Is It Still Good to Ya?: Fifty Years of Rock Criticism, 1967-2017

Robert Christgau

Published by Duke University Press 2018

Is It Still Good to Ya?

Fifty Years of Rock Criticism, 1967-2017

Robert Christgau

https://doi.org/10.1515/9781478002079

Overview
Contents

About this book

Encompassing a career spanning six decades, Is It Still Good to Ya? sums up the career of legendary rock critic and longtime Village Voice stalwart Robert Christgau, whose album and concert reviews, essays, and reflections on his career tackle the whole of pop music, from Louis Armstrong to M.I.A..

Author / Editor information

Robert Christgau currently contributes a weekly record column to Noisey. In addition to four dozen Village Voice selections, Is It Still Good to Ya? collects pieces from the New Yorker, Rolling Stone, Spin, Billboard, and many other venues, including a hundred-word squib from the Dartmouth Alumni Magazine. The most recent of Christgau's six previous books is the 2015 memoir Going into the City: Portrait of the Critic as a Young Man. He taught music history and writing at New York University from 2005 to 2016.

Reviews

"You either love Christgau or you don’t, but his cantankerous, affectionate, cut-to-the chase reviews and essays over the past 50 years have defined music journalism, and this collection offers an opportunity to re-read the best of the self-proclaimed Dean of American Rock Critics."

-- Henry Carrigan No Depression

"At a moment when music criticism seems less empowered for being more fragmented, Christgau still offers an informed, authoritative perspective, self-aware regarding cultural aging and mortality, not stodgy but wry. A vital chronicler of rock's story, several decades on."

-- Kirkus Reviews

"The self-proclaimed dean of rock criticism is now in his 70s, and his ongoing influence is felt wherever thoughtful music writing is valued. This collection of work spanning 1967–2017 highlights his omnivorous taste, showing Christgau to be just as comfortable reflecting on Woody Guthrie, Sam Cooke, and the Spice Girls as he is on Radiohead, Mary J. Blige, or Youssou N’Dour."

-- Steve Futterman Publishers Weekly

"These pieces from a preeminent critic will reward a wide swath of music fans who will perhaps be provoked to discuss the mosaic that is popular music in the 20th and early 21st centuries."

-- James Collins Library Journal

"Gleeful flurries of verbal shadow-boxing make this a book which can be enjoyed for the writing alone. . . . His curiosity and sass remain undiminished at the age of seventy-six and his own musical preferences acknowledge no frontiers."

-- Lou Glandfield TLS

"Though Christgau is best known for his pithy, graded Consumer Guide blurbs, this monumental tome collects his longer essays on both essential figures in popular music and his own pet favorites, at least a few of which he’ll convince you deserve to be considered essential themselves. Buy two copies—one to throw angrily across the room, one as a reference."

-- Keith Harris City Pages (Minneapolis)

"A treasure trove of the most incisive, witty pop music reviews and commentary ever committed to print."

-- Ken Tucker Fresh Air

"This is complicated work, but for a dean it’s plenty fun, and joy to dip into or explore in depth, both for full appreciations and single lines. Offering some tips for 'growing better ears' on the book’s first page, he suggests you 'spend a week listening to James Brown’s Star Time.' The ensuing pages will keep you listening and thinking for many, many more weeks besides."

-- Mark Athitakis Critical Mass blog

"If the New Journalism movement of the early '60s sought to remove the never-wholly-real concept of objectivity from news reporting, so too did Christgau and his Village voice colleagues remove it from music writing. In fact, that's why this collection is such a worthy read even for those who haven't read much Christgau over the years. You may or may not be compelled to seek out the music he writes about, or you may wholeheartedly disagree with his assessment of that music, but you will enjoy the way he writes about it. Music is personal for him—it's personal for all of us, really—and he writes like it is, only with way more erudition than a common Facebook post."

-- Mark Reynolds Popmatters

"Christgau is . . . one of America’s sharper public intellectuals of the past half century, and certainly one of its most influential—not to mention one of the better stylists in that cohort. Fun is a big part of why."

-- David Cantwell The New Yorker

"One of Christgau’s greatest strengths is that he relentlessly keeps up with the times. At least seven or eight presidents ago, Christgau was already the indispensable guide to the Ramones, Talking Heads, and Parliament Funkadelic. Now he’s even more necessary, the only critic who can sift through new pop from Africa and Egypt and nudge us in the right direction. To paraphrase Dylan, Christgau was older then, and he’s younger than that now."

-- Allen Barra National Book Review

“The reason I was attracted to Christgau in the first place was that his writing was better than that of any other music critic…. ‘A f***ing tour de force,’ Christgau concluded of a 1974 Earth, Wind and Fire album, and the same punchy summary could be applied to [this] absorbing collection.”

