Introduction

Addicted to Noise. Hooked on the clamor of rock ‘n’ roll with no turning back, no 12-step program off-ramp.

When music critic Michael Goldberg named his digital music magazine, he chose a title that exuded the outlaw allure of music designed to create a commotion. Although his publication had a short run, Goldberg developed a model of digital music journalism that supported underrecognized artists.

Here’s the story.

Inspired by Rolling Stone

Michael Goldberg fell in love with rock music in early 1964 after watching the Beatles on the Ed Sullivan Show. In the San Francisco Bay Area, where Goldberg grew up, the Beatles inspired a new generation of musicians, fans, and aspiring music journalists who created the sixties counterculture.

Fledgling music writer Jann Wenner heard rock’s clarion call and founded Rolling Stone magazine in the fall of 1967. Goldberg found his calling in its pages:

The first issue of Rolling Stone was published in 1967 when I was 14. I read it standing in the Tides, a bookstore in Sausalito. After that, I bought every issue. Pretty quickly, I decided I wanted to write about music.

Hard Road

But Goldberg’s dream went beyond writing: 

I was the arts editor at the Tamalpais High School paper. When I was 17, I published one issue of Hard Road, a Bay Area music magazine. I was friends with one of Tom Donahue’s sons, the man who created the first underground rock radio program at KMPX in San Francisco in the late ‘60s.

One day, when walking from my car to the Donahue house with my friend Toby Byron (who co-founded Hard Road with me), I saw Jerry Garcia standing at the top of the driveway. I went up to him and told him we were starting this new rock magazine and asked him if we could interview him for the cover story. He said yes.

A week later, we were sitting in his house in Larkspur (Mountain Girl answered the door when we knocked), with my reel-to-reel tape recorder running, interviewing Garcia. I also took photos of him there, and we used one on the cover.[i]

Although Hard Road only lasted for one issue, Goldberg took the first step in his lifelong quest to interview and photograph visionary rock artists. And the first step toward becoming a pioneering magazine publisher.

 A Bunch of Hippies in Velvet Coats

The next step occurred after Goldberg graduated from the University of California, Santa Cruz, and began working as a copyboy for the San Francisco Chronicle. Following in the footsteps of Chronicle critics like Ralph Gleason, he began writing freelance articles in the paper’s Sunday magazine, Datebook. Bay Area clubs and auditoriums hosted key punk and new wave bands of the time, and Goldberg wrote about groups such as the Clash and the B-52s.

By the early 1980s, Goldberg wrote for many respected music magazines, including Trouser Press, New York Rocker, Crawdaddy!, and DownBeat. He utilized these assignments as opportunities to promote high-quality rock music by lesser-known artists.

Non-Popular but Interesting

Goldberg’s dedication to recognizing emergent artists can be seen in his 1978 Trouser Press article, “Flamin’ Groovies’ Cyril Jordan Isn’t Angry”:

Like the Citroen, the Groovies have always been interesting but never popular. Born amid the psychedelic rush of Haight Ashbury in 1965, the Groovies played short pop tunes in the style of the British rockers and played them loud.

In San Francisco, where tastes were more attuned to 45-minute lead guitar jerkoffs from the likes of Jerry Garcia, they were generally disliked. “The main reason we didn’t make it in San Francisco,” sneered guitarist/founder Cyril Jordan, “was because we’d walk on stage in front of a bunch of hippies with velvet coats on.”[ii]

Goldberg was especially taken by the Groovies inability to build a home fanbase:

Cyril nearly exploded when asked why the Groovies haven’t played America. “I bumped into some people in a record store who were fans I’d never seen before, and they’re asking me if we’re gonna work in America, and I said it doesn’t look good … we cannot get $2500 a gig in this fucking country … This is my hometown, and I gotta go to fucking England to make it.

Like a Walk Down an Unlit Tenderloin Alley

Interviews like this helped Goldberg secure a position at Rolling Stone magazine. He began as a freelancer in 1980 and transitioned to a full-time salaried position as a senior writer at the end of 1983. Goldberg started the new position on January 1, 1984, and worked as a staff writer at Rolling Stone for nine and a half years, until the summer of 1993.

At Rolling Stone, Goldberg continued to use his platform to give a voice to artists who mattered. Although the magazine moved its headquarters to New York City, it continued to cover the Bay Area. A residue of the 1960s San Francisco Sound remained, even as a new generation of post-punk rockers emerged.  

