Richie Unterberger (born January 19, 1962) is an American author and journalist whose focus is popular music and travel writing.

Life and writing

Unterberger attended the University of Pennsylvania, where he wrote for the university newspaper '' The Daily Pennsylvanian'' and in the early 1980s was a deejay on the Penn radio station,

WXPN-FM WXPN (88.5 FM broadcasting, FM) is a non-commercial, public broadcasting, public radio broadcasting, radio station licensed to The Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, that broadcasts an adult a ...

. Just prior to graduating in late 1982, he started reviewing records for '' Op'' magazine, which marked the start of his career as a freelance writer. From 1985 to 1991, Unterberger was an editor for ''

Option Option or Options may refer to: Computing *Option key, a key on Apple computer keyboards *Option type, a polymorphic data type in programming languages *Command-line option, an optional parameter to a command *OPTIONS, an HTTP request method ...

''. Since 1993, he has been a prolific contributor to AllMusic, the on-line database of music biographies and album reviews, for which he has written thousands of entries, and many of his on-line contributions have been printed in the AllMusic guide series. Unterberger contributes to various local and national publications, including ''

Mojo Mojo may refer to: *Mojo (African-American culture), a magical charm bag used in voodoo Arts, entertainment and media Film and television * MOJO HD, an American television network * ''Mojo'' (play), by Jez Butterworth, made into a 1997 film * '' ...

'', '' Record Collector'', '' Rolling Stone'', '' Oxford American'', and '' No Depression''. He has written

liner note Liner notes (also sleeve notes or album notes) are the writings found on the sleeves of LP record albums and in booklets that come inserted into the compact disc jewel case or the equivalent packaging for cassettes. Origin Liner notes are descen ...

s for dozens of CD reissues from labels like Rhino Records, Collectors' Choice, and Sundazed. Unterberger's books draw extensively on first-hand interviews with musicians and their associates.

Travel writing; public speaking

Unterberger has given talks on music and popular culture at public libraries in San Francisco, Berkeley, and San Mateo County, California. He is also a speaker at area bookstores, including The

Booksmith The Booksmith is an independent bookstore located in the Haight Ashbury neighborhood of San Francisco. When first opened in October 1976, the store was located at 1746 Haight Street, below the former I-Beam nightclub. In 1985, the store moved to ...

in the

Haight Ashbury Haight-Ashbury () is a district of San Francisco, California, named for the intersection of Haight and Ashbury streets. It is also called The Haight and The Upper Haight. The neighborhood is known as one of the main centers of the counterculture ...

neighborhood of San Francisco. Unterberger has also written on travel, including ''The Rough Guide to Seattle'' (1996), and co-authored ''The Rough Guide to Shopping with a Conscience'' (2007), a book about ethical products, investment, and related topics. He has traveled to more than thirty countries and is an advocate of independent travel and alternative culture.

Family

His nephew, Andrew, formerly wrote for Stylusmagazine.com, and in 2007 was part of the winning team on VH1's ''World Series of Pop Culture''. He has been a staff writer or featured contributor on music and sports blogs.

Selected publications

His books include: * 1998: ''Unknown Legends of Rock'n'Roll''. Profiles of 60 underappreciated cult rock artists of all styles and eras * 1999: ''The Rough Guide to Music USA''. A guidebook to the evolution of regional popular music throughout America in the twentieth century * 2000: ''Urban Spacemen & Wayfaring Strangers: Overlooked Innovators and Eccentric Visionaries of '60s Rock''. Another look at underappreciated cult rock artists * 2002: ''Turn! Turn! Turn!: The '60s Folk-Rock Revolution''. The first part of a history of folk rock * 2003: ''Eight Miles High: Folk-Rock's Flight from Haight-Ashbury to Woodstock''. The second part of a history of folk rock * 2006: ''The Unreleased Beatles: Music and Film''. An illustrated 400-page guide to music that the

Beatles The Beatles were an English rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the most influential band of all time and were integral to the developme ...

recorded but did not release, as well as musical footage of the group that has not been made commercially available (winner of a 2007 Award for Excellence in Historical Recorded Sound Research from the Association for Recorded Sound Collections) * 2009: ''White Light/White Heat: The Velvet Underground Day-by-Day'' * 2009: ''The Rough Guide to

Jimi Hendrix James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix (born Johnny Allen Hendrix; November 27, 1942September 18, 1970) was an American guitarist, singer and songwriter. Although his mainstream career spanned only four years, he is widely regarded as one of the most ...

''. * 2011: ''Won't Get Fooled Again: The Who from Lifehouse to Quadrophenia''

References

External links

2002 interview with Unterberger

Richie Unterberger's Unknown Legends
at www.richieunterberger.com * Profile a
Rough Guides
// Allmusic.com/
IMDb

Article about Richie Unterberger in the ''SF Weekly''
* * The WELL interviews o

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Book review: Fleetwood Mac: The Complete Illustrated History by Richie Unterberger / Rocker Magazine
{{DEFAULTSORT:Unterberger, Richie 1962 births Living people American people of German descent AllMusic American music critics Rock critics American travel writers American male non-fiction writers