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Good topic for a thread.
I think Lester Bangs nailed that whole gonzo Rock writer as Rock star thing. He was helped by having decent taste but I increasingly can't read his stuff simply because after a few lines it becomes achingly clear how he really wanted to be a musician more than anything else. Ditto Nick Kent (minus the good taste). I think this is probably true of all music critics but in the case of Lester it was just taking things a bit too far.
Greil Marcus I like. His 'Presliad' essay on Elvis is still my favourite piece of writing about RnR, as well as a short piece he wrote about Neil Young that I can't remember the name of.
Stanley Booth's 'Rhythm Oil' about Southern Blues is fantastic but probably a bit too specific in its topic to have broad appeal. A great piece of music writing nonetheless.
More recently, I always find Simon Reynolds interesting even if i rarely find myself agreeing with him and hate the whole dissensus thing that he's spawned.
I don't read any of the really contemporary writers. I don't even know who they are. Although I reckon a few people who post here would make a decent fist of it, assuming they aren't already.
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