In his writings for Rolling Stone and other magazines, like Musician and Creem, Goldberg showed a commitment to noncommercial musicians who struggled to balance success with artistic integrity. This can be seen in “X: The Maturing of a Punk Band,” published in Rolling Stone in the fall of 1982. The group had just left the indie label Slash for a contract with Elektra Records:

Usually, when a group leaves one label for another, no one but the band and the labels involved care. X’s label hopping, however, has caused both their fans and the media to question the band’s motives. Words like “sold out” were tossed in X’s direction. Slash Records president Bob Biggs said he felt betrayed …

Prior to signing with Elektra, X had become an example of what a determinedly noncommercial group — a band concerned with making art, as opposed to money — could do without the benefit of the music business establishment …

Despite criticism that X’s music is slick now, Under the Big Black Sun finds the band as hard-hitting, intense, uncompromised and just plain raw as ever. X’s music is like a walk down an unlit Tenderloin alley at four a.m., an uneasy tension in the air, the threat of violence imminent.[iii]

Joe Strummer can’t sing

Goldberg argued that a band could maintain its artistic integrity while striving for financial stability. As 1980s alt-rock scenes emerged in music cities around the country, Goldberg used his platform to bring attention to lesser-known bands like the Fleshtones. He spoke out on social issues, such as in his article, “Where are the Blacks on MTV?”[iv] Even when writing of established bands, Goldberg sought out revolutionary voices:

It’s an ugly voice. Gruff, guttural, uncouth, barbaric at times. Joe Strummer can’t sing, not like an Al Jarreau or a Joni Mitchell, anyway. Lyrics are shouted out in a harsh, nearly unintelligible cockney snarl. At times, this voice rips at the ears like an exploding letter bomb. It cries out for justice in an unjust world. It nags at the soul like the memory of those nuns killed in El Salvador like the memory of Allison Krause gunned down at Kent State by the National Guard. Joe Strummer’s voice demands to be heard. Surprisingly, it is.[v]

For the next 11 years, Goldberg rose through the ranks at Rolling Stone from senior writer to West Coast Editor. During that time, a technological revolution transformed music journalism.   

 Why Not an Online Magazine?

That revolution occurred in the early 1990s, facilitated by the emergence of personal computers connected to the World Wide Web. Web browsers made online publishing possible and opened the door to digital music magazines. Michael Goldberg was among the first to walk through that door.

But in 1993, his hands were full as the West Coast Editor for Rolling Stone. Like virtually every print magazine and newspaper in America, the magazine was years away from digital publishing. For many, Rolling Stone stagnated after it shifted its coverage from music to entertainment in the 1980s. Once a trusted source of mature music criticism and in-depth articles, the magazine focused on trendy music, movies, and television shows.  

Despite the magazine’s change of direction, Goldberg published meaty, behind-the-scenes articles, such as “SST Records: Lawyers, Punks and Money,” a nuanced report on the explosion of internal lawsuits within the legendary indie record company.[vi] In another piece, Goldberg examined the allegations of sexual abuse against Michael Jackson, a portrait of a superstar’s career unraveling.

But an online discovery piqued Goldberg’s imagination:

In 1993, I joined America Online (AOL), and they had an area where people did posts about musicians they liked. There was a whole Neil Young section, for instance. I immediately thought, why not an online magazine?[vii]

Goldberg would have faced no competition because there were no commercial digital magazines at the time. That changed in October 1994, when Wired magazine launched Hotwired. An extension of its parent magazine, Hotwired included music reviews by notable critics such as Steve Hochman.

As fall turned to winter, Goldberg continued to ponder the possibilities of online publishing. He had left his position at Rolling Stone and now had the time, energy, and connections needed to make a leap of faith.

Issue No. 1

That leap came in the fall of 1994. Signs of a corporatizing music industry were in the air, such as Warner Music Group’s partial acquisition of the indie record label Sub Pop. Despite these homogenizing forces, artistically satisfying albums, like Tom Petty’s Wildflowers, continued to top the charts.  

It was during this time that Goldberg launched the first online music magazine:

I started Addicted To Noise in a room of my house in San Francisco. Then, a group of tech people and some editors in an office I rented in Santa Cruz took the articles, reviews, and photos and put them into an online magazine. They also sampled songs from albums we reviewed, so we had sound samples that went with each review and feature story. [viii]

The first issue went online December 1, 1994.

