| Robert Christgau | |
|---|---|
 At the 2006 Pop Conference in Seattle, Washington | |
| Born | April 18, 1942 |
| Occupation | Music critic, essayist, music journalist |
| Nationality | American |
| Writing period | 1960s to present |
| Spouse(s) | Carola Dibbell[1] |
| Children | Nina Christgau[1] |
Robert Christgau (born April 18, 1942) is an American essayist, music journalist, and the self-declared "Dean of American Rock Critics". Events 1025 - Bolesław Chrobry is crowned in Gniezno, becoming the first King of Poland. Year 1942 ( MCMXLII) was a Common year starting on Thursday (the link will display the full 1942 calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Employment is a Contract between two parties, one being the employer and the other being the employee. A music critic is someone who reviews Music (including printed music performances and recorded music and publishes writing on them in books or journals (or on the internet This article is an abbreviated list of Essayists - individuals notable for writing essays on various topics Music journalism is criticism and reportage about Music. It began in the eighteenth century as comment on what is now thought of as ' Classical music ' Nationality is a relationship between a Person and their State of Origin, Culture, association Affiliation and/or Loyalty Events 1025 - Bolesław Chrobry is crowned in Gniezno, becoming the first King of Poland. Year 1942 ( MCMXLII) was a Common year starting on Thursday (the link will display the full 1942 calendar of the Gregorian calendar. The United States of America —commonly referred to as the This article is an abbreviated list of Essayists - individuals notable for writing essays on various topics Music journalism is criticism and reportage about Music. It began in the eighteenth century as comment on what is now thought of as ' Classical music ' [2] In print, he often abbreviates his name as Xgau.
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Career summary
Christgau grew up in New York City, where he says he became a rock and roll fan when disc jockey Alan Freed moved to the city in 1954. The City of New York Rock and roll (also known as rock 'n' roll) is a form of Music that evolved in the United States in the late 1940s and early 1950s with roots in mostly African Alan Freed (December 15 1921 &ndash January 20 1965 also known as Moondog, was an American Disc-jockey who became He left New York for four years to attend Dartmouth College in New Hampshire, graduating in 1962. Dartmouth College ( is a private, Coeducational University located in Hanover, New Hampshire, U New Hampshire ( is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. While at college, Christgau's musical interests turned to jazz, but he quickly returned to rock and roll after moving back to New York. Jazz is an American Musical art form which originated in the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States
He initially wrote short stories, before giving up fiction in 1964 to become a sportswriter, and later, a police reporter for the Newark Star-Ledger. The short story is a literary genre of Fictional Prose Narrative that tends to be more concise and to the point than longer works of fiction such Fiction is the telling of stories which are not real More specifically fiction is an imaginative form of Narrative, one of the four basic Rhetorical modes. Sports journalism is a form of Journalism that reports on Sports topics and events While the sports department within some Newspapers has been The Star-Ledger is a Newspaper in the US state of New Jersey and is based in Newark. Christgau became a freelance writer after a story he wrote about the death of a woman in New Jersey was published by New York magazine. A freelancer, freelance worker, or freelance is a person who pursues a profession without a long-term commitment to any one employer New York is a weekly magazine concerned with the life culture politics and style of New York City. He was asked to take over the dormant music column at Esquire, which he began writing in early 1967. Esquire is a Men's magazine by the Hearst Corporation with a strong literary tradition After Esquire discontinued the column, Christgau moved to the The Village Voice in 1969, and he also worked as a college professor. This article is about a New York newspaper For the Ottawa Hills Ohio magazine see The Village Voice of Ottawa Hills.
In early 1972, he accepted a full-time job as music critic for Newsday. Newsday is a daily Tabloid -size Pulitzer Prize winning Newspaper that primarily serves Long Island and the New York City Christgau returned to the Village Voice in 1974 as music editor. He remained there until August 2006, when he was fired "for taste" shortly after the paper's acquisition by New Times Media. The New Times Media corporation was a national publisher of Alternative weekly newspapers [3] Two months later, Christgau became a contributing editor at Rolling Stone. Rolling Stone is a United States -based Magazine devoted to Music, Politics, and Popular culture that is published In 2008, Christgau left Rolling Stone and followed Joe Levy to Blender, where he became co-chief music critic. Blender is an American music Magazine that bills itself as "the ultimate guide to music and more" Christgau had been a regular contributor to Blender before he joined Rolling Stone.
