Sticky Fingers

The Life and Times of Jann Wenner and Rolling Stone Magazine

By: Joe Hagan

Narrated by: Dennis Boutsikaris, Joe Hagan

A delicious romp through the heyday of rock and roll and a revealing portrait of the man at the helm of the iconic magazine that made it all possible, with candid look backs at the era from Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Elton John, Bono, Bruce Springsteen, Paul McCartney, and others.

The story of Jann Wenner, Rolling Stone's founder, editor, and publisher, and the pioneering era he helped curate, is told here for the first time in glittering, glorious detail. Joe Hagan provides readers with a backstage pass to storied concert venues and rock-star hotel rooms; he tells never before heard stories about the lives of rock stars and their handlers; he details the daring journalism (Tom Wolfe, Hunter S. Thompson, P.J. O’Rourke) and internecine office politics that accompanied the start-up; he animates the drug and sexual appetites of the era; and he reports on the politics of the last fifty years that were often chronicled in the pages of Rolling Stone magazine.

Supplemented by a cache of extraordinary documents and letters from Wenner's personal archives, Sticky Fingers depicts an ambitious, mercurial, wide-eyed rock and roll fan of who exalts in youth and beauty and learns how to package it, marketing late sixties counterculture as a testament to the power of American youth. The result is a fascinating and complex portrait of man and era, and an irresistible biography of popular culture, celebrity, music, and politics in America.

Excellent story and writing, fantastic narration

Fascinating story. Very well researched. Lots of interesting anecdotes without seeming gossipy. The narration is so skillful that it had me searching for other books narrated by the same talented voice.

Wenner is a pretentious star F*****

Would you try another book from Joe Hagan and/or Dennis Boutsikaris?

Yes

What was most disappointing about Joe Hagan’s story?

His filling page after page with "bold type" names then describing their sexual peccadillos or other gossipy tangential tidbits "trust fund" "addict"

Which scene was your favorite?

Bill Graham

Did Sticky Fingers inspire you to do anything?

Not purchase Rolling Stone magazine.

Meh

Boring. About 5 hours too long. A story about rich people and their egos and rich people problems. Sad that I missed out on the 60s and 70s RS, I was hoping this would tell me something I didn’t know about that era. It really didn’t, and even some of the stuff about Hunter S. Thompson that’s in this book contradicts some things I’ve read in other books lately. All I learned is that I don’t like Jann at all.

This was authorized?! 😳

This very dense, ultra-researched book is not exactly flattering to Jann Wenner but it's an authorized biography so maybe he's even worse than he seems! It's worth a listen (or read) as there's also a lot about the photographer Annie Leibovitz, Hunter S. Thompson, and Wenner frenemies Mick Jagger and Bob Dylan. The prose is well-written (though the stories are somewhat repetitive) and the narrator is excellent. This book kept me alert and interested on a long, multi-state drive.

Hagan and Wenner Share the same narrator!

Ok, I’m just starting Sticky Fingers but just finished Jann Wenner’s memoir, “Like a Rolling Stone” and the guy who narrated the memoir is also the narrator of Sticky Fingers! Totally weird because I’m used to him being the actual voice of Jann Wenner. Thing I’m reading them in the wrong order!