Like all the history-changing music magazine startups, from the hot jazz zines of the 1940s to Crawdaddy! to Rolling Stone to Creem to the Big Takeover, the early months of Addicted to Noise hummed with the excitement of youthful enthusiasm tempered by the realities of meeting publishing deadlines on a tight budget.

“Creating something that hadn’t been done before”

Asked how it felt to pioneer a new mode of publishing, Goldberg said,

It felt great. First, I was my own boss, which felt really good. Then, creating something that hadn’t been done before was exciting. It was really fun to break new ground.

That included being the first music magazine to embed music samples into its record reviews:

Hearing 40 seconds of each of three songs while reading an album review was incredible. The problem with traditional reviews is that the reviewer can like a song you wouldn’t like if you could hear it. This way, you benefitted from the reviewer’s thoughts on the album, but you could hear enough of the song to decide if the album contained music you’d want to listen to. [ix]

Reading this today, it’s hard to imagine a time when music reviews didn’t include a “play” arrow. But, embedded samples were just one of the many revolutionary features of Addicted to Noise.    

Building a Global Readership

Another ground-breaking feature was 24-7 music news:

I thought it would be a monthly magazine, but very quickly, it became clear that a daily editorial was the way to go. I had planned to have daily music news, and that turned into the equivalent of a daily music newspaper – eventually, we were posting 15 or more reported stories a day. [x]

Goldberg had global aspirations:

I also thought that being online, people from all over the world could access it. That meant bands that might not have a huge following in the U.S. would have a decent following if you brought together all their fans from around the world, who would want regular news about them. I was (and am) a big fan of lesser-known groups like the Flamin’ Groovies and the American Music Club. And you would be able to draw readers from the whole world. How cool is that! [xi]

Thus, Addicted to Noise would build larger fan bases for under-recognized U.S. bands. And digital was the way to go:  

In terms of a regular reading base of music lovers, drawing from people all over the world seemed way better than just the U.S. Starting and publishing a print magazine takes a lot of money, and you need to rely on magazine distributors. There are mailing costs, and on and on. [xii]

Keys to Success

Goldberg attributed his prior experience as a key to his digital magazine’s success:

I had been writing music journalism and taking photos of musicians for over 20 years …

I was plugged in regarding the record companies, and I had many sources in the industry and throughout the indie rock scene. So that was a huge help in getting started … At that time, if someone who didn’t have my experience and connections had started an online music magazine, they would not have gotten interviews with Michael Stipe, Neil Young, Lou Reed, Paul Westerberg, and so on. [xiii]

So, Goldberg launched Addicted to Noise using new online capabilities and old-fashioned music industry connectedness.

“Music News of the World”

One of those new online capacities was the immediacy of the internet. Daily pop music news was unheard of then, giving Addicted to Noise an edge over print publications. 

The single thing that helped us become successful fairly quickly was our music news section, “Music News of the World,” a play on the tabloids in terms of the name …

Daily music news that was the forerunner for the 24/7 news cycle we now deal with. We were doing that with music news. It could be an hour between reporting some music news and getting a story posted … It turned out there were thousands and thousands of people who wanted info about an in-the-works Patti Smith album, what Sonic Youth were up to, or Neil Young or the White Stripes, who we covered very early on …

I had lots of sources as did Jaan Uhelszki, who became my news reporter/writer. [xiv]  

In addition to ground-breaking rock writer Jaan Uhelszki, Goldberg brought in other notable music journalists:

I was excited about getting great writers to contribute. I had Dave Marsh and Greil Marcus and David Was and Billy Altman and Richard Meltzer and others writing columns immediately. And lots of other name writers contributing. And I also brought in lots of younger writers. I was focused on great writing. [xv]

Writing provided by the likes of Chris Morris, Bud Scoppa, and Ed Ward. They gave Addicted to Noise the credibility it needed to be taken seriously in the music industry. But respect isn’t enough without visibility. This came when “Music News of the World” became a source for established heavy hitters: 

We were breaking music news practically every day and print, radio and TV media started reporting our news and attributing it to Addicted To Noise. Our news was on MTV on occasion and in the NME and the Melody Maker and on many radio news broadcasts around the country. So the word spread all over the world. We had readers in 50 or more countries within a month. [xvi]

As Addicted to Noise gained momentum, opinion writers took notice and shared their thoughts.

From Start-up to Major Contender

One of the first reviewers to render an opinion of Addicted to Noise was Wired magazine’s Colin Berry, who wrote:  

For the unfamiliar, ATN wraps eye-catching graphics around in-depth journalism, daily news dispatches, and a dollop of strong opinion, covering artists from Guided By Voices to REM with equal aplomb. In 12 issues, the magazine has gone from start-up to major contender; the e-zine was one of a handful of publications recently granted interviews with veteran rocker Neil Young …[xvii]

This was a strong endorsement from the bible of online culture, which had founded the first online magazine. But it came with a dash of reality:

Robert Love, senior features editor of Rolling Stone and project manager of Rolling Stone Online, fully admits his uncertainty when asked if Goldberg – and online publications – can make money …

Lorry Fleming – editor of Music Universe, a zine that also just took to the Web – has similar concerns. “That’s my big question – is ATN making money? Are writers getting paid?” she asks. “The whole question of revenue is one we’re facing ourselves.” [xviii]

However, profit wasn’t the only motive for the co-founder of Addicted to Noise.

Berry said:

For Goldberg – who cites Reprise Records (which has advertised in nine of the past ten issues), Sony Music (which bought space in four of the past six), and Warner Brothers’s affiliate, Interscope Records (which recently signed a six-month contract), among his roster of advertisers – the question of making money online is irrelevant.

“No, we’re not making a lot of money right now,” he admits. “We’re at the birth of a new technology, a new medium. ATN didn’t start as a business plan, it started because I was a rock fan and journalism junkie who paid attention to editorial content. I am not an ad person.”

“Yes, we intend to pay our writers the top dollar of major national publications, but am I doing that right now? Of course not. My gauge for success is that our news shows up in Australia, San Francisco, Amsterdam, and Cleveland – that we’re communicating with rock and roll fans throughout the world.” …

Goldberg said, “Let’s look at ATN in five years when the money has fallen into place.” [xix]

A Familiar Earthbound Quandary

However, the next five years proved to be a struggle. Online publishing took off, creating competitors to Addicted to Noise. 

One of the first digital music magazines to follow Addicted to Noise was Innerviews. Launched by founding editor Anil Prasad in 1994, the online zine continues today under the umbrella of the meta-site Medium. In addition to music writing, Prasad publishes trenchant critiques of contemporary music journalism.[xx] 

Two years later, Ryan Schreiber founded Pitchfork in Minneapolis in 1996. Inspired by alternative music magazines like Puncture, Magnet, and Ray Gun, Schreiber chose the name Pitchfork because it “underscored that we were going to be tougher as critics.”[xxi] Indeed, the reviews were so scathing that the magazine was often criticized as too harsh.

As I wrote in my post, “The Media Response to Pioneering Online Music Magazines,” a critique of digital music journalism began in the early 1990s, predating the launch of Pitchfork.

For example, LA Weekly writer Thomas Goetz wrote an article called “Addicted to Hype? Inside the Bastard Business of Music E-Zines.” Goetz, who went on to become the executive editor of Wired, understood the promise of online music magazines:

Music online magazines … offer immediate and maximal context by presenting text enhanced by sound and video clips. For music fans and record labels, the e-zine’s multimedia capabilities promise new frontiers in music appreciation and could reinvigorate or even reinvent music journalism.

But, Goetz asked,

Regardless of quality and intent, all e-zines suffer from a familiar earthbound quandary: How do you create informative and impartial editorial content while angling for a profit?

Here in print music journalism, that question is a long way from being answered; the music business and its stars often exert undue influence over the media. Magazines are typically wary of alienating celebrities if their name recognition could boost circulation; impoverished writers are often reluctant to offend a powerful manager or label … In the tightly wound world of record label reps, publishers, editors, and writers, the system of back pats and paybacks has fuzzed the ethical lines clearly drawn in traditional journalistic practices.” [xxii]

Sonic Net Music News

Even music journalists with high integrity, such as Michael Goldberg, contend with the realities of maintaining a cash flow. Although digital magazines don’t incur printing and distribution costs, they do have the costs of staffing and online support. And so, Goldberg sought help:  

