Richard Meltzer (born May 10, 1945) is an American
rock critic
Music journalism (or music criticism) is media criticism and reporting about music topics, including popular music, classical music, and traditional music. Journalists began writing about music in the eighteenth century, providing commentary on w ...
, performer, writer and songwriter. He is considered by some rock historians to be the first to write real analysis of rock and roll and is credited with inventing "rock criticism".
Biography
Meltzer claims that as a young man he was influenced by the
pop artists
Jasper Johns
Jasper Johns (born May 15, 1930) is an American painter, sculptor, and printmaker whose work is associated with abstract expressionism, Neo-Dada, and pop art. He is well known for his depictions of the American flag and other US-related top ...
and
Robert Rauschenberg
Milton Ernest "Robert" Rauschenberg (October 22, 1925 – May 12, 2008) was an American painter and graphic artist whose early works anticipated the Pop art movement. Rauschenberg is well known for his Combines (1954–1964), a group of artwor ...
and by the artists
Paul Cézanne
Paul Cézanne ( , , ; ; 19 January 1839 – 22 October 1906) was a French artist and Post-Impressionism, Post-Impressionist painter whose work laid the foundations of the transition from the 19th-century conception of artistic endeavour to a ...
and
Marcel Duchamp
Henri-Robert-Marcel Duchamp (, , ; 28 July 1887 – 2 October 1968) was a French painter, sculptor, chess player, and writer whose work is associated with Cubism, Dada, and conceptual art. Duchamp is commonly regarded, along with Pablo Picasso ...
. Meltzer's first book, ''
The Aesthetics of Rock'', evolved out of his undergraduate studies in philosophy at
Stony Brook University
Stony Brook University (SBU), officially the State University of New York at Stony Brook, is a public research university in Stony Brook, New York. Along with the University at Buffalo, it is one of the State University of New York system's ...
and graduate studies at
Yale University
Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wo ...
. At school, he developed a reputation as something of a prankster, although his actions were closer to the spirit of performance art happenings promoted by one of his professors,
Allan Kaprow
Allan Kaprow (August 23, 1927 – April 5, 2006) was an American painter, assemblagist and a pioneer in establishing the concepts of performance art. He helped to develop the "Environment" and "Happening" in the late 1950s and 1960s, as well as ...
, than to fraternity hijinks. One of his actions involved sending a tape recorder to class with his comments for the day on tape. Fellow student
Sandy Pearlman
Samuel Clarke "Sandy" Pearlman (August 5, 1943 – July 26, 2016) was an American music producer, artist manager, music journalist and critic, professor, poet, songwriter, and record company executive. He was best known for founding, writing for, ...
was responsible for pushing the button. Meltzer also dabbled in art, including "detourned" comic books in the style of the
situationists
The Situationist International (SI) was an international organization of social revolutionaries made up of avant-garde artists, intellectuals, and political theorists. It was prominent in Europe from its formation in 1957 to its dissolution ...
, which had various objects added to the pages.
Meltzer, along with Pearlman and several other students, earned money on the side as booking agents for the big musical acts that came to Stony Brook in the 1960s. Following that, the two started writing lyrics and arranging gigs for a musical group they were promoting, Soft White Underbelly, later renamed
Blue Öyster Cult
Blue Öyster Cult ( ; sometimes abbreviated BÖC or BOC) is an American Rock music, rock band formed on Long Island in Stony Brook, New York, in 1967, and best known for the singles "(Don't Fear) The Reaper", "Burnin' for You", and "Godzilla ( ...
(BÖC). Meltzer wrote the lyrics for many of the band's songs, including the hit "
Burnin' for You
"Burnin' for You" is a song by American hard rock band Blue Öyster Cult. It was released as the lead single from the band's eighth studio album, '' Fire of Unknown Origin'', released in June 1981, where it was the album's second track. The song ...
".
BÖC guitarist and keyboardist
Allen Lanier
Allen Glover Lanier (; June 25, 1946 – August 14, 2013) was an American musician who played keyboards and rhythm guitar. He was an original member of Blue Öyster Cult.
Lanier wrote several songs for Blue Öyster Cult albums, including "T ...
is often credited with coming up with the
umlaut over the O, but Meltzer claims to have suggested it to producer and manager Pearlman just after Pearlman came up with the name: "I said, 'How about an umlaut over the O?' Metal had a
Wagnerian
Wilhelm Richard Wagner ( ; ; 22 May 181313 February 1883) was a German composer, theatre director, polemicist, and conductor who is chiefly known for his operas (or, as some of his mature works were later known, "music dramas"). Unlike most op ...
aspect anyway."
Meltzer started his career in 1967 writing for
Paul Williams's ''
Crawdaddy!
''Crawdaddy'' was an American rock music magazine launched in 1966. It was created by Paul Williams, a Swarthmore College student at the time, in response to the increasing sophistication and cultural influence of popular music. The magazine ...
