RJ Smith
RJ Smith has written for Spin, Details, the Village Voice and Los Angeles magazine. He is the author of the James Brown biography The One, a history of L.A.'s Central Avenue scene (The Great Black Way), and the acclaimed 2022 biography Chuck Berry: An American Life.
87 articles
List of articles in the library
Minor Threat: Hardcore Happiness
Profile and Interview by RJ Smith, Musician, November 1983
THE MUSIC of Minor Threat has great humor, an ultra-physical beat, and the pace of a ride in the front seat of a roller coaster. ...
Eddy Grant Does It California Style
Interview by RJ Smith, Creem, January 1984
I JUST GOT my current issue of Processed World ("The magazine with the bad attitude"), and it's a winner. Written by and for the shitheels ...
Gang of Four = Hard Men in Good Cars
Profile and Interview by RJ Smith, Creem, March 1984
"All we have in common is the illusion of being together. And the only resistance to the illusions of the permitted painkillers come from the ...
T Bone Burnett: Proof Through The Night (Warner Bros.)
Review by RJ Smith, Creem, March 1984
LIKE A DUST devil rolling across the arid nothing of Texas, T-Bone Burnett was recently barnstorming the nation. Though he's long been a moralizing rock ...
The Minutemen: Buzz Or Howl Under The Influence Of Heat (SST)
Review by RJ Smith, Creem, April 1984
CIVIL DEFENSE QUIZ: ARE YOU PREPARED?What should you do in case of a sudden dropping of a nuclear weapon on your neighborhood? A) Grab ...
Profile and Interview by RJ Smith, Creem, September 1984
NEW YORK — Not only can Shannon wail on tunes like 'Give Me Tonight' and 'Let The Music Play', but she knows her way around ...
The Dream Syndicate: Medicine Show (A&M)
Review by RJ Smith, Creem, October 1984
WELL, IT was fun while it lasted. In 1982, the Dream Syndicate put out Days Of Wine And Roses, a silly-ass tribute to the feeling ...
The Replacements: Going Down With the Replacements
Special Feature by RJ Smith, The Village Voice, 11 December 1984
Not a Bunch of Loads ...
The Fat Boys: Fat Boys: Fat Boys (Sutra SUS 1015)
Review by RJ Smith, High Fidelity, 1985
HOW IGNOMINIOUS: Three ace rappers make a whole album of worth-it raps, and their names appear nowhere on the record. Truly, the Fat Boys are ...
Profile and Interview by RJ Smith, Creem, January 1985
NEW YORK — Ruben Blades grew up watching Rebel Without A Cause and Rock Around the Clock as many times as he could — and ...
Billy Bragg: Life's a Riot With Spy vs. Spy (CD Presents)
Review by RJ Smith, Spin, September 1985
IT'S ABOUT time to write a deconstructionist regulation sheet to be posted in the halls of rockcritdom. I mean, surely it is so when a ...
Stevie Wonder: In Square Circle (Motown)
Review by RJ Smith, Spin, December 1985
THESE THINGS never do fall from the sky, like factor emissions and bird shirt. But if they did (If your mother had skates she'd be ...
LL Cool J: L.L. Cool J: Radio (Del Jam 8FC 40239. Distributed by Columbia.)
Review by RJ Smith, High Fidelity, February 1986
THIS IS A test. Entrepreneurs Rick Rubin and Russell Simmons recently inked a distribution deal with Columbia, heralding potentially the biggest commercial boost to underground ...
Review by RJ Smith, High Fidelity, March 1986
Great Expectations ...
Review by RJ Smith, High Fidelity, May 1986
Silly Love Songs ...
Essay by RJ Smith, High Fidelity, July 1986
Country used to be a music of the dispossessed. If you look hard enough, you'll find it still is. ...
GG Allin: Cat Club, New York City
Live Review by RJ Smith, The Village Voice, 21 October 1986
ILLIN' ON 24 oz. Jolt October 6 only made it worse. G.G. Allin, this New Hampshire loser, appeared at the Cat Club, wearing only a ...
Paul Simon: Still Mbaqanga After All These Years
Interview by RJ Smith, Spin, January 1987
For 20 years, Paul Simon whined and kvetched about the same things. Then he went to Africa and finally had fun. But he broke the ...
