Writing the Record: The Village Voice and the Birth of Rock Criticism

Acknowledgments

ix ACKNOWLEDGMENTS One of the most difficult things I had to confront when writing this book was that what had often felt like a solitary activity—partaken of in the hours between dusk and dawn, scribbled on Post-It notes, floating in data clouds, and gnawing at the back of my mind almost always—would someday become public and tangible, bearing my name. That day has come, dear reader , and I am glad you have started your reading here with the acknowledgments . The publication of this book is, for me, a reason for tremendous celebration, but also one for pause. I admit that I have anxiety, still, that I have not said what it is that I mean, that I have not said all that I could, that I have made a mistake. I have learned that this is the nature of books, though. Even though they are bound, they are never quite finished. Two things comfort me when the stress of miscommunication and judgment peaks. One is that this book, and any book, is not just a publication; it is also a conversation. As a reader, you are embarking on a conversation with me, one that I hope results in your own scribbled Post-Its and data cloud rants. I thank you, my reader, for spending some time with me thinking about the things I have thought both way too much and barely enough about. What you are about to read is the record of many conversations that I have had with my own readings, as well as discussions with my friends, colleagues, and family over the ten years this book needed to gestate. It is an acknowledgments cliché to say that writing is never truly solitary, but it’s so utterly true that it is worth repeating. My writing is in essence a translation of the energies, ideas, and psychic supports of the people around me, and the love and thanks I have for them could fill an entire book—one that would likely be far easier to write than this one was. Like many first books, this one began as my doctoral dissertation at New York University. My dissertation adviser, Susan Murray, is as supportive an x Acknowledgments adviser as I can imagine, whose encouragement, intelligence, good humor, and warmth fueled me during my Ph.D. work and inspired me beyond. Brett Gary, Perry Meisel, and, until her untimely passing, Ellen Willis rounded out my committee. Each of them offered good patience, grand ideas, and dutiful eyes, all the while providing me with pearls of wisdom that have profoundly shaped me as a researcher. On the march to becoming a book, this work benefited from the insights and criticism of my editor at University of Massachusetts Press, Brian Halley , and the series editors, Jeff Melnick and Rachel Rubin. The anonymous reviewers who read this manuscript in draft form offered incisive readings which were not always easy to hear, but which helped me to make the manuscript better, and to become a better thinker. A portion of chapter 1 originally appeared in Journalism History, and I thank Patrick Washburn for accepting that piece and the permission to reprint some of it here; Ian Ingliss, who edited a special issue of Popular Music and Society, also provided me a venue to publish an article that overviewed the core of this manuscript’s argument. Christopher Vyce greatly assisted me in crafting the proposal for this book and illuminating the obscure process of finding a publisher. Katherine Scheuer and Lindsey Beutin did amazing jobs copyediting the manuscript and proofreading, and the entire staff at the University of Massachusetts Press deserve thanks for their many contributions to the finished project. Richard Goldstein and Robert Christgau have spent hours of their lives answering my questions, some of which I have since realized were the wrong questions to ask. They are very different men, but both are people whom I greatly respect and I am thankful that I’ve been able to spend so much time writing about, and learning from, their criticism. Edwin Fancher and Carman Moore also granted me interviews and though I spent less time with them, I found them to be both charming and insightful. Over the years, I’ve also picked the brains of many other rock critics, including Chuck Eddy, Douglas Wolk, Richard Meltzer, Greg Tate, Anthony DeCurtis, Greil Marcus, Jim DeRogatis, Ann Powers, Jody Rosen, Chris Weingarten, and Michaelangelo Matos. I am awed not just by their...