James Peter DeRogatis (born September 2, 1964) is an American
music critic
'' The Oxford Companion to Music'' defines music criticism as "the intellectual activity of formulating judgments on the value and degree of excellence of individual works of music, or whole groups or genres". In this sense, it is a branch of m ...
and co-host of ''
Sound Opinions
''Sound Opinions'' is an independent radio talk show and podcast based in Chicago. It focuses on the discussion of music genres, history, artists and albums. It airs weekly on over 150 public radio stations nationwide and is syndicated though th ...
''. DeRogatis has written articles for magazines such as ''
Rolling Stone
''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason.
The magazine was first known fo ...
'', ''
Spin'', ''
Guitar World
''Guitar World'' is a monthly music magazine for guitarists and fans of guitar-based music and trends. The magazine has been published since July 1980. ''Guitar World'', the best-selling guitar magazine in the United States, contains original a ...
'', ''
Matter
In classical physics and general chemistry, matter is any substance that has mass and takes up space by having volume. All everyday objects that can be touched are ultimately composed of atoms, which are made up of interacting subatomic pa ...
''
and ''
Modern Drummer'', and for 15 years was the pop music critic for the ''
Chicago Sun-Times
The ''Chicago Sun-Times'' is a daily nonprofit newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Since 2022, it is the flagship paper of Chicago Public Media, and has long held the second largest circulation among Chicago newspaper ...
''.
He joined
Columbia College Chicago
Columbia College Chicago is a Private college, private art college in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Founded in 1890, it has 6,493 students (as of fall 2021) pursuing degrees in more than 60 undergraduate and graduate degree programs. It i ...
's English Department as a lecturer in 2010 and is currently an associate professor of instruction teaching Music & Media in Chicago, Reviewing the Arts, Cultural Criticism and the Arts, and Journalism as Literature.
Career
In 1982, while a senior at
Hudson Catholic Regional High School in
, DeRogatis conducted one of the last interviews with rock critic
Lester Bangs
Leslie Conway "Lester" Bangs (December 14, 1948 – April 30, 1982) was an American music journalist and critic. He wrote for ''Creem'' and ''Rolling Stone'' magazines and was also a performing musician. The music critic Jim DeRogatis called ...
, two weeks before Bangs's death of a drug overdose.
Over a decade later, this encounter would serve as the beginning and inspiration for DeRogatis's Lester Bangs biography ''Let It Blurt''.
Attending on a scholarship, DeRogatis attended
New York University
New York University (NYU) is a private university, private research university in New York City, New York, United States. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded in 1832 by Albert Gallatin as a Nondenominational ...
majoring in journalism and minoring in sociology. As a junior, DeRogatis began writing for the ''
Hoboken Reporter'', first as a music columnist before adding city government to his reporting duties. In 1985, at the start of his senior year, DeRogatis began writing full time for the ''
Jersey Journal'', spending two nights a week on news stories and three days on wedding and church announcements.
After living in
Minneapolis
Minneapolis is a city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States, and its county seat. With a population of 429,954 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the state's List of cities in Minnesota, most populous city. Locat ...
to manage a friend's band and do freelance music writing, DeRogatis first joined the ''
Chicago Sun-Times
The ''Chicago Sun-Times'' is a daily nonprofit newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Since 2022, it is the flagship paper of Chicago Public Media, and has long held the second largest circulation among Chicago newspaper ...
'' in 1992; he left in 1995 to join ''Rolling Stone'' magazine, a job that lasted eight months, and was back at the ''Sun-Times'' in three years.
While at ''
Rolling Stone
''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason.
The magazine was first known fo ...
'' magazine, he was fired after writing a negative review of
Hootie & the Blowfish's album ''
Fairweather Johnson''. The review irked ''Rolling Stone'' publisher
Jann Wenner
Jann Simon Wenner ( ; born January 7, 1946) is an American businessman who co-founded the popular culture magazine ''Rolling Stone'' with Ralph J. Gleason and is the former owner of '' Men's Journal'' magazine. He participated in the Free S ...
who had it pulled from publication. DeRogatis's employment with the magazine was terminated after he revealed this incident to the public.
DeRogatis hosts ''
Sound Opinions
''Sound Opinions'' is an independent radio talk show and podcast based in Chicago. It focuses on the discussion of music genres, history, artists and albums. It airs weekly on over 150 public radio stations nationwide and is syndicated though th ...
'' with fellow music critic
Greg Kot
Greg Kot (born March 3, 1957) is an American music journalist and author. From 1990 until 2020, Kot was the rock music critic at the ''Chicago Tribune'', where he covered popular music and reported on music-related social, political and busines ...
. The
radio talk show is heard on
Chicago Public Radio
WBEZ (91.5 FM) – branded ''WBEZ 91.5'' – is a non-commercial educational radio station licensed to Chicago, Illinois, and primarily serving the tri-state region of the Chicago metropolitan area. It is owned by Chicago Public Media and is fi ...
and nationally syndicated by
American Public Media
American Public Media (APM) is an American company that produces and distributes public radio programs in the United States, the second largest company of its type after NPR. Its non-profit parent, American Public Media Group, also owns and o ...
and is available as a
podcast
A podcast is a Radio program, program made available in digital format for download over the Internet. Typically, a podcast is an Episode, episodic series of digital audio Computer file, files that users can download to a personal device or str ...
. The program is one of the longest running talk radio shows focusing exclusively on rock music with stints on both Chicago's
WXRT
WXRT (93.1 FM), also known as XRT and 93-XRT is an alternative rock radio station in Chicago, Illinois. The station is owned by Audacy, Inc.
