Robert Christgau facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Robert Christgau
Christgau in 2010
Born	Robert Thomas Christgau (1942-04-18) April 18, 1942 (age 83) New York City, U.S.
Occupation	Music critic essayist journalist
Alma mater	Dartmouth College
Period	1967–present
Spouse	Carola Dibbell ​ (m. 1974)​
Children	1

Robert Thomas Christgau (born April 18, 1942) is an American writer who focuses on music. He is one of the most famous and important music critics. He started his career in the late 1960s as one of the first professional rock critics. Later, he helped make new music styles popular, like hip hop, riot grrrl, and African popular music in the West.

For 37 years, he was the main music critic and senior editor for The Village Voice newspaper. There, he created and managed the yearly Pazz & Jop critics poll. He also wrote about popular music for many other places, including Esquire, Rolling Stone, and NPR. A writer from CNN once called Christgau "the E. F. Hutton of the music world—when he talks, people listen." This means people really trust his opinion.

Christgau is well-known for his short, letter-graded album reviews. He writes in a special style that is very focused and uses clever jokes and sometimes talks about politics. He often supports ideas like fairness and human rights. He usually prefers music with good songs and clever ideas.

His reviews were first printed in his "Consumer Guide" columns in The Village Voice from 1969 to 2006. These reviews were later put into three books: Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies (1981), Christgau's Record Guide: The '80s (1990), and Christgau's Consumer Guide: Albums of the '90s (2000). He also has a website, robertchristgau.com, which has most of his work for free since 2001.

In 2006, The Village Voice let Christgau go after a new company bought the paper. He kept writing his "Consumer Guide" reviews for other places like MSN Music and Vice's music section, Noisey. In September 2019, he started his own paid newsletter called And It Don't Stop. It features a monthly "Consumer Guide" column and other writings.

Early Life and Education

Robert Christgau was born in Greenwich Village, New York City, on April 18, 1942. He grew up in Queens, New York. His father was a fireman. He became a big fan of rock and roll music when he was 12 years old, after a famous radio DJ named Alan Freed moved to the city in 1954.

After finishing public school, he went to Dartmouth College. He graduated in 1962 with a degree in English. While in college, he became interested in jazz music. But he soon returned to rock music after moving back to New York. He was also inspired by writers like Gay Talese and Tom Wolfe, who were known for a style called "New Journalism."

Robert Christgau's Career

Christgau first wrote short stories. In 1964, he started working as a sportswriter and then a police reporter for a newspaper. He became a freelance writer after a story he wrote was published in New York magazine. He was one of the first people to focus only on writing about rock music.

In June 1967, he started writing a music column for Esquire magazine. He also wrote for Cheetah magazine. He became an important voice in combining New Left politics (ideas about social change) with the counterculture (a movement that went against traditional ways). When Esquire stopped his column, Christgau moved to The Village Voice in 1969.

In 1972, Christgau took a full-time job as a music critic for Newsday. He returned to The Village Voice in 1974 as the music editor. In 1976, he used the term "Rock Critic Establishment" to describe how much influence music critics in America were gaining. He stayed at The Village Voice until August 2006, when he was let go.

After leaving the Voice, Christgau became an editor at Rolling Stone magazine in October 2006. He had written for Rolling Stone before, back in 1968. He later worked for Blender magazine until it stopped publishing in 2009. In 1987, he received a special award called a Guggenheim Fellowship to study the history of popular music.

Christgau has also taught at universities. He was a professor at New York University starting in 2007. In 2013, he shared that he was writing a book about his own life. In 2014, he started a monthly column on Billboard's website.

His Famous "Consumer Guide" Reviews

Christgau is probably most famous for his "Consumer Guide" columns. These columns have been published almost every month since July 1969. Each "Consumer Guide" usually had about 20 short reviews of albums. He gave each album a letter grade from A+ to E−.

These reviews were later put into three books. The first book, Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies, came out in 1981. It was followed by Christgau's Record Guide: The '80s in 1990 and Christgau's Consumer Guide: Albums of the '90s in 2000.

From 1969 to 1990, he used a grading system from A+ to E−. He usually suggested albums graded B+ or higher. Grades below C− were rare. In 1990, he changed his system to focus more on albums he liked. Albums he liked less might get short comments or just be listed as "Neither" or "Duds."

In 2001, a website called robertchristgau.com was created. It stores all of Christgau's "Consumer Guide" reviews and other writings. This website was a team effort between Christgau and his friend Tom Hull. The website makes it easy to search for reviews and doesn't use many pictures.

In December 2006, Christgau started writing his "Consumer Guide" columns for MSN Music. He later started a blog on MSN called "Expert Witness." This blog only reviewed albums he graded B+ or higher. He said these albums were "the gut and backbone of my musical pleasure." In 2013, "Expert Witness" stopped being published by MSN.

