I, like most people, love music. I consume every aspect of it…Maybe with the exception of the learning-an-instrument part. I have, however, immersed myself in multiple books, documentaries and articles on music for years. As soon as the two hours and two minutes were over, from the first time I saw the film “Almost Famous,” I knew I wanted to be a writer for Rolling Stone magazine.
As I start learning about a topic, I naturally unfold the layers of an onion and, at times, find flaws or injustices — especially in the entertainment industry. When the New York Times article with an interview from Rolling Stone co-founder Jann Wenner came out, there was a light shone on a pre-existing issue.
In the interview regarding his new book, Wenner mentions that he did not include women because they were not “as articulate enough on an intellectual level.” Wenner also said that people of color were not included because, like women, “they just didn’t articulate at that level.”
Seven white men were included in his book: Bono, John Lennon, Mick Jagger, Jerry Garcia, Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen and Pete Townshend.
Included in the list of musicians who were not “articulate enough” to be mentioned in Wenner’s book were artists like Marvin Gaye and Joni Mitchell, highly regarded as some of the best musicians of their time.
Mitchell, known for her lyricism, was not “philosophical” enough for Wenner. Maybe, he will never understand Mitchell’s “Blue,” and the emotion she put into it.
Wenner fails to understand that maybe, just maybe, people want to hear the perspectives of these same artists and more, including Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder, Joni Mitchell, Grace Jones and Janis Joplin.
However, leaving out and disrespecting women and people of color in the music industry is not anything new for Wenner; he has a long history of doing that.
Wenner, who is also the co-founder of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, was removed from his position on the board in just a 20 minute conference call. Of all the people on the conference call, only two people voted to keep him on the board. The Hall of Fame is well-known for leaving women out, with only 8.48% of inductees being women, across their 40-year-history.
Once again, Wenner’s situation highlights the fact that the music industry is one big boys club, with the board of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame showing exactly that. Of the 31 people on the nominating board, nine are women.
Wenner and his boys club fail to understand the impact women have had on music. Kate Bush, the first woman to hit number one on pop charts in the U.K. with a song written entirely by herself in 1978 has only now, in 2023, been nominated for the Hall of Fame. Sister Rosetta Tharpe, rock and roll pioneer, was only just inducted in 2018. Elvis, who was inducted in 1983, covered her song Hounddog at the beginning of his career, which is the same song that put him on the map.
The lack of representation in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is obvious, something everyone knows. Musicians Alanis Morrisette and Courtney Love are some of those who have called out the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Morrisette pulled out from performing in last year’s ceremony because she didn’t feel the need to “spend time in an environment that reduces women.”
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame failed to acknowledge rap until 2005, with the GrandMaster Flash and the Furious Five as their first inductees. Public Enemy was inducted the following year. The Hip-Hop pioneer who changed DJing, Dj Kool Herc, is only now, in 2023, being inducted in the Hall of Fame.
The music industry is just a man’s dollhouse, where they include all the “dolls” they like, white men, and leave out all the other “dolls,” women and people of color, that have the same accomplishments and go even farther in terms of accolades than the “dolls” that Wenner bows down too.
To Wenner, it is time to start recognizing women and artists of color. It’s 2023, the music industry is not just white men and you need to catch up.
