Is It Still Good to Ya? Fifty Years of Rock Criticism, 1967-2017

by Robert Christgau

Is It Still Good to Ya? sums up the career of longtime Village Voice stalwart Robert Christgau, who for half a century has been America's most widely respected rock critic, honoring a music he argues is only more enduring because it's sometimes simple or silly. While compiling historical overviews going back to Dionysus and the gramophone along with artist analyses that range from Louis Armstrong to M.I.A., this definitive collection also explores pop's African roots, response to 9/11, and evolution from the teen music of the '50s to an art form compelled to confront mortality as its heroes pass on. A final section combines searching obituaries of David Bowie, Prince, and Leonard Cohen with awed farewells to Bob Marley and Ornette Coleman.

Genres: Music, Nonfiction, Criticism

456 pages, Paperback

First published November 9, 2018

About the author

Robert Thomas Christgau (born April 18, 1942) is an American music journalist and essayist. He began his career in the late 1960s as one of the earliest professional rock critics and later became an early proponent of musical movements such as hip hop, riot grrrl, and the import of African popular music in the West.

Christgau spent 37 years as the chief music critic and senior editor for The Village Voice, during which time he created and oversaw the annual Pazz & Jop critics poll. He has also covered popular music for Esquire, Creem, Newsday, Playboy, Rolling Stone, Billboard, NPR, Blender, and MSN Music, and was a visiting arts teacher at New York University.

Reviews

[Michael Lisk · Rating 3 out of 5]

The atrocious academic writing style is frustrating, but the enthusiasm for music keeps you reading.

[Noel Ward · Rating 3 out of 5]

I admire his musical taste but his writing is dull and I had to read in “fast forward” quite a bit to get through this

[Clay · Rating 3 out of 5]

Overwrought, verbose, self-indulgent.

[Josh · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have sort of a love/hate relationship with Christgau’s writing, but there’s no denying his influence over music criticism— and by the way, he’s also heavily influenced my own work. For people who labors in this field, Christgau’s collection is a treasure trove. For anyone who simply loves pop music, this is a great place to discover some new favorite records and artists. Especially valuable is a lengthy section about African records, an area in which Christgau is a specialist. Some of the concert reviews have fairly limited value, but you can easily skip ‘em. Much of what’s here is enduring and essential, and its rewarding to track Christgau’s aesthetic interests over time.

[Ben · Rating 4 out of 5]

He’s so snobby and academic. But he can also sum up songs/albums/bands/movements in one sentence. And sometimes he’s even funny.

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

Probably more like 3.5, but I’ll round it up. Christgau is a legend, and nothing I say is going to change that.

Longtime Village Voice writer Christgau is widely considered the “dean of American rock critics.” I’m not sure exactly how to parse that. By sheer scope, though, he’s basically without peer: the essays in this collection span 50 years. So what exactly do we get here?

Some fine writing about music, yes. Some of it is circuitous and meandering. He’s not as wild nor as entertaining a writer as Lester Bangs; despite his intellectual acumen, he lacks the Big Ideas that you get from reading Greil Marcus. It’s workaday writing with a medium-sized vein of pretension. I’m fine with that, but your mileage may vary.

Giving credit where it’s due: the one part of Christgau’s personality that comes through consistently is his insistence on the primacy of black artists and the black American experience in the ongoing story of pop music, from jazz through rock to hip hop. Plenty of people are crowding around that tip now, but Christgau got his flag there earlier than most, and is the most militant about it. He also has an entire section in this collection devoted to African music, which was a far harder thing to discover and research in the pre-internet days. Nowadays, of course, us Americans and Brits can much more easily get our fix of the type of stuff that used to be called “world music.” My Spotify library is certainly crowded with new entries now as a result of reading Christgau; I would even venture that this is one of the few silver linings of the streaming era. You know who needs less money and attention? American and British artists who are already millionaires. You know who needs more of both? Every other artist on the planet. Go check ‘em out.

[Jon Levinson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Christgau's academic, sometimes unnecessarily ornate writing style can get tiresome when reading this collection. Lengthy marathon sessions not recommended. But when I took the time to fully explore each artist covered, using Christgau's fully developed sense of taste as an entry point, I found "Is It Still Good to Ya?" revelatory and pleasurable; a worthy discovery mechanism for some less-heralded acts, and a valuable new lens with which to view old favorites.

[Timothy Swartout · Rating 4 out of 5]

This compendium of magazine columns by the self-proclaimed “Dean” of American rock criticism encompasses much more than the description just given. The writing is self- referential, often in a manner similar to that of another great cultural commenter, Greil Marcus, but not nearly as abstract. Instead, Christgau digs deeply into the subject of each essay and sends the reader down multiple rabbit holes searching for the music he is attempting to enlighten us about. A lengthy and worthwhile read.

[Dan Ream · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good collection if Christgau writings on music - extra star given for essay on Franco, the “ Congo Colossus” about whom I had never read before , despite enjoying his music.

[Marc · Rating 4 out of 5]

Such effective writing that his essays drive you to listen to artists you would have never otherwise sought out

[Jeffery Gossett · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love his writings

[Mandy C · Rating 2 out of 5]

Way too intellectual

[David Miller · Rating 4 out of 5]

The basic idea is that music, especially rock music, has a greater obligation to be a source of pleasure than edification. Robert Christgau clearly applies the same idea to his writing, which is full of unique turns of phrase and colorful vocabulary (I especially enjoy his fondness for the Chuck Berry-ism "motorvate"). But he also writes with an eye toward context, demonstrating thorough research and understanding of such complicated issues as the legacies of colonialism and slavery. Perhaps it's because I broadly share his politics, and I'm also a big nerd, but I find such writing both edifying and entertaining, and I doubt these concepts are as exclusive as they sometimes seem.

The biggest disappointment in this book is one that the author cops to in the introduction - for a volume that comes billed as "fifty years of rock criticism," the bulk of its pieces are only twenty-thirty years old. Rather than a career retrospective, this is mostly a look at Christgau the old hand, who writes with years of experience behind him. Which is fine of course, but it's not what's on the cover, so points deducted.

The best thing you can say about any critic is that they've got a truly broad palette and will still tell you straight when they don't like something, and why. I'll give him that compliment - opinions are only opinions, but if you want good rock criticism, it looks like this.

[Matt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nobody lays it down quite like Xgau, a legend for a reason.

[Zach · Rating 3 out of 5]

He's a legend and a national treasure, but better in short form.