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Will Hermes (born December 27, 1960, inJamaica, Queens, New York City) is an American author, broadcaster, journalist and critic who has written extensively about popular music. He is a longtime contributor toRolling Stone and toNational Public Radio'sAll Things Considered. His work has also appeared inPitchfork,Spin,The New York Times,The Village Voice,The Believer,GQ,Salon,Entertainment Weekly,Details,City Pages (Minneapolis, MN),The Windy City Times, andOption.[1] He is the author ofLove Goes To Buildings On Fire: Five Years in New York That Changed Music Forever (2011), a history of the New York City music scene in the 1970s; andLou Reed: The King of New York, a biography.[2][3]
In the late 1980s Hermes began writing forOption, a Los Angeles–based small-press magazine that covered a wide range of music. In 1993 he became the Arts & Music Editor forCity Pages, an alternative newsweekly based inMinneapolis. In 1997 was hired as a Senior Editor forSpin magazine in New York City. Hermes began contributing regularly toRolling Stone in the ‘00s and became a frequent voice in the magazine's review section. Hermes co-editedSPIN: 20 Years of Alternative Music, an anthology of writing fromSpin magazine published in 2006, withSia Michel, then the magazine's editor-in-chief. His writing was included inDa Capo'sBest Music Writing 2006 andBest Music Writing 2007.[4]
In 2011,Farrar, Straus and Giroux/Faber and Faber published his bookLove Goes To Buildings On Fire: Five Years in New York That Changed Music Forever, a history of New York City music culture in the 1970s, covering the nascent punk rock, hip hop and disco scenes, along with salsa, loft jazz, and the downtown composers known as minimalists. It was selected as the top music book of 2011 byNPR,[5] and it was an Editor's Choice title inThe New York Times Book Review, which called it a "prodigious work of contemporary music history".[6]
Lou Reed: The King of New York, was published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux/Viking in 2023. It was named among the best non-fiction books of 2023 byKirkus Review,[7] and one of the best music books of 2023 by Rolling Stone,[8] Pitchfork,[9]Variety,[10] andUncut. Writing inthe Washington Post, Stephen Metcalf said the book "is as beautifully researched as it is written; thorough, smart, conscientious and an absolute delight to simmer in.”[11] Writing forBookforum, Hanif Abdurraqib called it "A work of grand affection, one that allows a person their failings, and one that knows that examining those failings alongside the grandest achievements is how one pays homage to a full life.”[12] Writing forLiterary Review, David Keenan said: "An awkward love letter to the 20th century with added apologia,The King of New York is the perfect biography of Lou Reed for 2023, and will likely remain that way".[13]
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