Wenner created "Rolling Stone", became an owner of "US Weekly", founded a book publisher and helped create the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, readers will learn lots about Wenner's personal life. After marrying his wife and having three kids together, Wenner chronicles his journey with his sexuality from a teen onward. He later married a man and had three more kids with his now-husband. Wenner lays bare his issues with fidelity while married to his wife, struggles with his children (his son Gus is now CEO of "Rolling Stone") and challenges with friends and personal contacts, including one of his greatest collaborators, Hunter S. Thompson.
This memoir reminded me a lot of Elton John's autobiography, "Me". The pages are filled with glamorous names and parties. Wenner's social life is impressive. He's a jetsetter and networker who became close with some of the world's biggest celebrities, from Yoko Ono, to Michael Douglas, to John F. Kennedy Jr. and Bette Midler.
Wenner sold "Rolling Stone" in 2017. He humbly explains how his own son told him he was no longer influencing the magazine, comparing his now-relationship to the magazine as one of an ex-spouse. I was thrilled to discover one of my favorite recent issues, 2020's Greta Thunberg cover on climate change, was a final issue that Wenner played a big role in.
Wenner also detailed the magazine's biggest journalism scandal, a story about sexual assault on a college campus that turned out to be made up by the main source profiled in the article. I was always impressed the magazine conducted and published an independent investigation into what went wrong with the story, and I admire Wenner for addressing it head-on in his memoir.
I really had no idea Wenner was so instrumental in so much of pop culture today beyond the magazine. From being on the board of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame museum, to guiding "US Weekly" to supermarket magazine success, his drive and ambition has impacted many Americans beyond the pages of "Rolling Stone".
I continue to be an ardent fan of "Rolling Stone" today because of the amazing investigative journalism that permeates its pages and for the news and features that teach me so much about what have since become some of my favorite books and musicians. Writing for "Rolling Stone" has always been a career dream, and to get a peek into the founding of the magazine was fun through Wenner's memoir.
Wenner's book is a chronological look at his life from birth onward. He had a rebellious nature that dates back to childhood, one that shaped him into activist actions from a teen on.
In addition to learning about how Wenner created "Rolling Stone", became an owner of "US Weekly", founded a book publisher and helped create the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, readers will learn lots about Wenner's personal life. After marrying his wife and having three kids together, Wenner chronicles his journey with his sexuality from a teen onward. He later married a man and had three more kids with his now-husband. Wenner lays bare his issues with fidelity while married to his wife, struggles with his children (his son Gus is now CEO of "Rolling Stone") and challenges with friends and personal contacts, including one of his greatest collaborators, Hunter S. Thompson.
This memoir reminded me a lot of Elton John's autobiography, "Me". The pages are filled with glamorous names and parties. Wenner's social life is impressive. He's a jetsetter and networker who became close with some of the world's biggest celebrities, from Yoko Ono, to Michael Douglas, to John F. Kennedy Jr. and Bette Midler.
Wenner sold "Rolling Stone" in 2017. He humbly explains how his own son told him he was no longer influencing the magazine, comparing his now-relationship to the magazine as one of an ex-spouse. I was thrilled to discover one of my favorite recent issues, 2020's Greta Thunberg cover on climate change, was a final issue that Wenner played a big role in.
Wenner also detailed the magazine's biggest journalism scandal, a story about sexual assault on a college campus that turned out to be made up by the main source profiled in the article. I was always impressed the magazine conducted and published an independent investigation into what went wrong with the story, and I admire Wenner for addressing it head-on in his memoir.
I really had no idea Wenner was so instrumental in so much of pop culture today beyond the magazine. From being on the board of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame museum, to guiding "US Weekly" to supermarket magazine success, his drive and ambition has impacted many Americans beyond the pages of "Rolling Stone".
I continue to be an ardent fan of "Rolling Stone" today because of the amazing investigative journalism that permeates its pages and for the news and features that teach me so much about what have since become some of my favorite books and musicians. Writing for "Rolling Stone" has always been a career dream, and to get a peek into the founding of the magazine was fun through Wenner's memoir.
October 13, 2022
How We Lost Our Way
I shouldn't be alarmed that Jann prides his envelopment of Rolling Stone as a carrier of the hippie flag when it's so obvious he participated in dismantling those ideals by his publishing oeuvre and even some RS content. So, I'm not, because we were all so easily blinded by the heady economy, the lure of the stars' lives, and the false promises of politics. Let me count the ways I see we all went down the rabbit hole but he sees RS as continuing to carry the banner. His development of US magazine entails the ultimate betrayal not only because it caters to the false idolatry and voyeurism of the few at the top who even in their philanthropy are so removed from the daily reality of the poor and decimated middle class, but also because it epitomizes the capitalistic drive to economic superiority that helped only him. His hobnobbing and participation in the top echelons is a slap in the face when purporting to support the people's well-being. A private jet is an anathema to the many struggling to raise families or just survive economically, not to mention the environmental harm.
Just getting started here. Counting the resignation of Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal as a win for the people against war rings hollow when McChrystal's plan was probably the first humanitarian military strategy to win the hearts and minds of the people of Afghanistan.
And supporting Bill Clinton and his global neo-liberal economic policy directly led to enabling the rich to become extremely rich by fleecing the people with endless paper cuts to their compensation.
The environment coverage is his true heart-felt legacy for all of us, and for that I am thankful.
