{"id":2592,"date":"2010-02-27T11:47:48","date_gmt":"2010-02-27T16:47:48","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2010-02-27T15:01:57","modified_gmt":"2010-02-27T15:01:57","slug":"who-s-your-favorite-working-rock-critic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/who-s-your-favorite-working-rock-critic\/","title":{"rendered":"Who’s Your Favorite Working Rock Critic?"},"content":{"rendered":"
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When I was young I could reel off a list of working rock critics whose opinions I couldn’t wait to read. Most of the names wouldn’t shock you. Back then, if they weren’t publishing in a nationally distributed rock magazine or fanzine, be it Rolling Stone<\/em>, Trouser Press<\/em>, The Big Takeover<\/em>, or Option<\/em>, chances are I wouldn’t have been able to read them. By the early ’90s perhaps their work was collected in a book and I’d have a chance to catch up. There were no URLs to take me to any newspaper or blog imaginable.<\/p>\n

Today, with a billion outlets to read rock reviews, I have difficulty naming a favorite working rock critic. In part this is because I’m old and petrifying. How could I judge a rock critic by his or her opinions on a new artist whose work I can’t imagine liking that much? In part it may be because I have too many options, and I can read reviews willy-nilly without ever having to pay attention to the byline. It’s a bit like my difficulty learning song titles in the age of digital downloads. It takes work to squint and comprehend the 3-pt type scrolling across my iPod<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

I’m not asking this question to blow smoke up anyone’s ass. I’m curious to know who your favorite working rock critics are – and what makes them so appealing to you. If you can post a link to a favorite piece, that would be much appreciated.
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\nFor me, there’s a critic based in Philadelphia named Sam Adams<\/strong>. He’s mostly a movie critic, but I like his occasional music reviews too, even when I don’t care for the music he’s reviewing. He doesn’t get bogged down in the citations game. He doesn’t get bogged down in backstory. He’s a solid writer. He usually provides insights about how the music is constructed and what effect it has on him. He’s analytical without nailing his subject to a textbook. He lets his reviews be personal without being overbearingly so. It’s a tough line to toe. His interviews and features pieces of artists are especially good. Here’s a recent example.<\/a> <\/p>\n

Here’s a piece that Adams contributed to on The Onion’s A.V. Club<\/em><\/a> that’s right up our alley. I’ve got to ask him why Taking Liberties<\/em> isn’t on the list.<\/p>\n

I don’t feel like I’m a good critic of rock critics I like, but I’m doing my best here and I ask you to do the same.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When I was young I could reel off a list of working rock critics whose opinions I couldn’t wait to read. Most of the names wouldn’t shock you. Back then, if they weren’t publishing in a nationally distributed rock magazine or fanzine, be it Rolling Stone, Trouser Press, The Big Takeover, or Option, chances are […]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[342],"tags":[231],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2592"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2592"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2592\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2592"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2592"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2592"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}