Steven Hyden

Steven Hyden (born September 7, 1977) is an American music critic. He hosts the podcast Celebration Rock and is the author of the books Your Favorite Band Is Killing Me (2016), on rivalries in pop music history, and Twilight of the Gods (2018), on the history of classic rock. He is a critic for Uproxx and previously served as staff writer at Grantland and an editor at The A.V. Club.

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.

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.

Podcast

In January 2016, Hyden launched the Celebration Rock podcast. A new episode debuts weekly on Monday afternoon and usually runs about 50–60 minutes in length. Hyden and his guests cover 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 emphasizes the current rock scene, but also dives into the past with episodes and interviews about The Replacements, Cheap Trick, and others.

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 versus Blur, Beatles versus Rolling Stones, and Madonna versus Cyndi Lauper.

Twilight of the Gods

On May 1, 2018, Hyden published Twilight of the Gods: A Journey to the End of Classic Rock. The 19-chapter book is structured to resemble a double-LP, with "tracks" divided among four "sides".

Forthcoming

Hyden is at work on a project with Black Crowes drummer Steve Gorman, expected out in 2019.

In addition, he is writing a book on Radiohead, with emphasis on Kid A, due in 2020.

Hyden is married and lives in Minneapolis.