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<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"> <html> <head> <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1"> <link rel=stylesheet href="/rxgau.css" type="text/css"> <meta name="robots" content="INDEX,FOLLOW"> <title>Robert Christgau: Home</title> </head> <body bgcolor="#e0ffff"> <table width="100%" border=0 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=10> <tr><td colspan=2 bgcolor="#1010e0"> <p><a class=xlnk href="/"><img class=xlnk src="/rxgau.gif" width=287 height=47 alt="Robert Christgau: Dean of American Rock Critics"></a></p> </td></tr> <tr><td bgcolor="#1010e0" valign=top> <table cellspacing=0 cellpadding=3 border=1> <tr><td class=xlnk nowrap><a class=xlnk href="/cg.php">Consumer Guide:</a><br>   <a class="xlnk" href="/xg/web/cgusers.php">User's Guide</a><br>   <a class="xlnk" href="/xg/bk-cg90/grades-90s.php">Grades 1990-</a><br>   <a class="xlnk" href="/xg/bk-cg70/grades.php">Grades 1969-89</a><br>   <a class="xlnk" href="https://robertchristgau.substack.com/">And It Don't Stop</a><br> <tr><td class=xlnk nowrap><a class=xlnk href="/books.php">Books:</a><br>   <a class="xlnk" href="/bk-bkreps.php">Book Reports</a><br>   <a class="xlnk" href="/bk-isitya.php">Is It Still Good to Ya?</a><br>   <a class="xlnk" href="/bk-goitc.php">Going Into the City</a><br>   <a class="xlnk" href="/bk-cg90s.php">Consumer Guide: 90s</a><br>   <a class="xlnk" href="/bk-guaw.php">Grown Up All Wrong</a><br>   <a class="xlnk" href="/bk-cg80s.php">Consumer Guide: 80s</a><br>   <a class="xlnk" href="/bk-cg70s.php">Consumer Guide: 70s</a><br>   <a class="xlnk" href="/bk-aow.php">Any Old Way You Choose It</a><br>   <a class="xlnk" href="/bk-fest.php">Don't Stop 'til You Get Enough</a><br> <tr><td class=xlnk nowrap><a class=xlnk href="/xgausez.php">Xgau Sez</a></td></tr> <tr><td class=xlnk nowrap><em class=lnk>Writings:</em><br>   <a class="xlnk" href="/xg/dontstop/index.php">And It Don't Stop</a><br>   <a class="xlnk" href="/xg/cg/index.php">CG Columns</a><br>   <a class="xlnk" href="/xg/bn/index.php">Rock&Roll& [new]</a><br>   <a class="xlnk" href="/xg/rock/index.php">Rock&Roll& [old]</a><br>   <a class="xlnk" href="/xg/music/index.php">Music Essays</a><br>   <a class="xlnk" href="/xg/cdrev/index.php">Music Reviews</a><br>   <a class="xlnk" href="/xg/bkrev/index.php">Book Reviews</a><br>   <a class="xlnk" href="/xg/najp/index.php">NAJP Blog</a><br>   <a class="xlnk" href="/xg/play/index.php">Playboy</a><br>   <a class="xlnk" href="/xg/bl/index.php">Blender</a><br>   <a class="xlnk" href="/xg/rs/index.php">Rolling Stone</a><br>   <a class="xlnk" href="/xg/bb/index.php">Billboard</a><br>   <a class="xlnk" href="/xg/vr/index.php">Video Reviews</a><br>   <a class="xlnk" href="/xg/pnj/index.php">Pazz & Jop</a><br>   <a class="xlnk" href="/xg/recyc/index.php">Recyclables</a><br>   <a class="xlnk" href="/xg/news/index.php">Newsprint</a><br>   <a class="xlnk" href="/xg/list/index.php">Lists</a><br>   <a class="xlnk" href="/xg/misc/index.php">Miscellany</a><br> <tr><td class=xlnk nowrap><a class=xlnk href="/biblio.php">Bibliography</a></td></tr> <tr><td class=xlnk nowrap><a class=xlnk href="/xg/npr/index.php">NPR</a></td></tr> <tr><td class=xlnk nowrap><em class=lnk>Web Site:</em><br>   <a class="xlnk" href="/index.php">Home</a><br>   <a class="xlnk" href="/map.php">Site Map</a><br>   <a class="xlnk" href="/contact.php">Contact</a><br>   <a class="xlnk" href="/newest.php">What's New?</a><br>   <a class="xlnk" href="/rss.php"><img src="/images/rss-button-12.jpg">  RSS</a><br> <tr><td class=xlnk nowrap><em class=lnk>Social Media:</em><br>   <a class="xlnk" href="https://substack.com/@robertchristgau?">Substack</a><br>   <a class="xlnk" href="https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:jw6pxdbvxz2jkjkk5w6bofx5">Bluesky</a><br>   <a class="xlnk" href="https://x.com/rxgau">[Twitter]</a><br> <tr><td class=xlnk nowrap><em class=lnk>Carola Dibbell:</em><br>   <a class="xlnk" href="http://caroladibbell.com/">Carola's Website</a><br>   <a class="xlnk" href="/u/cd/">Archive</a><br> <tr><td class=xlnk><a class=xlnk href="/get_artist.php">CG