Steven Hyden

Steven Hyden (born September 7, 1977) is an American music critic, author, and podcast host. He is the author of the books ''Your Favorite Band Is Killing Me'' (2016, on rivalries in pop music history), ''Twilight of the Gods'' (2018, on the history of classic rock), '' Hard to Handle'' (2019, co-authored with Steve Gorman about The Black Crowes), ''This Isn't Happening'' (2020, about Radiohead's '' Kid A'') and ''Long Road'' (2022, about Pearl Jam's influence on a generation).

He co-hosts the podcasts, ''Indiecast'' (with Ian Cohen) and ''Never Ending Stories'' (with Ian Grant and Evan Laffer), and previously hosted the podcasts, ''36 From the Vault'', ''Rivals'', ''Break Stuff: The Story of Woodstock '99'', and ''Celebration Rock''. He is a critic for Uproxx and previously served as staff writer at Grantland and an editor at ''The A.V. Club''.

Early life

Steven Hyden was born on September 7, 1977 in Wisconsin. He graduated from Appleton East High School, then the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire in 2000.

Career

Hyden began his career with ''The Post-Crescent'' in 1993; then 15 years old, he contributed to a weekly section for teenagers (his first submission, hand-written, was a review of the 1993 album ''Zooropa'' by U2). He continued working for the paper as an intern while in college, and then joined the staff as a full-time reporter when he graduated in 2000.

He joined UPROXX as a cultural critic in July 2016. He previously worked at Grantland as a staff writer and at ''The A.V. Club'' as an editor. His music criticism has been published in several other outlets including Pitchfork, ''Rolling Stone'', ''Slate'', ''American Songwriter'' and Salon.com.

Podcasts

''Celebration Rock''

From January 2016 - December 2018, Hyden hosted the ''Celebration Rock'' podcast. A new episode debuted weekly on Monday afternoon and usually ran about 50–60 minutes in length. Hyden and his guests covered topics ranging from "Best Rock Albums of the '10's (so far)" to hour-long interviews with artists (Rick Nielsen of Cheap Trick, Deftones) and hosting other critics to discuss their famous works. The podcast mostly emphasized the current rock scene, but also dove into the past with episodes and interviews about The Replacements, Cheap Trick, and others.

''Break Stuff: The Story of Woodstock '99''

From July 9, 2019 to August 27, 2019, Hyden hosted an eight episode podcast about the Woodstock '99 festival on the subscription podcast network Luminary. He later appeared as an expert on the HBO documentary '' Woodstock 99: Peace, Love, And Rage''.

''Rivals''

From February 6, 2020 to January 27, 2021, Hyden co-hosted ''Rivals'', a podcast about rivalries between band-mates and contemporaries in rock, with Jordan Runtaugh.

''Indiecast''

In July 2020, Hyden began co-hosting ''Indiecast'', a podcast about indie music news and trends, with Ian Cohen.

''36 From the Vault''

In January 2020, Hyden began co-hosting ''36 From the Vault'', a podcast about the Grateful Dead's live album series Dick's Picks, with co-host Rob Mitchum.

''Never Ending Stories''

In 2023, Hyden began co-hosting ''Never Ending Stories'', a podcast about Bob Dylan's Never Ending Tour and other live recordings, with the hosts of ''Jokermen'', an initially Dylan-themed podcast.

Books

''Inventory''

In 2009, Hyden was a co-author of the book ''Inventory: 16 Films Featuring Manic Pixie Dream Girls, 10 Great Songs Nearly Ruined by Saxophone, and 100 More Obsessively Specific Pop-Culture Lists,'' a collection of lists from ''The A.V. Club''.

''Whatever Happened to Alternative Nation?''

In 2011, Hyden published the e-book ''Whatever Happened To Alternative Nation?'', a critical analysis and personal reflection on 1990s alternative rock that originally ran as a 10-part series at ''The A.V. Club''.

''Your Favorite Band Is Killing Me''

On May 17, 2016 Hyden released ''Your Favorite Band Is Killing Me'', published by Back Bay Books. It is a collection of essays on famous pop music rivalries throughout rock history, including Oasis

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