The Oral History of Pitchfork, From the Careers It Made to the Bands It Killed

If you tend to blame celebrity culture run amok for our current national woes, you might find some poetry in this week’s news that Interview would fold, bankrupt, just short of its fiftieth year—mired in lawsuits over unpaid work and rampant infighting. But mostly it’s just a bummer, like hearing about an East Village punk den shutting its doors—ev... See more

It’s only when we establish ourselves on our terms — as Pitchfork , RIP, once did — that we build durable worlds of our own.

In the early days of social media, companies made blogging technologies with the promise that writers would be able to communicate directly with their readers. This pattern played out in industry after industry. But these changes left creators at the mercy of companies far more powerful, far more ruthless, and far less accountable than the record l... See more

The venues were tight, the stages were small (if there was one at all), and the band and the crowd would charge toward each other like frontline soldiers in a swirling mosh pit. At some shows, the singer would rush into the mob and lend the microphone to the fans for the majority of the songs. The songs were shared and communal, belonging as much t... See more

A generation’s currency is measured in trends, the moments that make an era mouthwateringly memorable. Only these fads are no longer dictated by a handful of tastemakers. Instead, what gets crowned as cool is often determined by how well a trend appeals to the rhythms of a specific platform. An idea’s artistic or cultural cachet depends on how easi... See more