Guns N' Roses, Public Enemy: Public Enemy and Guns N' Roses: Busted Axl
Report by RJ Smith, The Village Voice, 22 August 1989
FORTY-EIGHT hours in the feeding-cycle of New York City. There were Uzis, Public Enemy regrouping, and a clique of blond babes orbiting Axl Rose at ...
Ice Cube, N.W.A: Straight Outta Here? Legal war erupts in N.W.A.
Report by RJ Smith, L.A. Weekly, 8 February 1990
IT'S LIKE the Sex Pistols all over again. NWA, rappers from Compton, generate a huge word-of-mouth reputation, they put out a careening album quickly banned ...
Soundgarden, Voivoid: Voivoid: Totally Wired
Profile by RJ Smith, L.A. Weekly, 1 March 1990
Voivod's cyberpunk rock ...
Report by RJ Smith, L.A. Weekly, 8 March 1990
The LAPD drops in on Public Enemy at the PALACE ...
2 Live Crew, Ice Cube: 2 Live Crew: Express Yourself
Report by RJ Smith, L.A. Weekly, 21 June 1990
AS WE go to press there is a Sheriff's Department search on inBroward County, Fla., for the two members of salacious rap group 2 Live ...
Comment by RJ Smith, L.A. Weekly, 5 July 1990
WHEN RUDY Ray Moore talked dirty to the house parties, when Dolomite told inner-city movie audiences "fucking up motherfuckers is my game," when Redd Foxx ...
Essay by RJ Smith, L.A. Weekly, 4 October 1990
RJ Smith on Living Colour and pop's buried history ...
James Brown: Wiltern Theater, Los Angeles CA
Live Review by RJ Smith, L.A. Weekly, 20 June 1991
Living in America: James Brown's defiant return ...
Celebrity Skin: Gypsies, Tramps and Thieves
Report and Interview by RJ Smith, L.A. Weekly, 4 July 1991
You too can be like Celebrity Skin ...
Guns N' Roses: The Last Angry White Man
Essay by RJ Smith, L.A. Weekly, 10 October 1991
A RED STATION wagon slows down in front of Tower Records on Sunset. It nuzzles up near the curb, where a line of people wait ...
Ice Cube: Death Certificate (Priority)
Review by RJ Smith, L.A. Weekly, 21 November 1991
The Racist You Love To Hate Ice Cube has his reasons ...
R.E.M.: Automatic for the People (Warner Bros.)
Review by RJ Smith, L.A. Weekly, 5 November 1992
Andy, Can You Hear Me? R.E.M. speaks of the dead ...
Interview by RJ Smith, Details, April 1993
With the demise of the Pixies, Black Francis assumes a new identity: Frank Black ...
Report and Interview by RJ Smith, L.A. Weekly, 17 June 1993
One Nation Under An Overpass ...
Interview by RJ Smith, Details, July 1993
Rick Rubin built a recording empire from a dorm room at NYU. With Def American Recordings, he's taken the sound of the streets to the ...
Sebadoh: Lou Barlow vs. the Riddler
Comment by RJ Smith, The Village Voice, 4 October 1994
EVERY GREAT music of self-denial depends on a culture of self-denial. Doo-wop's pained, courtly pleas to remote earth angels had their roots in the layered, ...
Charles Wright & The Watts 103rd St. Rhythm Band: Charles Wright Expresses Himself
Interview by RJ Smith, Grand Royal, 1995
YOU COULD see the 8x11 flyers when you got off the freeway north of downtown, or drove down Melrose, or about 100 other locations. Block ...
Report by RJ Smith, L.A. Weekly, 7 March 1995
IN A CITY where racial tensions are concealed until they erupt, the public schools are where Angelenos deal straight-up with their differences. And in a ...
Bone Thugs-N-Harmony: Rattling the Bones
Report and Interview by RJ Smith, Details, August 1995
Cleveland rappers Bone Thugs-N-Harmony always knew they'd be stars — their Ouija board told them so. RJ SMITH conducts a séance with hip-hop's hell-raisers. ...
