Barney Hoskyns (born 5 May 1959) is a British music critic and editorial director of the online music journalism archive

Rock's Backpages Rock's Backpages is an online archive of music journalism, sourced from contributions to the music and mainstream press from the 1950s to the present day. The articles are full text and searchable, and all are reproduced with the permission of the ...

Biography

Hoskyns graduated from

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

with a first class degree in English. He began writing about music for ''

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 ...

'' and ''

New Musical Express ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming, and culture website and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a 'rock inkie', the NME would become a magazine that ended up as a f ...

'', quitting his job as staff writer at ''NME ''to research a book about

soul music Soul music is a popular music genre that originated in the African American community throughout the United States in the late 1950s and early 1960s. It has its roots in African-American gospel music and rhythm and blues. Soul music became po ...

. The result was ''Say It One Time For The Brokenhearted'' (1987). He went on to write more than fifteen books on musicians and music history. Hoskyns has written regularly on pop culture and the arts for British ''

Vogue Vogue may refer to: Business * ''Vogue'' (magazine), a US fashion magazine ** British ''Vogue'', a British fashion magazine ** ''Vogue Arabia'', an Arab fashion magazine ** ''Vogue Australia'', an Australian fashion magazine ** ''Vogue China'', ...

'', where for five years he was a Contributing Editor, and for ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...

'', ''

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 Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

'', ''

The Observer ''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. It is a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', whose parent company Guardian Media Group Limited acquired it in 1993. First published in 1791, it is the w ...

'' and ''

Arena magazine ''Arena'' was a British monthly men's magazine. The magazine was created in 1986 by Nick Logan, who had founded '' The Face'' in 1980, to focus on trends in fashion and entertainment. British graphic designer Neville Brody, who had designed '' ...

''. He has also contributed to ''

Harper's Bazaar ''Harper's Bazaar'' is an American monthly women's fashion magazine. It was first published in New York City on November 2, 1867, as the weekly ''Harper's Bazar''. ''Harper's Bazaar'' is published by Hearst and considers itself to be the st ...

'', ''

Interview magazine ''Interview'' is an American magazine founded in late 1969 by artist Andy Warhol and British journalist John Wilcock. The magazine, nicknamed "The Crystal Ball of Pop", features interviews with celebrities, artists, musicians, and creative thinke ...

'', ''

Spin magazine ''Spin'' (stylized in all caps) is an American music magazine founded in 1985 by publisher Bob Guccione, Jr. Now owned by Next Management Partners, the magazine is an online publication since it stopped issuing a print edition in 2012. Histor ...

'' and ''

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 ...

'', as well as to

Amazon.com Amazon.com, Inc. ( ) is an American multinational technology company focusing on e-commerce, cloud computing, online advertising, digital streaming, and artificial intelligence. It has been referred to as "one of the most influential economi ...

and

CDNOW CDnow, Inc. was a dot-com company that operated an online shopping website selling compact discs and music-related products. In April 1998, during the dot-com bubble, the company was valued at over $1billion. In July 2000, it was acquired by Berte ...

. Between 1993 and 1999, Hoskyns worked as Associate Editor and then U.S. Editor of ''

Mojo magazine ''Mojo'' is a popular music magazine published monthly in the United Kingdom, initially by Emap, and since January 2008 by Bauer. Following the success of the magazine '' Q'', publishers Emap were looking for a title that would cater for the bur ...

''. Hoskyns' book ''Glam! Bowie, Bolan & The Glitter Rock Revolution'' was published in 1998, tying in with Todd Haynes’ ''Velvet Goldmine''. Haynes provided an introduction. In 2000, Hoskyns became Senior Editor of

in London. He left to co-found

, an online library of classic rock journalism that launched in September 2001. Hoskyns has been a regular broadcaster and pundit on both radio and television in the UK, appearing on the ''Top Ten ''series (CHANNEL 4), the ''I Love The 80s/90s'' series (BBC 2), ''Walk On By'' (BBC 2), ''Behind The Music'' (VH1) and ''Classic Albums'' (BBC2). He was the consultant on the acclaimed 2005 series ''Soul Deep'' (BBC 2). A BBC documentary based on his 2005 book ''Hotel California: Singer-Songwriters & Cocaine Cowboys In The L.A. Canyons'' was broadcast in 2007. Hoskyns is married to interior designer and former actor Natalie Forbes. He has three sons from his first marriage to Victoria Sandler and two stepsons from his marriage to Forbes.

Bibliography

Hoyskyns' 1996 book ''Waiting For The Sun'' was nominated for a Ralph J. Gleason award in the US. ''

Kirkus Reviews ''Kirkus Reviews'' (or ''Kirkus Media'') is an American book review magazine founded in 1933 by Virginia Kirkus (1893–1980). The magazine is headquartered in New York City. ''Kirkus Reviews'' confers the annual Kirkus Prize to authors of fic ...

