IS ROCK CRITICISM DEAD?

I think we're going to see a splintering in music criticism. On the one hand music criticism will become more abstruse and will be something enjoyed more and more by specialists who really are writing for each other (ILM writ large). In other words rock criticism will become more academic, or at least part of it will be. Who knows, maybe it will even be subsidized by our universities one day.

But the other half? As James Bowman recently pointed out, the only kind of traditional media that isn't being dwarfed right now (if it's really shrinking at all) is celebrity/tabloid media. He mentions that one of the reasons the media loves Obama, aside from ideology, is that, unlike Bush, Obama can be marketed to the public like a celebrity - and celebrity still sells like it did when the economy was healthy. The same strategy might be used for pushing music reviews (bear with me).

I think that music criticism will also go the way of next generation movie reviewing ('criticism' doesn't fit) and become something that is dominated by celebrity-worship, monomaniacal fanboys with no perspective, flamboyant personalities (doesn't Perez Hilton have a record label just because people liked his quasi-record reviews?). The fact that Ben Lyons replaced Robert Ebert might suggest where popular music criticism will go soon.

In other words I think that music criticism will simultaneously become too complicated for the average reader to appreciate on the one hand, but then so dumbed down that the other kind of critic will be like a Perez Hilton media whore who uses his name brand as an all around personality to sell or damn the music that he reviews. It won't so much be music reviewing as it will be "celebrity commentator talks about new album by celebrity band!" The person who gets pushed out will be the knowledgeable middle-brow critic who doesn't, or cannot, be an academic or Ben Lyons-type hack.

I hope that theory made sense. I should point out that I've personally never tried to publish a piece of music writing before, and I'm just writing as an outsider trying to analyze the climate and predict what will happen based on other trends I think I've observed. I'm not an expert on the field nor do I claim to be, so if I'm way off I wouldn't be too surprised.

"Who knows, maybe it will even be subsidized by our universities one day."

Already happened. But maybe you were being tongue-in-cheek here.

"I think that music criticism will also go the way of next generation movie reviewing ('criticism' doesn't fit) and become something that is dominated by celebrity-worship, monomaniacal fanboys with no perspective, flamboyant personalities (doesn't Perez Hilton have a record label just because people liked his quasi-record reviews?)."

I think this has already been around for quite a while to some extent as well, but in the past it's mainly been in the form of "music experts" annexed to lifestyle, variety and entertainment shows rather than via the internet (Perez being a quasi-exception). People in Australia will be familiar with Molly Meldrum and his "do yourself a favour" reviews. There was another relatively big broadsheet writer Nui Te Koha who was rather like this.

If anything there's almost been a slight move away from this model over the past ten years I'd say: as the cult of celebrity has grown more intense and invasive, the need to pretend that we are also talking about the music of Madonna or Lindsay Lohan or Courtney Love when discussing their latest love triangle, drug bust or plastic surgery gone wrong has really fallen away. Paris was obviously the tipping point here: as far as I know the first person whose first claim to fame was being a tabloid celeb, upon which her musical career was founded.

Perez I think is the point where celeb gossip columnist crosses over into celeb-in-himself. In this sense people being interested in what he is listening to is perhaps closer to people being interested in what Kanye is listening to than it is to people reading Rolling Stone or whatever.

But what if the future of mainstream "music reviewing" is just that: no more reading Rolling Stone, or what any faceless and celebrity-less voice has to say, but looking at what powerful celebrity is listening to? I've read that businessmen have tried to pay Kanye to put their products on his blog (and his blog isn't very wordy, if you've seen it - almost what you would call a "picture blog.")

Could we - nay, have we- reached the point where someone with fame like that just posting a picture with the caption "CHECK THIS OUT" is of infinitely more influence than entire mobs of journalists and critics? I suppose the question isn't whether they have a majority, but will that type of micro-reviewing have a monopoly?

Maybe I'm overstating the potential for disaster and fallout from this economy - and what may result from it. I got word today of an e-mail sent to my mother, from somebody who is a Wall Street day trader, and this is lifted from the e-mail:

"Things are not going to get better as we are told; they are only going to get less worse. Are you prepared for the coming meltdown of our society? It has already started. Be prepared. And let god protect you and your family."

normally I'd write it off but this guy was the like the mad prophet in the wilderness just months before the economy fainted - and I don't remember him believing religious either. So heavier-than-usual gloom, doom, and the further collapse of standards was on my mind (but also ILM's, coincidentally)

There were heaps of mad prophets in the wilderness just months before the economy fainted though. Even a stopped clock etc.

Anyone who uses the phrase "coming meltdown of our society" is clearly a few securities short of a majority shareholding in his own sanity.

Good music writing will survive wherever it pops up and regardless of who does or doesn't get paid for doing it as long as there are people who want to read it.

The genre division is meaningless since any music writer worth their salt should be able to persuade the reader that such and such is worth paying attention to, whatever their preferences or prejudices.

Max Harrison's writing persuaded me to buy a Paul Whiteman box set back in the day; I know nothing about birdwatching but Simon Barnes' writing makes me want to know something about it.

It's all to do with writerly skill and demonstrable knowledge which guides the reader rather than hits them over the head with it.

As Constant Lambert said, the enterprising music writer shouldn't be put off if they initially feel that they are only writing for themselves, since Cleopatra will inevitably tire of billiards.

hahaha

That is true that there were lots of mad prophets. He seemed so sane though leading up to it, but then months before - BAM!

Stockbroking is a good industry for sudden onset stress conditions. I'd rank the big ones:

1) Child Protection
2) Social security customer service (maybe doesn't exist to the same extent in the US)
3) nursing home staff
4) stockbroking
5) charity organisations
6) law
7) psychiatry

Perez I think is the point where celeb gossip columnist crosses over into celeb-in-himself. In this sense people being interested in what he is listening to is perhaps closer to people being interested in what Kanye is listening to than it is to people reading Rolling Stone or whatever.

― Tim F, Thursday, 18 June 2009 07:35 (2 hours ago) Permalink

But what if the future of mainstream "music reviewing" is just that: no more reading Rolling Stone, or what any faceless and celebrity-less voice has to say, but looking at what powerful celebrity is listening to? I've read that businessmen have tried to pay Kanye to put their products on his blog (and his blog isn't very wordy, if you've seen it - almost what you would call a "picture blog.")

Could we - nay, have we- reached the point where someone with fame like that just posting a picture with the caption "CHECK THIS OUT" is of infinitely more influence than entire mobs of journalists and critics? I suppose the question isn't whether they have a majority, but will that type of micro-reviewing have a monopoly?

― Cunga, Thursday, 18 June 2009 07:44 (2 hours ago)

wow i had a conversation this week w/an old friend who's been a rockcritic and worked in the biz doing a&r and producing and now he's involved in this^ type of thang

though my teenage son who's a big big music fan (mainstream pop/R&B) asked for a rolling stone subscription for his last birthday. i was really surprised that he didn't want US or some other celebrity thing. (and he's only vaguely aware that i wrote for the rag). don't think he reads the reviews, though.

I think we're going to see a splintering in music criticism. On the one hand music criticism will become more abstruse and will be something enjoyed more and more by specialists who really are writing for each other (ILM writ large). In other words rock criticism will become more academic, or at least part of it will be. Who knows, maybe it will even be subsidized by our universities one day.

the EMP conference

"I think that music criticism will also go the way of next generation movie reviewing ('criticism' doesn't fit) and become something that is dominated by celebrity-worship, monomaniacal fanboys with no perspective, flamboyant personalities

while they're far from perez hilton i can think of two very prominent american critics (not mentioned in this thread) who do what I consider a form of highbrow gushing. their work is well written on the prose level but pretty shallow in terms of content IMO. so yeah, music criticism may be just a couple steps away from this academic/fanboy split.

Anyone who uses the phrase "coming meltdown of our society" is clearly a few securities short of a majority shareholding in his own sanity.

digression, but what if the "meltdown of our society" is just that a lot of families will only be able to afford one car and a small yard? that would look calamitous from a certain perspective (from wall street, say) but there's a big difference between that and the road. not to minimize the hard times a comin', which obviously there are, but i think a lot of wall street types -- having spent years flying on their own gases -- are now getting off on being the "truth tellers" to a clueless populace that just doesn't get it. end of digression.

(and you know how everyone's like, "well, maybe all our smartest people won't go to wall street anymore, maybe they'll do something more useful"? maybe they'll become music critics!)

i was really surprised that he didn't want US or some other celebrity thing.

Teenage boys read Us Weekly?

I read it at the supermarket whenever Robert Pattinson's on the cover.

i read it once when someone left a copy in the bathroom, and i learned that Celebrities Are Just Like Us! (did u know uma thurman shops for groceries? true!)

Teenage boys read Us Weekly?

maybe not as much as girls, i just grabbed that title as an uber-example of our current pop culture. i think my kid idly flips thru celeb magazines to read the bits about pop-music stars. like me at that age he's not into sports. now his female cousin who's also an early-teenager is flat-out obsessed w/celebrity culture perez hilton she knows the "stars" of every third-string MTV reality show etc. if my kid was that into it I might take a less relaxed attitude about it.

i learned that Celebrities Are Just Like Us! (did u know uma thurman shops for groceries? true!)

megalolz

I just think the issues of criticism-generated income and music-criticism-reader behavior are more separate than people think. The most dramatic changes of the past five years are ad dollars going to new places where there's no need for content of any kind, and less ad dollars to go anywhere, neither of which says much about the demand for the service we provide.