Report and Interview by RJ Smith, The New York Times, 28 January 1996
EVEN FOR A break-all-the-rules punk rock band, some rules still apply. It's 10 minutes to stage, and the members of Rancid are sitting in their ...
Porno For Pyros: Good God's Urge (Warner Bros.)
Review by RJ Smith, Spin, July 1996
"HERE WE go!" went the opening words of Jane's Addiction's terminal record, Ritual de lo Habitual. Perry Farrell was blasting off like a bat out ...
Rage Against the Machine: Red, Hot and Bothered
Report and Interview by RJ Smith, Spin, October 1996
Rage Against the Machine have scorched America with their Molotov cocktail or hip-hop, hardcore, and extreme politics. But are they too rad for Russia? RJ Smith ...
Obituary by RJ Smith, Spin, December 1996
Tupac Shakur was more then just another million-selling gangsta rapper. He polarized the races like few pop stars, in death as in life. ...
Offspring: The Offspring: Ixnay on the Hombre (Columbia)
Review by RJ Smith, Spin, February 1997
OF COURSE The Offspring hail from Orange County. They have to be from Orange County. Frontman Dexter Holland was a high school punk rocker who ...
Serge Gainsbourg: To Serge With Love
Retrospective by RJ Smith, Spin, March 1997
SERGE GAINSBOURG was an unrepentant slave to lust and liquor. He recorded 'Lemon Incest' with his then 13-year-old daughter — in the video, they sang ...
Wu-Tang Clan: Phantoms of the Hip-hopera
Report and Interview by RJ Smith, Spin, July 1997
After four years of frenzied solo excursions, the members of Wu-Tang Clan reconvene as a group amid the usual circumstances — mystery, panic, tragedy — ...
Charles Brown: Honey Dripper: Charles Brown caresses the blues
Profile and Interview by RJ Smith, L.A. Weekly, 31 July 1997
THE MAN locking eyes with you from the cover of Charles Brown's last album is the kind of rogue so elegant he barely cocks his ...
The Geraldine Fibbers: Blood on the Tracks
Interview by RJ Smith, Spin, September 1997
The Geraldine Fibbers' new album, Butch, is a wonder, a violent, uncompromising sprawl of a rock record, a punch to the heart. But, worries RJ Smith, if ...
Insane Clown Posse: The Great Milenko (Island)
Review by RJ Smith, Spin, October 1997
IN ITS OWN way, the deal must have made perfect sense. Here was a label, Hollywood, among the most staggeringly unsuccessful on Earth. In its ...
Atari Teenage Riot: What's the Frequency, Alec?
Interview by RJ Smith, Spin, March 1998
The revolution is nigh, heralds radical German dude/Atari Teenage Rioter Alec Empire. RJ Smith learns it will all be in the mid-range. ...
Review by RJ Smith, Spin, March 1998
ANGELS are God's designated hitters. They're represented in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, among many other religions; they pretty much show up any place people put ...
Bob Dorough: After-School Special: Bob Dorough
Review by RJ Smith, The Village Voice, 24 March 1998
I KNOW THIS couple who think Lou Rawls is the shit. You can look in the books on soul music and find little reference to ...
Bone Thugs-n-Harmony, Eazy-E: Ruthless Records: It Ain't Eazy
Report and Interview by RJ Smith, Vibe, June 1998
What would you do if you inherited an infamous rap label with a catalogue of old hits and a fading reputation? Sell it for a ...
Lucinda Williams: Lost in America
Interview by RJ Smith, Spin, July 1998
HOW DID A 45-YEAR-OLD "NEUROTIC DIVA" WITH ONE FOOT IN FAULKNER'S SOUTH AND ONE FOOT IN GARTH'S MANAGE TO MAKE THE YEAR'S BEST ALBUM? SIMPLE, SAYS ...
Billy Bragg, Woody Guthrie, Wilco: Songs For Woody: Billy Bragg & Wilco's Mermaid Avenue
Review by RJ Smith, The Village Voice, 7 July 1998
WOODY GUTHRIE bequeathed us his jumble. Willing in life to play straight man for many right causes, in death he left a tangle of words ...
Overview by RJ Smith, The Village Voice, 11 August 1998
THERE OUGHT to be a genre name for the other kind of art-rock — music that includes all the ridiculously extreme stuff, all the stuff ...
