See also: Richard Goldstein (disambiguation).

Richard Goldstein (born June 19, 1944) is an American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 journalist

Journalist

A journalist collects and distributes news and other information. A journalist's work is referred to as journalism.A reporter is a type of journalist who researchs, writes, and reports on information to be presented in mass media, including print media , electronic media , and digital media A...

 and writer

Writer

A writer is a person who produces literature, such as novels, short stories, plays, screenplays, poetry, or other literary art. Skilled writers are able to use language to portray ideas and images....

. He wrote for the Village Voice from June 1966 until 2004, eventually becoming executive editor

Editing

Editing is the process of selecting and preparing written, visual, audible, and film media used to convey information through the processes of correction, condensation, organization, and other modifications performed with an intention of producing a correct, consistent, accurate, and complete...

. He specializes in gay

Gay

Gay is a word that refers to a homosexual person, especially a homosexual male. For homosexual women the specific term is "lesbian"....

 and lesbian

Lesbian

Lesbian is a term most widely used in the English language to describe sexual and romantic desire between females. The word may be used as a noun, to refer to women who identify themselves or who are characterized by others as having the primary attribute of female homosexuality, or as an...

 issues, music

Music

Music is an art form whose medium is sound and silence. Its common elements are pitch , rhythm , dynamics, and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture...

, and counterculture

Counterculture

Counterculture is a sociological term used to describe the values and norms of behavior of a cultural group, or subculture, that run counter to those of the social mainstream of the day, the cultural equivalent of political opposition. Counterculture can also be described as a group whose behavior...

 topics.

Early development

Goldstein was born to Jack and Mollye Goldstein. He was raised in the Bronx in the Parkside Houses. His father was a mail carrier, his mother a homemaker. He attended Hunter College for his undergraduate degree. Goldstein graduated from Columbia University

Columbia University

Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...

 School of Journalism in 1966, and joined the Village Voice in June of that year. He published his first book 1 in 7: Drugs on Campus in 1966. Goldstein covered the emerging worlds of pop

Pop music

Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...

 and rock music

Rock music

Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...

 in his "Pop Eye" column, establishing him one of the first rock critics. He also wrote pieces for Vogue

Vogue (magazine)

Vogue is a fashion and lifestyle magazine that is published monthly in 18 national and one regional edition by Condé Nast.-History:In 1892 Arthur Turnure founded Vogue as a weekly publication in the United States. When he died in 1909, Condé Montrose Nast picked up the magazine and slowly began...

, Mademoiselle

Mademoiselle

Mademoiselle may refer to:* The French-language equivalent of "miss" * "Mademoiselle Juliette", a 2007 song by French singer Alizée...

, Travel and Camera, The Saturday Evening Post

The Saturday Evening Post

The Saturday Evening Post is a bimonthly American magazine. It was published weekly under this title from 1897 until 1969, and quarterly and then bimonthly from 1971.-History:...

, The Los Angeles Times, and The New York Times

The New York Times

The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...

. Asked to write The Timess review of the Beatles

The Beatles

The Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...

' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band

Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band

Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band is the eighth studio album by the English rock band The Beatles, released on 1 June 1967 on the Parlophone label and produced by George Martin...

, Goldstien wrote a negative appraisal. This unleashed a backlash from Beatles fans, many of whom were unaware of Goldstein's previous work praising the band. Goldstein has since shifted his opinion on the album. He left the Village Voice in 1968, but he returned in the early 1970s in an editorial role. He has issued two collections of his work, Reporting the Counterculture and Goldstein's Greatest Hits. He also released a collection of rock lyrics interspersed with psychedelic illustrations, The Poetry of Rock. This book has been taught in literature classes in a number of secondary schools and universities.

Writings on Gay issues

Goldstein, who came out in the 1970s, has been a champion of gay rights and issued early calls for attention to the AIDS epidemic. Since, he has tackled the cutting-edge topic of gay

Gay

Gay is a word that refers to a homosexual person, especially a homosexual male. For homosexual women the specific term is "lesbian"....

power politics with two books published in the early 2000s: The Attack Queers and Homocons. He famously issued a call in The Nation for Eminem to duel with him, taking exception to the controversial rapper's homophobic lyrics. Goldstein is a GLAAD-award winner for his contributions to the gay community.

Major works

• 1 in 7: Drugs on Campus (1966)
• Words, words, words on Pop censorshipzzz (1966)
• US #1: A Paperback Magazine (1969)
• US #2: Back to School Issue (1969)
• US #3: The Roots of Underground Culture (1970)
• Goldstein's Greatest Hits: A book mostly about rock 'n' rollzzz (1970)
• Richard Goldstein's The Poetry of Rockzzz (1972)
• Reporting the Counterculture (Media and Popular Culture: 5) (1989)
• South Bronx Hall of Famezzz: Sculpture by John Ahearn and Rigoberto Torres (1992), with Michael Ventura
• Born on the Street Graffitizzz
• The Attack Queers: Liberal Society and the Gay Right (2002)
• Homocons: The Rise of the Gay Right (2003)

Quotation