'' magazine. That year, he also taught a class in
aesthetics
Aesthetics, or esthetics, is a branch of philosophy that deals with the nature of beauty and taste, as well as the philosophy of art (its own area of philosophy that comes out of aesthetics). It examines aesthetic values, often expressed thr ...
at the
Maryland Institute College of Art
The Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA) is a private art and design college in Baltimore, Maryland. It was founded in 1826 as the Maryland Institute for the Promotion of the Mechanic Arts, making it one of the oldest art colleges in the U ...
. He went on to write for ''
Rolling Stone
''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...
'', the ''
Village Voice
''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture paper, known for being the country's first alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf, Ed Fancher, John Wilcock, and Norman Mailer, the ''Voice'' began as a platform for the creat ...
'' and ''
Creem
''Creem'' (often stylized in all caps) is a monthly American music magazine, based in Detroit, whose main print run lasted from 1969 to 1989. It was first published in March 1969 by Barry Kramer and founding editor Tony Reay. Influential criti ...
''.
During the punk rock era, he formed a band called
VOM (short for ''vomit'') and released a four-song, 7-inch EP that included "Electrocute Your Cock". Meltzer also produced a movie, directed by Richard Casey, who later directed several Blue Öyster Cult videos. Clips were filmed in Casey's apartment; in
Malibu, California
Malibu ( ; es, Malibú; Chumash: ) is a beach city in the Santa Monica Mountains region of Los Angeles County, California, situated about west of Downtown Los Angeles. It is known for its Mediterranean climate and its strip of the Malibu ...
; at the Pike in
Long Beach
Long Beach is a city in Los Angeles County, California. It is the 42nd-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 466,742 as of 2020. A charter city, Long Beach is the seventh-most populous city in California.
Incorporate ...
; and at a beach-side sewage treatment plant in
El Segundo, with future
Mau Maus guitarist
Mike R. Livingston pantomiming rhythm guitar along with Gregg Turner and (known at that time as Kevin Saunders), who were then organizing the
Angry Samoans
The Angry Samoans is an American punk rock band from the first wave of American punk, formed in August 1978 in Los Angeles, California, by early 1970s rock writer "Metal" Mike Saunders, his sibling lead guitarist Bonze BlaykBad Trip Records ...
with
Mike Saunders, the drummer for VOM. The film for "Electrocute Your Cock" shows Meltzer in the shower, clad in a T-shirt reading"Halifax, NS", with jumper cables attached to his crotch and sparks hand-drawn onto the film cels simulating electrocution. Also included was a beach-side clip for "Punkmobile." The videos are included in the Angry Samoans' 1995 VHS compilation, ''True Documentary''.
[Angry Samoans (1995). ''True Documentary''. Triple X Records.]
In the 1980s, Meltzer dabbled in architectural criticism, writing a series of articles for the ''
L.A. Reader'' alternative weekly on the ugliest buildings in Los Angeles; these pieces were later published as a book. He moved to
Portland, Oregon
Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers, Portland is the county seat of Multnomah County, the most populous co ...
in the 1990s, but continued contributing to the ''
San Diego Reader
The ''San Diego Reader'' is an alternative press newspaper in the county of San Diego
San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a ...
''. He was also a regular columnist for ''
Addicted to Noise
''Addicted to Noise'' (ATN) was an online music magazine in the early days of the World Wide Web. Founded in 1994 by ex-''Rolling Stone'' associate editor and senior writer Michael Goldberg and online music pioneer Jon Luini, it published its fir ...
'', and by 2004 he was a contributor to a new weekly, ''
Los Angeles CityBeat
''Los Angeles CityBeat'' was an alternative weekly newspaper in Los Angeles, California, debuting June 12, 2003. The publication ceased production with the March 26, 2009, issue. ''LA CityBeat'' was available every Thursday at more than 1,500 dis ...
''.
In 2002 he released the CD ''Tropic of Nipples'' along with
Smegma
Smegma (Ancient Greek σμῆγμα : ''smēgma'') is a combination of shed skin cells, skin oils, and moisture. It occurs in both male and female mammalian genitalia. In females, it collects around the clitoris and in the folds of the labia ...
,
VOM, Antler and
Robert Pollard
Robert Ellsworth Pollard Jr. (born October 31, 1957) is an American singer and songwriter who is the leader and creative force behind indie rock group Guided by Voices. In addition to his work with Guided by Voices, he continues to have a prol ...
of
Guided by Voices.
He has also performed and recorded over the past decade with the improvisational music group
Smegma
Smegma (Ancient Greek σμῆγμα : ''smēgma'') is a combination of shed skin cells, skin oils, and moisture. It occurs in both male and female mammalian genitalia. In females, it collects around the clitoris and in the folds of the labia ...
.
In 2012, Meltzer contributed spoken-word parts to ''
Spielgusher'', a musical collaboration with bassist
Mike Watt
Michael David Watt (born December 20, 1957) is an American bassist, vocalist and songwriter.