Search:</a> <form method=get action="/get_artist.php"> <input type=text name=name size=15> </form></tr> <tr><td class=xlnk><a class="xlnk" href="https://google.com/search">Google Search:</a> <form method="get" action="https://google.com/search" target="_blank"> <input type="hidden" name="sitesearch" value="robertchristgau.com"> <input type="text" name="q" size="15" maxlength="255"> </form></tr> </table> </td><td valign=top width="100%">  <style> .sblurb { border: 1px dashed #808080; background-color: white; padding-top: 2px; padding-right: 6px; padding-left: 6px; padding-bottom: 6px; } .btitle { color: red; font: bold 16pt Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-style: italic; text-align: center; } .c1 { float: left; padding-right: 3px; } .c2 { float: left; padding-right: 12px; } img.ic: { } p.qtbdy { font-weight: bold; margin-top: 0; } p.qtsig { margin-top: 0; font-weight: bold; text-align: right; clear: left; } </style>  <div class="sblurb"> <p class="btitle"><i>And It Don't Stop on Substack</i></p> <p class="qtbody"><b>Robert Christgau's newsletter <i>And It Don't Stop</i> appears three (or four) times a month on Substack. Subscribe <a href="https://robertchristgau.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=web&utm_source=subscribe-widget&utm_content=121645">here</a>.</b></p> </div> <div class="sblurb"> <p class="btitle"><i>Robert Christgau's Big-Hearted Theory of Pop</i></p> <div class="c1"> <a href="/bk-isitya.php"><img class="ic" style="width: 160; height: auto;" src="/images/isitya-cover.jpg"></a> </div> <div class="c2"> <a href="/bk-bkreps.php"><img class="ic" style="width: 160; height: auto;" src="/images/bkreps-cover.jpg"></a> </div> <p class="qtbdy"> <i>Book Reports</i> features reviews of not only the pop-music tomes you'd predict but also literary fiction, Marxist-adjacent cultural commentary, feminist debates over pornography, and even books about the past decade's financial crisis. It follows a collection that Christgau published last year, <i>Is It Still Good to Ya? Fifty Years of Rock Criticism, 1967-2017</i>, which includes Christgau's takes on, among many other things, classic rock, Kanye West, the music of Desert Storm, Lollapalooza, Ladysmith Black Mambazo, and so-called guilty pleasures--a category that Christgau rejects, since, for rock critics, as he puts it, "pleasure is where meaning begins." Together, these collections make the sneaky case that Christgau is not just the Dean of American Rock Critics, his self-awarded and perhaps slightly off-putting nickname, but one of America's sharper public intellectuals of the past half century, and certainly one of its most influential--not to mention one of the better stylists in that cohort. Fun is a big part of why.</p> <p class="qtsig">--David Cantwell, <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/books/under-review/the-rock-critic-robert-christgaus-big-hearted-theory-of-pop"><i>The New Yorker</i></a></p> </div> <h2>News</h2> <style type="text/css"> .post { background-color: #ffffff; padding-top: 2px; padding-left: 6px; padding-right: 6px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-left: 6px; margin-right: 6px; border: 1px dashed #808080; } .posttitle { color: red; font-weight: bold; } .posttag { clear: right; text-align: right; font-size: small; } </style> <div class="post"><div class="posttitle">Xgau Sez</div><p>Robert Christgau published his monthly <a href="https://robertchristgau.substack.com/p/xgau-sez-february-2025"> Xgau Sez</a> q&a section -- Louis Armstrong and the Beatles in book form, 'Brat' but it's a lowish A but also still 'Brat,' Emmylou Harris and Wussy grades grubbed, and combating the evil which is going on. -- in his Substack newsletter <a href="https://robertchristgau.substack.com/"> And It Don't Stop</a>. Like all of Xgau Sez, this is <a href="/xgausez.php">archived here</a>. <div class="posttag">[posted by Webmaster on 2025-02-19]</div></div><div class="post"><div class="posttitle">Consumer Guide: February, 2025</div><p>Robert Christgau published his <a href="https://robertchristgau.substack.com/p/consumer-guide-february-2025"> Consumer Guide: February, 2025</a>: