Simon Reynolds (born 19 June 1963) is an English

music journalist 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 ...

and author who began his professional career on the staff of ''

Melody Maker ''Melody Maker'' was a British weekly music magazine, one of the world's earliest music weeklies; according to its publisher, IPC Media, the earliest. It was founded in 1926, largely as a magazine for dance band musicians, by Leicester-born ...

'' in the mid-1980s. He has since gone on to

freelance ''Freelance'' (sometimes spelled ''free-lance'' or ''free lance''), ''freelancer'', or ''freelance worker'', are terms commonly used for a person who is self-employed and not necessarily committed to a particular employer long-term. Freelance w ...

and publish a number of full-length books on music and popular culture, ranging from historical tomes on

rave music A rave (from the verb: '' to rave'') is a dance party at a warehouse, club, or other public or private venue, typically featuring performances by DJs playing electronic dance music. The style is most associated with the early 1990s dance mu ...

glam rock Glam rock is a style of rock music that developed in the United Kingdom in the early 1970s and was performed by musicians who wore outrageous costumes, makeup, and hairstyles, particularly platform shoes and glitter. Glam artists drew on diver ...

, and the

post-punk Post-punk (originally called new musick) is a broad genre of punk music that emerged in the late 1970s as musicians departed from punk's traditional elements and raw simplicity, instead adopting a variety of avant-garde sensibilities and non-roc ...

era to critical works such as ''Retromania: Pop Culture's Addiction to Its Own Past'' (2011). He has contributed to '' Spin'', ''

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 New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'', ''

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 crea ...

'', ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'', ''

The Wire ''The Wire'' is an American Crime film, crime drama Television show, television series created and primarily written by author and former police reporter David Simon. The series was broadcast by the cable network HBO in the United States. ''The ...

'', ''

Pitchfork A pitchfork (also a hay fork) is an agricultural tool with a long handle and two to five tines used to lift and pitch or throw loose material, such as hay, straw, manure, or leaves. The term is also applied colloquially, but inaccurately, to ...

'', and others.

Biography

Early life and ''Blissed Out'' (1990)

Reynolds was born in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

in 1963Rock's Backpages - Simon Reynolds
/ref> and grew up in

Berkhamsted Berkhamsted ( ) is a historic market town in Hertfordshire, England, in the Bulbourne valley, north-west of London. The town is a civil parish with a town council within the borough of Dacorum which is based in the neighbouring large new town ...

. Inspired by his younger brother Tim, he became interested in rock and specifically punk in 1978. In the early 1980s, he attended Brasenose College, Oxford

University A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, t ...

, which dates back to the 1200s. After graduating, in 1984 he co-founded the Oxford-based pop culture journal ''Monitor'' with his friends and future ''Melody Maker'' colleagues Paul Oldfield and

David Stubbs David Stubbs (born 13 September 1962 in London) is a British music journalist. He grew up in Leeds and in the early Eighties was a student at the University of Oxford where he was a close friend of Simon Reynolds. The two were part of the Oxfor ...

along with Hilary Little and Chris Scott. In 1986, Reynolds joined the staff of ''

'', where his writing was marked by enthusiasm for a wave of

neo-psychedelic rock Neo-psychedelia is a diverse genre of psychedelic music that draws inspiration from the sounds of 1960s psychedelia, either updating or copying the approaches from that era. Originating in the 1970s, it has occasionally seen mainstream pop su ...

and hip hop artists that emerged in the mid-1980s (including

A.R. Kane A.R. Kane (sometimes AR Kane or A.R.Kane) was a British musical duo formed in 1986 by Alex Ayuli and Rudy Tambala. After releasing two early EPs to critical acclaim, the group topped the UK Independent Chart with their debut album '' 69'' (1988 ...

, My Bloody Valentine,

Public Enemy "Public enemy" is a term which was first widely used in the United States in the 1930s to describe individuals whose activities were seen as criminal and extremely damaging to society, though the phrase had been used for centuries to describe ...

Throwing Muses Throwing Muses are an American alternative rock band formed in 1981 in Newport, Rhode Island, United States, that toured and recorded extensively until 1997, when its members began concentrating more on other projects. The group was originall ...

and

The Young Gods The Young Gods are a Swiss industrial rock band from Fribourg, formed in 1985. The original lineup of the band featured singer Franz Treichler, sampler player Cesare Pizzi and drummer Frank Bagnoud. For most of their history, the band mainta ...

