#170: Be Easy On Yourself
Be Easy On Yourself
I’m Todd L. Burns, and welcome to Music Journalism Insider, a newsletter about music journalism. I highlight some of the best stuff I hear, read, and watch every week; publish news about the industry; and interview writers, scholars, and editors about their work. My goal is to share knowledge, celebrate great work, and expand the idea of what music journalism is—and where it happens. Questions, comments, concerns? You can reach me anytime at music.journalism.insider@gmail.com. And if you're not already subscribed to the newsletter, you can do so at musicjournalisminsider.com.
Today in the newsletter: Interviews with music critic Tim Riley; Édith Piaf expert David Looseley; and Cheri Percy, author of a new book about ESG. Plus! Reading recommendations, podcast picks, and much more! But first…
Damn Good Cab!
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Reading List
- Charles Hsu explains the current artist visa situation in the United States
- Tamar Herman provides perspective on swastikas and K-pop
- Peter Robinson chats with Michael Cragg about a new oral history of British pop
- Kat Bein goes to Miami Music Week
- Natalie Weiner pens a history of the shuffle button
- J. Vognsen asks: “Is the most famous flier in hip-hop history fake?”
- Ivan Kreilkamp celebrates Scott Miller’s pop music criticism
- Michael Hall details Mack McCormick’s quest to find the real Robert Johnson
- Jessica Duchen discusses what the BBC cuts mean for classical music
- Olivia Giovetti counts down the most deserved deaths in opera
Lede Of The Week
“There are countless rankings of the best deaths in opera that grade by the most memorable (‘La Bohème,’ ‘La Traviata’), the most epic (‘Dialogues of the Carmelites,’ ‘Götterdämmerung’), and the most difficult to stage (‘La Wally,’ ‘La Juive’). All of those criteria are well and good, but what I want—what I really, really want—in an operatic death is catharsis for the rage that is knotted around my psyche at all times, like an overgrown philodendron. I want justifiable homicide. I want to be able to say, ‘It couldn’t have happened to a nicer guy.’ I want bastards to understand—just once!—what it’s like to be held accountable for their actions. I don’t want ‘Good Deaths,’ I want good deaths.” - Olivia Giovetti
Q&A: Tim Riley
Tim Riley writes Substack’s free, fortnightly riley rock report newsletter and podcast. Among the many books he’s written, the latest is What Goes On: The Beatles, The Music, and Their Time. He also contributes to various freelance outlets, both in print and on radio, and teaches digital journalism at Emerson College, where he heads up the graduate journalism program. In this excerpt from our interview, Tim talks about where music journalism is headed.
It’s embattled for sure right now but like journalism itself, with demand exploding at every turn. Those bean counters will get the monetizing side done, they always do. We just have to stomp on them repeatedly about the greed and inequity, they basically want to funnel as much money upwards as possible and impoverish their customers. They’ll end up with zero customers. Rapacious late-phase capitalism has turned very dreary since Reagan, who can never get blamed enough, but at least everybody’s talking about it and the problem has a transparency almost as if it’s French Revolution times.
But I’m sure it’s felt like this before, and the young turks coming up have a lot to teach us.
What would you like to see more of in music journalism right now?
More diversity, obviously. What we need is 600 years of Margo Jefferson and Danyel Smith and Hanif Abdurraqib and Nelson George and Jeff Chang to “balance” the scales. Us white guys have screwed things up royal.
Read the full interview with Tim here.
Causes Worth Supporting
From Tim Riley:
We have to work hard against this mass incarceration travesty, it disgraces us all. That includes police brutality and political accountability. The system we have now has such appalling bias. Teaching Michelle Alexander’s The New Jim Crow always floors me, and that book is over ten years old now. And when you have one major political party with such contempt for law, it’s hubris to call ourselves democrats. Here are two worth checking out: Prison Policy Initiative and Unprison Project.
Check out all of the causes highlighted by folks I’ve interviewed.
Yep, Just Make That Submerged Part Much Bigger
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Podcasts!
