Any Old Way You Choose It: Rock and Other Pop Music, 1967-1973

by Robert Christgau

Here is rock music as both social phenomenon and artistic achievement. In discussing its social aspects, Robert Christgau investigates rock music's appeal to its audience. In examining its achievement, he evaluates its worth as art and as invention.

Among much else, Christgau looks at the beginnings of rock, the extra-musical themes that are bound up in it (especially sexism and politics), the significance of individual artists, and the meaning of current trends. The result is a book that ranges from the days of flower power to the new androgyny and covers an extraordinary variety of performers, among them Chuck Berry, Bob Dylan, the Rolling Stones, the Beatles, Grand Funk Railroad, Bette Midler, and the New York Dolls. [from back cover]

Genres: Music, Nonfiction

342 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 1973

About the author

Robert Thomas Christgau (born April 18, 1942) is an American music journalist and essayist. He began his career in the late 1960s as one of the earliest professional rock critics and later became an early proponent of musical movements such as hip hop, riot grrrl, and the import of African popular music in the West.

Christgau spent 37 years as the chief music critic and senior editor for The Village Voice, during which time he created and oversaw the annual Pazz & Jop critics poll. He has also covered popular music for Esquire, Creem, Newsday, Playboy, Rolling Stone, Billboard, NPR, Blender, and MSN Music, and was a visiting arts teacher at New York University.

Reviews

[Paul Wilner · Rating 5 out of 5]

Telling it like it is, from the once, if not future, Dean of Rock N' Roll Criticism

[Brad · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great collection of columns from the Village Voice and elsewhere by one of the founders of serious pop criticism.

[Eamonn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Early Christgau, before he abandoned rock. Some Consumer Guides in their infancy, some interesting articles/think pieces on the state of rock and the counterculture, some insightful artists profiles (Tull, Creedence, Zappa, etc, oh and lots of Beatles & Stones), some gossip, and some stuff about Dylan I skipped.

[RetroHound · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very interesting to see opinions and attitudes from the time and what has held up and where long-term musical interests have varied from what Christgau thought would be longer lasting.

[Tim · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good selection of Christgau's early writings for the Village Voice and Newsday. Especially interesting for contemporary reviews of albums. I'm used to reading criticism written 10, 20, 30 years after the fact, after time and distance has made it impossible to really *hear* those albums without all of the accumulated baggage. His enthusiasm for the New York Dolls, for example, who had yet to release their debut album, is thrilling. Now of course critics love the Dolls b/c they epitomize glam and presage punk, but in 1972 Christgau loved them unequivocally b/c they played old-fashioned, straight-ahead rock 'n' roll, which was presumed to be dead after 'Sgt. Pepper' turned rock 'n' roll into Rock (i.e., popular music with artistic pretensions.)

[Marc · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Repetition without tedium is the backbone of rock and roll" the author writes of Chuck Berry, and shows that it is also the foundation of effective criticism; Christgau's unending ability to always poke pop culture's pressure points never ceases to impress

[Rob · Rating 5 out of 5]

Pithy and no-nonsense. Packed with information and context.