Of all the critics I regularly read, Robert Christgau makes the best recommendations. I strongly agree with his general sensibilities. I felt that this aspect of evaluating his great career needed to be mentioned.
I've been reading Dean Christgau since the early eighties and I've read all of his books, which range from autobiographical to literary criticism. His intelligence is complemented by a great sense of humor. I can't wait for the movie.
"Here he poses as the Irving Berlin of narcissistic alienation, puffing up and condescending to the fantasies of fans who spend their lives by the stereo feeling sensitive. And just to remind them who's boss, he hits them with a ballad after the manner of Aaron Copland. "
But the best last line of all time belongs to Ron Rosenbaum:
Greil Marcus is a great writer, but from what I know, he does not always write about someone just because they are popular. Thanks for the YouTube link, I'll check it out.
I had my run-ins with The Dean of American Rock Critics early on-We had a basement tape we offered to Christgau. I told him via Postal Mail that if he didn't request our tape he would have to discover it on his own, but his copy would be in braille. He wrote back on a postcard about my band Kongress, stating "In The Great Tradition of Just Make Sure You Spell My Name Right, I will think of your band as Congress - Roll On, Robert Christgau, Dean of American Rock Critics". I would call his phone # and announce when we were playing until he answered one day stating,"I told my wife that if you ever called me at this number, I would personally see to it that your group was never written up in the Village Voice. Goodbye!" Oddly enough, when Kongress opened for The Heartbreakers at Max's Kansas City, he described us as being "so Teutonic they abjure guitars", breaking his vow! Strangely, that night we had a guitarist! Kongress just celebrated their 50th Anniversary last year, releasing their first ever albums - Magick & Madgicians - both available for listening on Bandcamp @ https://otttovonruggins.bandcamp.com/album/magick as well as a treasure trove of information about the band on our website @ kongress.us Visit the Gallery Page for Videos, Images, Lyrics & Details, as well as the new Political Page with four especially controversial videos...I am, Otto von Ruggins, Master of the Unheard Of
Undoubtedly impressive in the amount of music he listens to, and writes about (I especially find the story behind his writing of his first record guide that came out in '81 to be impressive and maybe even a little inspirational) Christgau is often not a critic but an insult comic. Yes, he deserves credit for becoming a full-time Rock critic at a major magazine in the Sixties and then for organizing the Pazz and Jop polls. But his actual writing? It's awful. He already knows what he likes, it's often the most boring music around, and he quickly dismisses anything that conflicts with ill-formed biases, resulting in a couple of sentences of random snark. The notion that he is anywhere near being the greatest music critic of the 20th century is preposterous. A person who rates Garth Books highly and King Crimson lowly? Even Dave Marsh, the only sourpuss of Christgau's generation so similarly off-his-rocker, doesn't like Christgau's work. If only those two had disappeared down a wormhole circa 1983 where they would have bitched at each other the rest of their lives... Let's not forget too that Christgau is a great pioneer of cancel-culture tactics; picking out something about the music that could be rebuked from the perspective of a sanctimonious performative pseudo-leftist and then making a pissy remark about it which comprises nearly all of the "review" at hand. Indeed, Christgau's reviews were made for the Troll culture of the 21st Century. He was the original Troll. A documentary definitely could be made about his influence in that regard.
I think the most amazing thing about Christgau is how comfortable he is being completely out of step with everyone else. Half the time when I read a classic album's Critical Reception section on Wikipedia it says something like "Everyone agreed this album was one of the best of the year and the pinnacle of the artist's career. Except Christgau, he called it wimpy".
Of all the critics I regularly read, Robert Christgau makes the best recommendations. I strongly agree with his general sensibilities. I felt that this aspect of evaluating his great career needed to be mentioned.
I've been reading Dean Christgau since the early eighties and I've read all of his books, which range from autobiographical to literary criticism. His intelligence is complemented by a great sense of humor. I can't wait for the movie.
