“[Robert] Christgau was hated by bands because he was so honest, and he was so brutal. There’s a single out there, I forgot who did it, called ‘I Killed Christgau.’”
Frank Ruscitti
Oh, it’s worse than that—it’s called “I killed Robert Christgau with my big fucking dick”, by Sonic Youth
As an art student, I lived in the village in the late 70's, and The Cedar Tavern, (to the right of the Voice offices in the posted photo), was a frequent watering hole for many of us. The Tavern and The Voice were part of the neighborhood, not outposts, but destinations for the like-minded, for artists and writers to feel a sense of community. Today, the idea of community gets batted around the internet as if it is a tangible thing in a virtual world, it's simply not the same. As much as I value being a subscriber to The Honest Broker and feeling a sense of kinship, I miss the connectedness that came from sitting with a future "Ted Gioia" in what I recall as a welcoming and supportive environment for sharing all the wonder and frustration of experiencing the life from a different perspective. The Village Voice was more than a newspaper, in a way, it was the neighborhood. Thank you Mr Gioia for your thoughtful work. - Cheers
Insightful as always, Ted. Long live The Village Voice and real counter-culture. MSM "journalists" gaslight the masses into believing they are "The Resistance", but they are shills for corporate interests trying to take down independent upstarts like Substack. The MacArthur Fellowship is one of many examples of a formerly venerable nonpartisan institution that was gutted and now operates as a ideological leftist patronage network: https://yuribezmenov.substack.com/p/macarthur-fellowship-leftist-patronage-network
The Voice was an essential part of the NYC landscape for decades, not just for the writers but for the ads from nightclubs and concert venues that provided the kind of overview into NYC's vibrant cultural life that no other publication could provide.
Just yesterday I was doing some spring cleaning and while dusting off one of the bookshelves I noticed and took down Abbie Hoffman's "Steal This Book." His infectious voice is what turned me on to the counterculture of the late 60s while in high school. Through him I discovered Nat Hentoff in the Voice and when I got to college one of the first things I did was make a friend in the periodical room of the campus library so I could get first crack at the Berkley Barb, the Great Speckled Bird, and of course the East Village Other. Every Monday I would start my study hours by combing through the underground papers to see what was going on. Over the years I have kept looking for those dissident voices, whether on Usenet or the early weblogs. And now we have Substack, which is great and I am a supporter but, man, do I miss those papers.
Met Abby H. on the streets of DC during the Kent State/Cambodia protest. Had already met Rennie Davis at Tulane U. I subscribed to both the VV and EVO as a college student. My lifeline to the arts and music scene in NYC. Corporate capitalism eventually swallows everything.
Nice, I wish I had had the chance to meet him - I was greatly saddened when I heard of his death. Of all the radical writers I read his was the only voice that contained an element of joy in life. RIP.
In the fantasy, horror, and science fiction papers we had a lot of underground work. From the news magazine of Locus to the more shoestring budget of Fantasy Newsletter, we also had zines like Nyctalops and Whispers which brought to attention some of the best new voices in horror, like Thomas Ligotti. The letters columns of all of these zines were so electric and informative. They were read cover to cover and are much missed.
The Voice BECAME part of the ruling class. Important to remember Hentoff was fired for dissenting from orthodoxy on issues from abortion to unions.
I would argue there is a vibrant counterculture today - it's the religiously devout. Christian, Jewish, Islamic - all publishing lively magazines and books, hosting conferences, and debating how to oppose the current mainstream.
While I don't doubt all of the writers at the Voice had FBI files, today's environment is a lot scarier than it was back then. Those writers had actual freedom to write what they wanted and speaking truth to power was almost quaint. Today, a corrupt legal system is allowing journalists to be sued for expressing an opinion. An investigative journalist at CBS was fired and then had her personal files rifled for the names of her confidential sources. A "Twitter Files" journalist was paid an unannounced visit by IRS agents while testifying before Congress about censorship driven by government coercion. US journalists are sitting unaided in foreign prisons - or have died there - because what they were writing about was an embarrassment to the US government's foreign policies
My point - the attacks on alternative media have been made permissible by the heavy hand of government. The monoculture, with its hit pieces and smug dismissals are just following orders.