A smart and sexy woman's frustrating quest for true love, a polyrhythmic meeting of Peruvian electronica and Congolese guitar, mean jokes and next-level feminism, and gnomic wisecracks postpunk style. Reviews of: Amadou & Mariam, Amyl and the Sniffers, Robert Sarazin Blake, Sabrina Carpenter, Manu Chao, Dingonek Street Band, El Khat, Future & Metro Boomin', Ale Hop & Titi Bakorta, Hurray for the Riff Raff, Jax, Nobro, Jack White. This is part of his subscription newsletter, <a href="https://robertchristgau.substack.com/"> And It Don't Stop</a>. Also archived <a href="/xg/cg/cg2025-02.php">here</a>. <div class="posttag">[posted by Webmaster on 2025-02-12]</div></div><div class="post"><div class="posttitle">Dean's List: 2024</div><p>Robert Christgau published a piece, <a href="https://robertchristgau.substack.com/p/deans-list-2024"> Dean's List: 2024</a> -- The 74 best albums of the past year (or so) -- as part of his subscription newsletter, <a href="https://robertchristgau.substack.com/"> And It Don't Stop</a>. The piece has been archived in the Pazz & Jop section, split into <a href="/xg/pnj/pj24.php">essay</a> and <a href="/xg/pnj/deans24.php">list</a> (the latter not fully linked yet). <div class="posttag">[posted by Webmaster on 2025-02-03]</div></div><div class="post"><div class="posttitle">Xgau Sez</div><p>Robert Christgau published his monthly <a href="https://robertchristgau.substack.com/p/xgau-sez-january-2025"> Xgau Sez</a> q&a section -- The Consumer Guide in the streaming era, the A Lists (the missing years), softening on Madonna and Taylor (but in different ways), spending time (see: fleeting) relistening to Randy Newman. -- in his Substack newsletter <a href="https://robertchristgau.substack.com/"> And It Don't Stop</a>. Like all of Xgau Sez, this is <a href="/xgausez.php">archived here</a>. <div class="posttag">[posted by Webmaster on 2025-01-29]</div></div><div class="post"><div class="posttitle">Some Talking Points from TPM</div><p>Robert Christgau published a piece, <a href="https://robertchristgau.substack.com/p/some-talking-points-from-tpm"> Some Talking Points from TPM</a>: Knowledge is power -- as part of his subscription newsletter, <a href="https://robertchristgau.substack.com/"> And It Don't Stop</a>. Also archived <a href="/xg/dontstop/tpm-25.php">here</a>. <div class="posttag">[posted by Webmaster on 2025-01-21]</div></div><div class="post"><div class="posttitle">The Big Lookback: Randy Newman</div><p>Robert Christgau published a piece, <a href="https://robertchristgau.substack.com/p/the-big-lookback-randy-newman"> The Big Lookback: Randy Newman</a>: "Irony, Compassion and Randy Newman," from Newsday, October 29, 1972 -- as part of his subscription newsletter, <a href="https://robertchristgau.substack.com/"> And It Don't Stop</a>. Also archived <a href="/xg/dontstop/newman2-25.php">here</a>. <div class="posttag">[posted by Webmaster on 2025-01-20]</div></div><div class="post"><div class="posttitle">A Few Words in Praise of Randy Newman</div><p>Robert Christgau published a piece, <a href="https://robertchristgau.substack.com/p/a-few-words-in-praise-of-randy-newman"> A Few Words in Praise of Randy Newman</a>: Robert Hilburn, "A Few Words in Defense of Our Country: The Biography of Randy Newman" (2024, 544 pp.) -- as part of his subscription newsletter, <a href="https://robertchristgau.substack.com/"> And It Don't Stop</a>. Also archived <a href="/xg/dontstop/newman-25.php">here</a>.</p> <p>We've also added a 1978 article Christgau wrote about Newman: <a href="/xg/rock/newman-78.php">Don't Want No Smart People 'Round Here</a>. <div class="posttag">[posted by Webmaster on 2025-01-15]</div></div><div class="post"><div class="posttitle">Consumer Guide: January, 2025</div><p>Robert Christgau published his <a href="https://robertchristgau.substack.com/p/consumer-guide-january-2025"> Consumer Guide: January, 2025</a>: A post-riot-grrrl trio that hasn't given up on love; grooves that break into tunes, sound effects, or both; alt-rappers with sonic treats; and not-one-but-three releases from our heroes in Cincinnati. Reviews of: Bright Eyes, Kim Deal, Fake Fruit, Inert, Kendrick