Rolling Stone: Art of Articulation

Jann Wenner founded Rolling Stone magazine in 1967 and become the voice of Rock and Roll journalism for 45 years.  The fact that the voice was white and male was a reflection of the times, and the times kind of never changed for Jann. Rolling Stone captured the revolutionary spirit of the 60's counter culture and helped make it mainstream.  The magazine started with a mission to change the world, and just like the boomer generation it catered to, there was a lot of idealism and hope that faded over time.

Jann recently wrote a book about Rock and Roll and interviewed the people he thought had defined both a generation and a genre.  the seven musicians profiled were all white men and when the New York times questioned why there weren't any women or people of color in his book, Jann explained.  It's a well known secret in the music industry that white men have better singing voices and are better song writers than anyone else, but women and people of color sort of sometimes get lucky and make some sales - but the real art of Rock and Roll music is with the white men.  Also women and people of color can't articulate at the same level, to the same depths, as white men.

You can imagine what happened next.  Actually, you don't have to imagine it because it made the news and Jann realized that if anyone was inarticulate, it was he/him/himself (take that, grammar nerds!).