-- Dai Griffiths Popular Music

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
INTRODUCTION. Robert Christgau’s Greatest Hits: Volume III Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
PROLOGUE. Good to Ya, Not for Ya Rock Criticism vs. the Guilty Pleasure Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	9
I. History in the Making
Ten-Step Program for Growing Better Ears Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	19
Dionysus in Theory and Practice Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	19
B.E. A Dozen Moments in the Prehistory of Rock and Roll Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	27
Let’s Get Busy in Hawaiian Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	34
Rock Lyrics Are Poetry (Maybe) Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	42
“ We Have to Deal with It” Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	48
Rock ’n’ Roller Coaster The Music Biz on a Joyride Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	65
Not My Fault, Not My Problem Classic Rock Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	76
A Weekend in Paradise Woodstock ’94 Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	81
Staying Alive Postclassic Disco Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	96
Afternoon of the Roar Lollapalooza ’95 Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	100
Harry Smith Makes History Anthology of American Folk Music Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	103
Getting Their Hands Dirty Getting Their Hands Dirty Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	107
A Month on the Town Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	111
A Month on the Town Are American Pop (and Semi-Pop) Still Exceptional? And by the Way, Does That Make Them Better? Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	121
What I Listen For in Music Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	130
II. A Great Tradition
Pops as Pop Louis Armstrong Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	135
Not So Misterioso Thelonious Monk Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	140
First Lady Billie Holiday Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	149
Folksinger, Wordslinger, Start Me a Song Woody Guthrie Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	154
Caring the Hard Way Frank Sinatra: 1915–1998 Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	159
Like Ringing a Bell Chuck Berry: 1926–2017 Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	161
Unnaturals The Coasters with No Strings Attached Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	165
Black Elvis Sam Cooke Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	172
Tough Love Etta James Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	176
The Excitement! The Terror! Miles Davis’s ’70s Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	181
Sister, Oh Sister Kate & Anna McGarrigle Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	185
Two Pieces About the Ramones Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	190
Nevermore Nirvana Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	196
A Long Short Story The Go-Betweens Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	200
The Go-Betweens The Backstreet Boys Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	206
Tear the Sky Off the Mother ’N Sync Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	207
The World Is His Boudoir Prince Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	208
Two Pieces About Aretha Franklin Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	209
Ain’t Dead Yet Holy Modal Rounders Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	220
How to Survive on an Apple Pie Diet John Prine Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	221
John Prine Willie Nelson Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	225
III. Millennium
Music from a Desert Storm Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	231
Ghost Dance Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	238
The Moldy Peaches Slip You a Roofie Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	241
Attack of the Chickenshits Steve Earle Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	245
Facing Mecca Youssou N’Dour Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	249
Three Pieces About M.I.A. Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	252
IV. From Which All Blessings Flow
Full Immersion with Suspect Tendencies Paul Simon’s Graceland Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	259
Fela and His Lessers Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	267
Vendant l’Afrique Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	270
Dakar in Gear Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	275
A God After Midnight Youssou N’Dour Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	278
Franco de Mi Amor Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	279
Forty Years of History, Thirty Seconds of Joy Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	285
Tribulations of St. Joseph Ladysmith Black Mambazo Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	289
Music from a Desert War Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	292
V. Postmodern Times
Growing by Degrees Kanye West Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	301
The Slim Shady Essay Eminem Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	303
Career Opportunity The Perceptionists Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	314
Good Morning Little School Girl R. Kelly Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	316
Master and Sacrament Buddy Guy Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	319
The Commoner Queen Mary J. Blige Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	321
A Hot Little Weirdo Shakira Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	323
What’s Not to Like? Norah Jones Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	326
No Hope Radio Radiohead Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	330
Rather Exhilarating Sonic Youth Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	334
Old Master Bob Dylan Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	342
Estudando Tom Zé Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	343
Gypsy Is His Autopilot Gogol Bordello Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	349
Triumph of the Id Lil Wayne Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	353
Brag Like That Jay-Z Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	357
Paisley’s Progress Brad Paisley Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	362
Smart and Smarter Vampire Weekend Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	367
The Many Reasons to Love Wussy Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	372
Hearing Her Pain Fiona Apple Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	377
Firestarter Miranda Lambert Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	381
Monster Anthems Lady Gaga Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	384
Dancing on Her Own Robyn Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	388
Three More Pieces About M.I.A. Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	393
The Unassumingest Lori McKenna Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	400
VI. Got to Be Driftin’ Along
Who Knows It Feels It Bob Marley Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	407
Shape Shifter David Bowie: 1947–2016 Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	411
The Most Gifted Artist of the Rock Era Prince: 1958–2016 Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	414
Forever Old Leonard Cohen: 1933–2016 Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	416
Don’t Worry About Nothing Ornette Coleman Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	419
Sticking It in Their Ear Bob Dylan Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	421
Sensualistic, Polytheistic New York Dolls Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	421
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	425

Language: English
Publisher: Duke University Press
Audience: General/trade;
Pages
- Main content: 416

eBook

Published: October 4, 2018
ISBN: 9781478002079