Timothy White, A Conscience Of Pop Music

[jeffles]

I'd like to mention the recent passing of Timothy White, who was a truly great rock journalist. While it may not have much to do with Lindsey Buckingham, other than the fact that Timothy White would support someone like LB, I still found it quite intesting and worthy of posting here.
Here is an article that appeared in the Washington Post regarding Tim White.



"In his 11 years as editor-in-chief of Billboard magazine, Timothy White drew on a lifelong passion for great music and grand ideals to transform that often sycophantic trade journal into one that challenged the music industry as often as championing it.

White, who died of a heart attack Thursday in New York at age 50, elevated the quality of Billboard's writing as well as the accuracy of its reporting, both in business coverage and the magazine's all-important charts. In an era marked by enormous technological change and tempestuous economics in the music business, White managed to shepherd Billboard through its most prosperous times.

Tim White's writing was as distinguished as his demeanor -- a natty dresser, White always sported a bow tie -- and he made no effort to contain his enthusiasm or his vast knowledge of non-musical matters. He led Billboard by example, through cover interviews he conducted with major artists, "white papers" examining controversial aspects of the music business, and particularly through his weekly Music to My Ears column. There, White proved an eloquent advocate for what he considered important music, regardless of its commercial prospects.

In fact, White's column often heralded new artists long before their work reached consumers, while also providing attention to worthy historic figures. White used his pulpit to speak out against myriad economic injustices in the music business, to slam artists for recording (and labels for releasing) violent and misogynistic music, even as he battled for free speech and artists' rights.

White was, as Billboard noted in announcing his passing, "the industry's moral compass." Proof of his reformist orientation was his expansion of Billboard's Washington presence and its tough coverage of Capitol Hill and the Washington-based Recording Industry Association of America. Last year, White and Washington correspondent Bill Holland shared the prestigious ASCAP-Deems Taylor Award for investigative stories on musical copyrights and the ultimate ownership of sound recordings.

Just as important, under White's watch the Billboard chart department implemented a new reporting methodology in 1991 with the introduction of computerized sales data from SoundScan, the first statistically accurate barometer of consumer tastes. SoundScan confirmed the sales power of country, rap and metal, musical genres generally devalued in earlier reporting systems that relied on data delivered by radio stations and record stores.

The passion for music that informed White's erudite writing was evident in everyday conversation. He could be found discussing myriad topics at congressional hearings, backstage at concert events or awards ceremonies, or out on the street after discovering some new band in a hole-in-the-wall club.

In the early '70s, White covered both sports and entertainment for the Associated Press, but a music-focused career seemed inevitable after he connected to the two crucial rock journals of the era, Crawdaddy (where White was managing editor from 1976 to 1978) and Rolling Stone (where he was a senior editor from 1978 to 1982).

An erstwhile drummer, White sometimes played in the Dry Heaves, Rolling Stone's in-house band featuring the publication's founding father, Jann Wenner, and fellow writers Charles M. Young, Kurt Loder and Jon Pareles -- a rock journalism equivalent of Stephen King's Rock Bottom Remainders.

Fortunately, White's own books were never candidates for remainder status. He wrote acclaimed biographies of Bob Marley, the Beach Boys and James Taylor, and a collection of his Billboard essays was published in 1996. White's most recent columns reflected his typically wide-ranging interests: Taylor's upcoming album, the Catholic Church's current troubles, funk trombonist Fred Wesley Jr.'s autobiography, the German composer Kurt Weill's flight to freedom in the early '30s.

White's last column, filed just an hour before he suffered his heart attack, recollects his time at Rolling Stone and was inspired by recent changes in that magazine's editorial direction (Wenner has vowed, "We want a magazine that is not dull or boring"). White wrote that his years at Rolling Stone "were never dull or boring; the staff was exuberant and impassioned to a fault. . . . We made a magazine based on what we jointly felt was absorbing and worthwhile, untrammeled by focus groups, the undue influence of publicists, or the tug of market forces. And we never sought to imitate anything else. It was a vessel of journalistic voices, constantly in the messy process of becoming itself."

It was the same attitude that Timothy White brought to Billboard, and much the same spirit that inspired White's own writing."

[Les]

When I first heard about it, I was wondering if somehow there could be two Timothy Whites because the one that I knew of... it just didn't seem like that report could be right. But I guess that's silly because it never does seem right for anyone.

I did...and will continue...to enjoy his writing.

[Skylark]

I was playing an older video of Lindsey Interviews...and Timothy White was speaking about The Mac! His reporting was cleverly minimal...but quietly dignified and good!! He will be missed! Sky

The Dance #1 on Billboard Album Charts {1997}
" People like to... celebrate band comebacks...
2nd. acts...3rd. acts...Fleetwood Mac is having
an Incredible Comeback!" T. White on video...

[itsmeangie]

Saw this in Billboard, thought some might be interested...

BY BILL HOLLAND
WASHINGTON, D.C.-- Billboard editor in chief Timothy White, who died June 27, is being saluted in Congress for his role in the music industry.
Rep. John Coyers, D-Mich., took to the floor of the House of Representatives July 25 to herald White. "His life is an example of how one man can make a difference," Conyers said in a statement to be entered into The Congressional Record. "He had a passion for what's right and was not afraid to pursue that goal, whether it was to force a change in the music business or through the hearing rooms in Congess. He also never missed an opportunity to champion a forgotten or still-undiscovered artist."
Conyers is the ranking Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, which is charged with overseeing copyright matters. He was joined in the salute by Rep. Karen McCarthy, D-Mo. More members of the House and Senate plan to add their tributes to White to The Congressional Record.

*angie