Lamar, Willie Nelson, Phelimuncasi & Metal Preyers, Previous Industries, Allen Ravenstine, Rosali, Lucinda Williams, Wussy (3). This is part of his subscription newsletter, <a href="https://robertchristgau.substack.com/"> And It Don't Stop</a>. Also archived <a href="/xg/cg/cg2025-01.php">here</a>. <div class="posttag">[posted by Webmaster on 2025-01-09]</div></div><div class="post"><div class="posttitle">The Big Lookback: Jimmy Carter's Inaugural</div><p>Robert Christgau published a piece, <a href="https://robertchristgau.substack.com/p/the-big-lookback-jimmy-carters-inaugural"> The Big Lookback: Jimmy Carter's Inaugural</a>: From <i>The Village Voice</i>, Jan. 31, 1977: "Whose People Were at the People's Inaugural?" -- as part of his subscription newsletter, <a href="https://robertchristgau.substack.com/"> And It Don't Stop</a>. Also archived <a href="/xg/dontstop/carter-25.php">here</a>. <div class="posttag">[posted by Webmaster on 2025-01-01]</div></div><div class="post"><div class="posttitle">Definitions of Love</div><p>Robert Christgau published a piece, <a href="https://robertchristgau.substack.com/p/definitions-of-love"> Definitions of Love</a>: Some thoughts on the vocabulary of marriage -- as part of his subscription newsletter, <a href="https://robertchristgau.substack.com/"> And It Don't Stop</a>. Also archived <a href="/xg/dontstop/love-24.php">here</a>. <div class="posttag">[posted by Webmaster on 2024-12-30]</div></div><div class="post"><div class="posttitle">Xgau Sez</div><p>Robert Christgau published his monthly <a href="https://robertchristgau.substack.com/p/xgau-sez-december-2024"> Xgau Sez</a> q&a section -- Moral compasses and the election, coming soon to Bluesky, morning TV avoided, the second sex comes first, Randy Newman upgrades, and song by song by Christgau -- in his Substack newsletter <a href="https://robertchristgau.substack.com/"> And It Don't Stop</a>. Like all of Xgau Sez, this is <a href="/xgausez.php">archived here</a>. <div class="posttag">[posted by Webmaster on 2024-12-26]</div></div><div class="post"><div class="posttitle">The Big Lookback: You Never Can Tell</div><p>Robert Christgau published a piece, <a href="https://robertchristgau.substack.com/p/the-big-lookback-you-never-can-tell"> The Big Lookback: You Never Can Tell</a>: Thoughts on music for a wedding celebration, from 'The Village Voice,' March 3, 1975 -- as part of his subscription newsletter, <a href="https://robertchristgau.substack.com/"> And It Don't Stop</a>. Also archived <a href="/xg/dontstop/wedding-24.php">here</a>. <div class="posttag">[posted by Webmaster on 2024-12-11]</div></div><div class="post"><div class="posttitle">Live From Cincinnati: Wussy</div><p>Robert Christgau published a piece, <a href="https://robertchristgau.substack.com/p/live-from-cincinnati-wussy"> Live From Cincinnati: Wussy</a>: A guest post from RJ Smith on Wussy's November 15th show at the Woodward Theater in Cincinnati. -- as part of his subscription newsletter, <a href="https://robertchristgau.substack.com/"> And It Don't Stop</a>. Also archived <a href="/xg/dontstop/wussy-24.php">here</a>. <div class="posttag">[posted by Webmaster on 2024-11-22]</div></div><div class="post"><div class="posttitle">Xgau Sez</div><p>Robert Christgau published his monthly <a href="https://robertchristgau.substack.com/p/xgau-sez-november-2024"> Xgau Sez</a> q&a section -- Thoughts on Kamala and the election, Elton and listening time, Young Thug and trap, bohemia (what dat?) Billy Bragg and Woody Guthrie, and genius (again: what dat?). -- in his Substack newsletter <a href="https://robertchristgau.substack.com/"> And It Don't Stop</a>. Like all of Xgau Sez, this is <a href="/xgausez.php">archived here</a>. <div class="posttag">[posted by Webmaster on 2024-11-20]</div></div><div class="post"><div class="posttitle">Consumer Guide: November, 2024</div><p>Robert Christgau published his <a href="https://robertchristgau.substack.com/p/consumer-guide-november-2024"> Consumer Guide: November, 2024</a>: Hip-hop from 52-year-old grandpa-to-be, demure grooves from a 31-year-old producer-frontman, dreamlike and bone-simple songs from a Belgium-based 