I'm not sure if the law has already passed or not, but a short while ago there was legislation on the board in Australia that makes it illegal to say or print anything that may foster mistrust in the government. I used to like this country before it became the 51st state of the USA.
Well, as Caitlin Johnstone put it, Australia is nothing more than a giant US airbase, or words to that effect. Also, when asked why she always writes about US politics and not Australia's, she replied she was cutting out the middle-man.
Still, I wish she would write about Australian politics, but my understanding is that her specialisation is in US politics. In other words, she specialises in how the world got fucked.
Joe Strummer and The Clash were waaaay out front, singing, "You have the right to free speech...as long as you're not dumb enough to actually TRY IT!". ("Know Your Rights," 1981)
I’m not completely tuned into the history, but I do recall that by around 1970, the Voice had begun to seem stodgy compared to the East Village Other. It struck me as too attached to what had been leading edge around 1964. And even when it got some energy back in the 70s, it was heavily focused on New York gay culture, in which I had limited interest. The hippies had all moved out to the country by then and were doing Whole Earth Catalog things. At least that’s how I remember it,
I noticed that too. I was in high school in the late 1960s and early 1970s, and I remember the Voice as being alt-Establishment, that is, not the New York Times or Daily News but still a lot of old guys - mainly guys - who defined a certain aging aspect of the counterculture. My high school was at the northern edge of the East Village, and there were a number of short lived alternative newspapers that seemed more relevant.
this article has sparked a curiosity that was eliminated when I read through several dozen of christgau's reviews. I always found his writing to be impetuous and cynical; not only those typical negative reviews which lacked real criticism of the art (opting instead for ad hominems and unelaborated sneers), but especially the positive reviews, which seems wholly unfocused on the joy and greater purpose of music beyond his apparent preoccupation with the "hip"
I was younger then, and figured if this attitude represented "counter-culture" tastes and values, I would go looking my own separate way against the grain. thank you Ted, for reigniting my historical curiosity about the broader picture of the village voice and what it represented!
"real criticism of the art". Yes, this is badly needed today by musicians and mostly by their art.
Does anyone know a music critic currently active where the negative elements of his judgment are rooted on profound criteria ?
(Obviously excluding ad hominems. A good example of a high philosophical level of jugment criteria are Aquinas’s integritas, consonantia, claritas. Are there any music critics using these criteria today ?)
Not sure if Substack is the answer. Buying the Village Voice you’d get numerous articles by numerous journalists, selected by an editor and presented in an easy to read package. Now I can’t keep track of the cost and subscriptions for all the separate independent journalists.
Often wondered why some of the Substackers who struggle to get enough paying subscribers don’t form a syndicate. There’s a limit to how many paying subscriptions I can maintain!
All of the individual parts of this essay make sense, but I'm confused about what the broader framing is supposed to be. On some level the nature of the counterculture makes it unlikely to have stable institutions. It's impressive that the Village Voice remained vibrant for so long, but you wouldn't expect it to remain a counterculture icon forever (or for the next locus of energy to look the same as Voice).
I remember reading Sara Marcus's book _Girls To The Front_ (about the Riot Grrrl movement) and thinking that (a) it was disappointing that, in the end, the energy dissipated so quickly and (b) that it wasn't surprising. It's not easy to figure out how to take that "lightning in a bottle" and transform it into something lasting.
In the case of Riot Grrl, to the extent is existed at all, it was largely because it said what a segment of journalists wanted said rather than being a grassroots thing.
Hence, it got publicity all out of proportion with its actual fanbase.
You could certainly use a different example if you want (though I do recommend the book), but I think it's true that enduring counterculture institutions are the exception not the rule.
