The Dean of American Rock Critics

Commonly known as “The Dean of American Rock Critics”, a title he awarded to himself, veteran music critic Robert Christgau has established himself as a celebrated critic in the industry. Christgau began his journalistic practice in 1967 at Esquire as an essayist for the music column. He moved to The Village Voice in 1969 where he held the position of senior editor till 2006 when he was fired along with several other journalists due to a shift in management authorities. He now writes for publications like Blender, Billboard, Spin, Rolling Stone, and Playboy in the ‘Expert Witness’ columns.

In this essay, I will critically analyze Christgau’s work based on the contexts of music journalism and his approach to and constraints of the specialism.

The inception of music as a topic of journalism emerged about 100 years ago in an attempt to delve into and keep up with popular culture among the masses. It emerged through special journals that guided listeners through the newfound genres of music with intellectual reviews (Jacke et al., 2014). It was in the mid-1970s that rock music began infiltrating the pages of mainstream newspapers, journals, and magazines as an attempt to appeal to the newer generation. This propagation of the coverage of the then-redundant genre of music, especially when it came to reportage of the same, came forward to attract young readers who were otherwise unlikely to read music magazines and this drove editors to increase media coverage of rock music (McLeese, 2010).

In this early period of specialization, Christgau carved a niche for himself. In an essay for The Village Voice in 1976, he brands 5 rock music critics, including himself, as the ‘Rock Critic Establishment’. He goes on to state that this is an important distinction as criticism of music is enormously different from music reporting and journalism.

“…represents the first victory of a brand-new grouping of five journalists who for want of a more felicitous term I have to label the rock-critic establishment… these are rock critics rather than rock press…the terms are not interchangeable.”
(Christgau, 1976)

However, many argue that the distinction is not that great in terms of social impact, understanding of the audience, and readership. According to Melnyk (2019), music criticism and journalism are “equal” in functionality but criticism goes beyond just mass media and is also present in casual discussions outside newspapers. Simply put, criticism of music is not entirely a ‘specialism’, as is journalism, as the common masses dabble in the same casually and without a professional background. Still, both are centered around educating the audience in one or more aspects.

Through the latter half of the 1990s, the emergence and exponential growth of the internet began chipping at the newspaper and print industry. Newspapers, however, adapted fairly quickly and developed a “Web version” of their prints. The internet made information and its propagation faster, easier, and cheaper, and this resulted in the heavy loss of print. Due to this ease of access, the view of journalists as ‘gatekeepers of music’ was shattered and through the inception of social media and networking, like Myspace, they were seen as ‘promoters’ (McLeese, 2010). This means that many journalists switched to a lax tactic of writing, often praising the artist more than criticizing directly, which is contradictory to the requirement of the specialism.

Quoting Ann Powers, Weber says technological development in recent years has almost closed the gap between amateur and professional writing, creating an antagonism to the “traditional authority” of music publishing. (Weber, 2017). Christgau’s transition from writing for print to writing for the web was smooth. The Village Voice established its website shortly after internet domination swept through the world. Christgau’s work was published in print as well as on-screen and he had his hold on both industries. Now, his work for the paper is archived in the website’s database. As technology continued to develop, Christgau debuted his blog under his name, where all his works are tracked – past, current, and future.

Although music journalism is a specialism in its own right and is an umbrella to further specializations in the category, it is often debated that it also falls under the banner of ‘cultural journalism’ alongside movies and theatre writing. This disparity warrants the use of subjectivity in its writing, i.e. personal opinions and tastes, and thus also brings into question the bias and ethics of the report (Kristensen et al., 2012). Widely considered ‘soft news’, writing about music, more often than not, involves the private and lighter matters of society rather than more urgent news that can be considered “breaking news”. Christgau’s long-form journalistic pieces for music reviews play into the stereotype of the ‘soft news’ – descriptive and opinionated. However, Christgau also intermixes, to some extent, elements of ‘hard news’ by talking about related events. For example, his article on the Beastie Boys is a review of their discography and the correlation of the same to their actions and scandals.

“The Beasties are still bad — they get laid, they do drugs, they break laws, they laze around. But this time they know the difference between bad and evil. Crack and cocaine and woman-beaters and stickup kids get theirs; one song goes out to a homeless rockabilly wino, another ends, “Racism is schism on the serious tip.” …”
(Christgau, 2020)

Typically, for protection against jeopardizing ethical boundaries of libel and defamation, the use of slang, slurs, and other offensive language is frowned upon and is regarded as extreme. Powers cites Titchener to state that apart from using standard journalistic language, care should be taken when talking about arts and avoid too much negative assessment. Powers, regardless, debates that rock music writing had historically been littered with “bombastic statements” and the writers often had an intense passion for the genre as well as “vitriolic displeasure” (Powers, 2009). Christgau’s crude approach to criticism of music and musicians has left a sour taste in many artists’ mouths, some notable occurrences being Billy Joel tearing up a review by Christgau live on stage, Lou Reed publicly slighting Christgau’s sexual preferences in his live album, and Sonic Youth spinning their track 'Kill Yr. Idols' to 'I Killed Robert Christgau with My Big F****** D***' for a live performance after a particularly off-putting review of the original song by Christgau.