83-year-old, and radical politics from the beyond. Reviews of: <i>Blue Muse</i>, <i>The Devil & God Meet in Church</i>, Eminem, Fred Again.., Hinds, M.J. Lenderman, The Linda Lindas, LL Cool J, MC5, Thurston Moore, Trout Fishing in America, Tyler the Creator, Neil Young & Promise of the Real, Tucker Zimmerman & Friends. This is part of his subscription newsletter, <a href="https://robertchristgau.substack.com/"> And It Don't Stop</a>. Also archived <a href="/xg/cg/cg2024-11.php">here</a>. <div class="posttag">[posted by Webmaster on 2024-11-13]</div></div><div class="post"><div class="posttitle">Louis Jordan: The Grandfather of Rock and Roll</div><p>Robert Christgau published a piece, <a href="https://robertchristgau.substack.com/p/louis-jordan-the-grandfather-of-rock"> Louis Jordan: The Grandfather of Rock and Roll</a>: Formally, this jump-blues pioneer presaged rock and roll, though he was decades older than Chuck Berry, Fats Domino, or Little Richard -- as part of his subscription newsletter, <a href="https://robertchristgau.substack.com/"> And It Don't Stop</a>. Also archived <a href="/xg/dontstop/jordan-24.php">here</a>. <div class="posttag">[posted by Webmaster on 2024-10-25]</div></div><div class="post"><div class="posttitle">Xgau Sez</div><p>Robert Christgau published his monthly <a href="https://robertchristgau.substack.com/p/xgau-sez-october-2024"> Xgau Sez</a> q&a section -- At the Apollo, in the library, ABBA reconsidered (briefly), the end considered (also briefly, and not the one involving the Doors), thoughts on music writing, and a reading list. -- in his Substack newsletter <a href="https://robertchristgau.substack.com/"> And It Don't Stop</a>. Like all of Xgau Sez, this is <a href="/xgausez.php">archived here</a>. <div class="posttag">[posted by Webmaster on 2024-10-16]</div></div><div class="post"><div class="posttitle">Consumer Guide: October, 2024</div><p>Robert Christgau published his <a href="https://robertchristgau.substack.com/p/consumer-guide-october-2024"> Consumer Guide: October, 2024</a>: Guitar rock verging on the philosophical, boom-bap from an alt-rapper here to stay like that shit in your panties, a titanic work of art from 1956, & East African dance records from a DJ on a mission. Reviews of: Bad Moves, The Dare, Guy Davis, Doechii, Ekko Astral, Ella Fitzgerald & Louis Armstrong, Adekunle Gold, <i>Kampire Presents: A Dancefloor in Ndola</i>, Miranda Lambert, Jenny Lewis, Mannequin Pussy, El Michels Affair & Black Thought, Gurf Morlix, Serengeti. This is part of his subscription newsletter, <a href="https://robertchristgau.substack.com/"> And It Don't Stop</a>. Also archived <a href="/xg/cg/cg2024-10.php">here</a>. <div class="posttag">[posted by Webmaster on 2024-10-09]</div></div><div class="post"><div class="posttitle">Behind Closed Doors</div><p>Robert Christgau published a piece, <a href="https://robertchristgau.substack.com/p/behind-closed-doors"> Behind Closed Doors</a>: Roddy Doyle, <i>The Women Behind the Door</i> (2024, 262 pp.) -- as part of his subscription newsletter, <a href="https://robertchristgau.substack.com/"> And It Don't Stop</a>. Also archived <a href="/xg/dontstop/doyle-24.php">here</a>. <div class="posttag">[posted by Webmaster on 2024-09-30]</div></div><div class="post"><div class="posttitle">Xgau Sez</div><p>Robert Christgau published his monthly <a href="https://robertchristgau.substack.com/p/xgau-sez-september-2024"> Xgau Sez</a> q&a section -- Consumer Guide music discovery, some subjects for further research, dancing to "Africa Dances," John and Faith Hubley, the hottest young male newcomer in the biz, and Geoffrey Stokes remembered. -- in his Substack newsletter <a href="https://robertchristgau.substack.com/"> And It Don't Stop</a>. Like all of Xgau Sez, this is <a href="/xgausez.php">archived here</a>. <div class="posttag">[posted by Webmaster on 2024-09-18]</div></div><p align="center"><a href="index.php?sk=20">More Ancient</a></p> <h3>More Information</h3> <ul> <li><a href="/xg/web/about.php">About</a></li> <li><a href="/xg/web/howto.php">HOWTO</a></li> <li><a href="/map.php">Sitemap</a></li> </ul>  </td> </table> </body> </html>