Watt co-founded and played bass guitar for the rock bands Minutemen (1980–1985), Dos (1985–present), and Firehose (1986–1994). He began a solo ...
, drummer
Yuko Araki
is a Japanese actress and fashion model represented by Stardust Promotion.
Biography
Araki was recruited when she was in elementary school. Her first leading film role was ''Ikari o Nagero'' in May 2008. Araki became an exclusive model for the ...
and guitarist
Hirotaka Shimizu. Meltzer and Watt had originally hoped to collaborate during Watt's time in
The Minutemen, but it was not completed before the death of Minutemen guitarist
D. Boon
Dennes Dale Boon (April 1, 1958 – December 22, 1985) was an American musician, best known as the guitarist, singer and songwriter of the punk rock trio Minutemen. He was born on April 1, 1958 in San Pedro, California, and formed the Minuteme ...
.
Books
* ''
The Aesthetics of Rock'' (1970)
* ''Gulcher: Post-Rock Cultural Pluralism in America'' (1972)
* ''17 Insects Can Die in Your Heart: Good Verse and Bad from Richard Meltzer's Golden Decade (1968–83)'' (1982)
* ''Frankie, Part 1'' (Talltales Series) (1984)
* ''Post-Natal Trash'' (Caned Out: The Authorized Autobiography of Richard Meltzer) (1984)
* ''Prickly Heat and Cold'' (Caned Out Series) (1984)
* ''Richard Meltzer's Guide to the Ugliest Buildings of Los Angeles'' (1984)
* ''Frankie, Part 2'' (Talltales Series) (1987)
* ''Boat Ride down the Maguire'' (Caned Out Series) (1987)
* ''L.A. Is the Capital of Kansas: Painful Lessons in Post-New York Living'' (1988)
* ''Tropic of Nipples'' (1995) (unpublished)
* ''The Night (Alone): A Novel'' (1995)
* ''Holes: A Book Not Entirely About Golf'' (1999)
* ''A Whore Just Like the Rest: The Music Writings of Richard Meltzer'' (2000)
* ''Autumn Rhythm: Musings on Time, Tide, Aging, Dying, and Such Biz'' (2003)
Blue Öyster Cult
Blue Öyster Cult ( ; sometimes abbreviated BÖC or BOC) is an American Rock music, rock band formed on Long Island in Stony Brook, New York, in 1967, and best known for the singles "(Don't Fear) The Reaper", "Burnin' for You", and "Godzilla ( ...
songs co-written by Meltzer
* "
She's as Beautiful as a Foot"
* "
Stairway to the Stars
"Stairway to the Stars" is a popular song composed by Matty Malneck and Frank Signorelli, with lyrics by Mitchell Parish. It was based on a theme from Malneck and Signorelli's 1934 instrumental piece, "Park Avenue Fantasy."
Hit recordings in 19 ...
"
* "
Teen Archer"
* "
Cagey Cretins"
* "
Harvester of Eyes"
* "
Death Valley Nights"
* "
Dr. Music
Dr. Music was a Toronto jazz group founded in 1969 by producer, arranger and performer Doug Riley. The band recorded three albums and toured across Canada. The personnel of the band changed throughout its history, with Riley remaining at the cor ...
"
* "
Lips in the Hills"
* "
Burnin' for You
"Burnin' for You" is a song by American hard rock band Blue Öyster Cult. It was released as the lead single from the band's eighth studio album, '' Fire of Unknown Origin'', released in June 1981, where it was the album's second track. The song ...
"
* "
Veins
Veins are blood vessels in humans and most other animals that carry blood towards the heart. Most veins carry deoxygenated blood from the tissues back to the heart; exceptions are the pulmonary and umbilical veins, both of which carry oxygenated b ...
"
* "
Spy in the House of Night"
* "
Stone of Love"
* “
The Return of St. Cecilia”
References
External links
*
Review of ''Autumn Rhythm'' with Richard Meltzer interview(Mike Miliard, ''The Fall Guy'', September 2003)
Richard Meltzer profile(Alec Hanley Bemis, ''Is Rock Criticism Dead'', June 2002)
(Jason Gross, ''Perfect Sound Forever'', August 2000)
Meltzeron
Allan Kaprow
Allan Kaprow (August 23, 1927 – April 5, 2006) was an American painter, assemblagist and a pioneer in establishing the concepts of performance art. He helped to develop the "Environment" and "Happening" in the late 1950s and 1960s, as well as ...
Interview with Meltzerby Scott Woods at rockcritics.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Meltzer, Richard
1945 births
American music critics
American music journalists
Living people
Writers from Portland, Oregon
Writers from New York City
Songwriters from New York (state)
Songwriters from Oregon
20th-century American journalists
American male journalists
21st-century American journalists
Stony Brook University alumni
Yale University alumni