HOW NOT TO BE A ROCK CRITIC

By now you must know it—Lester Bangs’ immortal treatise on “How to Be a Rock Critic” that was explained in nauseating detail by Philip Seymour Hoffman in Almost Famous. It’s a mantra that every music journalist/critic the world over knows so well, and yet somehow in this information age EVERYONE BREAKS THESE RULES. Hell, even Lester broke ’em.

So it seems there is no better time than now to not only reiterate the importance of that piece, which appeared in The Boston Phoenix under the title “Famous Rock Critics School: Test Your Talent” in 1973, but also to double down and add in some crucial details. In order to do so, we roped in none other than Jeff Tweedy of Wilco, an interview vet if there ever was one, to help us outline what we like to call some rules on “How NOT to Be a Rock Critic,” using some of his own experiences as guidelines. Also some of our own, apparently.