I kinda took that as TG's point, using the VV simply as a case in point, viz., there used to be a counter culture, but it's been obliterated, and even Substack hasn't really replaced it. EVERYONE must repeat the mantra: "Diversity is our strength!"
Amiri Baraka, aka, Leroy Jones, came to the American Bookstore, in Paris, one night in the summer if 1961 and read a selection of his poems that scared the shit out his audience. He didn't cater to anyone and didn't suffer fools gladly. For some reason he came up to me and asked, "What do you do?" I told him that I played drums and we spent some time talking about Elvin and Philly Joe Jones, and Monk and Trane and Miles and Dolphy, who was playing around the corner with a French rhythm section.
It is worth repeating that the response of Culture to the emerging counterculture is to deny its legitimacy, and barring that, to try and swat it out of existence.
I’m too young and not New Yorkie enough to remember much about the Voice. I definitely read and follow many Substack and Medium writers who are out of the mainstream. The issue I see is that the Voice was an institution. Just as people asked what Walter Cronkite had to say, I suspect others asked what the Voice had to say, even though the nature of the counterculture makes it hard to truly speak with one “voice.” How do we make sure that Substack and the like isn’t just 1000 chattering voices down two halls on sub basement -9?
“[Robert] Christgau was hated by bands because he was so honest, and he was so brutal. There’s a single out there, I forgot who did it, called ‘I Killed Christgau.’”
Frank Ruscitti
Oh, it’s worse than that—it’s called “I killed Robert Christgau with my big fucking dick”, by Sonic Youth
What a way to go!
i thought christgau loved sonic youth
Sonic Puke, I always called them.
As an art student, I lived in the village in the late 70's, and The Cedar Tavern, (to the right of the Voice offices in the posted photo), was a frequent watering hole for many of us. The Tavern and The Voice were part of the neighborhood, not outposts, but destinations for the like-minded, for artists and writers to feel a sense of community. Today, the idea of community gets batted around the internet as if it is a tangible thing in a virtual world, it's simply not the same. As much as I value being a subscriber to The Honest Broker and feeling a sense of kinship, I miss the connectedness that came from sitting with a future "Ted Gioia" in what I recall as a welcoming and supportive environment for sharing all the wonder and frustration of experiencing the life from a different perspective. The Village Voice was more than a newspaper, in a way, it was the neighborhood. Thank you Mr Gioia for your thoughtful work. - Cheers
Insightful as always, Ted. Long live The Village Voice and real counter-culture. MSM "journalists" gaslight the masses into believing they are "The Resistance", but they are shills for corporate interests trying to take down independent upstarts like Substack. The MacArthur Fellowship is one of many examples of a formerly venerable nonpartisan institution that was gutted and now operates as a ideological leftist patronage network: https://yuribezmenov.substack.com/p/macarthur-fellowship-leftist-patronage-network
The Voice was an essential part of the NYC landscape for decades, not just for the writers but for the ads from nightclubs and concert venues that provided the kind of overview into NYC's vibrant cultural life that no other publication could provide.
Just yesterday I was doing some spring cleaning and while dusting off one of the bookshelves I noticed and took down Abbie Hoffman's "Steal This Book." His infectious voice is what turned me on to the counterculture of the late 60s while in high school. Through him I discovered Nat Hentoff in the Voice and when I got to college one of the first things I did was make a friend in the periodical room of the campus library so I could get first crack at the Berkley Barb, the Great Speckled Bird, and of course the East Village Other. Every Monday I would start my study hours by combing through the underground papers to see what was going on. Over the years I have kept looking for those dissident voices, whether on Usenet or the early weblogs. And now we have Substack, which is great and I am a supporter but, man, do I miss those papers.
I hear you. And I just mentioned Abbie Hoffman in a recent article!
https://open.substack.com/pub/templeofartists/p/how-to-complain-officially?
