Like a Rolling Stone: The Church and Rock ‘N’ Roll United by a Hard Truth
Jann Wenner, founder of Rolling Stone magazine, said the quiet part out loud.
I am grateful to Sarah Griffith Lund for her invitation to collaborate with her on this article.
What do John Lennon, Johnny Cash, David Bowie, Led Zeppelin, Jim Morrison and the Red Hot Chili Peppers all have in common? They have graced the cover of Rolling Stone, a monthly magazine founded in 1967 featuring music, politics and pop culture.
What does the church have in common with Rolling Stone? A recent interview with the founder of Rolling Stone magazine, Jann Wenner, reveals a truth that hits hard for the church, too: White men rule the roost, and the people in charge like it that way.
In his new book Like a Rolling Stone: A Memoir, Wenner highlights the top musicians he has interviewed for the magazine. No surprise: all are white men. When a journalist questioned Wenner’s omission of females or people of color as musical giants, he said there were not any musicians that were equal to those he included.
Specifically, he said the reason no women were included was because no female musicians were “as articulate enough on this intellectual level” as men. For Black male musicians, a similar reason was given. “They just didn’t articulate” their musical philosophy at a high level.
And to rub salt into the wound, Wenner admitted that in retrospect, he probably should have sprinkled in some diversity to make his list more palatable. He said, “You know, 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.” He rationalized his choice, however, explaining that he was just “old-fashioned and I don’t give a [expletive] or whatever.”
Reading about this story, I felt a stab to the heart. We do the same thing in the church.