“Girl group records were based in the relationship of a young girl and an older man (white, until Berry Gordy) who put her on a pedestal and held her in thrall; out of that relationship came some of the most urgent and intense rock and roll ever made.”

“A great artist, a great rocker, a great purveyor of schlock, a great heartthrob, a great bore, a great symbol of potency, a great ham, a great nice person, and, yes, a great American”

“The situationists were bent on discovering the absolute ability to criticize anyone, anywhere — without re­straint, without the pull of alliances, and without self-satisfaction. And they were bent on turning that criticism into event.”

“ ‘Cocksucker Blues’ was never shown because the Stones don’t want it shown. The rumors why have been simple: Frank, it has been said, shot the Stones fucking groupies and shooting heroin.’

“The tension of wanting to say more than the tradition can allow explodes the tradition.”

"Do not the dead deserve an accounting at least as irreproachable as the survivors receive with each week’s edi­tion of Billboard?"

“Art shtick … murderous year for romance … hearing the unhearable … leading more than a band.”

Encounters with the Queen of Soul, Daveed Diggs, and the ghost of Jackie Wilson

Algiers rage with ‘Cleveland,’ Pussy Riot rock with France

In 1976, the culture critic asked, “What is it that Americans share?”