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

449 Pages·2.306 MB·English

by  Robert Christgau

Is It Still Good to Ya?
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Still
Is It
Good
Ya?
to
Fifty Years of Rock Criticism, 1967–2017
ROBERT CHRISTGAU
duke university press D urham and London 2 018
© 2018, Edition, Robert Christgau— and Prologue and
Introduction
All rights reserved
All chapters previously published.
Printed in the United States of Amer i ca on acid- free paper
∞
Designed by Matthew Tauch
Typeset in Minion Pro by Westchester
Library of Congress Cataloging- in- Publication Data
Names: Christgau, Robert, author.
Title: Is it still good to ya? : fifty years of rock criticism,
1967–2017 / Robert Christgau.
Description: Durham : Duke University Press, 2018. |
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: lccn 2018008218 (print) |
lccn 2018009626 (ebook)
isbn 9781478002079 (ebook)
isbn 9781478000082 (hardcover : alk. paper)
isbn 9781478000228 (pbk. : alk. paper)
Subjects: lcsh: Rock music— History and criticism. |
Popu lar music— History and criticism.
Classification: lcc ml3534 (ebook) | lcc ml3534 .c493
2018 (print) | ddc 781.6609— dc23
lc rec ord available at https:// lccn . loc . gov / 2018008218
40+ materials © Village Voice. “Chuck Berry: 1926–2017”
and “ Don’t Worry about Nothing: Ornette Coleman”
© Billboard Magazine. “3. Spelled Backwards It’s ‘aim,’ ”
“Shape Shifter: David Bowie: 1947–2016, ” “The Most
Gifted Artist of the Rock Era: Prince: 1958–2016, ” and
“Forever Old: Leonard Cohen: 1933–2016” © vice Media.
Cover art: Christian Marclay, untitled, 2004. Photogram
on c- print paper, mounted on cintra board. © Christian
Marclay. Courtesy of Paula Cooper Gallery.
To Carola Dibbell
For Forty- Six Years and Counting
My Lover
My Life Coach
My Juiciest Editor
My Second Set of Ears
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Contents
1 introduction · Robert Christgau’s Greatest Hits: Volume III
9 prologue · Good to Ya, Not for Ya: Rock Criticism vs.
the Guilty Plea sure
I History in the Making
19 Ten- Step Program for Growing Better Ears
19 Dionysus in Theory and Practice
27 B.E.: A Dozen Moments in the Prehistory of Rock and Roll
34 Let’s Get Busy in Hawaiian: A Hundred Years of Ragged
Beats and Cheap Tunes
42 Rock Lyr ics Are Poetry (Maybe)
48 “We Have to Deal With It”: Punk England Report
65 Rock ’n’ Roller Coaster: The Music Biz on a Joyride
76 Not My Fault, Not My Prob lem: Classic Rock
81 A Weekend in Paradise: Woodstock ’94
96 Staying Alive: Postclassic Disco
100 After noon of the Roar: Lollapalooza ’95
103 Harry Smith Makes History: Anthology of
American Folk Music
107 Getting Their Hands Dirty: Michael Azerrad’s Our Band
Could Be Your Life
111 A Month on the Town
121 U.S. and Them: Are American Pop (and Semi- Pop)
Still Exceptional? And by the Way, Does That Make
Them Better?
130 What I Listen For in Music
II A Great Tradition
135 Pops as Pop: Louis Armstrong
140 Not So Misterioso: Thelonious Monk
149 First Lady: Billie Holiday
154 Folksinger, Wordslinger, Start Me a Song: Woody Guthrie
159 Caring the Hard Way: Frank Sinatra: 1915–1998
161 Like Ringing a Bell: Chuck Berry: 1926–2017
165 Unnaturals: The Coasters with No Strings Attached
172 Black Elvis: Sam Cooke
176 Tough Love: Etta James
181 The Excitement! The Terror!: Miles Davis’s ’70s
185 S ister, Oh Sister: Kate & Anna McGarrigle
190 Two Pieces About the Ramones:
1.Ramone
2.Road to Ruin
196 Nevermore: Nirvana
200 A Long Short Story: The Go- Betweens
204 Generation Gaps: The Spice Girls
206 Ooh, That Sound: The Backstreet Boys
207 Tear the Sky Off the Mother: ’N Sync
208 The World Is His Boudoir: Prince
209 Two Pieces About Aretha Franklin:
1· Queen of Pop
2. Familiar and Fabulous
214 Two Pieces About Bob Dylan:
1. Dylan Back: World Goes On
2. Secrets of the Sphinx
220 A in’t Dead Yet: Holy Modal Rounders
221 How to Survive on an Apple Pie Diet: John Prine
225 The Unflashiest: Willie Nelson
III Millennium
231 M usic from a Desert Storm
238 Ghost Dance
241 The Moldy Peaches Slip You a Roofie
245 Attack of the Chicken shits: Steve Earle
249 Facing Mecca: Youssou N’Dour
252 Three Pieces About M.I.A.
1. Burning Bright
2. Quotations from Charmin M.I.A.
3. Right, the Rec ord
IV From Which All Blessings Flow
259 Full Immersion with Suspect Tendencies:
Paul Simon’s Graceland
267 Fela and His Lessers