One Foot on the Platform: A Rock 'N' Roll Journey

by Peter Goddard, J.A. Wainwright

The final word from one of Canada’s greatest cultural critics and music writers.In the summer of 2020, acclaimed music critic and journalist Peter Goddard began work on a new book that would take readers on a journey back through his fifty-plus years spent writing professionally about rock music and the musical styles circling it—everything from blues and jazz to country and classical. His plan was to revisit his old haunts and their habitués, scenes and figures he first wrote about starting in the mid-1960s when he became Canada’s first on-staff popular music critic, to show how ongoing revisions continually reframe first impressions.Tragically, Goddard died in 2022 before work on the manuscript was complete. But many of the core essays—on Bob Dylan, John Lennon and Yoko Ono, the Who, k.d. lang, David Bowie, Liza Minelli, the Band, Neil Diamond, and others—are here. Accompanying these new essays is a collection of some of the best writing of Goddard’s career—ranging from interviews with B.B. King, Joni Mitchell, Paul Simon, Bruce Springsteen, and Janis Joplin to reviews of classic albums by the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, and Neil Young to close readings of Leonard Cohen, Anne Murray, Led Zeppelin, and Gordon Lightfoot. Taken as a whole, One Foot on the Platform represents more than fifty years of thought and writing by one of Canada’s foremost cultural critics.

Genres: Nonfiction, Music, History

352 pages, Paperback

Published March 11, 2025

Reviews

[Translator Monkey · Rating 4 out of 5]

So good.

[Mike Broderick · Rating 3 out of 5]

I started reading this book, like most, all out. I was not enjoying it. As a series of articles that were separate, their collection was supposed to tell a history of music. But, going straight through, I found myself somewhat bored and missing the personal connection he made with these famous musicians. I found I enjoyed it more by reading one article and then moving to another book. I found a companion book in Deep Cuts, a book that also made many references to great music.
Peter Goddard clearly was a very connected individual in the music world and I had some interest in his stories. The main positive is reading his first hand accounts brought back to life long gone musicians and bands, like Beatles, Stones, Zep., Gordon Lightfoot, Dylan. The negative is that some of the stories were not very interesting. I’m also not sure of the literary worthiness of this title, it’s just a collection and republishing of past articles.
For all of these reasons, I’m going to sit at “meh”

[Enid Wray · Rating 3 out of 5]

I used to wait for The Toronto Telegram - and later The Toronto Star - to land on the stoop and grab the Entertainment section to read what Peter had to say about the music scene in Toronto. This is the music of my youth (and my present).

An enjoyable enough trip down memory lane.

Thanks to the publisher and Edelweiss for granting me access to an early digital release copy.

[Heather Scott · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing journey of bands and the culture of the times. Very interesting

[James P · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF. I love rock n roll shows, but couldn't relate to 50-year old reviews and criticism.