The Masters: Conversations with Dylan, Lennon, Jagger, Townshend, Garcia, Bono, and Springsteen

Rolling Stone magazine was the closest thing to being the official chronicler of rock music, and the in-depth Rolling Stone interview transcripts added a key component to a new kind of music journalism. Wenner, the magazine’s cofounder, compiles eight interviews that he conducted between 1968 and 2023 with seven inarguable members of the rock music pantheon. The most searching and revealing interviews are an honest, acerbic, and probing conversation with John Lennon in 1970 and Mick Jagger reflecting on more than 30 years as a musician in 1995. Bob Dylan, interviewed in 1968 and 2007, is enigmatic and philosophical but also willfully obtuse and playful. Bono and Bruce Springsteen are the most spiritual and contemplative; the printed records of their conversations soar to literary heights. Interviews with Pete Townshend and Jerry Garcia reveal much about their work and lives up to that point.