Joel Selvin

Joel Selvin (born February 14, 1950) is an American San Francisco-based music critic and author known for his weekly column in the San Francisco Chronicle, which ran from 1972 to 2009. Selvin has written books covering various aspects of pop music—including the No. 1 New York Times best-seller Red: My Uncensored Life In Rock with Sammy Hagar—and has interviewed many musical artists. He has appeared in documentaries about the music scene and has occasionally taken the stage himself as a rock and roll singer.

Writing career

Music critic Selvin was born in Berkeley, California. Selvin soon wangled a backstage pass for a show at The Fillmore Selvin left the Chronicle for a brief, unsuccessful effort in undergraduate studies at the University of California, Riverside where he wrote for the school paper. Returning to San Francisco, he wrote a review of First Step by the Faces for Rolling Stone,

In 1972, Selvin was hired as an assistant to Chronicle music critic John L. Wasserman, and began to write for both the daily and the Sunday newspaper issues, filing reviews of local shows with rock and roll as well as rhythm and blues performances. pieces ran about Bob Dylan's first concert in San Francisco after his conversion to Christianity. In his piece entitled "Bob Dylan's God-Awful Gospel", Selvin wrote:

In 1994, Selvin began managing other pop music staff writers, directing and overseeing their assignments, and editing their contributions, all while continuing to contribute his own reports. For instance, the "Selvin Watch" section of April 1, 1998, included mention of five spelling errors in names of people and songs, and an incorrect recounting of how Metallica was seen to "whip out" the song "Fade to Black" and "ride off into the sunset" with it, even though they did not play that song at that concert.

In January 1999, Derk Richardson interviewed Selvin and other San Francisco Bay Area music critics about the perks that are given to them by music industry promoters. Richardson, at that time the music critic writing for the San Francisco Bay Guardian, evoked a written response from Selvin saying "You shoulda been around when it was really flowing; cases of liquor at Christmas, lavish parties with hookers and drugs (I remember one Lady Sings the Blues affair in particular). Graft is penny-ante these days." Regarding conflict of interest issues that may result from a critic and a musician becoming friends, Selvin responded, "We are encouraged to develop sources as confidants. The better our sources, the more effective our work. But developing these sources inevitably engenders sympathy or, at least, empathy that might be seen as compromising." In January 2014, Selvin was given the Marquee Award for lifetime achievement at the annual San Francisco nightlife awards, the Niteys.

Author In 1990, Selvin published Ricky Nelson: Idol for a Generation, a biography of Ricky Nelson which was nominated by Broadcast Music, Inc. (BMI) for the Ralph J. Gleason Music Book award.

In 2001, Selvin helped Paul Grushkin in authoring for Hard Rock Cafe, a book describing highlights of the restaurant and nightclub chain's extensive collection of rock and roll memorabilia.

In November 2010, Selvin published Smart Ass: The Music Journalism of Joel Selvin, a collection of 40 years of rock and roll reviews, interviews and articles centered on California performances, especially San Francisco Bay Area ones.

In March 2011, Red: My Uncensored Life In Rock, which Selvin co-wrote with Sammy Hagar, hit No. 1 on the New York Times best-seller lists.

His book Peppermint Twist, co-authored with John Johnson Jr. (with Dick Cami), was published in November 2012 by Thomas Dunn/St. Martins Press. This is the secret story of the top Mafia chief behind the New York City nightclub made world-famous by the Twist dance craze.

Selvin also co-authored the autobiography of tattoo artist Ed Hardy, Wear Your Dreams: My Life In Tattoos, for Thomas Dunne in June 2013. He also co-authored with Epic Records chairman L.A. Reid, Sing To Me: My Story of Making Music, Finding Magic, and Searching for Who's Next, for Harper Collins in 2016.

His Here Comes the Night: The Dark Soul of Bert Berns and the Dirty Business of Rhythm and Blues, published in April 2014 by Counterpoint Press, was called "a masterpiece of research, writing and investigative literature about one of the most influential and little-known songwriters in rock history" by the Cleveland Plain-Dealer.

The Haight, his 2014 book with photographer Jim Marshall, was named one of the ten best rock books of the year by Rolling Stone magazine. Gold medal winner—Best Regional Non-Fiction, 2015 West-Pacific IPPY Awards.

In August 2016, Selvin published Altamont: The Rolling Stones, The Hells Angels, And The Inside Story Of Rock's Darkest Day, a history on the Rolling Stones' concert debacle at the Altamont Speedway.

His Fare Thee Well: The Final Chapter in the Grateful Dead's Long, Strange Trip (with Pamela Turley) is a controversial insiders tell-all account of the twenty years of in-fighting after the death of bandleader Jerry Garcia that preceded the emotional reunion of the "core four" surviving members in historic concerts in California and Chicago in July 2016. The book was published in June 2018 by Da Capo Books. "...smartly steers clear of tie-dyed '60s mysticism," said Washington Post.

The New York Times cited Selvin's "blunt, unpretentious and brisk" style in their review of "Hollywood Eden," his 2021 West Coast pop origin story centered on the University High School class of '58, whose members included Jan and Dean, Nancy Sinatra, Bruce Johnston, Sandy Nelson, Kim Fowley, even Gidget.

