What do you think?
Rate this book
Christgau's Consumer Guide: Albums of the '90s
The Dean of American Rock Critics tackles the decade when music exploded.
The '90s saw more albums produced and distributed than any other decade. It was a fertile era for new genres, from alt-rock to Afropop, hip hop to techno. Rock critic Robert Christgau's obsessive ear and authoritative pen have covered it all-over 3,800 albums graded and classified, from A+s to his celebrated turkeys and duds. A rich appendix section ensures that nothing's been left out-from "subjects for further research" to "everything rocks but nothing ever dies." Christgau's Consumer Guide is essential reading and reference for any dedicated listener.
The '90s saw more albums produced and distributed than any other decade. It was a fertile era for new genres, from alt-rock to Afropop, hip hop to techno. Rock critic Robert Christgau's obsessive ear and authoritative pen have covered it all-over 3,800 albums graded and classified, from A+s to his celebrated turkeys and duds. A rich appendix section ensures that nothing's been left out-from "subjects for further research" to "everything rocks but nothing ever dies." Christgau's Consumer Guide is essential reading and reference for any dedicated listener.
- GenresMusicReferenceNonfiction
544 pages, Paperback
First published October 15, 2000
115 people want to read
About the author
Robert Christgau
20 books48 followersRobert 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.
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.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
Read
November 26, 2011I haven't read this book yet, but I've read a lot of the reviews--Christgau's reviews being one of the highlights of the Village Voice for me. I don't always agree with Christgau, but he often has something unexpected to tell me about the music under review, and that's a rare commodity.
October 29, 2007
I love Christgau's reviews, can't get enough of them.
December 3, 2022
Robert Christgau is a hypocrite.
Whilst standing in for the "ear of an educated New Yorker" from a private college (of course), the man has a long history of writing entirely two and half sentences on most recordings.
He's never shown any compositional or production skill of his own, and clearly isn't a "serious academic" if he dedicated a public life to "reviewing" pop music, 90% of which is just a basic commodity unit like advertising, comic books or snack food.
Example of Robert Christgau prose:
RADIOHEAD: The Bends (Capitol) Admired by Britcrits, who can't tell whether they're "pop" or "rock," and their record company, which pushed (and shoved) this 1995 follow-up until it went gold last spring, they try to prove "Creep" wasn't an immortal one-shot by pretending that it wasn't a joke. Not that there's anything deeply phony about Thom Yorke's angst--it's just a social given, a mindset that comes as naturally to a '90s guy as the skilled guitar noises that frame it. Thus the words achieve precisely the same pitch of aesthetic necessity as the music, which is none at all.
Rating: C
So, if Christgau thinks the band that did OK Computer are a product of phony, shrill marketing and their aesthetic and words "mean nothing at all", then I guess he is just living proof that "music critics don't matter, really" - which is what most people hear in conversation after the age of, oh I don't know, fourteen.
And so it goes. Christgau is one of the most hated "popular music critics" of "his generation", it doesn't help that he looks every bit the spineless, performatively polite character that could only get a sense of social ressentiment off his back by anonymously pouring cheap (and often obscure, disjunctive) insults on public figures.
A quote from The Great Writer Himself, Robert Christgau:
"I don't know anything about music, which ought to be a damaging admission but isn't ... The fact is that pop writers in general shy away from such arcana as key signature and beats to the measure ... I used to confide my worries about this to friends in the record industry, who reassured me. They didn't know anything about music either. The technical stuff didn't matter, I was told. You just gotta dig it."
However, basic music theory is not "arcana" or any more complex than the basic comprehension programmed for children under twelve. Also, this admission is from the late 60s, early 70s halcyon era of classic rock, R&B and pop that, presumably, Christgau banks his cultural capital/old fart credibility on.
And believe me, his flatulence is MIGHTY old, stale you could say. Empty. Retardant.
My last point, this book is for SALE, meaning you're better off getting a copy from a public library or simply stealing it.
Music critics, like film and theatre critics needn't feel compelled to simply "say nice things" about a work because young people like it, or because it's being forced upon the public by a publishing conglomerate; the problem here is that Christgau's "criticism" is so annoying it makes people actually hold regard for the mountains of stuff he dislikes.