Christgau is immensely popular for his style of writing – unfiltered words, harsh comments, and a bruising format of review. One example is his review of Sonic Youth’s Neutral EP album Sonic Youth – “At their worst, they sound like a Polyrock mainlining metronome, at their best like one of Branca’s early drafts. The best never last long enough. Grade awarded: C” (Christgau, 1982). On Guns N Roses’ album, G N R Lies – “…Back when they hit the racks, these posers talked a lot of guff about suicide. I’m still betting they don’t have it in them to jump. Grade awarded: E.” (Christgau, 1988). His column, The Consumer Guide, follows a terse yet clear format. Christgau developed a grading system with corresponding lengths of texts - the higher the grade he awarded to the song, album, or musician, the more detailed the review. The scale of grading ranges from A+ to X (Dud) while the accompanying reviews range from 2-3 paragraphs to nothing at all.

While his vocabulary is more than colorful, his essays are filled with metaphors, comparisons, and witty jokes. Griffiths observes that these criticisms, though seemingly random, are based on the lyrics of the song and the execution of it by the artist when paired with the other components of the piece – instrumental, inspiration, division of verses, and ad-libs – that becomes the “key element”. This is done indirectly rather than through the conventional direct implication of the lyric (Griffiths, 2019).

In each of these reviews, a tell-tale sign of Christgau’s approach to the song/musician/album can be seen, wherein he highlights the good and the bad. The use of slang and other coarse terminology adds to the impact of the review on an impressionable reader. The words, tone, length, and grading system portray the quality of the song. Though the reviews are tainted by the unavoidable subjectivity of taste, Christgau’s style of criticism resonates with the open-minded youth and superfans of wild rock. According to PopMatters, a cultural magazine, Christgau does not “mince words” and appears “opinionated and arrogant”, yet his intelligence permits him to “challenge conventional wisdom” alongside his take on a piece (Horowitz, 2006). NPR described Christgau’s stern reviews as “brandishing the most feared and loathed pen in the chronicles of rock n’ roll.” (Rath, 2015). In this sense, his journalistic practice, albeit unconventional and arguably unethical, attracts the attention of the newer generation due to its relatability, preciseness, and technologically-adapted format.

In conclusion, Christgau’s approach to music journalism is not entirely conventional due to its unforgiving manner of presentation. This sets him apart from other journalists in the same specialism as he chooses a much more cutthroat approach rather than a gentler perspective that is typical for this ‘soft news’ specialism. Although this methodology upset quite a few individuals, it is a clear portrayal of his resistance to the change in the perception of critics – not a ‘promoter’ but an ‘unbiased critic’ – as he continued the ruthless way of writing regardless of the outcome. As a result, Christgau has earned a valuable reputation in the rock criticism society, trademarking his style of writing, and has contributed greatly to the current format of review and criticism through the introduction of several polls, columns, and editorials.





BIBLIOGRAPHY


• Jacke, C., James, M. and Montano, E. (2014) “Editorial introduction: Music journalism,” IASPM@Journal, 4(2), pp. 2–2. Available at: https://doi.org/10.5429/2079-3871(2014)v4i2.1en. (Accessed: January 14, 2023).

This academic article explores the impact and standing of music journalism in society while highlighting its perception by the masses through historical timelines. This article’s discussion of the history of music journalism was relevant to my analysis. It allowed me to talk about the historical relevance of music journalism as a specialism and its social impact in terms of “readership”.

• McLeese, D. (2010) “Straddling the cultural chasm: The great divide between music criticism and popular consumption,” Popular Music and Society, 33(4), pp. 8. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/03007761003694118. (Accessed: January 14, 2023).

This academic article investigates the changing nature of music criticism and its relation with popular culture, expressively highlighting rock music criticism among other genres. This was useful to my analysis in its discussion of the emergence of rock music journalism as a specialism and how the digitalization of journalism affected audience views of the specialist journalists.

• Christgau, R. (1976) Robert Christgau: Yes, there is a rock-critic establishment (but is that bad for rock?), Robert Christgau: Dean of American Rock Critics. The Village Voice. Available at: https://www.robertchristgau.com/xg/rock/critics-76.php (Accessed: January 14, 2023).

This archived journalistic article written by Robert Christgau expands on the industry of rock criticism and journalism, evaluating Christgau’s role in the said industry, and the assessment of the specialism as per the standards of society and newsrooms. This has proved relevant to my analysis due to the discussion of the distinctive differences between rock journalism and rock criticism. Christgau’s point of view on the disparity, as written in the article, is highlighted in my analysis.

