<h1>Writing the Record</h1><h2>The Village Voice and the Birth of Rock Criticism</h2><h4>Examines the intellectual contributions and lasting impact of pioneering rock critics</h4>Devon Powers<br><br>During the mid-1960s, a small group of young journalists made it their
mission to write about popular music, especially rock, as something
worthy of serious intellectual scrutiny. Their efforts not only
transformed the perspective on the era’s music but revolutionized how
Americans have come to think, talk, and write about popular music ever
since. <br><br>In<em> Writing the Record</em>, Devon Powers explores this shift by focusing on <em>The Village Voice</em>,
a key publication in the rise of rock criticism. Revisiting the work of
early pop critics such as Richard Goldstein and Robert Christgau,
Powers shows how they stood at the front lines of the mass culture
debates, challenging old assumptions and hierarchies and offering
pioneering political and social critiques of the music. Part of a
college-educated generation of journalists, <em>Voice</em> critics
explored connections between rock and contemporary intellectual trends
such as postmodernism, identity politics, and critical theory. In so
doing, they became important forerunners of the academic study of
popular culture that would emerge during the 1970s. <br><br>Drawing on
archival materials, interviews, and insights from media and cultural
studies, Powers not only narrates a story that has been long overlooked
but also argues that pop music criticism has been an important channel
for the expression of public intellectualism. This is a history that is
particularly relevant today, given the challenges faced by criticism of
all stripes in our current media environment. Powers makes the case for
the value of well-informed cultural criticism in an age when it is often
suggested that “everyone is a critic.”<br><br><a href="http://www.umass.edu/umpress/title/writing-record">http://www.umass.edu/umpress/title/writing-record</a><br><br clear="all"><div><div>carlos palombini<br></div><a href="http://www.researcherid.com/rid/F-7345-2011" target="_blank">ufmg.academia.edu/CarlosPalombini</a><br>
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