). During this period, Reynolds and his ''Melody Maker'' colleagues set themselves in opposition to what they characterized as the conservative

humanism Humanism is a philosophical stance that emphasizes the individual and social potential and agency of human beings. It considers human beings the starting point for serious moral and philosophical inquiry. The meaning of the term "humani ...

of the era's

indie rock Indie rock is a Music subgenre, subgenre of rock music that originated in the United States, United Kingdom and New Zealand from the 1970s to the 1980s. Originally used to describe independent record labels, the term became associated with the mu ...

soul In many religious and philosophical traditions, there is a belief that a soul is "the immaterial aspect or essence of a human being". Etymology The Modern English noun ''soul'' is derived from Old English ''sāwol, sāwel''. The earliest attes ...

, and

pop music Pop music is a genre of popular music that originated in its modern form during the mid-1950s in the United States and the United Kingdom. The terms ''popular music'' and ''pop music'' are often used interchangeably, although the former describe ...

, as well as the unadventurous style and approach of most music criticism. Pieces from this late Eighties era would form the remixed collection ''Blissed Out: The Raptures of Rock'', published in 1990.ReadySteadyBook - Simon Reynolds Interview
/ref>

Freelance and ''Energy Flash'' (1998)

In 1990, Reynolds left the staff of ''Melody Maker'' (although he would continue to contribute to the magazine until 1996) and became a

writer, splitting his time between London and New York. In the early 1990s, he became involved in rave culture and the electronic dance music scene, particularly that of the UK, and became a

writer A writer is a person who uses written words in different writing styles and techniques to communicate ideas. Writers produce different forms of literary art and creative writing such as novels, short stories, books, poetry, travelogues, p ...

on the development of what he would later conceptualise as the "

hardcore Hardcore, hard core or hard-core may refer to: Arts and media Film * ''Hardcore'' (1977 film), a British comedy film * ''Hardcore'' (1979 film), an American crime drama film starring George C Scott * ''Hardcore'' (2001 film), a British documen ...

continuum" along with its surrounding culture such as pirate radio. Much of this writing was later published in '' Energy Flash: a Journey Through Rave Music and Dance Culture'' (1998), a history of the breakbeat, house,

techno Techno is a Music genre, genre of electronic dance music (EDM) which is generally music production, produced for use in a continuous DJ set, with tempo often varying between 120 and 150 beats per minute (bpm). The central Drum beat, rhythm is typ ...

and later rave genres like

jungle music Jungle is a genre of dance music that developed out of the UK rave scene and sound system culture in the 1990s. Emerging from breakbeat hardcore, the style is characterised by rapid breakbeats, heavily syncopated percussive loops, samples, and ...

and

gabber Gabber (; ) is a style of electronic dance music and a subgenre of hardcore techno, as well as the surrounding subculture. The music is more commonly referred to as Hardcore, which is characterised by fast beats, distorted & heavier kickdrums, ...

. The book was published that same year in America in abridged form, with the title ''Generation Ecstasy: Into the World of Techno and Rave Culture''. During this time, he also theorized the concept of "

post-rock Post-rock is a form of experimental rock characterized by a focus on exploring textures and timbre over traditional rock song structures, chords, or riffs. Post-rock artists are often instrumental, typically combining rock instrumentation with ...

", using the term first in a ''Melody Maker'' 1993 feature about Insides and then in a more developed form in a May 1994 thinkpiece for

and in a review of

Bark Psychosis Bark Psychosis are an English post-rock band/musical project from east London formed in 1986. They were one of the bands that Simon Reynolds cited when coining "post-rock" as a musical style in 1994, and are thus considered one of the key ban ...

' album '' Hex'', published in the March 1994 issue of ''

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 * ' ...

'' magazine. In late 1994, Reynolds moved to the East Village in

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

. In 1995, with his wife,

Joy Press Joy Press (born 1966) is an American writer and editor. In the 1980s she was a music critic for American magazines and for the English weekly music paper ''Melody Maker''. In 1996 she became the editor of the ''Village Voice'' literary supplement, ...