• Melnyk, L. (2019) Who Killed Classical Music Criticism: Social Strategies of Music Journalism Today. Lviv Mykola Lysenko National Academy of Music, pp.21. Available at: http://xn--urnalai-cxb.lmta.lt/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/Muzikologija20-2.pdf (Accessed: January 14, 2023).

This scholarly piece explores the role of music journalism in the social sphere, placing a heavy focus on classical music criticism’s evolution from its emergence to the current digital era. The discussion about the comparison of music journalism and music criticism was useful to my analysis, quite particularly for laying emphasis on the view, and acceptance, of music criticism by the audience.

• Weber, J. (2017) “What is the ‘American’ in ‘American Music journalism’?,” Rock Music Studies, 4(1), pp. 1–2. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/19401159.2017.1291796. (Accessed: January 14, 2023).

This academic research article underlines the cultural essence of music journalism, rock music in particular, in the modern digital world. This played an important part in my analysis due to its discussion of the change in format and style of writing during the shift from print to the Internet and the transferal of “journalistic authority” that came with it.

• Kristensen, N.N. and From, U. (2012) “Lifestyle journalism,” Journalism Practice, 6(1), pp. 26–28. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/17512786.2011.622898. (Accessed: January 14, 2023).

This scholarly article talks in-depth about the broad umbrella of ‘Lifestyle Journalism’ and the encompassing specialisms that fall under its banner, especially focusing on the Danish printed press. The discussion around the classification of ‘soft news’ and how music journalism comes under ‘lifestyle journalism’ because of the style of writing proved useful in my analysis of the role of music journalism as a specialism.

• Christgau, R. (2020) Beastie Boys: How ya like 'em now?, The Village Voice. Available at: https://www.villagevoice.com/2020/04/24/beastie-boys-how-ya-like-em-now/ (Accessed: January 15, 2023).

This journalistic piece written by Robert Christgau is a review of the Beastie Boys and their contribution to the music industry. Christgau’s evaluation of their discography, especially the lyricism, aided my analysis of Christgau’s approach to criticism. In particular, I wrote about his method of mixing elements of ‘hard news’ into a ‘soft news’ piece.

• Powers, D. (2009) “‘Bye bye rock,’” Journalism Studies, 10(3), pp. 10–10. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/14616700902783937. (Accessed: January 15, 2023).

This academic article explores the concept of ethics in music journalism and criticism, expressively emphasizing rock music in particular. The discussion on the use of abrasive language and crude relaying of opinions was relevant to my analysis in terms of Christgau’s approach to criticism. It was particularly essential in discussing Christgau’s lack of regard for the mentioned ethical boundaries presented by this academic article.

• Christgau, R. (1982) Robert Christgau: CG: Artist 1280, Robert Christgau: Dean of American Rock Critics. Available at: http://www.robertchristgau.com/get_artist.php?id=1280 (Accessed: January 15, 2023).

This is a curated list of reviews by Robert Christgau on Sonic Youth’s discography. This was essential in my discussion of Christgau’s personal grading system and tactic of review along with the use of language.

• Christgau, R. (1988) Robert Christgau: CG: Guns+n'+roses, Robert Christgau: Dean of American Rock Critics. Available at: http://www.robertchristgau.com/get_artist.php?name=Guns%2BN%27%2BRoses (Accessed: January 15, 2023).

This is a curated list of reviews by Robert Christgau of Guns N Roses’ discography. This was essential in my discussion of Christgau’s personal grading system and tactic of review along with the use of language.

• Griffiths, D. (2019) Rock criticism's musical text: Robert Christgau's writing about words and music in song, Taylor & Francis. Oxford Brookes University. Available at: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/19401159.2019.1692501 (Accessed: January 15, 2023).

This is an academic research article revolving around Robert Christgau’s use of metaphorical language in his critical articles. This research was essential in my discussion of Christgau’s structuring of his reviews and the artistic portrayal of lyricism in connection to the artist and the genre.

• Horowitz, S. (2006) "my tastes don't evolve; they broaden": An interview with Robert Christgau, PopMatters, PopMatters. PopMatters. Available at: https://www.popmatters.com/robert-christgau-interview-2495722915.html (Accessed: January 15, 2023).

This is an interview of Robert Christgau by PopMatters on the topic of the current trend of music journalism and his present contribution to the said industry. This was relevant to my analysis in terms of the perception of Christgau in the media and news industry as a long-standing critic. This essentially aided in emphasizing Christgau’s image as an unbothered and confident journalist.

• Rath, A. (2015) Robert Christgau reviews his own life, NPR. NPR. Available at: https://www.npr.org/2015/03/01/388695420/robert-christgau-reviews-his-own-life (Accessed: January 15, 2023).

This is an interview of Robert Christgau by NPR on the topic of his present contribution to the music journalism industry and his latest memoir. This was relevant to my analysis in terms of the perception of Christgau in the media and news industry as a long-standing critic. This essentially aided in emphasizing Christgau’s image as an unbothered and confident journalist.