Jann Wenner’s book, “The Masters,” is set to be published next week.
But signs are bad for sales as “The Masters” has fallen on the Amazon book charts from around number 1,400 to number 1,972. It’s headed in the wrong direction, nearly off the top 2,000.
The drop in pre-sales and in standing on Amazon is directly attributable to the disaster Wenner himself caused beginning last week with an interview in the New York Times.
Wenner said that the interviews in the book — with Bruce Springsteen, Bono, Mick Jagger, John Lennon and other old white male rockers — didn’t include Black and female musicains because they were inarticulate. He immediately crossed out artists like Joni Mitchell and Stevie Wonder, saying maybe if Marvin Gaye was alive he’d be a possibility.
Reaction was swift and fierce. The founder of Rolling Stone magazine was disowned by them even though the current editor is his son, Gus Wenner. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame dismissed him from its Board of Directors.
Wenner’s legacy has now been ruined by promotion for a book that will probably not sell at all when it’s finally published next Tuesday.
