Rock Criticism from the Beginning: Amusers, Bruisers, and Cool-Headed Cruisers

by Ulf Lindberg, Gestur Guðmundsson, Morten Michelsen

Rock Criticism from the Beginning is a wide-ranging exploration of the rise and development of rock criticism in Britain and the United States from the 1960s to the present. It chronicles the evolution of a new form of journalism, and the course by which writing on rock was transformed into a respected field of cultural production. The authors explore the establishment of magazines from Crawdaddy! and Rolling Stone to The Source , and from Melody Maker and New Musical Express to The Wire , while investigating the careers of well-known music critics like Robert Christgau, Greil Marcus, and Lester Bangs in the U.S., and Nik Cohn, Paul Morley, and Jon Savage in the U.K., to name just a few. While much has been written on the history of rock, this Bourdieu-inspired book is the first to offer a look at the coming of age of rock journalism, and the critics that opened up a whole new kind of discourse on popular music.

Genres: Music

369 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 2005