Whilst standing in for the "ear of an educated New Yorker" from a private college (of course), the man has a long history of writing entirely two and half sentences on most recordings.
He's never shown any compositional or production skill of his own, and clearly isn't a "serious academic" if he dedicated a public life to "reviewing" pop music, 90% of which is just a basic commodity unit like advertising, comic books or snack food.
Example of Robert Christgau prose:
RADIOHEAD: The Bends (Capitol) Admired by Britcrits, who can't tell whether they're "pop" or "rock," and their record company, which pushed (and shoved) this 1995 follow-up until it went gold last spring, they try to prove "Creep" wasn't an immortal one-shot by pretending that it wasn't a joke. Not that there's anything deeply phony about Thom Yorke's angst--it's just a social given, a mindset that comes as naturally to a '90s guy as the skilled guitar noises that frame it. Thus the words achieve precisely the same pitch of aesthetic necessity as the music, which is none at all.
Rating: C
So, if Christgau thinks the band that did OK Computer are a product of phony, shrill marketing and their aesthetic and words "mean nothing at all", then I guess he is just living proof that "music critics don't matter, really" - which is what most people hear in conversation after the age of, oh I don't know, fourteen.
And so it goes. Christgau is one of the most hated "popular music critics" of "his generation", it doesn't help that he looks every bit the spineless, performatively polite character that could only get a sense of social ressentiment off his back by anonymously pouring cheap (and often obscure, disjunctive) insults on public figures.
A quote from The Great Writer Himself, Robert Christgau:
"I don't know anything about music, which ought to be a damaging admission but isn't ... The fact is that pop writers in general shy away from such arcana as key signature and beats to the measure ... I used to confide my worries about this to friends in the record industry, who reassured me. They didn't know anything about music either. The technical stuff didn't matter, I was told. You just gotta dig it."
However, basic music theory is not "arcana" or any more complex than the basic comprehension programmed for children under twelve. Also, this admission is from the late 60s, early 70s halcyon era of classic rock, R&B and pop that, presumably, Christgau banks his cultural capital/old fart credibility on.
And believe me, his flatulence is MIGHTY old, stale you could say. Empty. Retardant.
My last point, this book is for SALE, meaning you're better off getting a copy from a public library or simply stealing it.
Music critics, like film and theatre critics needn't feel compelled to simply "say nice things" about a work because young people like it, or because it's being forced upon the public by a publishing conglomerate; the problem here is that Christgau's "criticism" is so annoying it makes people actually hold regard for the mountains of stuff he dislikes.
January 27, 2023
Christgau is known for pithy, short reviews that get to the heart of albums. I see the book - a collection of a decade’s worth of short reviews - as mainly useful in identifying great albums that you haven’t heard of before. It can be funny to read the reviews of “turkeys” and “bombs” but Christgau is often dead wrong about albums due to his strong biases against certain genres. Case in point “C+ turkey” for OK Computer by Radiohead — I get it, he hates art, that’s fine, but maybe ask around about the merits of things you don’t understand?
February 16, 2025
Granted, the '90s were not my favorite decade for music, but I've always enjoyed Christgau, even when I disagreed with him. In this case, though, I found myself frequently trying to figure out where he's coming from and what point he's trying to make. He's not as entertaining as he was in the '70s and '80s, and his new rating system left me puzzled. Handy book, though, if you're looking to hear a gem or two you might have missed.
April 18, 2025
While I repeatedly find myself disagreeing with his overall taste in music - one thing Christgau has consistently done is inspire me through his witty, cynical and at times wonderfully reductionist way of breaking down a musician or even an entire genre to its absolute core.
Highly subjective reviews - which is the point isn't it?
Highly subjective reviews - which is the point isn't it?
August 6, 2016
Woah, did this guy ever lose his drive, or direction, or gift, or whatever. Once upon a time, he was, at least, an entertaining and interesting critic. At this point, he's lost it, having goofed up his rating system, throwing out A's like they were after-dinner mints, and generally having lost the sense of judgment that made his earlier work interesting.
P.S. "the decade when music exploded"...Are you kidding?
P.S. "the decade when music exploded"...Are you kidding?
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews