The man who did more to legitimize rock journalism to academia, other than (perhaps) Hunter S. Thompson. His books include Lipstick Traces, about the punk rock era/movement, Dead Elvis, about the American obsession with Elvis Presley, and Invisible Republic, perhaps the best book ever written about American Music, through Bob Dylan's Basement Tapes. He currently writes a column for Salon called Real Life Rock Top 10, which is mostly useless.