Xgau Tastes Voice's Ax

isn't dave marsh impossibly sententious these days?

Marsh wrote a Musician piece in 1980 damning Christgau for embracing the avant-garde (Pere Ubu, B-52's) over Tom Petty.

In recent years Marsh has always tried to get his brand of left-wing populist politics into his own reviews and articles in his Rap & Roll Confidential newsletter, and elsewhere (his involvement with Springsteen), so his criticism of Christgau back then for injecting politics is interesting. Although Marsh is likely to claim his injection of his Detroit-born politics is different than Christgau's NYC version.

Musically, Marsh's taste has always been narrower than Christgau's.