One of my favorite quotes;
“You measure a democracy by the freedom it gives its dissidents, not the freedom it gives its assimilated conformists.” - Abbie Hoffman
Fantastic!
Met Abby H. on the streets of DC during the Kent State/Cambodia protest. Had already met Rennie Davis at Tulane U. I subscribed to both the VV and EVO as a college student. My lifeline to the arts and music scene in NYC. Corporate capitalism eventually swallows everything.
Nice, I wish I had had the chance to meet him - I was greatly saddened when I heard of his death. Of all the radical writers I read his was the only voice that contained an element of joy in life. RIP.
You are absolutely right about the "element of joy." Yes, very sad ending to his exuberant life on earth.
In the fantasy, horror, and science fiction papers we had a lot of underground work. From the news magazine of Locus to the more shoestring budget of Fantasy Newsletter, we also had zines like Nyctalops and Whispers which brought to attention some of the best new voices in horror, like Thomas Ligotti. The letters columns of all of these zines were so electric and informative. They were read cover to cover and are much missed.
The Voice BECAME part of the ruling class. Important to remember Hentoff was fired for dissenting from orthodoxy on issues from abortion to unions.
I would argue there is a vibrant counterculture today - it's the religiously devout. Christian, Jewish, Islamic - all publishing lively magazines and books, hosting conferences, and debating how to oppose the current mainstream.
While I don't doubt all of the writers at the Voice had FBI files, today's environment is a lot scarier than it was back then. Those writers had actual freedom to write what they wanted and speaking truth to power was almost quaint. Today, a corrupt legal system is allowing journalists to be sued for expressing an opinion. An investigative journalist at CBS was fired and then had her personal files rifled for the names of her confidential sources. A "Twitter Files" journalist was paid an unannounced visit by IRS agents while testifying before Congress about censorship driven by government coercion. US journalists are sitting unaided in foreign prisons - or have died there - because what they were writing about was an embarrassment to the US government's foreign policies
My point - the attacks on alternative media have been made permissible by the heavy hand of government. The monoculture, with its hit pieces and smug dismissals are just following orders.
I'm not sure if the law has already passed or not, but a short while ago there was legislation on the board in Australia that makes it illegal to say or print anything that may foster mistrust in the government. I used to like this country before it became the 51st state of the USA.
Well, as Caitlin Johnstone put it, Australia is nothing more than a giant US airbase, or words to that effect. Also, when asked why she always writes about US politics and not Australia's, she replied she was cutting out the middle-man.
Still, I wish she would write about Australian politics, but my understanding is that her specialisation is in US politics. In other words, she specialises in how the world got fucked.
Yes, freedom of speech no longer exists.
Joe Strummer and The Clash were waaaay out front, singing, "You have the right to free speech...as long as you're not dumb enough to actually TRY IT!". ("Know Your Rights," 1981)
There you go!
I’m not completely tuned into the history, but I do recall that by around 1970, the Voice had begun to seem stodgy compared to the East Village Other. It struck me as too attached to what had been leading edge around 1964. And even when it got some energy back in the 70s, it was heavily focused on New York gay culture, in which I had limited interest. The hippies had all moved out to the country by then and were doing Whole Earth Catalog things. At least that’s how I remember it,
I noticed that too. I was in high school in the late 1960s and early 1970s, and I remember the Voice as being alt-Establishment, that is, not the New York Times or Daily News but still a lot of old guys - mainly guys - who defined a certain aging aspect of the counterculture. My high school was at the northern edge of the East Village, and there were a number of short lived alternative newspapers that seemed more relevant.
