Toby Cresswell, Music Journalist

Abstract

This chapter is an interview with Toby Cresswell, one of Australia’s most influential music journalists. He edited Rolling Stone (Australia) and was founding editor of Juice magazine. He has written numerous books, articles for multiple publications both national and international, and has also worked extensively in television and publishing. The worst appraisal from Toby is one of mediocrity, of being part of the “sludge”. A song needs a story to be worth listening to or worth writing about and so needs to be a unique contribution to culture. The new media have challenged the role of the music critic as fundamentally as it has the role of the musician and composer. But there is no sense of nostalgia for a lost profession here. Rather Toby has a sense of opportunity and optimism about the future of music criticism.