I was SO happy to see this collection of Billy Joel-bashing:
https://www.robertchristgau.com/get_artist.php?name=billy+joel
"Here he poses as the Irving Berlin of narcissistic alienation, puffing up and condescending to the fantasies of fans who spend their lives by the stereo feeling sensitive. And just to remind them who's boss, he hits them with a ballad after the manner of Aaron Copland. "
But the best last line of all time belongs to Ron Rosenbaum:
https://slate.com/human-interest/2009/01/the-awfulness-of-billy-joel-explained.html
Billy Joel-bashing is a favorite sport of the critics. Dave Marsh accuses him of "wasting his talent with self-dramatizing kitsch".
Hmm. I don’t know if Greil Marcus has ever bashed him.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6wBlXAzv0Fg
I mention him only because he’s the one famous critic I’ve met.
Greil Marcus is a great writer, but from what I know, he does not always write about someone just because they are popular. Thanks for the YouTube link, I'll check it out.
Robert Christgau said Mark David Chapman should have killed Paul McCartney instead of John Lennon, a sentiment his wife agreed with.
I was wondering if he was the source of that. Gross
Absolutely. I cannot believe anyone would praise or like him. Despicable person.
It was an awful thing to say despite my love for John over Paul!
I had my run-ins with The Dean of American Rock Critics early on-We had a basement tape we offered to Christgau. I told him via Postal Mail that if he didn't request our tape he would have to discover it on his own, but his copy would be in braille. He wrote back on a postcard about my band Kongress, stating "In The Great Tradition of Just Make Sure You Spell My Name Right, I will think of your band as Congress - Roll On, Robert Christgau, Dean of American Rock Critics". I would call his phone # and announce when we were playing until he answered one day stating,"I told my wife that if you ever called me at this number, I would personally see to it that your group was never written up in the Village Voice. Goodbye!" Oddly enough, when Kongress opened for The Heartbreakers at Max's Kansas City, he described us as being "so Teutonic they abjure guitars", breaking his vow! Strangely, that night we had a guitarist! Kongress just celebrated their 50th Anniversary last year, releasing their first ever albums - Magick & Madgicians - both available for listening on Bandcamp @ https://otttovonruggins.bandcamp.com/album/magick as well as a treasure trove of information about the band on our website @ kongress.us Visit the Gallery Page for Videos, Images, Lyrics & Details, as well as the new Political Page with four especially controversial videos...I am, Otto von Ruggins, Master of the Unheard Of
Undoubtedly impressive in the amount of music he listens to, and writes about (I especially find the story behind his writing of his first record guide that came out in '81 to be impressive and maybe even a little inspirational) Christgau is often not a critic but an insult comic. Yes, he deserves credit for becoming a full-time Rock critic at a major magazine in the Sixties and then for organizing the Pazz and Jop polls. But his actual writing? It's awful. He already knows what he likes, it's often the most boring music around, and he quickly dismisses anything that conflicts with ill-formed biases, resulting in a couple of sentences of random snark. The notion that he is anywhere near being the greatest music critic of the 20th century is preposterous. A person who rates Garth Books highly and King Crimson lowly? Even Dave Marsh, the only sourpuss of Christgau's generation so similarly off-his-rocker, doesn't like Christgau's work. If only those two had disappeared down a wormhole circa 1983 where they would have bitched at each other the rest of their lives... Let's not forget too that Christgau is a great pioneer of cancel-culture tactics; picking out something about the music that could be rebuked from the perspective of a sanctimonious performative pseudo-leftist and then making a pissy remark about it which comprises nearly all of the "review" at hand. Indeed, Christgau's reviews were made for the Troll culture of the 21st Century. He was the original Troll. A documentary definitely could be made about his influence in that regard.
I think the most amazing thing about Christgau is how comfortable he is being completely out of step with everyone else. Half the time when I read a classic album's Critical Reception section on Wikipedia it says something like "Everyone agreed this album was one of the best of the year and the pinnacle of the artist's career. Except Christgau, he called it wimpy".