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schiavenza1981 's review for:
A rollicking, funny, and fascinating biography of Jann Wenner, founder of Rolling Stone. Named for Janus, the god of doorways, Wenner's story is essentially fueled by one contradiction: He got very, very rich off the counterculture.
Hagan unearths every nugget from the editor's private life, from a difficult childhood with a narcissistic mother to a lifelong quest to shield his homosexuality from the public eye. But Wenner had a lot of fun along the way: He partied with writers, politicians, actors, and every rock star you could name — probably because many only became stars once they appeared on the cover of Wenner's magazine.
A magazine, of course, that changed journalism. Rolling Stone was the first magazine that took the American counterculture — particularly rock music — seriously and allowed writers like Hunter S. Thompson to employ their own voice in coverage of important national events. Every pop culture photographer owes a debt to Annie Leibovitz, whom Wenner hired at a precious age and stuck with despite her disorganization and chaos (and, Hagan notes, an unrequited passion for Wenner's wife).
In fact, if there's a criticism of the book it's its relatively short shrift given to Jane Wenner, Rolling Stone's co-founder and Jann's wife of thirty years. Hagan presents her as something of a tragic character, one endowed with beauty and charm but who spends her entire life in the shadow of her larger-than-life husband, aware of his trysts but unable to stop them. For a self-identified progressive, Jann Wenner seemed largely oblivious to his wife's desires; she spends much of his biography languishing indoors, depressed and addicted to pills.
Sticky Fingers loses its verve following 1977, the year Wenner moved his magazine from San Francisco to New York and became a rather conventional wealthy socialite. But it's still a pleasure to read for anyone into music and/or journalism. It's hard to imagine our fragmented culture will ever produce a figure like Wenner again, one who at age 21 created a magazine that captured the zeitgeist of an entire nation of youth.
Hagan unearths every nugget from the editor's private life, from a difficult childhood with a narcissistic mother to a lifelong quest to shield his homosexuality from the public eye. But Wenner had a lot of fun along the way: He partied with writers, politicians, actors, and every rock star you could name — probably because many only became stars once they appeared on the cover of Wenner's magazine.
A magazine, of course, that changed journalism. Rolling Stone was the first magazine that took the American counterculture — particularly rock music — seriously and allowed writers like Hunter S. Thompson to employ their own voice in coverage of important national events. Every pop culture photographer owes a debt to Annie Leibovitz, whom Wenner hired at a precious age and stuck with despite her disorganization and chaos (and, Hagan notes, an unrequited passion for Wenner's wife).
In fact, if there's a criticism of the book it's its relatively short shrift given to Jane Wenner, Rolling Stone's co-founder and Jann's wife of thirty years. Hagan presents her as something of a tragic character, one endowed with beauty and charm but who spends her entire life in the shadow of her larger-than-life husband, aware of his trysts but unable to stop them. For a self-identified progressive, Jann Wenner seemed largely oblivious to his wife's desires; she spends much of his biography languishing indoors, depressed and addicted to pills.
Sticky Fingers loses its verve following 1977, the year Wenner moved his magazine from San Francisco to New York and became a rather conventional wealthy socialite. But it's still a pleasure to read for anyone into music and/or journalism. It's hard to imagine our fragmented culture will ever produce a figure like Wenner again, one who at age 21 created a magazine that captured the zeitgeist of an entire nation of youth.