- Dave Elliott of Neumusik fanzine is the latest guest on Rock Writ
- Sound Opinions welcomes Ben Sisario to talk about Ticketmaster and Live Nation
- Straight Up dives into the existential crisis facing celebrity journalism
- Dr. Susan McClary joins Her Music Academia to discuss gender and sexuality in music
- Maura Johnston and Rollie Pemberton chat about why music criticism matters on Commotion
Q&A: Cheri Percy
Cheri Percy is a freelance writer, editor, and broadcaster. She’s pitched and produced features for The Guardian, Noisey, and more. Her new book is an entry in the 33 1/3 series dedicated to the album Come Away with ESG. In this excerpt from our interview, Cheri shares how she went about writing the book.
I’m quite a diligent freelancer (sometimes to my detriment!) and marked out my time working on the book much as I would a client, dedicating a certain number of hours (and ideally a word count goal) each week to the process. I also tracked these hours using my trusty Toggl timer so as to gauge my process through the many months of writing, and posterity. I also very much followed R. J. Wheaton’s advice about establishing, and answering, key questions in each chapter, trying to really get to the heart of those issues and position the various elements distinctively across the sections of the book. Whether that was why the band was so heavily sampled or how their relationship with short-lived but infamous indie label 99 Records impacted their careers.
As I mentioned above, I also made sure to cushion my own observations with relevant thoughts and experiences from outside voices across each of the chapters. In Chapter 4, for instance, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ Karen O becomes a key voice as I chart ESG’s decade-spanning influence into the aughts’ dance-punk scene. While Chapter 5 proves the band’s longstanding legacy, with newcomers like Argentinian duo Las Kellies still citing the band as a Northstar to their music-making some forty years on from the band’s debut release.
What's one tip that you'd give someone looking to write a music book right now?
Be clear about what your goals are for the book and be realistic about them. I am so proud of myself for my inclusion in this iconic series but the whole process hasn’t been without its moments of imposter syndrome and self-doubt, particularly in the face of some challenging responses from the band. Be easy on yourself and celebrate every little win along the way because pitching, writing, submitting, editing and marketing a book is no mean feat and you’re doing wonderfully.
Read the full interview with Cheri here.
A Cause Worth Supporting
From Cheri Percy:
I’m a Patreon member of The Black Ticket Project, an independent initiative creating cultural access points for Black people across England. My monthly pledge pays a ticket forward for a young person to attend a theatre production. The arts transformed my life so I hope that even this small token can do the same for other young people, particularly those from backgrounds that are often radically and socio-economically marginalised.
Check out all of the causes highlighted by folks I’ve interviewed.
Stuff You Gotta Watch
Stuff You Gotta Watch celebrates music journalism in video form. This week’s column is by Ana Leorne.
Three decades of California Bay Area’s punk music history are covered in Turn It Around, a documentary that examines a fascinating scene through the eyes of those who played a crucial role in it: Green Day, Rancid, the Offspring, Dead Kennedys, and many more.
The story begins with a brief reminder of how the Bay Area has always attracted all sorts of misfits, creatives, revolutionaries, and weirdos, leading to a unique ecosystem. Punk rock, which narrator Iggy Pop smartly defines as "a conversation with society," thrived in this environment—even if inspiration initially came from both the US East Coast (The Ramones) and abroad (Sex Pistols).
With the documentary clocking in at about two-and-a-half hours, there's plenty of time to properly explore not only the faces but also the places: Filipino restaurant The Mabuhay Gardens became an unlikely punk venue in the early days, though the scene's epicenter would actually emerge across the bay in Berkeley at 924 Gilman Street. Also mentioned are the numerous radio shows and zines that helped spread the word among those yearning for an urgent renovation of rock'n'roll.
The admirable research and dedication put into Turn It Around, along with the stunning animated sequences, ensure the documentary comes across first and foremost as a labor of love, joy, and honesty—which is, after all, what the spirit of punk is all about.
Trivia Time
Which entry in the 33 1/3 series was the first to feature an artist outside of the US or UK?
