Robert Christgau

Does this guy know his stuff or is he a hack?

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both

He's the old kook on the bus who talks loads of nonsense but who's still entertaining to listen to

look at his rating system and tell me he's not a hack

>gave paranoid a c-
> gave soulja boy's debut an a-
Idk. Both are classics.

He´s right on some reviews of The Fall

"Reformation: Post TLC [Narnack, 2007]
This does get weird, quiet and slack second half, although, really, why shouldn't his wife sing "The Wright Stuff"? In any case, the first half regales and/or lacerates with the mad purity and/or skeptical hilarity Mark E. Smith was put on the planet to take to his grave. Recorded with Los Angeles pickup musicians, although now I guess we just call them the Fall, immediately after his band of seven years ditched him in Phoenix, it states its business out of the box: "I think it's over now I think it's ending/I think it's over now I think it's beginning." Then it does its business with "Insult Song," a six-minute shaggy groove story about being stuck with ree-tards from the Los Angel-eeze district. A-"

youtube.com/watch?v=1ijEg4SsI3g

Would you trust anyone that proclaimed themselves as "the dean of American rock critics"?

Because he's been there since the start of American popular music?

You can't really hate on guys like Ebert and Christgau. They've been there since the beginnings of their mediums.

he has shit opinions but he's not a hack

>You can't really hate on guys like Ebert and Christgau. They've been there since the beginnings of their mediums.

>Ebert
Started in 1967, around when American cinema really started up with New Wave.

>Christgau
Started in 1972, a few years after American rock music really took off.

Why does that give them a pass?

>Started in 1967, around when American cinema really started up with New Wave.
1967 was not the beginning of the medium.

>Started in 1972, a few years after American rock music really took off.
Also not the beginning of the medium. 1972 is about 20 years removed from the start of rock and roll.

1967 was around when American directors were moving on from boring, sterile Old Hollywood to actually writing realistic stories and not being scared to swear or show nudity and violence.

From the START of rock n roll, sure, but it wasn't very popular until the Beatles and the British Invasion really brought it into the public American consciousness.

Fucking kys.

>1967 was around when American directors were moving on from boring, sterile Old Hollywood to actually writing realistic stories and not being scared to swear or show nudity and violence.
"1977 was around when American directors started making entertaining films again after loading the early half of the 70s with boring, long-winded serious films." That's how you sound. Pre-1967 Hollywood produced a mountain of great movies, many of which had realistic stories and even some showcasing cultural taboos like Inside Daisy Clover having Robert Redford portray a homosexual or Some Like It Hot having Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon crossdress and pretend to be women.

>it wasn't very popular until the Beatles and the British Invasion really brought it into the public American consciousness.
You're an idiot. Chuck Berry, Little Richard, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Elvis Presley were all incredibly popular before the Beatles came along.

>culture didn't start until the late 60s and ended in the late 70s

Why do Boomers think this?

loooooooooooooooooool

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Pink Friday is unironically a great album though

>Because he's been there since the start of American popular music?
Popular music began before he was born user.

i know you're baiting me but sometimes i really can't tell on this board anymore. this genuinely saddens me because you can tell how insincere robert is when he's writing these reviews

Ugh, you guys are misunderstanding me. I'm saying popular American rock music started in the 60s.

We're not misunderstanding you, you misspoke. And even that's not true because Rock and Roll (which, yes, is part of what's considered rock) broke through to the mainstream in the mid 50s, with people arguing that it started all the way back to the mid 40s.

This has to be a joke right? Like satire? Hopefully?

Starships,Right Thru Me, Moment 4 Life, Super Bass and Bang Bang are all unironically great songs.

>1910: music started

Who's more analogous to Armond White, Christgau or Scaruffi? Don't know enough about the former to make a conclusion.

In the Court of the Crimson King [Atlantic, 1969]
The plus is because Peter Townshend likes it. This can also be said of The Crazy World of Arthur Brown. Beware the forthcoming hype--this is ersatz shit. D+

Fly is good too.

He knows his stuff (especially compared to modern critics), but his recommendations are too hit-and-miss to be of any use to me. He seems to know the 70s as well as just about anyone, but somehow he entirely overlooked all the 70s bands that people still find interesting.

Wasn't "Layla" his best album from that decade? No one younger than 50 loves that album.

Are you the same sort of person who thinks that Finger Trees was innovative and new?

I can understand when people are a few years out with their chronologies, but not multiple decades or centuries out.

arguably bigger hack than scaruffi

i mean apart from the title track and 21st century schizoid man he's right. moonchild is over-indulgent garbage

I never really undersrood the appeal of critics, is it really that hard to make an opinion on your own about something

>i mean apart from the title track and 21st century schizoid man he's right. moonchild is over-indulgent garbage
Oh, boy, just wait until you discover jazz. It's even worse honestly.

He's on the level of Trump in terms of self promotion...

100% hack

the fact that so many books still name christgau as one of the most influential rock critics shows how far rock music is from being a serious art. See: pic related (more to come)

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oops a bit late

All accurate.

I know ur lying

What did he mean by this?