Live Review by RJ Smith, Spin, September 1998
BEFORE ANYTHING else is said about the opening night of the 57-date Lilith Fair, let's note the nice: The climate at Portland's Civic Stadium was ...
Korn: Harvest of Sorrow: Korn: Follow The Leader (Immortal/Epic)
Review by RJ Smith, Spin, October 1998
For millions of kids, Korn's house of pain feels like a home away from home. ...
Review by RJ Smith, The Village Voice, 24 November 1998
BECK TO THE BASE ...
Thomas Anderson: Flying Saucer Rock & Roll
Profile and Interview by RJ Smith, The Village Voice, 29 December 1998
WITH THREE FINE albums and a recent seven-song EP, available respectively from Dutch East India, Bomp, and now Germany's Red River, Thomas Anderson is clearly ...
Elliott Smith: He's Mr Dyingly Sad, And You're Mystifyingly Glad
Profile and Interview by RJ Smith, Spin, January 1999
ELLIOTT SMITH recovers nicely. Just one hour ago he was sitting in a tiny backstage room, enjoying a postshow libation and breathing in a blue ...
Lo Fidelity Allstars: Out To Lurch: Lo-Fidelity All-Stars' How to Operate with a Blown Mind
Review by RJ Smith, The Village Voice, 19 January 1999
MAYBE THE SWELLEST thing about the first wave of electroboogie funk in the early '80s, 'Planet Rock' and the Jonzun Crew, Space Invaders and all ...
Paul Westerberg: How Paul Westerberg Got His Groove Back
Interview by RJ Smith, Spin, March 1999
ON HIS CLEAR-EYED NEW ALBUM, THE ONETIME BASTARD OF THE YOUNG MAY HAVE FINALLY LAID TO REST THE BEERY MEMORY OF THE LATE, GREAT REPLACEMENTS. ...
Prince Paul: The Director's Cut: Prince Paul's Prince Among Thieves
Review by RJ Smith, The Village Voice, 2 March 1999
NOBODY IN THE genre today sees more possibility in hip-hop than Prince Paul. I say that in the face of his tour de force A Prince ...
Kelly Willis: Just Walk Away: Kelly Willis' What I Deserve
Review by RJ Smith, The Village Voice, 13 April 1999
KELLY WILLIS HAS the most uncomfortable-making way of saying "thank you". Live a few weekends ago I heard her say it at least a dozen ...
Pavement: The Long and Winding Road: Pavement: Terror Twilight (Matador)
Review by RJ Smith, Spin, June 1999
Pavement turn down the noise and open up their hearts, sort of. ...
Beck, Tenacious D: Casino Royale: Beck, Tenacious D, Tropicana Casino & Resort, Las Vegas NV
Live Review by RJ Smith, Spin, August 1999
HORNS: CHECK. WIGS: CHECK. FALSETTO: CHECK. BECK PULLS OUT THE STOPS IN SLOTSVILLE. BUT THOSE BUFFETS ARE TOUGH COMPETITION ...
Kool Keith: The Man Of 1000 Masks
Profile and Interview by RJ Smith, Spin, August 1999
WHEN HE'S NOT RAPPING ABOUT ALIEN AUTOPSIES AND FUNKY GYNECOLOGISTS, KOOL KEITH IS COMING UP WITH THE STRANGEST PERSONAS THIS SIDE OF PLANET JUPITER. HOW ...
The Red Hot Chili Peppers: To Live and Die in L.A.
Interview by RJ Smith, Spin, August 1999
IN THE FOUR YEARS SINCE THEIR LAST ALBUM, THE RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS HAVE SURVIVED DRUG RELAPSES, MENTAL FREAK-OUTS, AND THE DEPARTURE OF DAVE NAVARRO. ...
Ol' Dirty Bastard: Nigga Please (Elektra)
Review by RJ Smith, Spin, November 1999
THE TRUE opener of this dazzling, daffy album gets buried near the end. Nigga Please should have begun with his mocking yet eerily touching cover ...
Ol' Dirty Bastard: Law And Disorder
Report by RJ Smith, Spin, December 1999
OL' DIRTY BASTARD PUTS ON A SHOW — THIS TIME IN COURT ...
