The First Collection of Criticism by ..., Jessica Hopper
The First Collection of Criticism by ..., Jessica Hopper
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The First Collection of Criticism by a Living Female Rock Critic
Revised and Expanded Edition

Author: Jessica Hopper, Samantha Irby

Narrator: Mozhan Marnò, Ella Turenne

Unabridged: 10 hr 10 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 07/06/2021


Synopsis

An acclaimed, career-spanning collection from a fiercely feminist and revered contemporary rock critic, reissued with new material

Throughout her career, spanning more than two decades, Jessica Hopper, a revered and pioneering music critic, has examined women recording and producing music, in all genres, through an intersectional feminist lens. The First Collection of Criticism by a Living Female Rock Critic features oral histories of bands like Hole and Sleater Kinney, interviews with the women editors of 1970s-era Rolling Stone, and intimate conversations with iconic musicians such as Björk, Robyn, and Lido Pimienta. Hopper journeys through the truths of Riot Grrrl's empowering insurgence; decamps to Gary, Indiana, on the eve of Michael Jackson's death; explodes the grunge-era mythologies of Nirvana and Courtney Love; and examines the rise of emo. The collection also includes profiles and reviews of some of the most-loved, and most-loathed, women artists making music today: Fiona Apple, Kacey Musgraves, M.I.A., Miley Cyrus, Lana Del Rey.

In order for the music industry to change, Hopper writes, we need “the continual presence of radicalized women . . . being encouraged and given reasons to stay, rather than diminished by the music which glues our communities together.” The First Collection of Criticism by a Living Female Rock Critic―published to acclaim in 2015, and reissued now with new material and an introduction by Samantha Irby―is a rallying cry for women-centered history and storytelling, and a groundbreaking, obsessive, razor-sharp panorama of music writing crafted by one of the most influential critics of her generation.

About The Author

Jessica Hopper is the author of the books The First Collection of Criticism by a Living Female Rock Critic and Night Moves. Her writing has appeared in GQ, Rolling Stone, The New York Times MagazineThe Guardian, Elle, and Bookforum, among other outlets. A longtime contributor to the Chicago Reader, she has been a columnist for The Village Voice and the Chicago Tribune, the music consultant for This American Life, the editorial director for MTV News, and a senior editor at Pitchfork and Rookie. Her essays have appeared in several editions of Best Music Writing, and she currently serves as series editor of the American Music Series at the University of Texas Press.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Patrick on August 12, 2015

When I was 22, 23, I lived in East Hollywood in a horrible apartment with mold on the ceiling and a ratty carpet. It was an embarrassment, but looking back on it, it was where I needed to be at the time. I worked at a bookstore and I would get home from work at 1am. But that was never the end of my......more

Goodreads review by Kathleen on May 14, 2015

My review for the Chicago Tribune: The show-business saying "everyone's a critic" came into common usage in the middle of the last century, but it's arguably never been more true than now. In our era of Yelp and Amazon, Twitter and Facebook, every literate person with a reliable Internet connection......more

Goodreads review by Laura on April 11, 2016

Jessica Hopper is a bad ass. Not just for speaking her truth about all aspects of popular music (and not so popular music) and not just for being a woman in the male populated music critic industry. Her eloquent and descriptive opinions are bad ass. Her words themselves are bad ass. Her writing sure......more

Goodreads review by Chelsea on August 19, 2015

I'm in two minds about this collection of essays. There's some great stuff in there, and I really like what Hopper stands for and her style of music criticism that goes beyond technicality and into the sociocultural impacts of music. A really poignant piece was the one on R Kelly (is music a moral e......more

Goodreads review by Charles on September 04, 2017

Wonderfully written, a little scattershot, very readable. I learned so much about music that I'll never listen to.......more