Will Fanny Finally Get Into The Rock 'n Roll Hall of Fame Now That Jann Wenner Has Been Removed From Its Board?

I don't know what the hell Rolling Stone magazine co-founder Jann Wenner was thinking when he told The New York Times a few days back female musicians were not "articulate enough on this intellectual level" to be included in his book The Masters (which features interviews Wenner did over the years with Bono, Bob Dylan, Jerry Garcia, Mick Jagger, John Lennon, Bruce Springsteen and Pete Townshend). Nor do I know what he was thinking when given the opportunity to reconsider the comment. Because it was at that point which Wenner grabbed a shovel and started digging:

It’s not that they’re inarticulate, although, go have a deep conversation with Grace Slick or Janis Joplin. Please, be my guest. You know, Joni (Mitchell) was not a philosopher of rock ’n’ roll. She didn’t, in my mind, meet that test. Not by her work, not by other interviews she did. The people I interviewed were the kind of philosophers of rock.

Of Black artists — you know, Stevie Wonder, genius, right? I suppose when you use a word as broad as “masters,” the fault is using that word. Maybe Marvin Gaye, or Curtis Mayfield? I mean, they just didn’t articulate at that level. 

Wenner's statements are reminiscent of the late Los Angeles Dodgers General Manager Al Campanis who in April 1987 told Ted Koppel on Nightline that African-Americans didn't have the "necessities" to become managers or general managers. Mind you, one of Campanis' former Dodgers players Dusty Baker last year led the Houston Astros to a World Series title. 

Speaking of last year, there was Ilya Shapiro of Georgetown University's Constitutional Law Center who odiously lamented that President Biden would pick a "lesser black woman" for the U.S. Supreme Court. President Biden would appoint Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Court, a black woman but hardly lesser. 

As you probably know by now, the Rock 'n Roll Hall of Fame Board of Directors has cut ties with Wenner despite his subsequent apology. While there is little doubt Wenner is guilty of racial and gender prejudice, he has also long been someone with a mercurial disposition. In 2007, Wenner manipulated voting in the Rock 'n Roll Hall of Fame ballot to induct hip-hop group Grandmaster Flash and The Furious Five despite having fewer votes than British invasion stars Dave Clark Five. Although the DC5 would be inducted the following year following an uproar, lead singer Mike Smith would pass away only days before the ceremony.

Now that Wenner is out of the picture, it would seem that we can look forward to more female and African-American inductees in the Rock 'n Roll Hall of Fame in years to come. The question is whether Wenner's removal help Fanny get inducted into the Rock 'n Roll Hall of Fame next year?

Given the inflammatory nature of Wenner's comments, one would think that an all-female band which was the first to release an album on a major record label, was a multiracial band and with members who are LGBTQ would get stronger consideration for induction and that pressure would be put to bear on the board to give Fanny its long overdue recognition as a musical influence. 

But memories are short. With everything going on in this country (much less the world) which will soon turn its attention to the 2024 presidential election, Wenner's comments will likely soon be forgotten or at the very least get lost in the media ecosystem. Notwithstanding Fanny's increased profile online and in social media and with Bobbi Jo Hart's documentary Fanny: The Right to Rock, the group's induction into the Rock 'n Roll Hall of Fame is far from guaranteed even with Wenner's dubious statements. 

The best Fannynatics can do on our end is to be persistent in getting behind Fanny. Whatever Wenner might think of female musicians, Fanny talked with their music. While it is important to recognize the contributions of female rock 'n roll pioneers as well as those female pioneers who are Asian and identify as LGBTQ, should Fanny be inducted into the Rock 'n Roll Hall of Fame it will be because they rock.