Christgau has also written frequently for Playboy, Spin, and Creem. Playboy is an American Men's magazine, founded in Chicago Illinois, by Hugh Hefner and his associates which has grown into Playboy Spin is a Music Magazine that reports on Music for Life Founded in 1985 by publisher Bob Guccione Jr Creem (whose trademark is capitalized CREEM) "America's Only Rock 'n' Roll Magazine" was a monthly Rock 'n' roll Publication started He has previously taught during the formative years of the California Institute of the Arts. The California Institute of the Arts, commonly referred to as CalArts, is located in Valencia California, a suburb of Los Angeles California. As of 2005, he was also an adjunct professor in the Clive Davis Department of Recorded Music at New York University. Clive Jay Davis (born April 4 1932 in Brooklyn New York is an American Record producer and a leading music industry executive. New York University ( NYU) is a private, Nonsectarian, Coeducational Research University in New York City.
Consumer Guide
Christgau is perhaps best known for his Consumer Guide columns, which have been published on a more-or-less monthly basis since 1969, in the Village Voice, as well as a brief period at Newsday. Newsday is a daily Tabloid -size Pulitzer Prize winning Newspaper that primarily serves Long Island and the New York City In December 2006, the column moved online to MSN Music, initially appearing every other month, before switching to a monthly schedule in June 2007. MSN Music is a part of the MSN web services It delivers music news music videos spotlights on new music artist information and live performances of In its original format, the Consumer Guide consisted of 18 to 20 single-paragraph album reviews, each of which was given a letter grade ranging from A+ to E-. "Christgau's blurbs", writes Jody Rosen, "are like no one else's — dense with ideas and allusions, first-person confessions and invective, highbrow references and slang. Used colloquially as a Noun or Adjective, highbrow is synonymous with Intellectual; as an adjective it also means Elite "[2]
In 1990, Christgau changed the format of the Consumer Guide; It now contains six to eight reviews graded upper-B+ or higher, one "Dud of the Month" review graded B or lower, and three lists: Honorable Mention (B+ albums deemed not worthy of full-paragraph reviews), Choice Cuts (excellent tracks on un-recommended albums), and Duds. For several years, there were two annual Consumer Guide columns which strayed from this format: The Turkey Shoot (typically published the week of Thanksgiving), which consisted entirely of reviews graded B- or lower, and a Christmas-season roundup of compilations and reissues, mostly graded A or A+. Thanksgiving, or Thanksgiving Day, is a traditional North American Holiday, which is a form of harvest festival. Both have been discontinued.
He also uses ratings such as "neither," which "may impress once or twice with consistent craft or an arresting track or two. Then it won't" and a "choice cut," which, as noted above, "is a good song on an album that isn't worth your time or money. "[4]
Pazz & Jop
In 1971, Christgau inaugurated the annual Pazz & Jop music poll. The Pazz & Jop critics' poll is a highly influential poll of music critics run by The Village Voice newspaper The results are published in the Village Voice every February, and compile "top ten" lists submitted by music critics across the nation. Throughout Christgau's career at the Voice, every poll was accompanied by a lengthy Christgau essay analyzing the results, and pondering the year's overall musical output. The Voice has continued the feature, despite Christgau's dismissal, and although he no longer oversees the poll, Christgau continues to vote in it.
