Dave Marsh | |
|---|---|
 Marsh in 2021 | |
| Born | 1949 or 1950 (age 75–76) |
| Occupations |
|
Dave Marsh (born 1949 or 1950)[1] is an Americanmusic critic and radio talk show host. He was an early editor ofCreem magazine, has written for various publications such asNewsday,The Village Voice, andRolling Stone, and has published numerous books about music and musicians, mostly focused onrock music. He is also a committee member of theRock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Marsh grew up inPontiac, Michigan, and graduated fromWaterford Kettering High School inWaterford, Michigan.[2] He attendedWayne State University in Detroit before dropping out in 1969 to write forCreem magazine.[3]
Marsh began his career as a rock critic and editor atCreem, which he helped start.[3] AtCreem, he was mentored by close friend and colleagueLester Bangs. While supportive of punk music in general, he said in a 2001 interview that "I don't know that it was any more important thandisco", and believeship hop is more significant than punk in the history of rock music.[4]
He has written extensively about his favorite artists, includingMarvin Gaye, whose song "I Heard It Through the Grapevine" he chose as the number one single of all-time in his bookThe Heart of Rock and Soul: the 1001 Greatest Singles Ever Made, andSly Stone, whom he called "one of the greatest musical adventurers rock has ever known."[5]
Along withRolling Stone magazine publisherJann Wenner, Marsh has been involved in organizing and maintaining theRock and Roll Hall of Fame inCleveland,Ohio. Marsh has at times courted controversy with his style of maintaining selections.[citation needed]
Marsh has championed the work of manyrock and roll artists of the Fifties and early Sixties, includingdoo-wop and soul artists and girl groups, in his books andRolling Stone contributions. Marsh also published four books aboutBruce Springsteen, including the bestsellersBorn to Run andGlory Days.[6]
Marsh has edited and contributed toRock and Roll Confidential, a newsletter about rock music and social issues.[3] The newsletter has since been renamedRock and Rap Confidential. Marsh contributed to the 1994 bookMid-Life Confidential, a book about and by theRock Bottom Remainders, a rock band composed of American authors. He has also worked forNewsday andThe Real Paper.[3]
Marsh's book360 Sound: The Columbia Records Story — Legends and Legacy, was released in October 2012, as a companion toSean Wilentz's book360 Sound: The Columbia Records Story. In the same format asHeart of Rock and Soul, this book covers the 264 greatest songs from Columbia Records beginning with the 1890 performance ofJohn Philip Sousa's "Washington Post March" and working its way chronologically up toAdele's "Rolling in the Deep" (2011). To promote the music of Columbia Records,Legends and Legacy is available as a free eBook on iTunes."[7]
Marsh has been characterised as a "grumpy rock and roll journalist" due to his acerbic comments on popular musicians whom he dislikes.[8] In 1976, he wrote thatLed Zeppelin had an "insurmountable flaw" in drummerJohn Bonham, whom he saw as "something like clinically incompetent" and responsible for marring every Zeppelin album to date.[9]
In 1977, Marsh described Queen frontmanFreddie Mercury – who is regarded as one of the best rock singers of all time[10] – as possessing a "passable pop voice".[11] Marsh wrote in 1978: "Queen isn't here just to entertain. This group has come to make it clear exactly who is superior and who is inferior. Its anthem, 'We Will Rock You', is a marching order: you will not rock us, we will rock you. Indeed, Queen may be the first truly fascist rock band...[I] wonder why anyone would indulge these creeps and their polluting ideas."[12]
Marsh describedBob Seger's 1980 albumAgainst the Wind as "absolutely cowardly".[13] He was much more supportive of Seger's earlier work.[14]: 454 [15]
In the 1983Rolling Stone Record Guide, Marsh calledJourney "a dead end for San Francisco area rock", and their music "calculated". He awarded every single Journey album released up to that point – seven studio albums, a compilation album and a live album – the minimum possible score of 1/5 stars.[14]: 266 When asked about Marsh's unrelenting derision of Journey on a 1986 television program during which other critics had defended the band, lead singerSteve Perry called Marsh "an unusual little man who all too often thinks that his subjective opinions translate to inarguable fact".[16]
Also in the 1983Rolling Stone Record Guide, Marsh describedAir Supply as "The most calculated and soulless pseudo-group of its kind, which is saying something".[14]: 6
In 1989, Marsh referred to theGrateful Dead as the "worst band in creation".[17][8]
Regarding a possible Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction forKiss, Marsh said: "Kiss is not a great band. Kiss was never a great band. Kiss never will be a great band, and I have done my share to keep them off the ballot."[18] Kiss were ultimately inducted in 2014; in the lead-up, Marsh said: "I was done with them before I ever turned the first album over to the second side... all that mediocrity was harmless enough until the boastful bassist decided to turn it into a propaganda machine for the only two things he's ever loved:Gene Simmons and money." Lead singerPaul Stanley described Marsh as "pompous", and pointed to his derision of Led Zeppelin and Queen as evidence that he had "no clue" about music.[19]
In the March 13, 1975 edition ofRolling Stone, Marsh was one of a number of critics asked about Bob Dylan'sBlood on the Tracks. Marsh wrote: "The long songs, particularly, suffer from flat, tangled imagery, and the music, with all its hints at the old glory, is often incompetently performed. I suppose it's all a matter of what you're willing to settle for."[20]
Dave Marsh hosts threeSirius XM Radio shows, one calledLive from E Street Nation, airing onE Street Radio and the secondKick Out the Jams, airing Sundays on music talk channelVolume. The title references theMC5 albumKick Out the Jams.
Marsh's third Sirius program, the political talk showLive From the Land of Hopes and Dreams, airs Sunday afternoons onSirius Left, channel 146 andAmerica Left, channel 167 onXM Satellite Radio.
Marsh is a co-founder and trustee of the Kristen Ann Carr Fund,[21] created in memory of his step-daughter who died in 1993 from sarcoma, a form of cancer.[22] The fund is dedicated to supporting research in the treatment and cure of sarcoma, as well as improving the lives of young adult cancer patients and their families.
Through his marriage to Barbara Carr, a co-manager ofBruce Springsteen, Marsh is stepfather to her two daughters, Kristen Ann and Dr. Sasha J. Carr.[22] Kristen died in 1993 fromsarcoma, leading to the family founding the Kristen Ann Carr Fund.[22] Sasha, aclinical psychologist who focused on family care, died on December 28, 2024, inNorwalk, Connecticut.[22]
 | This articlelacksISBNs for books it lists. Please helpadd this information or run thecitation bot.(April 2010) |
...said the 29-year-old Marsh, who now lives in New York City.