After a few years, I merged with an East Coast company, SonicNet, because I was running out of money. I started Addicted To Noise with $5000. The Web was brand new, and advertisers didn’t know what it was. It was hard to get advertising, and at a certain point, I was either going to have to shut Addicted To Noise down or get an investor. So I merged with SonicNet, which was strong on certain things but not news and editorial. [xxiii]  

SonicNet was an online music magazine that emerged after Addicted to Noise paved the way. The digital zine was reviewed by Entertainment Weekly in 1995:

Music sites on the Web are in an embryonic state but [a few] offer tantalizing glimpses of what could be. The amusingly snide Sonic Net features reviews, live chats with bands, concert info, and sound clips.[xxiv]

Addicted to Noise merged with SonicNet. Goldberg said it was a good match initially: 

Things went great for about six years. SonicNet had lots of money, and that helped. We expanded the daily music news section, and I had a great team of reporters. A solid group of staff reporters and many great freelance writers contributed. I don’t think a music news section has ever been as good as Sonic Net Music News. [xxv]  

Following the merger, there were two acquisitions.

Paradigm Music Entertainment bought SonicNet and, a few months later, Addicted To Noise. The two companies merged. Goldberg was editor-in-chief of both Addicted To Noise and SonicNet and a Senior Vice President at SonicNet, second in command under Nicholas Butterworth. Then, Paradigm was bought by TCI Music.                        

Goldberg said the reorganization worked well until a third acquisition occurred: 

Even after TCI Music bought SonicNet and Addicted To Noise, things were still great because they left us alone. But at the start of 2000, MTV bought both companies from TCI Music, and that was pretty much the end. [xxvi]  

“The Legacy of Lester Bangs”

Despite the problems caused by the MTV takeover, Goldberg aimed to use Addicted to Noise to unsettle readers’ preconceptions about pop music. When the magazine ran the results of its annual writers’ poll in February 2000, Goldberg wrote what has to be one of the most honest introductions to a critics’ poll ever. 

Goldberg titled the article “The Legacy of Lester Bangs,” a reference to the iconoclastic critic unafraid to express unexpected opinions. The piece announced the winners of the 2000 Addicted to Noise Writers Poll. Winners included Moby (Play), Wilco (Summerteeth), Beck (Midnight Vultures), Tom Waits (Mule Variations) and the Roots (Things Fall Apart).

This was a pretty solid list, yet Goldberg subtitled his article “Why this year’s poll results don’t quite cut it.”

One of the things I loved about the late Lester Bangs, one of the greatest rock critics of all time, was his unpredictability. You could never be sure what he was going to like or dislike. And he was capable of destroying your preconceptions in 700 words or less.

“I want to be surprised and amazed when I see a top 10 list”

In his magazine’s 2000 poll, Goldberg didn’t see that kind of independent thinking:

The results, I’m sad to say, are not going to do what great music writing should do. The results will not challenge preconceptions or change your world. The results are predictable, they are what you would expect a bunch of music critics to come up with.

Not that these albums are undeserving …

I know there are music writers in this world who listen to more than the cool rock-crit 101 artists that dominate this poll … I just wish there were more writers out there with the freewheeling, anything-goes sensibility of Lester Bangs. I want to be surprised and amazed when I see a top 10 list … Think of the daring required to submit a list that likely doesn’t share one album with anyone else who voted! …

Maybe I’m wrong. Maybe you will find some revelations in this year’s results. Certainly, the music on these albums, if you dig in, has the potential to change your world. I can only hope that next year, the list will be a bit more diverse.[xxvii]

Unfortunately, there would be no 2001 list.

According to Goldberg:

The whole digital business fell apart around April 2000, and that was it for SonicNet and Addicted To Noise. The lesson is to keep control of your publication. That’s easier said than done. [xxviii] Addicted to Noise published its final issue on July 3, 2000.

Neumu

However, it didn’t take Goldberg long to launch a new online publication. In the early 2000s, he and Emme Stone co-founded the music and arts website Neumu. Goldberg explained his vision, quoting a song by a beloved 1960s folk rock band:

Goldberg wrote several insightful articles on music criticism for the website, expressing his belief in the power of music writing.

Goldberg believed that a review should be more than a consumer guide. For example, he wrote:

… as rock journalism became more commercial (and as Rolling Stone’s circulation edged toward a million readers), in-depth critical writing gave way to the consumer-guide approach we now see in Entertainment Weekly and elsewhere.