In late 2023, the Arhoolie Foundation published the book Down Home Music: The Stories and Photographs of Chris Strachwitz, by Joel Selvin with Chris Strachwitz, the founder of Arhoolie Records. According to Selvin, Selvin was a longtime friend and disciple of Strachwitz, and when Strachwitz suggested publishing a book from his huge collection digitized photographs, Selvin enthusiastically jumped in to help. They worked on the book in the last 18 months of Strachwitz's life, and Selvin finished it shortly after Strachwitz's death in May 2023.

Music business Selvin was one of the early members of the Rock Bottom Remainders, a rock and roll band composed solely of published writers. and again joined the chorus for a performance in Bangor, Maine, in May 1998 where reviewer Kev Quigley noted Selvin's 30-second jumping, screaming vocal solo within the band's profanity-filled version of "Louie Louie".

Selvin wrote one of the chapters of the band's book Mid-life Confidential: The Rock Bottom Remainders Tour America with Three Chords and an Attitude, published in 1994. Selvin said that "the magic of the Remainders is that they got to be a rock band—a royally treated rock band—without having to play like one."

In 1993, Selvin co-produced Dick Dale's album Tribal Thunder.

Selvin has been interviewed several times on camera for documentaries about the music scene. In 2003, Selvin served as a consultant and appeared on screen in the TV movie Get Up, Stand Up: The Story of Pop and Protest, covering the subject of the music world's activity in politics. In 2006, Selvin appeared as himself in the four-hour documentary Bob Dylan 1975–1981: Rolling Thunder and the Gospel Years.

Selvin was interviewed for a Public Broadcasting Service documentary called Summer of Love which was completed in 2007. On the subject of the Summer of Love, Selvin said:

Teaching and speaking Selvin has taught classes at San Francisco State University and has lectured at Mills College, Blue Bear School of Music, and at the University of California, Berkeley Journalism Colloquium. at the "Monterey Pop Revisited" symposium, a conference assembled in honor of a Monterey, California museum exhibition of memorabilia from the Monterey Pop Festival. Selvin told the audience that "Section 43" recorded in 1965 by Country Joe and the Fish was "the definitive recorded example of genuine acid rock."

Personal life Selvin was married to musician Keta Bill, with whom he had a daughter. Selvin and Keta Bill were active in Thunder Road, a youth-oriented alcohol and drug rehabilitation center. Selvin is a contributor to H.E.A.R. Contemporary Books, 331 pages. 1992. Marshall, Jim; Selvin, Joel. Monterey Pop: June 16–18, 1967, Chronicle Books, 106 pages. 1993. Selvin, Joel. Summer of Love: The Inside Story of LSD, Rock & Roll, Free Love and High Time in the Wild West, Cooper Square Publishers, 376 pages. 1994. Selvin, Joel; Bachman, Randy. Sammy Hagar, illustrator. Photopass: The Rock & Roll Photography of Randy Bachman, SLG Books, 128 pages. 1994. King, Stephen, with Dave Marsh, Ridley Pearson, Amy Tan, Dave Barry, Tad Bartimus, Roy Blount, Jr., Michael Dorris, Robert Fulghum, Kathi Kamen Goldmark, Matt Groening, Barbara Kingsolver, Al Kooper, Greil Marcus, Joel Selvin. Mid-life Confidential: The Rock Bottom Remainders Tour America with Three Chords and an Attitude, Hodder & Stoughton, 448 pages. 1996. Selvin, Joel. San Francisco, the musical history tour: a guide to over 200 of the Bay Area's most memorable music sites, Chronicle Books, 176 pages. 1998. Selvin, Joel; Marsh, Dave. Sly and the Family Stone: An Oral History, HarperCollins Publishers, 195 pages. 2001. Grushkin, Paul; Selvin, Joel. Treasures of the Hard Rock Cafe: The Official Guide to the Hard Rock Cafe Memorabilia Collection, Rare Air, 300 pages. 2004. Selvin, Joel; Marshall, Jim. Jim Marshall: Proof, Chronicle Books, 132 pages. 2010. Selvin, Joel. Smartass: The Music Journalism of Joel Selvin, SLG Books, 416 pages. 2011. Selvin, Joel; Hagar, Sammy. Red: My Uncensored Life In Rock, Itbooks/Harpercollins, 242 pages. 2012. Selvin Joel; Johnson, John Jr.; with Dick Cami. Peppermint Twist: The Mob, the Music, and the Most Famous Dance Club of the '60s, Thomas Dunne Books/St. Martin's Press, 304 pages. 2013. Selvin, Joel; Hardy, Ed. Wear Your Dreams: My Life In Tattoos, Thomas Dunne Books/St. Martin's Press, 293 pages. 2014. Selvin, Joel Here Comes the Night: The Dark Soul of Bert Berns and the Dirty Business of Rhythm and Blues, Counterpoint Press, 433 pages, 2014. Selvin, Joel. The Haight: Love, Rock and Revolution -- The Photography of Jim Marshall, Insight Editions, 296 page, 2016. Selvin, Joel; Reid, LA. Sing to Me: My Story of Making Music, Finding Magic and Searching for Who's Next, Harper, 390 pages, 2016. Selvin, Joel. Altamont: The Rolling Stones, The Hells Angels, and the Inside Story of Rock's Darkest Day,