The station broadcasts from a transmitter atop John Hancock Center and its studios are located at T ...
and an early incarnation on
Q101 featuring Bill Wyman from the Chicago Reader in place of Greg Kot. The move to Chicago Public Radio took place on December 3, 2005.
DeRogatis plays drums in the punk rock band
Vortis;
its most recent album (Spring 2019) is
This Machine Kills Fascists' on Cavetone Records. He previously played in the bands the Ex-Lion Tamers (
Wire
file:Sample cross-section of high tension power (pylon) line.jpg, Overhead power cabling. The conductor consists of seven strands of steel (centre, high tensile strength), surrounded by four outer layers of aluminium (high conductivity). Sample d ...
cover band), Airlines, Speed the Plough,
and The Shotdowns. Vortis has released two albums and a third is due to be released soon.
Ryan Adams
DeRogatis became known also for a scathing review of a
Ryan Adams
David Ryan Adams (born November 5, 1974) is an American Rock music, rock and Country music, country singer-songwriter. He has released 30 studio albums and three as a former member of Whiskeytown.
In 2000, Adams left Whiskeytown and released ...
show in Chicago, which prompted Adams to leave a "grumpy" message on DeRogatis's answering machine, in which he blasted DeRogatis for seeming to desire criticizing the artist, not the music. Adams later commented that DeRogatis should not have made the recording public, and that leaving the message in the first place was a mistake since it empowered the critic.
R. Kelly
DeRogatis and Abdon Pallasch reported for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' in December 2000 that court records and interviews alleged that musician
R. Kelly had used his position of fame and influence to meet and have sex with underage girls. DeRogatis and Pallasch reported in February 2002 that a videotape had surfaced allegedly featuring Kelly engaging in sex with a 14-year-old girl. As a ''Sun-Times'' music critic, DeRogatis had received the videotape and subsequently turned it over to police.
DeRogatis was named as a witness in Kelly's 2008 child pornography trial. The defense lawyers charged that DeRogatis should be charged with possession of child pornography for allegedly making a copy of the tape and showing it to another person after turning the original over to police.
After initially failing to appear for the trial, DeRogatis was ordered by Judge Vincent Gaughan on May 30, 2008, to report to the trial the following day. However, upon questioning by Judge Gaughan outside of the presence of the jury, DeRogatis refused to provide substantive answers, citing his First and Fifth Amendment rights as the basis for his refusal.
Judge Gaughan disagreed that as a journalist DeRogatis had a First Amendment basis for refusing to testify, but excused DeRogatis from taking the stand in front of the jury based upon his Fifth Amendment right not to incriminate himself.
On July 17, 2017, DeRogatis reported for ''
BuzzFeed News
''BuzzFeed News'' was an American news website published by BuzzFeed beginning in 2011. It ceased posting new hard news content in May 2023. It published a number of high-profile scoops, including the Steele dossier, for which it was strong ...
'' that Kelly had been accused by three sets of parents of holding their daughters in an "abusive cult". Kelly released a song discussing the allegations against him and criticizing DeRogatis in 2018 titled "
I Admit".
The result of 19 years of reporting, his book, ''Soulless: The Case Against R. Kelly'', was published by Abrams Press on June 4, 2019.
Personal life
DeRogatis was born and raised in
, in a
Catholic
The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...
family.
When he was five, his father, an
underwriter
Underwriting (UW) services are provided by some large financial institutions, such as banks, insurance companies and investment houses, whereby they guarantee payment in case of damage or financial loss and accept the financial risk for liability ...
for
Prudential Insurance Company, died of a
heart attack
A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when Ischemia, blood flow decreases or stops in one of the coronary arteries of the heart, causing infarction (tissue death) to the heart muscle. The most common symptom ...
in 1969.
After rejecting
religion
Religion is a range of social system, social-cultural systems, including designated religious behaviour, behaviors and practices, morals, beliefs, worldviews, religious text, texts, sanctified places, prophecies, ethics in religion, ethics, or ...
during his
freshman year of high school, DeRogatis became an
atheist
Atheism, in the broadest sense, is an absence of belief in the existence of deities. Less broadly, atheism is a rejection of the belief that any deities exist. In an even narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there no ...
. In 2003, DeRogatis married Carmél Carrillo. He has a daughter, Melody (born circa 1997), from a previous marriage.
References
Bibliography
* ''Let it Blurt: The Life and Times of Lester Bangs, America's Greatest Rock Critic'', Broadway Books, 2000
* ''Milk It!: Collected Musings on the Alternative Music Explosion of the '90s'', Da Capo Press, 2003
* ''Turn On Your Mind: Four Decades of Great Psychedelic Rock'',
Hal Leonard Publishing Co, 2003
* ''Kill Your Idols: A New Generation of Rock Writers Reconsiders the Classics'', Da Capo Press, 2004
* ''Staring at Sound: The True Story of Oklahoma's Fabulous
The Flaming Lips
The Flaming Lips are an American psychedelic rock band formed in 1983 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. The band currently consists of Wayne Coyne (vocals, guitars, bass, keyboards), Steven Drozd (guitars, bass, keyboards, drums, vocals), Derek Brown ...
'', Broadway Books, 2006
* ''The Velvet Underground: An Illustrated History of a Walk on the Wild Side'', Voyageur Press, 2009
*
External links
Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Derogatis, Jim
1964 births
Living people
American atheists
American music critics
American people of Italian descent
Columbia College Chicago faculty
Hudson Catholic Regional High School alumni
New York University alumni
People from Jersey City, New Jersey
Writers from Chicago
Chicago Sun-Times people
20th-century American non-fiction writers
21st-century American non-fiction writers
Rolling Stone people