Oh, Manchester, So Much to Answer for: who I am

It's time the tale were told

I’ve had a blog in some form since July 2002. At its start, Oh, Manchester, So Much to Answer for was a mix of personal stuff a la livejournal, and music critic musings; my initial inspirations were Michaelangelo Matos and Nate Patrin, both of whom have since written and published multiple good books, and both of whom are now on this very platform, too. The title comes from a repeated line in the Smiths’ “Suffer Little Children,” to which I’ve always been drawn thanks to the fact that my hometown — pictured above, along with the Smiths’ eponymous 1984 debut — is North Manchester, Indiana. The Mancunian band were my absolute favorite as a teenager, and I’ve often remarked that my hometown does have “so much to answer for” — my teen years were miserable ones, marked largely by bullying and homophobia, even though I wasn’t actually out at the time, and the suffocation that came from small town life in the 1980s.

I believe I first started writing about music in 1983, for my junior high school newspaper (Pages by Pages — our high school was the Squires, so the junior high, it followed, was the pages). Fortunately none of those barely-teen writings have survived for posterity. Music has always been my greatest love, and writing about it is probably a close second. I recall writing things on my typewriter in college for no one but myself: riffs on Greil Marcus’s Real Life Rock Top 10s, my own listicles and year-end reviews; some of those may eventually get shared here, as examples of both my musical taste and writing in my earliest years as a would-be critic.

My favorite musician of all time is Prince; that’s not up for debate. (Favorite Prince song: “I Would Die 4 U,” followed closely by “U Got the Look.”) Behind him in no order: Pet Shop Boys, Chic, Louis Jordan (and His Tympany Five), the Smiths, Sonic Youth, Chaka Khan (with Rufus and solo), Daryl Hall and John Oates, Kenny G, David Bowie, Mary J. Blige, New Order, Bob Dylan. The best songwriter of my lifetime, at least, is Stephen Sondheim, followed closely by Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe, and then likely Dylan and Prince. Producers: Quincy Jones, then Jimmy “Jam” Harris and Terry Lewis, followed by L.A. Reid and Babyface and then, yet again, Prince.

Favorite album? Pat Metheny Group’s 1987 masterpiece Still Life (Talking), an album I play most times I’m feeling stressed/anxious, but also often for pure pleasure. My favorite single/s is a harder one to answer, though the two songs I most often think of answers to the question are the Smiths’ “How Soon Is Now” and Stardust’s “Music Sounds Better with You.” I mostly stream music these days, but still listen to a lot to vinyl, sometimes CDs, and even occasionally cassettes, the last more out of nostalgia than anything.

I’ve been published in Seattle Weekly (when Matos was their music editor) and SPIN (for whom I reviewed dumblonde and Meshell Ndegeocello), and was a voter for both the Village Voice Pazz & Jop Critics Poll and Nashville Scene’s Country Music Critics Poll for many years back when those were still a thing. For 2+ years I was a contributing writer for the late, great Stylus Magazine; for about the last 10 I’ve been writing for The Singles Jukebox, and involved on the backend for many years as well. (If you don’t know, TSJ took some time off and returned at the start of 2024 publishing the first full week of every month. I know I’m biased, but we continue to feature some great, punchy writing about current singles.) My favorite single of 2024, however, unlikely to be topped, is Victor Le Masne’s theme for the Paris 2024 Olympics and Paralympics, “Parade.” Just an astonishing piece of composition.

On a personal level, I’m non-binary trans and gay, a native Hoosier now living in Indianapolis (after 20 years afield), and am passionate about adaptive sport and men’s college basketball. I read a lot, love film, and roadtrip when I can. You can follow me on Instagram, Threads, and Bluesky.

Below is a playlist of many of my favorite songs of all-time; I generally tried to keep selections to one per artist with a few exceptions. Stardust isn’t here because their single is in a parallel playlist I may write about at some point. But this gives a decent read on who I am musically — it’s best on shuffle.

Thanks for reading. I’m glad you’re here.