Sticky Fingers

The Life and Times of Jann Wenner and Rolling Stone Magazine

By: Joe Hagan

Narrated by: Dennis Boutsikaris

The first and only biography of Jann Wenner, the iconic founder of Rolling Stone magazine, and a romp through the hothouses of rock and roll, politics, media, and Hollywood, from the Summer of Love to the Internet age.

Lennon. Dylan. Jagger. Belushi. Leibovitz. The story of Jann Wenner, Rolling Stone's founder, editor, and publisher, is an insider's trip through the backstages of storied concert venues, rock-star hotel rooms, and the political ups and downs of the latter half of the 20th century, right up through the digital age: connecting the counterculture of Haight Ashbury to the "straight world".

Supplemented by a cache of extraordinary documents and letters from Wenner's personal archives, Sticky Fingers is the story of a mercurial, wide-eyed rock and roll fan of ambiguous sexuality but unambiguous ambition who reinvents youth culture, marketing the libertine world of the late '60s counterculture in a stylish, glossy package that would stand for decades as a testament to the cultural power of American youth. Joe Hagan captures in stunning detail the extraordinary lives constellated around a magazine that began as a scrappy rebellion and became a locus of power, influence, and access - using hundreds of hours of reporting and exclusive interviews.

The result is a fascinating and complex portrait of Jann Wenner that is also a biography of popular culture, celebrity, music, and politics in America over the last 50 years.

©2017 Joe Hagan (P)2017 Random House Audio

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.

Delivers the goods

Well researched and (apparently) honest recounting of the humble beginnings, incredible ambition, and, ultimately, the incredible force that Rolling Stone magazine and Jann Wenner were.

Highly recommended.

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!

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.

Sex, Drugs and Rolling Stone

Even though STICKY FINGERS is about Jann Wenner and his greatest creation, Rolling Stone Magazine, there are a lot of bit players and big and small moments from music, politics and personal history here.

Rolling Stone writers Jon Landau and Greil Marcus. Rolling StoneS front man Mick Jagger, who weaves in an out of this story. (Apparently he was miffed when Wenner named his rock mag Rolling Stone.) Wenner's boyish beautiful wife Jane. Wenner's confused sexuality and his coming out in the 1990s. Sex and drugs in the Rolling Stone offices. Political conventions and a drugged-out Hunter S. Thompson who wrote trippy prose masterpieces before he lost his mojo. A complicated friendship with Annie Liebowitz, who couldn't be trusted with Rolling Stone photo equipment or money. John and Yoko, betrayed by Wenner. Tom Wolfe and the Right Stuff. The Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame. The ups and downs of the print periodical biz.

This a readable biography, chock full of interesting characters. I didn't always like Wenner, who was too hung up on being rich and had the sharklike mentality of a businessman on the make. But he and his reporters were there for a lot of the pop cultural moments that made their way into a magazine that didn't shy from admitting a biased point of view that told you who and what was important.

Jann Wenner authorized this biography, so author Joe Hagan had access to a lot of insiders.

Dennis Boutsikaris does a good job narrating.


Audible 20 Review Sweepstakes Entry

Great entertainment but was it Complete?

This book was so fascinating that I could not put it down, or, was it so entertaining? I listened to the buttery smooth recital by Mr. Boutsikaris to whom’s previous readings I have enjoyed listening to on Audible.
My only concern with this Biography is whether I was more entertained and aroused than informed? Don’t get me wrong, I will not subject myself to some dry and uninspired text that lacks the author’s intimacy with their subject. Was this more Rolling Stone Magazine or Us Weekly?
In the end I couldn’t stop listening to Mr. Hagan’s book. Wherever it may sit on the list of great biographies I did not find it boring, or worse, a waste of my time.

A fascinating jerk.

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Unlike some biographies, this one does not make any attempt to white-wash it's subject's glaring personal flaws. Even his friends didn't like him. But the subject was in the middle of so many events and personalities, what he chose to do explains a lot about US social history from 1960 to the present.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Sticky Fingers?

How one egomaniac's self-centered view of the world shaped my own.

Which character – as performed by Dennis Boutsikaris – was your favorite?

Well read. The narrator's tone and attitude matched the material.

An accurate retelling of the times…

So I’ve managed to get through both Jann Wenner’s memoir and this actual biography that inspired Jann to write his version of the same book. It’s a little odd that both books used the same narrator. Growing up in the 70s to hippy parents made this more interesting than maybe it would have otherwise been… but no matter when you grew up, both are retellings of pivotal times for music and the country. Thoroughly enjoyed both for different reasons.

It struck me (especially after listening to Jann’s book first) that the biographer didn’t much care for his subject. Now, while Wenner deserved much of the ill will thrown his way, the author’s bitterness overshadows this otherwise well researched and well written book.