, Reynolds co-authored ''The Sex Revolts: Gender, Rebellion and Rock 'n' Roll'', a critical analysis of gender in rock. In 1998 Reynolds became a senior editor at '' Spin'' magazine in the US. In 1999, he returned to freelance work. In 2013, a second expanded update of ''Energy Flash'' was published, with new material on the rise of

dubstep Dubstep is a genre of electronic dance music that originated in South London in the early 2000s. The style emerged as a UK garage offshoot that blended 2-step rhythms and sparse dub production, as well as incorporating elements of broken be ...

to worldwide popularity and the EDM or Electronic Dance Music explosion in America.

''Rip It Up and Start Again'' (2005) and ''Retromania'' (2011)

In 2005, Reynolds released '' Rip It Up and Start Again: Postpunk 1978–1984'', a history of the

era. In 2007, Reynolds published ''Bring the Noise: 20 Years of Writing about Hip Rock and Hip Hop'' in the UK, a collection of his writing themed around the relationship between white bohemian rock and black street music. In 2008, an updated edition of ''Energy Flash'' was published, with new chapters on the decade of dance music following the appearance of the first edition. In 2009, a companion volume to ''Rip It Up and Start Again'' was published, ''Totally Wired: Postpunk Interviews and Overviews'', containing interview transcripts and new essays. In 2011, Reynolds published ''Retromania: Pop Culture's Addiction to Its Own Past'', a critical investigation into what he perceives as the current situation of chronic retrogression in pop music, with a focus on the effects of the internet and digital culture on music consumption and musical creativity.

''Shock and Awe'' (2016) to present

Reynolds's eighth book, a history of the

era, ''Shock and Awe: Glam Rock and Its Legacy'', was published in October 2016. In addition to writing books, Reynolds has continued freelancing for magazines, giving lectures, writing liner notes, and appearing in music documentaries. He also operates a

blog A blog (a truncation of "weblog") is a discussion or informational website published on the World Wide Web consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries (posts). Posts are typically displayed in reverse chronological order ...

, ''Blissblog'' along with various satellite blogs such as the book-focused outlets ''Energy Flash'', ''Retromania'' and ''Shock and Awe'', and the drivel blog ''Hardly Baked''. Reynolds also maintains an archive for his writing, the blog ''ReynoldsRetro''. He resides in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

Critical style

Reynolds' writing has blended

cultural criticism Culture () is an umbrella term which encompasses the social behavior, institutions, and norms found in human societies, as well as the knowledge, beliefs, arts, laws, customs, capabilities, and habits of the individuals in these groups.Tyl ...

with music journalism. He has written extensively on

gender Gender is the range of characteristics pertaining to femininity and masculinity and differentiating between them. Depending on the context, this may include sex-based social structures (i.e. gender roles) and gender identity. Most cultures u ...

class Class or The Class may refer to: Common uses not otherwise categorized * Class (biology), a taxonomic rank * Class (knowledge representation), a collection of individuals or objects * Class (philosophy), an analytical concept used differentl ...

race Race, RACE or "The Race" may refer to: * Race (biology), an informal taxonomic classification within a species, generally within a sub-species * Race (human categorization), classification of humans into groups based on physical traits, and/or s ...

, and sexuality in relation to music and culture. Early in his career, Reynolds often made use of

critical theory A critical theory is any approach to social philosophy that focuses on society and culture to reveal, critique and challenge power structures. With roots in sociology and literary criticism, it argues that social problems stem more from soci ...

and

philosophy Philosophy (from , ) is the systematized study of general and fundamental questions, such as those about existence, reason, knowledge, values, mind, and language. Such questions are often posed as problems to be studied or resolved. Some ...

in his analysis of music, deriving particular influence from thinkers such as

Roland Barthes Roland Gérard Barthes (; ; 12 November 1915 – 26 March 1980) was a French literary theorist, essayist, philosopher, critic, and semiotician. His work engaged in the analysis of a variety of sign systems, mainly derived from Western popula ...

, Georges Bataille, Julia Kristeva,

Michel Foucault Paul-Michel Foucault (, ; ; 15 October 192625 June 1984) was a French philosopher, historian of ideas, writer, political activist, and literary critic. Foucault's theories primarily address the relationship between power and knowledge, and how ...

, and Gilles Deleuze and

Félix Guattari Pierre-Félix Guattari ( , ; 30 April 1930 – 29 August 1992) was a French psychoanalyst, political philosopher, semiotician, social activist, and screenwriter. He co-founded schizoanalysis with Gilles Deleuze, and ecosophy with Arne Næss, ...

