AcknowledgmentsThe Intro: Popular Music, Media, and the Written Word – Steve JonesPart I: Institutions and History1. Re-Viewing Rock Writing: Narratives of Popular Music Criticism – Steve Jones and Kevin Featherly2. Brit Crit: Turning Points in British Rock Criticism, 1960-1990 – Gestur Gudmundsson, Ulf Lindberg, Morten Michelsen, and Hans Weisethaunet3. Word Power: A Brief, Highly Opinionated History of Hip-Hop Journalism – Jeff Chang4. Critical Senility vs. Overcomprehension: Rock Criticism and the Lesson of the Avant-Garde – Robert B. RayPart II: Discourses5. Consumers' Guides: The Political Economy of the Music Press and the Democracy of Critical Discourse – Mark Fenster6. Between Rock and a Hard Place: Gender and Rock Criticism – Kembrew McLeod7. Exclusive! The British Press and Popular Music: The Story So Far. . . – Martin Cloonan8. Abandoning the Absolute: Transcendence and Gender in Popular Music Discourse – Holly Kruse9. The Politics and History of Hip-Hop Journalism – Kembrew McLeodPart III: Case Studies10. Jewel Case: Pop Stars, Poets, and the Press – Thomas Swiss11. Taking Country Music Seriously: Coverage of the 1990s Boom – Joli Jensen12. Sweet Nothings: Presentation of Women Musicians in Pop Journalism – Brenda Johnson-Grau13. "The Day the Music Died"—Again: Newspaper Coverage of the Deaths of Popular Musicians – Sharon R. Mazzarella and Timothy M. MatyjewiczCoda14. Fragments of a Sociology of Rock Criticism – Simon FrithThe Outro – Chris NelsonAbout the ContributorsIndex