The worst kind of current rock criticism isn’t criticism at all. It’s more of a buying-guide approach. You read those kinds of reviews all the time. They provide some facts about the album, tell you if it’s good or not, and that’s about it.[xxix]

For Goldberg, this fell short:

Great rock criticism enlightens. You read a good critic’s insights into what an album is about or how a song makes him or her feel, and it adds to your own experience of that album. The great critics are able to capture some of the feeling of listening to the music in their prose. You end up having to hear the album, not because the writer told you it was good, but because what the writer had to say about the music was so inspiring. [xxx]

Goldberg shared with readers the factors that influence a music review:

When reading a review, you frequently don’t know the context, why this particular writer has written about this particular album … Then there’s the issue of what aesthetic, exactly, the reviewer is coming from. And on what, exactly, is the reviewer basing opinions about the album?[xxxi]

He wrote:

More and more, I look to the music critic to enlighten me in some way. To tell me something I missed about the album, even if I’m already familiar with it. Or to provide a perspective different from my own. I want them to reveal to me something of their experience of the music, of the art.

In other words, as a reader, Goldberg wanted his preconceptions challenged by the reviewer.

“I Hear Those Bells Go Off”

In this and his other Neumu articles on criticism, Goldberg provided a rare look inside music writing from a critic’s point of view:

Yes, I respond strongly, viscerally to music. And that doesn’t keep me from getting off on reading pop music theory, or being fascinated by the thoughtful writings of Greil Marcus or Robert Christgau or Simon Frith (and loads more). I absolutely loved the EMP’s conference …

Thinking, even obsessing, about the music we love doesn’t take away from its power. Each time I listen to Cat Power’s version of “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction” or Junior Wells’ “Messin’ With The Kid” or Miles Davis’ “Right Off,” I am moved. I am transported. I hear those bells go off. That I have thought long and hard about those cover versions on Marshall’s “The Covers Record,” how she transformed those songs, made them her own, doesn’t get in the way of my experience of the music. If anything, it enhances my experience. It layers associations, thoughts, ideas on top of my visceral response …

… We can think, and we can rock.[xxxii]

Conclusion  

“We can think, and we can rock,” a succinct yet forceful assertion. This credo underpinned Goldberg’s writings and his far-sighted work in online publishing.

Through his pioneering publication, “Addicted to Noise,” Michael Goldberg introduced an influential model of digital music journalism. He advocated for emerging and marginalized artists while resisting the increasing corporatization of the music industry.

But most importantly, Goldberg recognized both the potential and inevitability of music journalism’s change from print to online publishing. Like all those who pioneer new media, Goldberg assumed risks, endured losses, and changed the course of history.

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JUKEBOX 1967-2023: Photographs by Michael Goldberg was recently released to great reviews. Goldberg’s images give his subjects a visceral presence unobtainable by words alone. I highly recommend it!   

To order Jukebox, go to HoZac Records and Books:

Also available at:

Notes

[i] Uncredited, “Michael Goldberg Interview,” Music Journalism Insider, July 10, 2022, webpage retrieved Sept. 18, 2024: https://www.musicjournalisminsider.com/archive/michael-goldberg-interview/.

[ii] Michael Goldberg, “Flamin’ Groovies’ Cyril Jordan Isn’t Angry,” Trouser Press, July 1978. Rock’s Backpages, retrieved September 20, 2024: http://www.rocksbackpages.com/Library/Article/flamin-groovies-cyril-jordan-isnt-angry-.

[iii] Michael Goldberg,  “X: The Maturing of a Punk Band,” Rolling Stone, Sept. 30, 1982. Rock’s Backpages, retrieved September 20, 2024: http://www.rocksbackpages.com/Library/Article/x-the-maturing-of-a-punk-band.

[iv] Michael Goldberg, “Where are the Blacks on MTV?” San Francisco Examiner, March 8, 1983. Rock’s Backpages, retrieved September 20, 2024: http://www.rocksbackpages.com/Library/Article/where-are-the-blacks-on-mtv.

[v] Michael Goldberg, “The Clash: Revolutionary Rock,” Downbeat, December 1982. Rock’s Backpages, retrieved September 20, 2024: http://www.rocksbackpages.com/Library/Article/the-clash-revolutionary-rock.

