Music fans are mourning the loss of influential rock critic Dave Marsh.
Variety is reporting that Marsh passed away on Friday in his Connecticut home, at the age of 76.
He Co-Founded Creem
Marsh was one of the earlier editors for rock music magazine Creem. His reviews also appeared in Rolling Stone, among other outlets.
In his later years, Marsh had become a host on SiriusXM’s “Kick Out the Jams,” radio show, and was also instrumental in launching the satellite radio service’s Bruce Springsteen-themed E Street Radio channel.
Jim Rotolo, host of SiriusXM’s “The Wild & The Innocent” show, confirmed Marsh had passed in a Facebook post he issued on Saturday morning.
“Dave wrote several books about Bruce as part of a remarkable body of work spanning some 25 titles,” Rotolo wrote, accompanying photos of himself with Springsteen and Marsh.
“A longtime rock critic for Creem and Rolling Stone, he was also one of the creators of ‘E Street Radio’ and hosted ‘Kick Out the Jams’ on SiriusXM for 19 years,” Rotolo added. “Rest easy, Dave. Thank you for everything, my friend. You will be missed.”
“We are deeply saddened by the passing of Dave Marsh, a pioneering music journalist, author, broadcaster and longtime member of the SiriusXM family,” Sirius XM said in a statement to Rolling Stone. “Our thoughts and prayers go out to his family.” SiriusXM’s E Street Radio will pay tribute to Marsh on Wednesday, August 19 at 10 a.m. ET.
A Springsteen Expert
GettyMarsh was one of the first rock journalists to champion Bruce Springsteen, and he wrote Rolling Stone’s first cover story on the New Jersey rocker in 1978.
Arguably his best-known work is “Born to Run.” Published in 1979, the biography chronicled the early days of Springsteen and the E Street Band, and has long been considered the definitive Springsteen biography.
Marsh also wrote an acclaimed book on The Who, sitting down with guitarist/songwriter Pete Townshend for a series of extensive interviews. In addition, he wrote books on Sly and the Family Stone, The Beatles, Credence Clearwater Revival, Black Sabbath and other books on Springsteen.
A Legacy of Rock Criticism
Last year, Daniel Wolff and Danny Alexander — who co-edited Marsh’s 2023 anthology “Kick Out the Jams” — appeared on the “Rock’s Back Pages” podcast, where they reflected on Marsh’s legacy in rock criticism.
According to Wolff, he felt an instant connection as a 13-year-old rock fan reading Marsh’s reviews in Creem. “He felt like my friend at 13,” Wolff recalled. “He was speaking right to me.”
Woff also referenced Marsh’s writing for the “Rock ‘n’ Roll Confidential” newsletter, which he founded in 1983.
Known for melding social science and political activism with rock criticism, Wolff noted that political activism was something that Marsh “carried through” into his writing.
“He was always writing as a fan,” Wolff continued. “But he was also writing as a fan who had looked behind the curtain and could bring things back that would be useful for other people to know, and to strategize direction and that sort of thing.”