Yes, that RS won countless awards for journalism rings true, and he deserves credit but did the endless drugs warp his perception even in and especially in retrospect that RS was making a difference in the common person's life? Music and drugs were worse than Marx's opiate of the people. So there is no mea culpa from his retrospective. Not that in retrospect we could have known what to have done differently because I doubt that anyone could ever have known. But, if he at least recognized that in many respects our initial zealousness lost out to other ego traps and that we could have done better, it would have raised my estimation of Jann beyond that he was not that much better than the rest of us.
I shouldn't be alarmed that Jann prides his envelopment of Rolling Stone as a carrier of the hippie flag when it's so obvious he participated in dismantling those ideals by his publishing oeuvre and even some RS content. So, I'm not, because we were all so easily blinded by the heady economy, the lure of the stars' lives, and the false promises of politics. Let me count the ways I see we all went down the rabbit hole but he sees RS as continuing to carry the banner. His development of US magazine entails the ultimate betrayal not only because it caters to the false idolatry and voyeurism of the few at the top who even in their philanthropy are so removed from the daily reality of the poor and decimated middle class, but also because it epitomizes the capitalistic drive to economic superiority that helped only him. His hobnobbing and participation in the top echelons is a slap in the face when purporting to support the people's well-being. A private jet is an anathema to the many struggling to raise families or just survive economically, not to mention the environmental harm.
Just getting started here. Counting the resignation of Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal as a win for the people against war rings hollow when McChrystal's plan was probably the first humanitarian military strategy to win the hearts and minds of the people of Afghanistan.
And supporting Bill Clinton and his global neo-liberal economic policy directly led to enabling the rich to become extremely rich by fleecing the people with endless paper cuts to their compensation.
The environment coverage is his true heart-felt legacy for all of us, and for that I am thankful.
Yes, that RS won countless awards for journalism rings true, and he deserves credit but did the endless drugs warp his perception even in and especially in retrospect that RS was making a difference in the common person's life? Music and drugs were worse than Marx's opiate of the people. So there is no mea culpa from his retrospective. Not that in retrospect we could have known what to have done differently because I doubt that anyone could ever have known. But, if he at least recognized that in many respects our initial zealousness lost out to other ego traps and that we could have done better, it would have raised my estimation of Jann beyond that he was not that much better than the rest of us.
January 4, 2023
I’m very conflicted by this book. Rolling Stone magazine was aimed right at me when I was growing up. The album reviews were first rate. The artist profiles were the best. The interviews were outstanding. The writers like Hunter Thompson, Greil Marcus, Ralph Gleason, Cameron Crowe, Ben Fong Torres, Johnathan Cott and Joe Eszterhas were wonderful. The artwork, cartoons and photography was award winning and left indelible marks on a generation. To read this autobiography is to take a long, strange trip through the last 50 years of popular culture. I had a hard time putting this book down.
BUT
Rock and roll starts in the streets with a hunger and a vision. A desire to be heard, to be felt. The bands we loved for their grit and honesty and their need to smash down walls and wreck the joint usually grow fat and complacent. I found that transformation from swaggering youth to fat cat mega millionaire soooooo hard to swallow. Bruce Springsteen hobnobbing with the movers and shakers of the Democratic Party on his New Jersey horse farm before putting on his “blue collar” costume (Patti, where’d you put my work boots?!!!) for a night of working for the Man on Broadway. Bobby Dylan discussing real estate deals with Jann Wenner backstage before a concert. Jann weeping about climate change and eviscerating the establishment for putting wealth before the health of the planet before k o getting on his own Gulfstream jet for a quick hop to a Stones concert and dinners with a few close friends.
“Jane and I spent the Fourth of July with Willie and Nan Hearst at San Simeon…Other than that, there were horseback rides, picnics, and swimming holes, another all-American family weekend with fireworks.”
Ultimately I found Jann Wenner tone deaf and blind to his own self importance. He sees himself as heroic and I’ve always thought of him as just a guy who was in the right spot at the right time and was wise enough to latch onto the rock and roll train just when it was leaving the station. Over time his magazine just like the bands it rode to glory grew stale and uninteresting.
Two stars. It was nice to relive the generation even if it required listening to Jann furiously tooting his own horn.
BUT
Rock and roll starts in the streets with a hunger and a vision. A desire to be heard, to be felt. The bands we loved for their grit and honesty and their need to smash down walls and wreck the joint usually grow fat and complacent. I found that transformation from swaggering youth to fat cat mega millionaire soooooo hard to swallow. Bruce Springsteen hobnobbing with the movers and shakers of the Democratic Party on his New Jersey horse farm before putting on his “blue collar” costume (Patti, where’d you put my work boots?!!!) for a night of working for the Man on Broadway. Bobby Dylan discussing real estate deals with Jann Wenner backstage before a concert. Jann weeping about climate change and eviscerating the establishment for putting wealth before the health of the planet before k o getting on his own Gulfstream jet for a quick hop to a Stones concert and dinners with a few close friends.
“Jane and I spent the Fourth of July with Willie and Nan Hearst at San Simeon…Other than that, there were horseback rides, picnics, and swimming holes, another all-American family weekend with fireworks.”
Ultimately I found Jann Wenner tone deaf and blind to his own self importance. He sees himself as heroic and I’ve always thought of him as just a guy who was in the right spot at the right time and was wise enough to latch onto the rock and roll train just when it was leaving the station. Over time his magazine just like the bands it rode to glory grew stale and uninteresting.
Two stars. It was nice to relive the generation even if it required listening to Jann furiously tooting his own horn.
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