Pivoting To Video
- CBC News looks at how tech companies are reshaping the music industry
- Dalanie Harris has launched a YouTube channel
- The Punk Rock MBA explains the problem with toxic fans
- Sound Field explores why so many countries have adopted drill rap
- Meredith Lawrence profiles Western AF
Bits, Bobs
- Jessica Hopper has good advice about internships
- No Spectators is a new music interview zine
- Complex has published its hip-hop media power rankings
- The latest issue of The Shadow Knows is now available
- Grace Robins-Somerville has launched a newsletter
Studio Apartment Farmer
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Q&A: David Looseley
David Looseley is a writer, translator, and emeritus professor of contemporary French culture at University of Leeds, Chevalier dans l'Ordre des Palmes Académiques. His new book is an entry in the 33 1/3 series on Édith Piaf's Récital 1961, a live album David calls a “historic comeback performance.” In this excerpt from our interview, David explains how he came to this subject for the book.
My relationship with Piaf has always been a little complicated. I’d known of her since my teens, when I first heard “No Regrets” in the early 1960s. But I was too much into pop and rock to take much notice at the time and I guess I’d had, until quite recently, a rather on-off interest in her. But when I started teaching and researching French popular music, France’s most famous female singing star became unavoidable. In the early 2000s, I worked up a short introductory segment on a university module for first-year undergrads. Then, in 2010, when I took up a short visiting researcher opportunity at NYU, it made sense to research a modest article about Piaf’s first experiences in New York in the 1940s. I mentioned this briefly on my web page, which prompted an alert editor at Liverpool University Press to enquire who was publishing my “book.” The answer, of course, was that there was no book. So they asked me to write one. The result was Edith Piaf: A Cultural History, which came out in 2015 for the centenary of her birth.
The next moment of serendipity came from Bloomsbury. The 33 1/3 series had mostly concentrated on Anglo-American records, with books often written by music journalists or enthusiasts. But, more recently, region-specific series have been launched under the same imprint and there’s been a trend towards getting academics and researchers to produce the books, though they’re still intended for a general audience. I was asked in 2017 to contribute to the recently launched Europe series. By that time—serendipity again—I’d happened to buy a signed original pressing of Récital 1961 from one of those pop-up booksellers (bouquinistes) along the Seine in Paris. That album became my subject.
Read the full interview with David here.
A Cause Worth Supporting
From David Looseley:
The Perry Fund (UK) / 7 Waterloo Road / Wolverhampton / WV1 4DW / UK / Charity Number 218829 / Email: janeoliver@underhills.co.uk
This is a very small UK charity that helps elderly women in financial need. I’m deeply grateful for the assistance they gave my mother in her last years. Unfortunately, they don’t have a website.
Check out all of the causes highlighted by folks I’ve interviewed.
Academic Stuff
- Call for Papers: The Society for American Music Annual Conference [Proposals due June 1]
- New Issues: Tempo
- Call for Papers: The Blasphemous in Music and Sound [Proposals due May 1]
- Registration is now open for Music and Conflict: The Politics and Escapism of Wartime Culture
- Call for Papers: African Music [Proposals due to l.watkins@ru.ac.za by June 2023]
The Closing Credits
Thanks for reading! In case you’ve missed any special features, I’ve published a number of them in the newsletter, including articles about music journalism history, what music journalism will be like in 2221, and much more. You can check out all of that here.
I also do a recurring column in the newsletter called Notes On Process. The premise is simple: I share a Google Doc with a music journalist where we go into depth on one of their pieces. It hopefully provides an insight into how music writers do their work. You can check out all editions of Notes On Process here.
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Trivia Time Answer
The seventh volume in the series focused on Swedish pop group ABBA
A Final Note
Thanks for reading! I make playlists from time to time. Check them out if you're interested. And full disclosure: my day job is at uDiscover Music, a branded content online magazine owned by Universal Music. This newsletter is not affiliated or sponsored in any way by Universal, and any links that relate to the work of my department will be clearly marked.
Feel free to reach out to me via email at music.journalism.insider@gmail.com. On Twitter, it’s @JournalismMusic. Until next time...