^^ t-bomb

That depends whether you view music writers as "providing a service" as though they were call centre staff or garage mechanics.

Teenage boys read Us Weekly?

maybe not as much as girls, i just grabbed that title as an uber-example of our current pop culture. i think my kid idly flips thru celeb magazines to read the bits about pop-music stars. like me at that age he's not into sports. now his female cousin who's also an early-teenager is flat-out obsessed w/celebrity culture perez hilton she knows the "stars" of every third-string MTV reality show etc. if my kid was that into it I might take a less relaxed attitude about it.

― m coleman, Thursday, June 18, 2009 1:40 PM (2 hours ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

kids are always into stupid shit

That depends whether you view music writers as "providing a service" as though they were call centre staff or garage mechanics.

― Dingbod Kesterson, Thursday, June 18, 2009 3:47 PM (2 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

so you can complain about the loss of writing jobs but god forbid someone considers writing on the same level as an unspeakable blue collar profession like that

I'm not complaining about the loss of writing jobs!

"just trying not to be pessimistic. listening to a lot of writer-types get all depresso is bringing me down lately. feel like we need more positive energy to be successful"

amen, man. i'm among the bitchers, and i need to quit bitchin'. personally, i HAVE started my slow, methodical creep away from crit as a side-career, but i still hope to be at this when i'm 50 (i'm 32, now).

great, great thread that, ironically, is distracting me from rock-crit shit i should be writing about yellow tears on my lunch break. ah well.

hey yall, 23-yr-old here, lyfe sucks, its hard to make a living, no worries tho, itll all turn out OK in the end

i find your youthful zest a comfort in my declining years max

"but then it's not a VVM paper and is probably more an exception that proves the rule than not"

VVM's on hard times, too, believe me.

i just graduated and am sort of dancing around the concept of writing-to-make-a-living since it seems so difficult & i dont want to end up writing myself into a corner. on the other hand--doing stuff that isnt writing kind of sucks, and i dont want to spend 40 hrs/wk doing stuff that sucks.

i am developing my personal brand tho

ray, my point was that our paper priveleges local music coverage more than VVM-owned papers, not that one's doing better or worse than the other

dude there's all kinds of writing jobs out there - i mean, i'm a technical writer right now, before that i was a proofreader, and before THAT i was a general assignment journo

music/books crit is something i've done on the side over that whole time (in college i did way, way more of it)

ah, ok - sorry i misread you, al.

fwiw max i spend 40 hrs/wk doing stuff that sucks, and the only way i've been keeping my head above water the last couple years was also freelancing a lot. now that's disappearing, and my wife is pregnant, and the "itll all turn out OK in the end" philosophy i used to share is a lot harder to come by now.

i guess what i'm saying is -- wear a rubber?

times change, don't they? i remember the days when people were constantly bombarding our paper with hate mail cuz it wasn't
"covering the scene" with enough zest or whatever - but that was when there was 2x or 3x more overall copy in there, when it would take a few hours to read everything

god, i need to stop with all the "back in MY day BS," i sound like an old man

al yr wife is pregannat/??????

congratulations man!!!!

oh and also freelancing a lot means you usually end up owing a TON in taxes that you wouldn't otherwise with a 9 to 5

haha yeah thanks

(congrats some dude!)

"i guess what i'm saying is -- wear a rubber?"

good advice universally!

and hell yeah on the tax thing, it gets brutal and wipes out the gains you would've made from your taxable day-job earnings

btw that was a horrible post for you guys to find out that news from -- i thought i had alluded to it enough that it was semi-common knowledge by now

I had heard it mentioned elsewhere but hey, congratulations again anyway!

Name of kid if a boy: "some little dude"

ya congratulations. talk about burying the lede!

Congratulations, Al.

some babby

"some dudeito"

i'd join in the congrats, but i already congratulated you on yr blog

as a guy who's made MAYBE four grand on music writing in the past decade, i've never really entertained the idea of being a full time critic/writer. as others have noted, it requires a certain amount of hustle that I've found I just don't have. i'd just say to anyone who really enjoys writing to try to enjoy writing about any topic, music or otherwise. I've gotten to the point where I like the activity of writing, regardless of whether it's about some psych folk dude or a business report on Denver. And this attitude is what makes me able to pay my bills without wanting to kill myself.

i should have been born rich