. He has on occasion used the

Marxist Marxism is a Left-wing politics, left-wing to Far-left politics, far-left method of socioeconomic analysis that uses a Materialism, materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to understand S ...

concepts of

commodity fetishism In Marxist philosophy, the term commodity fetishism describes the economic relationships of production and exchange as being social relationships that exist among things (money and merchandise) and not as relationships that exist among people ...

and

false consciousness In Marxist theory, false consciousness is a term describing the ways in which material, ideological, and institutional processes are said to mislead members of the proletariat and other class actors within capitalist societies, concealing the ...

to describe attitudes prevalent in hip hop music. In discussing the relationship between class and music, Reynolds coined the term ''liminal class'', defined as the upper-

working class The working class (or labouring class) comprises those engaged in manual-labour occupations or industrial work, who are remunerated via waged or salaried contracts. Working-class occupations (see also " Designation of workers by collar colo ...

and lower-

middle-class The middle class refers to a class of people in the middle of a social hierarchy, often defined by occupation, income, education, or social status. The term has historically been associated with modernity, capitalism and political debate. Comm ...

, a group he credits with "a lot of music energy". Reynolds has also written about drug culture and its relationship to various musical developments and movements. In the 2000s, in tandem with fellow critic and blogger

Mark Fisher Mark Fisher (11 July 1968 – 13 January 2017), also known under his blogging alias k-punk, was an English writer, music critic, political and cultural theorist, philosopher, and teacher based in the Department of Visual Cultures at Goldsm ...

, Reynolds made use of Jacques Derrida's concept of

hauntology Hauntology (a portmanteau of ''haunting'' and ''ontology'') is a range of ideas referring to the return or persistence of elements from the social or cultural past, as in the manner of a ghost. The term is a neologism first introduced by French ...

to describe a strain of music and popular art preoccupied with the disjointed temporality and "lost futures" of contemporary culture.

Year-end critics' polls

Reynolds has voted in a number of year-end critics' polls, most often for ''

''s Rewind and for ''

''s

Pazz & Jop Pazz & Jop was an annual poll of top musical releases, compiled by American newspaper ''The Village Voice'' and created by music critic Robert Christgau. It published lists of the year's top releases for 1971 and, after Christgau's two-year abs ...

. Since 2011, when ''The Wire'' renamed its year-end poll from Records of the Year to Releases of the Year, Reynolds has cast several votes for songs rather than album-length releases. Reynold's full voting ballots and year-end commentaries for a variety of magazines, going back to the late 1980s, can be found at Reynolds's Faves/Unfaves blog.

Selected publications

Books

* ''Blissed Out: The Raptures of Rock''. London:

Serpent's Tail Serpent's Tail is London-based independent publishing firm founded in 1986 by Pete Ayrton. It specialises in publishing work in translation, particularly European crime fiction. In January 2007, it was bought by a British publisher Profile Book ...

(Aug. 1990). . * ''The Sex Revolts: Gender, Rebellion and Rock 'N' Roll'', with Joy Press. London:

(Jan. 1995). . * '' Energy Flash: A Journey Through Rave Music and Dance Culture''. United Kingdom:

Palgrave Macmillan Palgrave Macmillan is a British academic and trade publishing company headquartered in the London Borough of Camden. Its programme includes textbooks, journals, monographs, professional and reference works in print and online. It maintains off ...

(2008). . ** Hardcover ed. (abridged). ''Generation Ecstasy: Into the World of Techno and Rave Culture''. Boston:

Little, Brown Little, Brown and Company is an American publishing company founded in 1837 by Charles Coffin Little and James Brown (publisher), James Brown in Boston. For close to two centuries it has published fiction and nonfiction by American authors. Ear ...

(1998). . ** Softcover ed.: London:

Routledge Routledge () is a British multinational publisher. It was founded in 1836 by George Routledge, and specialises in providing academic books, journals and online resources in the fields of the humanities, behavioural science, education, law, and ...

(1999). . * '' Rip It Up and Start Again: Postpunk 1978–1984''. London:

Faber & Faber Faber and Faber Limited, usually abbreviated to Faber, is an independent publishing house in London. Published authors and poets include T. S. Eliot (an early Faber editor and director), W. H. Auden, Margaret Storey, William Golding, Samuel ...

