Voting Station

Robert Christgau

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Critic

The Resume

    (April 18, 1942- )
    Born in New York City, New York
    Rock critic for Esquire, Newsday, the Village Voice, Rolling Stone, Blender, Playboy and Spin
    Known for his 'Consumer Guide' column
    Wrote 'Any Old Way You Choose It: Rock and Other Pop Music' (1973) and 'Grown Up All Wrong: 75 Great Rock and Pop Artists from Vaudeville to Techno' (1998)

Why he might be annoying:

    He calls himself 'the Dean of American Rock Critics.'
    His writing gets seriously overblown, such as describing 'Freebird' as 'a perfect example of technopastoral counterculture transcendence.' (I think that's positive, but I won't know for sure until I get the English translation.)
    He says that he does not 'get' metal.
    After breaking up with fellow critic Ellen Willis, he ran into her at a dinner party and threw a piece of pie at her, hitting her in the face.
    He was dissed on record by Lou Reed ('Can you imagine working for a fucking year, and you get a B+ from an asshole in The Village Voice?') and Sonic Youth ('I don't know why / You wanna impress Christgau / Ah let that shit die').
    He got angry responses from Village Voice readers when he wrote after John Lennon's murder, 'Why is it always Bobby Kennedy or John Lennon? Why isn't it Richard Nixon or Paul McCartney?'

Why he might not be annoying:

    His response to Reed: 'I thank Lou for pronouncing my name right.'
    He won a Guggenheim fellowship to study the history of popular music (1987).
    Despite being dismissed from the Village Voice, he continues to submit a Top 10 list for their annual 'Pazz & Jop' poll and encourages other critics to do the same.
    He was an early booster of Afro-pop, hip hop and riot girrls.
    Music critic Judy Rosen wrote, 'With Pauline Kael, Christgau is arguably one of the two most important American mass-culture critics of the second half of the 20th century.'

Credit: C. Fishel


Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    In 2023, Out of 9 Votes: 55.56% Annoying
    In 2022, Out of 22 Votes: 95.45% Annoying
    In 2021, Out of 22 Votes: 95.45% Annoying
    In 2020, Out of 817 Votes: 55.94% Annoying
    In 2019, Out of 2090 Votes: 64.16% Annoying
    In 2018, Out of 3 Votes: 33.33% Annoying
    In 2017, Out of 6 Votes: 66.67% Annoying
    In 2015, Out of 13 Votes: 69.23% Annoying
    In 2014, Out of 39 Votes: 46.15% Annoying
    In 2013, Out of 23 Votes: 65.22% Annoying
    In 2012, Out of 18 Votes: 72.22% Annoying
    In 2011, Out of 29 Votes: 79.31% Annoying