A Day in the Life of American Music Criticism

Abstract

The debate about the Beatles’ “Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club” album is a watershed in the 1960s discussion about how press critics approached the transformation of American musical culture. In part, the “Sgt. Pepper” debate gave some critics fresh material to challenge highly intellectualized musical compositions of the avant garde who worked within the growing network of college and university music departments. Pitted against the landscape of social unrest, protest, and rebellion, a few critics used “Sgt. Pepper” to dispense with notions of a dominant musical culture and talk about the proliferation of highly segmented musical genres and influences and new crossover phenomena where different musical idioms influenced each. Among the most outspoken critics championing the latter were Richard Goldstein of the Village Voice, Joan Peyser of the New York Times, and Richard Meltzer of Crawdaddy!