Robert Christgau
Robert Christgau (sometimes abbreviated in print to "Xgau"), born April 18, 1942[citation needed], is an American essayist and a "huge dick", music journalist, and the self-declared "Dean of American Rock Critics"[1] His first reviews were published by Esquire in 1967. He began writing music essays and review for The Village Voice in 1969, and was a regular contributor to the Voice from 1974 to 2006. He has also written frequently for Playboy, Spin, Creem, and Rolling Stone. In music-critic circles, he was an early supporter of hip hop and the riot grrl movement, along with other music styles. In the 1980s Christgau was a fervent booster of Afro-pop, a stance that alienated him from some in the critical community, as he seemed insufficiently interested in American and British rock music. In the 1990s, however, Christgau's interest in indie rock seemed to increase.
Christgau was fired from the Village Voice in 2006 "for taste", shortly after the paper's acquisition by New Times Media.[2]
In addition to his prolific number of published music essays (which often reach deeply into themes of sociology, multiculturalism, and politics), Christgau has written several album guides in reference-book form. As of 2005, he is an adjunct professor in the Clive Davis Department of Recorded Music at New York University (NYU).
Christgau is perhaps best known for his Consumer Guide columns, which have been published on a more-or-less monthly basis since 1969, mostly in the Village Voice but for a brief period in the New York daily newspaper Newsday. In its original format, the Consumer Guide consisted of 18 to 20 single-paragraph album reviews, each of which was given a letter grade ranging from A+ to E-. "Christgau's blurbs," writes Jody Rosen, "are like no one else's—dense with ideas and allusions, first-person confessions and invective, highbrow references and slang."[1]
In 1990, Christgau changed the format of the Consumer Guide in order to concentrate more on good albums at the expense of mediocre ones. The Consumer Guide now contains 8 to 10 reviews graded B+ or higher, one "Dud of the Month" review graded B or lower, and three lists: Honorable Mention (B+ albums deemed not worthy of full-paragraph reviews), Choice Cuts (excellent tracks on un-recommended albums), and Duds. There are two annual Consumer Guide columns which stray from this format: The Turkey Shoot (typically published the week of Thanksgiving), which consists entirely of reviews graded B- or lower, and a Christmas-season roundup of compilations and reissues, mostly graded A or A+.
He is well known for his vigorous opposition to violent and misogynistic material in many hip-hop songs, particularly gangsta rap. Some examples include his dismissal of such hip-hop classics as Ice Cube's Death Certificate and N.W.A.'s Straight Outta Compton, despite their tremendous influence on the genre. However he has greeted other rappers, such as Warren G and particularly Eminem, with praise despite both artists expressing similarly vitriolic sentiments on their recordings.
In addition to his Consumer Guide, since the early 1970s Christgau has hosted the annual Pazz & Jop music poll every February, which compiles "top ten" lists submitted by music critics across the nation. Every poll is accompanied by a lengthy Christgau essay analyzing the results and pondering the year's musical output overall.
Jody Rosen describes Christgau's writing as "often maddening, always thought-provoking… With Pauline Kael, Christgau is arguably one of the two most important American mass-culture critics of the second half of the 20th century. … All rock critics working today, at least the ones who want to do more than rewrite PR copy, are in some sense Christigauians." [1]
Notes and references
- ^ a b c Rosen 2006
- ^ Longtime Rock Critic, Christgau, Axed at 'Village Voice' in Latest Layoffs, Editor & Publisher, August 31, 2006. Accessed online 20 October 2006.
- Jody Rosen, X-ed Out: The Village Voice fires a famous music critic, Slate, September 5 2006. Review of Christgau's career and firing. Accessed on line 15 October 2006.