Review by RJ Smith, Spin, December 1999
Kicking and screaming, Rage Against The Machine drag their contradictions into the light. By RJ Smith. ...
Prince Paul: Eight reasons why Prince Paul rocks
Interview by RJ Smith, Spin, January 2000
1. Not content with merely putting skits on hip-hop albums, he invented the hip-hop skit as album. ...
Aimee Mann: Catcher In The Wry
Interview by RJ Smith, Spin, May 2000
She scored with the heartbreaking Magnolia soundtrack, but Aimee Mann isn't gloating just yet ...
Neil Young: Silver & Gold (Reprise)
Review by RJ Smith, Spin, June 2000
"I DON'T KNOW what I'm doing/My software's not compatible with you," Neil Young moans on 'Without Rings', the last song on his 36th (!) record. ...
Modest Mouse: Caught in a trap
Interview by RJ Smith, Spin, July 2000
For seven years, Modest Mouse have been writing songs about being stranded in boom-time America. Now they’re signed to a major label and more lost ...
Report and Interview by RJ Smith, The New York Times, 6 August 2000
As entertainment entrepreneurs align the fantasy lands of rap, rock, wrestling and pornography, a generation of fans grows ever more brutish. ...
Victoria Williams: Water to Drink (Atlantic)
Review by RJ Smith, Spin, September 2000
I SING THE SONG of the okra: There's a lot more there than you think. If it's the pluperfect artifact of the country kitchen, the ...
Merle Haggard: Workin' Man Blues
Profile and Interview by RJ Smith, Spin, November 2000
MERLE HAGGARD'S DONE MORE TIME THAN OL' DIRTY BASTARD AND HAS BEEN MAKING HARDCORE COUNTRY RECORDS SINCE BEFORE YOU WERE BORN. AT 63, HE'S GOT ...
Rufus Wainwright: Parlour Of Vices: Rufus Wainwright's Poses
Review by RJ Smith, The Village Voice, 19 June 2001
BACK IN THE days of Stephen Foster, the piano was the centerpiece of the parlour. That was the room that women ran, the room where ...
Review by RJ Smith, The Village Voice, 26 June 2001
THE PROP PLANE circled the ballpark, trailing the type of banner you might also see at the beach. The message, though, was not what you ...
Cornel West: Go See The Doctor: Cornel West's Sketches of My Culture
Review by RJ Smith, The Village Voice, 16 October 2001
CORNEL WEST'S Sketches of My Culture is probably the first hip-hop record by a Harvard professor. I demand that academia reciprocate and immediately put Ol' Dirty Bastard ...
Kid Rock: Like a Motown Cowboy
Comment by RJ Smith, The Village Voice, 18 December 2001
TWO GUYS MARCH into the Victor Recording Company office one summer day in 1922, mad flossing all the way: one dressed like a cowboy, the ...
DJ Shadow: To The Batcave: DJ Shadow's The Private Press
Review by RJ Smith, The Village Voice, 4 June 2002
OUT-OF-BODY Experience, heaven version: "I saw my life before my eyes, and that is no shit… I saw myself walking in and out of countless ...
Comment by RJ Smith, The Village Voice, 5 November 2002
IN THE money scene of 8 Mile, the young white Detroit rapper Rabbit Smith (played by young white Detroit rapper Eminem) battles a series of ...
Spiritualized: Amazing Grace (Spaceman/Sanctuary)
Review by RJ Smith, Spin, October 2003
Garage rock from Mars ...
Elliott Smith: You've Got To Hide Your Love Away
Retrospective and Interview by RJ Smith, Spin, 18 February 2004
WHEN ELLIOTT SMITH played Los Angeles in the fall of 2002, after more than a year of semi-seclusion, he didn't look so good. His hands ...
Retrospective by RJ Smith, The Village Voice, 18 October 2005
August 23, 1988 ...
Rocking Cincinnati's R&B Cradle
Retrospective and Interview by RJ Smith, The New York Times, 23 January 2009
A CROWD GATHERS around crumbling walls that are a small evolutionary step up from a miserable pile of bricks. The facade leaks water, and masonry ...
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