Style and tastes
Christgau names Louis Armstrong, Thelonious Monk, Chuck Berry, The Beatles, and the New York Dolls as his top five artists of all time. Louis Armstrong (August 4 1901 &ndash July 6 1971 nicknamed Satchmo or Sachimo and Pops, was an American Jazz Trumpeter Thelonious Sphere Monk ( October 10, 1917 - February 17, 1982) was an American Jazz Pianist and Composer. Charles Edward Anderson "Chuck" Berry (born October 18 1926 in St The Beatles were a pop and rock band from Liverpool, England formed in 1960 For the self-titled debut album see New York Dolls (album The New York Dolls are an American Glam rock band formed in [1] In music critic circles, he was an early supporter of hip hop and the riot grrrl movement, along with other music styles. Hip hop music, also referred to as rap music, is a Music genre typically consisting of a rhythmic vocal style called rap which is accompanied with Riot grrrl was an underground Feminist punk movement that started in the early 1990s and is often associated with Third-wave feminism (it In the 1980s, Christgau was a fervent booster of Afro-pop, a stance that alienated him from some in the critical community, as he seemed insufficiently interested in American and British rock music. "Afropop" redirects here For the radio program see Afropop Worldwide. In the 1990s, however, Christgau's interest in indie rock seemed to increase. Indie rock is genre of Alternative rock that primarily exists in the independent Underground music scene He could be catty and wasn't above using a derogatory term, as when he called Willy DeVille "the songpoet of greaser nostalgia". Willy DeVille (b August 25 1950 is an American Singer and Songwriter. Greaser was a derogatory term for a Mexican in what is now the US Southwest in the 19th century [5]
In December 1980, Christgau provoked angry responses from Voice readers when his column approvingly quoted his wife Carola Dibbell's reaction to the murder of John Lennon: "Why is it always John Lennon and John F. Kennedy? Why isn't it ever Paul McCartney and Richard Nixon?"[6] Christgau later conceded that it was a poor decision to print this comment. John Winston Ono Lennon, MBE (born John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy (May 29 1917&ndashNovember 22 1963 often referred to by his initials JFK, was the thirty-fifth President of Sir James Paul McCartney, MBE (born 18 June 1942 is an English rock Singer, Bass guitarist songwriter Composer,
Jody Rosen describes Christgau's writing as "often maddening, always thought-provoking. . . With Pauline Kael, Christgau is arguably one of the two most important American mass-culture critics of the second half of the 20th century. Pauline Kael (June 19 1919 &ndash September 3 2001 was an American Film critic who wrote for The New Yorker magazine from 1968 to 1991 Popular culture (or pop culture) is the Culture — patterns of human activity and the symbolic structures that give such activities significance and importance — … All rock critics working today, at least the ones who want to do more than rewrite PR copy, are in some sense Christgauians. "[2]
References
- ^ a b c O'Dair, Barbara (May 9, 2001). Events 1457 BC - Battle of Megiddo (15th century BC between Thutmose III and a large Canaanite coalition under the King of Year 2001 ( MMI) was a Common year starting on Monday according to the Gregorian calendar. A conversation with Robert Christgau. Salon. Accessed April 13, 2008. Events 1111 - Henry V is crowned Holy Roman Emperor. 1204 - The Fourth Crusade sacks Constantinople 2008 ( MMVIII) is the current year in accordance with the Gregorian calendar, a Leap year that started on Tuesday of the Common
- ^ a b c Jody Rosen, X-ed Out: The Village Voice fires a famous music critic, Slate, September 5, 2006. Events 1590 - Alexander Farnese 's army forces Henry IV of France to raise the siege of Paris. Year 2006 ( MMVI) was a Common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. Retrieved on October 15, 2006. Events 533 - Byzantine General Belisarius makes his formal entry into Carthage, having conquered it from the Year 2006 ( MMVI) was a Common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar.
- ^ Longtime Rock Critic, Christgau, Axed at 'Village Voice' in Latest Layoffs, Editor & Publisher, August 31, 2006 Retrieved on June 8, 2008. Events 1056 - Byzantine Empress Theodora becomes ill dying suddenly a few days later without children to succeed the Throne Year 2006 ( MMVI) was a Common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. Events 68 - The Roman Senate accepts emperor Galba. 536 - St Silverius becomes Pope (probable 2008 ( MMVIII) is the current year in accordance with the Gregorian calendar, a Leap year that started on Tuesday of the Common
- ^ Grades
- ^ Christgau, Robert (1978) Mink DeVille. Consumer Reviews. Accessed May 26, 2008. Events 451 - The Battle of Avarayr between Armenian rebels and the Sassanid Empire takes place 2008 ( MMVIII) is the current year in accordance with the Gregorian calendar, a Leap year that started on Tuesday of the Common
- ^ Christgau, Robert (1980-12-22). Year 1980 ( MCMLXXX) was a Leap year starting on Tuesday (link displays the 1980 Gregorian calendar) Events 1790 - The Turkish fortress of Izmail is stormed and captured by Suvorov and his Russian armies John Lennon, 1940-1980. Robert Christgau: Dean of American Rock Critics. Retrieved on 2008-03-15. 2008 ( MMVIII) is the current year in accordance with the Gregorian calendar, a Leap year that started on Tuesday of the Common Events 44 BC - Julius Caesar, Dictator of the Roman Republic, is stabbed to death by Marcus Junius Brutus,
External links
- Official web site
- Consumer Guide on MSN Music
- Review critical of Christgau by Christina Rees, Dallas Observer
- Online exchange with Robert Christgau at rockcritics. com
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