Friday, September 14, 2007

Rock's Backpages

Rock's Backpages is an English website that republishes English and American music criticism from the rock era, dating back to the mid-60's and continuing into the present. It has managed to collect over 10,000 articles from most of the rock press - everything from the major magazines, like Rolling Stone, Spin, Creem, NME and Melody Maker - to more obscure but equally influential magzines like Zig Zag, Fusion, Trouser Press, New York Rocker (my fave) and No Depression. It features pieces by literally thousands of writers, from early mainstream media rock critics like the NY Times' Mike Jahn, to hall of famers like Lester Bangs, Greil Marcus, Greg Shaw and Nick Kent, to obscure geniuses like John Mendelssohn, to passers-through like Chrissie Hynde, Kim Fowley and Nick Hornby. It costs a few bucks a year and it's is totally worth it. I've been subscribing for five or six years. Every Monday I get an email with a list of 10-20 new articles they have added to their database. They are extremely well-organized and articles are accessible by artist name, genre, writer or magazine. Please check it out.