[Ms. Hopper's] collection is by turns loose and warm and finicky and outraged, and its best pieces are more observant than 94 percent of the first novels that have come my way this year.

★ 05/31/2021

Hopper, music critic and former senior editor at Pitchfork, follows up her groundbreaking feminist treatise on the punk, independent, and mainstream music scenes of the past 20 years with this revised and expanded edition that hits just as hard. Historically, she argues, women have been ignored in the boys’ club of studio producers, promoters, and record makers. These 55 pieces—covering a great variety of artists including Kim Gordon, Rickie Lee Jones, and Nicki Minaj—serve as a scorching critique of the endless hoops female musicians have had to jump through in the male-dominated music scene. In a 2015 Pitchfork review, pop-country star Kacey Musgraves is heralded for transcending the “bro-country” vibe pervasive at the Country Music Awards, while a 2018 profile of Cat Powers discusses how the artist’s talent gets overshadowed by fans’ obsession with her mental health. Essays on Fiona Apple, Liz Phair, and Joni Mitchell underscore the harsh criticism ambitious female performers constantly face (“The year Mitchell issued Blue, an album that would be a landmark in any artist’s career, Rolling Stone named her ‘Old Lady of the Year’ ”), but emphasize how, despite their unjust treatment by industry and critics, women continue to drown out the noise with their music. This fiery work is the literary equivalent of a maxed-out Marshall stack. Agent: Claudia Ballard, WME. (July)

"[The First Collection of Criticism by a Living Female Rock Critic is] a rallying cry for anyone who’s ever loved music and anyone who’s ever wanted to change the world." —Marianela D'Aprile, Jacobin

"Prolific and inimitable writer Hopper lays bare a storied career and a true gift for music journalism . . . Hopper’s writing spans generations and genres . . . [She] is an artist whose curiosity about creativity has produced a stunning body of work, both in breadth and skill, and this is her lyrical, observant magnum opus.” —Booklist (starred review)

"[A] revised and expanded edition that hits just as hard . . . This fiery work is the literary equivalent of a maxed-out Marshall stack." —Publishers Weekly (starred review)

"Essential reading . . . A canny blend of punkish attitude and discographical smarts that blasts boys-club assumptions about pop music." —Kirkus (starred review)

"This revised and expanded edition adds several new dimensions . . . The First Collection of Criticism by a Living Female Rock Critic enters the turbulence of 2021 as furiously edifying as ever. It ends on a breathtaking afterword that proves, while this might not actually be the first collection of its type, for a generation of punks and radicals – especially those of marginalised genders fighting for their place in the world – it remains the most essential." —Kristy Diaz, The Skinny

Praise for the first edition:

"[The First Collection of Criticism by a Living Female Rock Critic] is by turns loose and warm and finicky and outraged, and its best pieces are more observant than 94 percent of the first novels that have come my way this year." —Dwight Garner, The New York Times

"An airtight case for why the professional critic still matters, and why it is a thrill to spend time in the presence of someone whose job it is to care so much and so intelligently." —Kathleen Rooney, Chicago Tribune

"The First Collection is a game-changer, a godsend, and a Holy Grail for those who have been forced to reside on the fringe of the notoriously 'male-dominated sphere' of rock criticism and fandom [...] Hopper's work, influence, and unwavering support for the diversification of voice and perspective within music journalism have altered the landscape of rock criticism for the better. It may be the first collection of criticism written by a female rock critic, but it's definitely not the last." —Dianca Potts, The Village Voice

"A game-changing collection of writing . . . Hopper has created a bible for aspiring writers, not just music critics." —Jessica Goodman, Huffington Post

"Hopper is one of the most vital and prolific music critics around . . . the book brims with Hopper’s lean prose and mic-dropping one-liners." —Paula Mejia, Newsweek

"Jessica Hopper has become a mandatory name in the world of music criticism, and this latest collection is the icing on the cake. At the book’s heart, you’ll find a funny, thoughtful writer whose extensive journalism career cements her as a lasting voice in the genre." —Mack Hayden, Paste

"I read Hopper's work with a sense of bewildered gratitude. She concedes nothing to the idea that it is dumb to care so much. The excitement in her work comes from her faith that these things are worth scrapping about." —Rob Sheffield, author of Love is a Mixtape

05/01/2015
Male domination throughout rock music's history and criticism is endemic. Both onstage and on the page, female voices are few and far between, despite the vast majority of rock songs being about women. Hopper (senior editor, The Pitchfork Review; music editor, Rookie; The Girls' Guide to Rocking) may not be able to topple this colossal problem singlehandedly, but she's chipped off a few choice bits at the base. The book assembles pieces the author has written for various music and entertainment publications over the last 15 years. As a critic, she brings a perspective that shouldn't be fresh but is, discussing both the old and the new with an intelligence and intensity that can only come from a true music geek. Her Gen-X frame of reference ranges from Eighties alternative rock and grunge through to the present, touching on pop, freak folk, and even Christian rock. Particularly powerful are pieces on indie rocker David Bazan and record producer/rapper R. Kelly. VERDICT Rock music fans of all genders and stripes will find a lot to chew on in these pages.—Brett Rohlwing, Milwaukee P.L.

★ 2021-04-24
A wide-ranging assortment of essays and reportage on rock, pop, country, and hip-hop, conscientiously putting women front and center.

The title of Hopper’s book (which revises and expands a 2015 edition) isn’t a brag but rather an air horn announcing a problem: Just as female musicians have been dismissed, marginalized, and abused by a patriarchal industry, Hopper is just one of many women music journalists who was told “it was perverse to tangle up music criticism with feminism or my personal experience.” So being “first” is as much a lament as an assertion, but the best pieces show how thoughtfully the author has used her position. Essays on Liz Phair, Kim Gordon, Miley Cyrus, and Lana Del Rey underscore how the negative “personas” applied to them are often used to obscure and undermine their talent. In one emotionally intense interview, Björk reveals how, more than four decades into her career, she’s had to prove she writes her songs. Hopper elevates underappreciated women-led acts like D.C. punks Chalk Circle and calls out misogyny in the system: Her landmark 2003 essay, “Emo: Where the Girls Aren’t,” chastised the scene for confusing sad-boy sensitivity with proactive feminism, and she reports on women country artists’ oft-futile efforts to gain airplay. The author convincingly argues that staying silent on such inequities has consequences, a point underscored by an interview with journalist Jim DeRogatis on R. Kelly’s track record of sexual assault and music journalists’ turning a blind eye to it. Hopper is stronger as a reporter and cultural observer than a track-by-track reviewer; the collection is padded with reviews that reflect her wide range of tastes but are stylistically flat. However, as she points out in the fiery conclusion, the book exists in part to expose other female writers to what’s possible with diligence and a refusal to compromise. In that regard, it’s essential reading. Samantha Irby provides the foreword.

A canny blend of punkish attitude and discographical smarts that blasts boys-club assumptions about pop music.