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Is Robert Christgau the worst, most overblown popular music critic in existence?


bikehorn

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Music critics are usually social lepers that love crappy music or are failed musicians that gave up trying to learn their instrument .... So they hate.... For hates sake.

Who cares what they or anyone thinks .... Just listen or play the music you love .... No matter what people say.

I remember critics hated Rush. Tom Petty, Ozzy Osbourne, the Pretenders, The Police, Iron Maiden, Yes, Pantera and REM  ....

But praised bands like the Knack , Skinny Puppy and the Pixseys .... Go figure !!!

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if I've heard of Robert Christgau I have no recollection. Like hu keres anyway?

Performers are a rarefied brand of phony. Sometimes they personify the chic of the week and are treated favorably. Rarer still are the ones who are the life they sing about; the antithesis of phony but for their exhibitionism about it. I could GAF if the material is mediocre; merely the riser they gig upon. In that regard I prefer well crafted music with faceless musicians.

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I've read many of R. C.'s reviews and I honestly think, that his huge topical knowledge and blunt cynicism is misunderstood for intelligence.

He's pretty stupid.

Some things just whizz right over his head. Deftones "White Pony" is a great example. This album changed Metal...hell.. it changed popular music. If R. C. is really as clever as his fanbase gives him credit for, he should surely have recognized the potential of that album when it was fresh off the press. And I've seen plenty of examples of him just "not getting it" with some amazing records...and then heralding U2's "All that you cant leave behind" as their best?? Come on! Seriously?? The man likes pop. Easy, digestible and emotionally transparent music. If it get's too complex, it goes straight over his old, professorial head

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Rock critics always cracked me up. Actually not; although I find the genre as farcical as the material itself. There's not a lot going on musically so what is it? Cultural relevance? Politics? Seems <rock critic> is more marketing filter than commentary.

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I actually own a copy of his guide to 70s music.  While I dont agree with all of his assessments (for example, George Harrison's "All Things Must Pass" - surely one of the best LPs of the decade - only ranked a C here), he does have a clear and coherent approach to music criticism.  

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