Dave Marsh

Dave Marsh (born March 1, 1950, Detroit, Michigan) is an American music critic who briefly attended Wayne State University, became a co-founder of Creem magazine, wrote for various publications such as Newsday, The Village Voice, and Rolling Stone, and also edited Rock and Roll Confidential, a newsletter about rock music and social issues. Marsh is also a member of the National Advisory Board of PROTECT: The National Association to Protect Children.

His other credits include being rock n roll entertainer Bruce Springsteen's quasi-official biographer, with a total of four books published. Bestsellers include Born to Run and Glory Days. [1] Mr. Marsh is closely associated with Mr. Springsteen, and Marsh's wife, Barbara Carr, is one of Springsteen's co-managers. Marsh is also closely associated with Jon Landau, a Springsteen manager and producer.

Marsh has been credited as a performer in the "cult group" the Rock Bottom Remainders, a rock band which includes authors Stephen King and Amy Tan, and humorist Dave Barry, among others.

Along with Rolling Stone magazine publisher Jann Wenner, Marsh has been involved organizing and maintaining the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Ohio. However, Marsh has courted, at times, controversy with his style of maintaining selections and at one time was asked to resign.

In 1979, Dave Marsh's now legendary review of the album Jazz by Queen was published in Rolling Stone, in which Marsh wrote "Queen may be the first truly fascist rock band." (Rolling Stone, Feb. 8th 1979). His opinion of Queen had softened when he wrote in the 1979 Rolling Stone Record Guide merely that "Jazz was another bombastic farce."

Dave Marsh has a Sirius XM Radio show called Kick Out the Jams, airing Sundays on eclectic-rock channel The Loft. (The title references the well-known MC5 album, a record which does not appear in the aforementioned Marsh-edited Rolling Stone Record Guide.)

Marsh is a co-founder and trustee of The Kristen Ann Carr Fund [2], created in memory of his daughter who passed away in 1993 from sarcoma, a form of cancer. 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.

Publications

• Born to Run: The Bruce Springsteen Story, (Doubleday) 1979
• The Book of Rock Lists, (Dell) 1980
• Elvis, (Times Books) 1982
• Rocktopicon: Unlikely questions and their surprising answers, (Contemporary) 1982
• Before I Get Old: The Story of the Who, (St. Martin's Press) 1983
• Fortunate Son (Random House) 1983. A collection of his journalism and criticism.
• The First Rock and Roll Confidential Report: Inside the Real World of Rock and Roll, 1984. Compilation.
• Sun City: The Making of the Record ,(Penguin) 1985
• Trapped: Michael Jackson and the Crossover Dream, (Bantam) 1986
• The Rolling Stone Record Guide: Reviews and Ratings of Almost 10,000 Currently Available Rock, Pop, Soul, Country, Blues, Jazz, and Gospel Albums (first and second editions 1979, 1983)
• Glory Days: Bruce Springsteen in the 1980s, 1987. A sequel to Born to Run.
• The Heart of Rock & Soul: The 1001 Greatest Singles Ever Made, (NAL) 1989
• Heaven Is Under Our Feet: A Book for Walden Woods, co-editor with Don Henley, (Longmeadow Press, 1991)
• 50 Ways to Fight Censorship: And Important Facts to Know About the Censors (Thunder's Mouth Press), 1991
• Louie Louie: The History and Mythology of the World's Most Famous Rock'n'Roll song; Including the Full Details of Its Torture and Persecution at the Hands of the Kingsmen, J. Edgar Hoover's F.B.I., and a Cast of Millions; and Introducing, for the First Time Anywhere, the Actual Dirty Lyrics, (Hyperion), 1992.
• Merry Christmas Baby: Holiday Music from Bing to Sting, (Little Brown) 1992.
• Pastures of Plenty: A Self-Portrait with Harold Levanthal and featuring the writings of Woody Guthrie (Perennial) 1992
• The New Book of Rock Lists with James Bernard, (Fireside) 1994
• Mid-Life Confidential: The Rock Bottom Remainders Tour America with Three Chords and an Attitude (Viking) 1994
• Sam and Dave (For the Record series), (Harper Perennial) 1998
• Sly and the Family Stone: An Oral History (For the Record series), (Quill) 1998
• George Clinton & P-Funkadelic (For the Record series), (Harper Perennial) 1998
• Bruce Springsteen: Two Hearts : The Definitive Biography, 1972-2003, (Routledge) 2003. Combines earlier two works about Bruce and adds a new chapter.
• Forever Young: Photographs of Bob Dylan with Douglas R. Gilbert (Da Capo Press) 2005
• Bruce Springsteen on Tour : 1968-2005 (Bloomsbury USA) 2006
• The Beatles' Second Album (Rodale Books) 2007

References

• Biographical Information for Dave Marsh
• Rock's Back Pages (list of articles)
• Rock and Rap Confidential
• The Heart of Rock and Soul

External links

• Rock and Rap Confidential