Talk:Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies

RE: Revision to last paragraph in "Content and scope"
"While preparing the book" + "into his work" are redundant; preparing the book was the work. "Marriage to" is more common, and clear, phrasing. "The Road Taken" by Christgau refers to "our infertility", so it is not controversial to word it similarly here. The original revision did not say or suggest that she left because of the immersion into the book; maybe you are projecting this, or seeing something that is not there. I do not see your revision as emphasizing the idea that she did not leave for this reason, but rather elaborating on the "marital strife" with more words than necessary, in a section meant to discuss the book's content and scope, and cheapening the paragraph a bit with ancillary, sensational personal details, unrelated to the purpose of the section. The importance of the recollection to Christgau is unimportant. Its only importance should be to the paragraph here, which is to summarize the book's contents; it is only here to reinforce the dedication to his wife and her presence in the book's preparation. Introducing another book undermines this, and the paragraph loses more focus. If the comment had been recalled secondhand by a friend, it would not be attributed directly to Christgau in the text. The obvious does not need to be explained to readers, which is that the quote comes from a reliable source; "he later said", because he did. Dan56 (talk) 22:19, 2 February 2019 (UTC)

"Standard reference" statement
There is a problem with this article. This is not some 'forum' discussion - pay attention, Dan! ANI is going to be the next step ... Christgau was a very opinionated writer, and it shows. Although much of the rock press was despicable, he was particularly pointed out by many rockers from Ian Hunter to Grace Slick as being witless. The 'standard reference' statement in the article can't really be backed up. I have never purchased it, because his newspaper and magazine reviews were nothing but pablum. Will need more than a single RS to substantiate it. 50.111.24.29 (talk) 19:56, 23 June 2019 (UTC)


 * If you believe this, then do something about it, buddy. Dan56 (talk) 04:07, 24 June 2019 (UTC)
 * The IP's comments attacking a living person as "witless" are BLP violations and need to be removed per WP:BLP. ♟♙ (talk) 14:59, 27 June 2019 (UTC)