(Apr. 2005). . ** U.S. ed.:

Penguin Penguins (order (biology), order List of Sphenisciformes by population, Sphenisciformes , family (biology), family Spheniscidae ) are a group of Water bird, aquatic flightless birds. They live almost exclusively in the Southern Hemisphere: on ...

(Feb 2006). . Full text. * ''Bring The Noise: 20 Years of Writing About Hip Rock and Hip-Hop''. London:

(May 2007). . * ''Totally Wired: Post-Punk Interviews and Overviews''. London:

(Feb 2009). . ** U.S. ed.:

Soft Skull Press Counterpoint LLC was a publishing company distributed by Perseus Books Group launched in 2007. It was formed from the consolidation of three presses: Perseus' Counterpoint Press, Avalon Publishing Group's Shoemaker & Hoard and the independent S ...

(Sep 2010). . * ''Retromania: Pop Culture's Addiction to Its Own Past''. London:

(Jun. 2011). . * ''Shock and Awe: Glam Rock and Its Legacy, from the Seventies to the Twenty-First Century''. London:

(Oct. 2016). . * ''k-punk: The Collected and Unpublished Writings of Mark Fisher''. Edited, with a foreword, by Darren Ambrose.

Repeater Books Repeater Books is a publishing imprint based in London, founded in 2014 by Tariq Goddard and Mark Fisher, formerly the founders of radical publishers Zero Books, along with Etan Ilfeld, Tamar Shlaim, Alex Niven and Matteo Mandarini. Formation ...

(Nov. 2018). . * ''Futuromania: Electronic Dreams from Moroder to Migos''. Minimum fax (Nov. 2020). . Book contributions * "Ecstasy is a Science: Techno-romanticism." In: ''Stars Don't Stand Still in the Sky: Music and Myth''. Edited by Karen Kelly and Evelyn McDonnell.

New York University Press New York University Press (or NYU Press) is a university press that is part of New York University. History NYU Press was founded in 1916 by the then chancellor of NYU, Elmer Ellsworth Brown. Directors * Arthur Huntington Nason, 1916–1 ...

in collaboration with Dia Center for the Arts (1999). .

Music compilations

* ''Energy Flash'' (1998) * ''Rip It Up and Start Again'' (2006)''Rip It Up and Start Again (Post Punk 1978-1984)''
(November 17, 2006). Compiled by Simon Reynolds. V2 Music VR1040352

Sources

Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music, ...

Rock's Back Pages
– biography and list of articles by Reynolds
"Worth Their Wait"
- ''Pitchfork Review'' article by Reynolds on British weekly music press and its formative influence

about ''Rip It Up and Start Again''
Seattle Weekly interview
about ''Rip It Up and Start Again''
"Bind and Heal: An Interview with Simon Reynolds"
in ''

Oxonian Review ''The Oxonian Review'' is a literary magazine produced by postgraduate students at the University of Oxford. Every fortnight during term time, an online edition is published featuring reviews and essays on current affairs and literature. It is ...

'' with

Alex Niven Alex Niven (born 18 February 1984, Hexham, Northumberland) is an English writer, poet, editor, and former musician. He is a also currently a Lecturer in English Literature at Newcastle University and an editor at Repeater Books. Early life and ...

about ''Retromania'', 2011.
"Rave Confessions: An interview with Simon Reynolds"
- ''Electronic Beats'' interview about the 2013 edition of ''Energy Flash''
"From Bowie To Gaga: How Glam Lives On"
- ''Pitchfork'' interview about ''Shock and Awe'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Reynolds, Simon Living people English music critics Rock critics English music journalists Melody Maker writers The Wire (magazine) writers English bloggers Alumni of Brasenose College, Oxford California Institute of the Arts faculty Writers from London People from Berkhamsted English expatriates in the United States 1963 births The Village Voice people Rolling Stone people People from the East Village, Manhattan British male bloggers

Biography

Early life and ''Blissed Out'' (1990)

Freelance and ''Energy Flash'' (1998)

''Rip It Up and Start Again'' (2005) and ''Retromania'' (2011)

''Shock and Awe'' (2016) to present

Critical style

Year-end critics' polls

Selected publications

Books

Music compilations

Sources

External links