The Last Critic (2026)

Robert Christgau, The Dean of American Rock Critics, whose work has inspired and infuriated readers for sixty years—is still at it in his eighties, grading records, interrogating commas and listening to absolutely everything (except metal and prog).

The Last Critic is the first documentary feature about Robert Christgau, a pioneer of music criticism. The self-proclaimed Dean of American Rock Critics, Christgau helped invent the form in 1967 while covering the Monterey Pop Festival for Esquire, then redefined the form in 1969 with his Consumer Guide at The Village Voice—letter-graded, capsule reviews, 18 thousand of them over more than 50 years, and continuing to this day at Substack, where Christgau has been a best selling author since 2019.

A contributor to Rolling Stone, Creem, Spin, and The New York Times, Christgau made his greatest impact at The Village Voice as both an editor and writer. In the ‘70s, when pop music was defined by Fleetwood Mac and Billy Joel (who disliked Christgau almost as much as Christgau disliked him), he championed not just the punk of CBGB, but the funk of George Clinton and the soul of Al Green. He helped start the careers of generation after generation of gifted writers, among them Greg Tate, Colson Whitehead, Ann Powers, Joe Levy, Chuck Eddy, Nelson George, and Eric Weisbard. Now in his eighties, Bob is still at it, writing with the same vigor, concision and craft. From Thelonius Monk to James Brown, from The Ramones to Sleater-Kinney, from Aretha Franklin to Olivia Rodrigo, from Second Avenue to Soweto, no writer has considered Pop music with the force and flair as Christgau.

Director: Matty Wishnow

Editor: Paul Lovelace

Cinematographer: Ben Wu

Runtime: 82 minutes

Q&A to follow with director Matty Wishnow and editor Paul Lovelace, facilitated by NPR Music Critic Ann Powers