Author: rockcriticsdotcom

Howard Druckman’s Top 10 Songs of 2023

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(Pictured above: Danny Michel)

1. Danny Michel – “Don’t Be So Hard on Yourself”
When the world is collapsing it’s hard sometimes to feel like you’re not. I haven’t had a bad year, but there’ve been some challenges, and ceaseless self-criticism doesn’t help. Ebullient, hopeful pop-rock like this anthem does a real service for people like me: it’s one of the few things that can reliably make you feel better, even if only for the duration of hearing the song. (As Pete Townshend once said, rock ‘n’ roll won’t solve all your problems, but it will let you dance all over them from time to time.) Continue reading “Howard Druckman’s Top 10 Songs of 2023” →

Best Music Journalism of 2023 (Jason Gross)

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Best Music Journalism of 2023: 30 great articles fly against the tide of misery

By Jason Gross

Ah, December… the time of year when we feast with family, exchange gifts with our loved ones, and reflect on yet another lousy, horrible year in the media. Horrendous job cus were reported mid-year and again in December, which might not be surprising since Americans aren’t even following the news like we did before and the tech companies aren’t working with publishers as much anymore either. Continue reading “Best Music Journalism of 2023 (Jason Gross)” →

Movie Music 3: interview with Jonathan Taplin (Aaron Aradillas)

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Part 3 of a three-part series on music in the movies by Aaron Aradillas

Jonathan Taplin is a veteran music manager, concert and movie producer. In the late ‘60s and early ‘70s, he worked for Bob Dylan and managed The Band. He organized and produced the first music charity concert with George Harrison’s The Concert for Bangladesh. In 1973, he collaborated with Martin Scorsese on the New Hollywood classic, Mean Streets, for which he was Producer and de facto Music Supervisor. Continue reading “Movie Music 3: interview with Jonathan Taplin (Aaron Aradillas)” →

Movie Music 1: interview with Randall Poster (Aaron Aradillas)

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Part 1 of a three-part series on music in the movies by Aaron Aradillas

Randall Poster is one of the best Music Supervisors working in Hollywood today. His debut soundtrack was for the controversial teen-angst drama Kids in 1995, which featured the Top 40 Alt-radio hit “Natural One” by The Folk Implosion. Continue reading “Movie Music 1: interview with Randall Poster (Aaron Aradillas)” →

Never Known as a Nonbeliever: Tom Smucker on Disco and The Beach Boys

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Interview by Vic Perry

Tom Smucker is a major first-generation rock critic with an unusual career trajectory. By choice never a fulltime critic, he still wrote for The Village Voice, placed an essay in the seminal 1980 edition of The Rolling Stone Illustrated History of Rock and Roll, and broke through the popular vs. academic press wall by publishing a superb book on the Beach Boys in 2018. Smucker appeals to me so much because his arguments are as challenging of critical habits as his tone is friendly. He has sincerely championed the unhip and uncelebrated without ever coming off as if he were just being contrary to get attention.  Continue reading “Never Known as a Nonbeliever: Tom Smucker on Disco and The Beach Boys” →

On Paul Gorman’s ‘Totally Wired: The Rise and Fall of the Music Press’ (review by Vic Perry)

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Totally Wired: The Rise and Fall of the Music Press
Paul Gorman
Thames & Hudson, 2022, 384 pages

A history of the era of transient, perishable published objects that when successful were shortly obsessed over by fans before generally being discarded, this book is a highly covetable object built to last: quality binding and paper, sharp typography, mesmerizing dust cover, gorgeous punk color endpapers, 54 illustrations of magazine covers (many in color). Continue reading “On Paul Gorman’s ‘Totally Wired: The Rise and Fall of the Music Press’ (review by Vic Perry)” →

“Rock Critics as Rock Stars” by Dave Rubin

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(I name names (but receive no academy awards))

traitors to the flesh / traitors to the spirit / cultural ambassadors—pontiffs—overlords—Hear Ye! Hear ye! Heed this wacko—the man who walks back and forth in the soaking rain—protected by the sandwich board he wears that cries out—in boldly-lettered paroxysms of despair—REPENT!—but it is too late for that
Continue reading ““Rock Critics as Rock Stars” by Dave Rubin” →

Stay Colored: Michael A. Gonzales on Greg Tate

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Back in the mid-‘90s I went for an interview with the diversity recruiter at Time magazine. Since he knew my work from Vibe magazine, he obviously thought my writing was too Black when he asked, “Do you think you could write colorless?” Although Time was considered the top echelon of magazines that most writers wanted to be down with, it bothered me that the recruiter thought I’d be so willing to whitewash my work just to be published in their glossy pages. Continue reading “Stay Colored: Michael A. Gonzales on Greg Tate” →