'' called it "a caustic, gossipy, refreshingly idiosyncratic history of the music business in Los Angeles."

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 * '' ...

reviewer Jim Farber gave Hoyskyns' ''Small Town Talk'' (spring 2016) four stars and described it as "a pitch-perfect East Coast corollary to his Laurel Canyon classic ''Hotel California''". In 2017, Hoskyns published ''Never Enough: A Way Through Addiction'', an autobiographical account of how he became a heroin addict a few days after graduating from Oxford University, and how he finally overcame his addiction at the age of 23. ''The Guardian'' wrote: "It’s an ambitious, intelligent book that seeks to explain the appeal of drugs and drug culture, as well as the existential angst that drove Hoskyns to find oblivion at the end of a needle."

Nonfiction

* ''Say It One Time For The Brokenhearted: Country Soul In The American South'' (UK: Fontana, 1987;

Bloomsbury Bloomsbury is a district in the West End of London. It is considered a fashionable residential area, and is the location of numerous cultural, intellectual, and educational institutions. Bloomsbury is home of the British Museum, the largest mus ...

reissue 1998) * ''Montgomery Clift: Beautiful Loser'' (UK: Bloomsbury/ US: Grove, 1992) * ''Across The Great Divide: The Band and America'' (UK: Viking; US: Hyperion, 1993; Hal Leonard Books US reissue, 2006) * ''Waiting For The Sun: Strange Days, Weird Scenes & The Sound Of Los Angeles'' (UK: Viking/US:

St. Martin's Press St. Martin's Press is a book publisher headquartered in Manhattan, New York City, in the Equitable Building. St. Martin's Press is considered one of the largest English-language publishers, bringing to the public some 700 titles a year under si ...

, 1996) * ''Beneath the Diamond Sky: Haight-Ashbury 1965-1970'' (UK: Bloomsbury; US:

Simon & Schuster Simon & Schuster () is an American publishing company and a subsidiary of Paramount Global. It was founded in New York City on January 2, 1924 by Richard L. Simon and M. Lincoln Schuster. As of 2016, Simon & Schuster was the third largest publ ...

,1997) * ''Glam! Bowie, Bolan & The Glitter Rock Revolution'' (UK: Faber; US: Simon & Schuster, 1998) * ''The Mullet: Hairstyle Of The Gods'' (Bloomsbury, 1999), with Mark Larson * ''The Sound and the Fury: 40 Years of Classic Rock Journalism: A Rock’s Backpages Reader'' (Bloomsbury, 2003), editor * ''Ozzy Osbourne: A Rock’s Backpages Reader'' ( Omnibus, 2004), editor * ''Hotel California: Singer-Songwriters & Cocaine Cowboys In The L.A. Canyons'' (UK: 4th Estate/

HarperCollins HarperCollins Publishers LLC is one of the Big Five English-language publishing companies, alongside Penguin Random House, Simon & Schuster, Hachette, and Macmillan. The company is headquartered in New York City and is a subsidiary of News Cor ...

; US:

Wiley Wiley may refer to: Locations * Wiley, Colorado, a U.S. town *Wiley, Pleasants County, West Virginia, U.S. * Wiley-Kaserne, a district of the city of Neu-Ulm, Germany People * Wiley (musician), British grime MC, rapper, and producer * Wiley Mill ...

, 2005) * ''Led Zeppelin IV'' (''Rock of Ages'' series) (

Rodale Books The Crown Publishing Group is a subsidiary of Penguin Random House that publishes across several fiction and non-fiction categories. Originally founded in 1933 as a remaindered books wholesaler called Outlet Book Company, the firm expanded into ...

, 2006) * ''Lowside of the Road: A Life of

Tom Waits Thomas Alan Waits (born December 7, 1949) is an American musician, composer, songwriter, and actor. His lyrics often focus on the underbelly of society and are delivered in his trademark deep, gravelly voice. He worked primarily in jazz during ...

'' (

Faber and 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 B ...

, 2008) * ''Trampled Under Foot: The Power and Excess of Led Zeppelin'' (UK: Faber, 2012); published in the US as ''Led Zeppelin: The Oral History of the World's Greatest Rock Band'' (

, 2012) * ''Small Town Talk: Bob Dylan, The Band, Van Morrison, Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix & Friends in the Wild Years of Woodstock'' (UK: Faber; US: Da Capo, 2016) * ''Never Enough: A Way Through Addiction'' (Constable, 2017) * ''Joni: The Anthology'' (Picador, 2017)

Fiction

* ''The Lonely Planet Boy: A Pop Romance'' (UK/US: Serpent's Tail, 1995)

References

External links

Barney Hoskyns onlineRock's BackpagesInterview with Hoskyns about his oral history of Led Zeppelin
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hoskyns, Barney 1959 births Alumni of the University of Oxford English music critics English music journalists Living people NME writers Melody Maker writers Rodale, Inc. The Guardian journalists The Times people