Rolling Stone Magazine: The Uncensored History

by Robert Draper

The colorful, illustrated history of Rolling Stone magazine and its equally controversial founder and editor, Jann Wenner. Draper's history is an intelligent and witty behind-the-scenes look at this cultural icon and its course from its hippie beginnings to a high-profile magazine. 16 pages of photographs.

Genres: Music, Nonfiction, History, Pop Culture

16 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1990

About the author

Librarian's note: There is more than one author on Goodreads with this name.

Reviews

[Samantha · Rating 3 out of 5]

Exhaustively researched, which I appreciated even though the subject doesn't pack the cultural weight it did when it was written in 1990. I got tired of reading about Jann Wenner too. The book obsesses over him, and with good reason - "It's Jann's magazine," people said frequently - but by the epilogue, I was Jann Wenner'd out, especially after reading 400 pages of how horribly he treated most of his journalists.

The Hunter S. Thompson parts were worthwhile - the clashes he had with the magazine over his trip to Vietnam, and following Nixon on the campaign trail only to have the story killed. "We will chase them like rats across the tundra," Thompson pledged when hired as a columnist at the San Francisco Examiner, and that struck me as a classic Thompson line. The book also contains a classic Thompson excerpt from his 1968 Pageant article about Nixon (p. 208):

"Richard Nixon has never been one of my favourite people, anyway. For years I've regarded his very existence as a monument to all the rancid genes and broken chromosomes that corrupt the possibilities of the American Dream; he was a foul caricature of himself, a man with no soul, no inner convictions, with the integrity of a hyena and the style of a poison toad. The Nixon I remember was absolutely humorless; I couldn't imagine him laughing at anything except maybe a paraplegic who wanted to vote Democratic but couldn't quite reach the lever on the voting machine."

It also points out that as Thompson's life continued, his popularity and income became inverse to his actual output. Wenner, meanwhile, became a rock star in his own head.

[Theo Cage · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was surprised to find this a pretty illuminating tale about entrepreneurship. The founder of Rolling Stone, Jann Wenner, may believe his ultimate success was based on his own hard work and canny ability to predict trends. In fact, he was mostly lucky and supported by dozens of hard-working and dedicated employees who worked ungodly hours to get the magazine out on time. Read this then watch The Founder, the movie about Ray Krock and McDonalds. This will tell you everything you need to know about the essential qualities of entrepreneurship.

[Rebecca D · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm half way through, and need to put it down for a bit. It's mostly about Jann Wenner being a bit of an a-hole. It jumps around a lot and is weighed down by a lot of less-important details and side stories.

[Christopher Kelsall · Rating 4 out of 5]

I would give the book a rating of 3.5 to 3.75, but you must choose 3 or 4. I chose the latter. Tough call.

Robert Draper might as well have titled the book, "Jann Wenner: The Uncensored History".

You will be tired of reading about Wenner a quarter way through the book. You will also tire of two other constants: the somehow relentless failure of Wenner (six or seven publications started and failed), drugs, booze, anger, control, bullying, and being starstruck. The other is the parade of people that came and went and this caused issues with the story.

Firstly, character development is impossible when there are hundreds of characters for the author to illustrate (in words) and for the reader to keep up with.

It was fascinating to read about Hunter S. Thompson and Annie Leibowitz. Though P.J. O'Rourke should have gotten more print time in the book.

The story does leap around back and forth a bit. Also, his wife Jane just suddenly appeared on the pages just as his two kids did near the end. No relationship? No tears at the birth. And then there were properties he all of a sudden owned and lounged at. It was like an epilogue.

Some finer details were informative and entertaining like the beef John Lennon had with Wenner, money Mick Jagger put forward, losing a charity baseball game to the Eagles, and all the drugs and maniacal behavior —it's a wonder they published on a regular basis.

If you have read the publication in the 70s, 80s and 90s, you will find the book interesting. If not, you might have difficulty with it. I read from around 82-95.....I would like to get my hands on some 70s issues.

[Craig Werner · Rating 4 out of 5]

There's a bit of a muckraking impulse in Draper's treatment of the first phase of Rolling Stone magazine's history, but as long as you remember that many of his sources were ticked off (often/usually justifiably) at Jann Wenner, it's a solid portrait of a key piece of the story of the counterculture's (mostly losing) battle with hip capitalism. Very nice job on the key moments including the groupie issue, the coverage of Woodstock, Altamont, and Manson, and the definitive interviews. The picture of Wenner indulging his high roller life style while his staff scuffled isn't a pretty one.

[A Ojala · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Doing what they did best, some hippies were getting rich."

[Marie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I only read the prologue to this. I checked it out for some work-related research and I feel like I've gotten the info I wanted from reading the prologue. Otherwise I just don't care enough to read the rest of the book. I'm not a fan of Rolling Stone magazine. I get it. Rolling Stone was once totally awesome, back when the music business was in its infancy, some now-famous and awe-inspiring writers and photogs worked there and it is definitely a place holder for American pop culture.

[Susan Kellam · Rating 3 out of 5]

I lived through some of this and enjoyed the memories. However, he got things wrong, such as downplaying the No Nukes concerts. He wasn't in the office and didn't really know the personalities. He zeroed in on Jann Wenner, which makes sense. All-in-all, a good read.

[Melinda · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book deserves a reprint ASAP. It's enthralling.

[Andrew · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this fascinating, despite my being no fan of Rolling Stone magazine. An in-depth history of the rag and, most importantly, the psyche of its publisher.

[Steve Coscia · Rating 4 out of 5]

This explained much about why Rolling Stone didn't cover all rock-n-roll bands. Jann Wenner was a rock fan, not an objective publisher.

[Jim]

It turns out I am no longer interested in the history of Rolling Stone magazine.

[Chuck · Rating 5 out of 5]

Comprehensive.