In 2014, "Expert Witness" started again on Cuepoint, an online music magazine. In 2015, he was hired by Vice to write the column for their music section, Noisey. The last "Expert Witness" column was published in July 2019.

In September 2019, Christgau began publishing a newsletter called "And It Don't Stop" on Substack. Subscribers pay a small fee each month to get his "Consumer Guide" column, podcasts, and other writings. He was unsure about it at first, but he found it very rewarding.

The Pazz & Jop Poll

In 1971, Christgau started the yearly Pazz & Jop music poll. This poll asked music critics to share their favorite music releases of the year. The results were published in The Village Voice newspaper every February. Christgau would write a long essay about the results and the music of the year.

Even after Christgau left The Village Voice, the newspaper continued the poll. He still voted in the poll and wrote essays for the results.

Christgau's "Dean's Lists"

Every year the Pazz & Jop poll happened, Christgau made his own list of favorite music. These lists are called the "Dean's List." Only his top ten choices counted for the main poll. But his full lists often had many more albums. These lists were usually published with the Pazz & Jop results.

After Christgau left The Village Voice, he kept publishing his yearly lists on his own website. Many people in the music world look forward to his "Dean's Lists."

Here are some of the albums Christgau picked as his number-one album of the year:

His Writing Style and Influence

A music critic named Jody Rosen described Christgau's reviews as "dense with ideas and allusions." This means they are packed with thoughts and references. Rosen also said that Christgau's writing is "always thought-provoking." He believes that Christgau is one of the most important critics of popular culture from the second half of the 20th century.

Spin magazine wrote in 2015 that "You probably wouldn't be reading this publication if Robert Christgau didn't largely invent rock criticism as we know it." This shows how much he influenced how people write about rock music.

Douglas Wolk, another writer, said that Christgau's early "Consumer Guide" columns were short and detailed. But he soon developed a special talent for "power, wit and economy." This means he could say a lot in a few words, often with humor. Wolk thinks the "Consumer Guide" reviews are a "treasure" to read, even if you are not very interested in pop music.

What Music He Likes and Dislikes

Christgau has named Louis Armstrong, Thelonious Monk, Chuck Berry, the Beatles, and the New York Dolls as his top five favorite artists ever. He called Frank Sinatra "the greatest singer of the 20th century." He also said that Billie Holiday is probably his favorite singer.

In his 2000 Consumer Guide book, Christgau said his favorite rock album was either The Clash (1977) or New York Dolls (1973). His favorite record overall was Monk's 1958 album Misterioso.

Christgau has said he is very knowledgeable about popular music. He is known for liking a wide range of artists, from Lil Wayne to Willie Nelson. He once said that writing about rock music was more fun in the past.

He admits he has certain preferences. He generally dislikes music styles like heavy metal, salsa, dance, art rock, progressive rock, bluegrass, gospel, Irish folk, jazz fusion, and classical music. He finds heavy metal to be too "masculine in a really old-fashioned way." He also finds it hard to write about jazz because he doesn't feel he knows enough about older jazz albums.

Called the "Dean of American Rock Critics"

For a long time, Robert Christgau has been called the "dean of American rock critics." This title means he is seen as the most respected and experienced critic in the field. New York Times critic Dwight Garner wrote in 2015 that this name started as a joke, but now "few dispute it."

Personal Life

Robert Christgau married Carola Dibbell, who is also a writer and critic, in 1974. They have an adopted daughter named Nina, who was born in Honduras in 1986. Christgau has said he grew up in a church in Queens but is now an atheist.

He has been friends with other critics like Tom Hull and Dave Marsh for a long time. He has also helped guide younger critics like Ann Powers.

Books by Robert Christgau

• Any Old Way You Choose It: Rock and Other Pop Music, 1967–1973, Penguin Books, 1973
• Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies, Ticknor & Fields, 1981
• Christgau's Record Guide: The '80s, Pantheon Books, 1990
• Grown Up All Wrong: 75 Great Rock and Pop Artists from Vaudeville to Techno, Harvard University Press, 1998
• Christgau's Consumer Guide: Albums of the '90s, St. Martin's Griffin, 2000
• Going into the City: Portrait of a Critic as a Young Man, Dey Street Books, 2015
• Is It Still Good to Ya? Fifty Years of Rock Criticism 1967–2017, Duke University Press, 2018
• Book Reports: A Music Critic on His First Love, Which Was Reading, Duke University Press, 2019

Images for kids

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  Christgau on the "Music in the '00s" panel at the 2010 Pop Conference in Seattle.

See also

In Spanish: Robert Christgau para niños

• Album era