You're right. When I went off to college, I subscribed to the EVO, as I felt the Voice had gotten a bit stale and irrelevant.
this article has sparked a curiosity that was eliminated when I read through several dozen of christgau's reviews. I always found his writing to be impetuous and cynical; not only those typical negative reviews which lacked real criticism of the art (opting instead for ad hominems and unelaborated sneers), but especially the positive reviews, which seems wholly unfocused on the joy and greater purpose of music beyond his apparent preoccupation with the "hip"
I was younger then, and figured if this attitude represented "counter-culture" tastes and values, I would go looking my own separate way against the grain. thank you Ted, for reigniting my historical curiosity about the broader picture of the village voice and what it represented!
"real criticism of the art". Yes, this is badly needed today by musicians and mostly by their art.
Does anyone know a music critic currently active where the negative elements of his judgment are rooted on profound criteria ?
(Obviously excluding ad hominems. A good example of a high philosophical level of jugment criteria are Aquinas’s integritas, consonantia, claritas. Are there any music critics using these criteria today ?)
You might be asking a bit much of us to hold us up against Aquinas!
True ! But simply trying one's best at applying his criteria is feasible I believe.
Not sure if Substack is the answer. Buying the Village Voice you’d get numerous articles by numerous journalists, selected by an editor and presented in an easy to read package. Now I can’t keep track of the cost and subscriptions for all the separate independent journalists.
Often wondered why some of the Substackers who struggle to get enough paying subscribers don’t form a syndicate. There’s a limit to how many paying subscriptions I can maintain!
Yep. Plus Substack isn't great for finding new voices.
Substack is great for established writers to gain control of their publishing. Not so great for new writers to start a career.
I think unherd tries to do that
All of the individual parts of this essay make sense, but I'm confused about what the broader framing is supposed to be. On some level the nature of the counterculture makes it unlikely to have stable institutions. It's impressive that the Village Voice remained vibrant for so long, but you wouldn't expect it to remain a counterculture icon forever (or for the next locus of energy to look the same as Voice).
I remember reading Sara Marcus's book _Girls To The Front_ (about the Riot Grrrl movement) and thinking that (a) it was disappointing that, in the end, the energy dissipated so quickly and (b) that it wasn't surprising. It's not easy to figure out how to take that "lightning in a bottle" and transform it into something lasting.
In the case of Riot Grrl, to the extent is existed at all, it was largely because it said what a segment of journalists wanted said rather than being a grassroots thing.
Hence, it got publicity all out of proportion with its actual fanbase.
You could certainly use a different example if you want (though I do recommend the book), but I think it's true that enduring counterculture institutions are the exception not the rule.
Of course, otherwise they eventually become the establishment.
I saw some modern-day freakshow that featured a young human woman without a singe visible tattoo. Not even one.
I kinda took that as TG's point, using the VV simply as a case in point, viz., there used to be a counter culture, but it's been obliterated, and even Substack hasn't really replaced it. EVERYONE must repeat the mantra: "Diversity is our strength!"
Started reading because I thought it was about The Village People (don’t blame me, I’m from Europe), finished it because of the compelling read.
Lort how I adored the VV. Used to buy it at a local newsstand in NC. Sorely missed. Thanks for the history.
Amiri Baraka, aka, Leroy Jones, came to the American Bookstore, in Paris, one night in the summer if 1961 and read a selection of his poems that scared the shit out his audience. He didn't cater to anyone and didn't suffer fools gladly. For some reason he came up to me and asked, "What do you do?" I told him that I played drums and we spent some time talking about Elvin and Philly Joe Jones, and Monk and Trane and Miles and Dolphy, who was playing around the corner with a French rhythm section.
It is worth repeating that the response of Culture to the emerging counterculture is to deny its legitimacy, and barring that, to try and swat it out of existence.
I’m too young and not New Yorkie enough to remember much about the Voice. I definitely read and follow many Substack and Medium writers who are out of the mainstream. The issue I see is that the Voice was an institution. Just as people asked what Walter Cronkite had to say, I suspect others asked what the Voice had to say, even though the nature of the counterculture makes it hard to truly speak with one “voice.” How do we make sure that Substack and the like isn’t just 1000 chattering voices down two halls on sub basement -9?