Rockwrite.

Rockwrite.

I just finished reading Mitch Myers' The Boy Who Cried Freebird late last night, and while I thought the book as a whole was merely O.K.*, there was one really great quote held within an essay Meyers wrote about Richard Meltzer. The quote comes from Dave Marsh -- whom I've always thought was kind of a tool, but here he really nails it -- when he's asked about his own thoughts on what it's like to be a music critic. Marsh says:

People think being a rock critic is easy, well, maybe for two years. After that, you're on your mettle.

Lots of folks gripe about the rise of the critical backwash provided by too many voices vying for attention in today's online landscape. Hell, I've even complained about it in the past, and wondered what effect all these "critics" would ultimately have on the discipline of rock criticism. But Marsh gets it right ... most of these folks won't last. They can't last. I've been writing about rock and/or roll since about 1989, and it ain't always easy. After the initial rush of realizing someone is reading your opinion, for most folks there comes a point where they wonder what more they really have to say on the subject. And then there comes the realization that while someone is reading what you have to say, there's always the question if what you say actually matters to that someone.

It's at this point, and oddly it does seem to be 2-3 years in, you either realize you were meant to be writing about rock and/or roll, or whether your writing was just a component of a finite obsession with something that deeply touches a segment of your life.

In my case the answer is pretty obvious, I couldn't change the way I am if I tried. In some ways I wonder if that means I have some strange gift, or if I've been beset by an unshakable curse. Either way, I hope that by now I've at least partially proven my mettle.

* I plan on reviewing the book for Chicagoist, so that's why I don't get more deeply into its charms and misfires right now.