[vi] Michael Goldberg, “SST Records: Lawyers, Punks and Money,” Rolling Stone, April 15, 1993. Rock’s Backpages, retrieved September 20, 2024: http://www.rocksbackpages.com/Library/Article/sst-records-lawyers-punks-and-money.

[vii] Don Armstrong, interview with Michael Goldberg, Sept. 1, 2024.

[viii] Don Armstrong, interview with Michael Goldberg, Sept. 1, 2024.

[ix] Don Armstrong, interview with Michael Goldberg, Sept. 1, 2024.

[x] Don Armstrong, interview with Michael Goldberg, Sept. 1, 2024.

[xi] Don Armstrong, interview with Michael Goldberg, Sept. 1, 2024.

[xii] Don Armstrong, interview with Michael Goldberg, Sept. 1, 2024.

[xiii] Don Armstrong, interview with Michael Goldberg, Sept. 1, 2024.

[xiv] Don Armstrong, interview with Michael Goldberg, Sept. 1, 2024.

[xv] Don Armstrong, interview with Michael Goldberg, Sept. 1, 2024.

[xvi] Don Armstrong, interview with Michael Goldberg, Sept. 1, 2024.

[xvii] Colin Berry, “Addicted to Noise,” Wired, Dec 1, 1995. Web page retrieved Sept. 12, 2024: https://www.wired.com/1995/12/addicted-to-noise/.

[xviii] Colin Berry, “Addicted to Noise,” Wired, Dec 1, 1995. Web page retrieved Sept. 12, 2024: https://www.wired.com/1995/12/addicted-to-noise/.

[xix] Colin Berry, “Addicted to Noise,” Wired, Dec 1, 1995. Web page retrieved Sept. 12, 2024: https://www.wired.com/1995/12/addicted-to-noise/.

[xx] Anil Prasad, “Why Music Journalism Is Broken — and How to Fix It,” Innerviews, Dec. 8, 20217, webpage retrieved  Sept. 23, 20204: https://medium.com/@Innerviews/why-music-journalism-is-broken-and-how-to-fix-it-1a7969846689.

[xxi] Webpage retrieved Sept. 23, 2024: https://pitchfork.com/features/5-10-15-20/pitchfork-founder-ryan-schreiber-on-the-music-of-his-life/.

[xxii] Don Armstrong, “The Media Response to Pioneering Online Music Magazines,” March 14, 2024, webpage: https://don-armstrong.com/2024/03/14/the-media-response-to-pioneering-online-music-magazines/.

[xxiii] Don Armstrong, interview with Michael Goldberg, Sept. 1, 2024.

[xxiv] EW Staff, “1995 The Best & Worst/Multimedia,” Entertainment Weekly, Dec. 29, 1995, webpage retrieved Sept. 23, 2024: https://ew.com/article/1995/12/29/1995-best-worstmultimedia/.

[xxv] Don Armstrong, interview with Michael Goldberg, Sept. 1, 2024.

[xxvi] Don Armstrong, interview with Michael Goldberg, Sept. 1, 2024.

[xxvii] Michael Goldberg, “The Legacy of Lester Bangs,” Addicted to Noise, Feb. 2000, webpage retrieved Sept. 23, 2024:  https://web.archive.org/web/20000815064446/http://www.addict.com/issues/archive/.

[xxviii] Don Armstrong, interview with Michael Goldberg, Sept. 1, 2024. Goldberg referred to the dot-com crash of 2000, in which many online start-ups went out of business.

[xxix] Goldberg, Michael. “Thoughts of a Rock Critic”, Neumu (2001). Rock’s Backpages. Accessed September 9, 2024. http://www.rocksbackpages.com/Library/Article/thoughts-of-a-rock-critic.

[xxx] Goldberg, Michael. “Thoughts of a Rock Critic”, Neumu (2001). Rock’s Backpages. Accessed September 9, 2024. http://www.rocksbackpages.com/Library/Article/thoughts-of-a-rock-critic.

[xxxi] Goldberg, Michael. “What is Rock Criticism?”. Neumu (2002). Rock’s Backpages. Accessed September 9, 2024. http://www.rocksbackpages.com/Library/Article/what-is-rock-criticism.

[xxxii] Goldberg, M. (2002) “Hey, It’s OK To Think About Rock Too!”. Neumu. Retrieved September 16, 2024, from http://www.rocksbackpages.com/Library/Article/hey-its-ok-to-think-about-rock-too