7 Non-Musicians Who Changed Pop Music Forever

3. Jann Wenner

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1pMbrXFFjtM I have no doubt that this entry will be the most controversial on the list. You could argue that the musical juggernauts that Jann Wenner started have outlived their usefulness and/or have become outmoded. I'm not going to say where I stand in this argument, at least not here. I will say, however, that, regardless of how you feel about what Wenner has done to the music industry, you can't deny that Wenner did make an impact. Let's go back to 1967. Wenner, a young rock-music lover, was lamenting the fact that there was no magazine that appealed to music lovers like himself. Wenner decided to change this state of affairs. He borrowed seventy-five hundred dollars and started a little underground magazine with a name ripped from a Muddy Waters tune. The first issue of Wenner's magazine was published in November 1967. That innocent little magazine, Rolling Stone by name, would rise in prominence until it became what it is today: a pop-music monolith that continues to shape the way we think about rock music. In 1983, Wenner made another contribution to the rock-music world by co-founding the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Since its founding, a place in the Hall has become a highly-coveted honor among pop-music bands. Everything that Wenner does in the music world seems to invite controversy. For instance, Rolling Stone has been accused of what Jody Rosen calls "unrepentant rockist fogeyism." Granted, there is a lot of truth to this statement. The magazine is infamous for not picking up on new musical trends until they become more mainstream. Rolling Stone has also shot down many bands who were considered to be too innovative at the time, only to recant their opinions after the bands become legendary (the most famous example of this is Stone's treatment of Led Zeppelin). However, the magazine has also done a lot of good. For instance, it's been a training ground for some of the finest journalists of all time, such as Cameron Crowe, Hunter S. Thompson, Ben Fong-Torres, Robert Christgau, and the subject of this list's next entry.