RIP: Dave Marsh, Bruce Springsteen Biographer and Rock Critic, Dies at 76.

Dave Marsh, the music critic and biographer who documented the early days of Bruce Springsteen in his influential 1979 book “Born to Run,” died Friday in his Connecticut home. He was 76.

Jim Rotolo, who hosts the Springsteen-fan cast “The Wild & The Innocent” on SiriusXM, confirmed Marsh’s death in a Facebook post on Saturday morning.

“Dave wrote several books about Bruce as part of a remarkable body of work spanning some 25 titles,” Rotolo wrote, along with a picture of himself, 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. Rest easy, Dave. Thank you for everything, my friend. You will be missed.”

“Born to Run: The Bruce Springsteen Story” was one of the first extensive biographies written about the Boss, who was still rising through his young career when it was published in 1979. “Born to Run” followed Springsteen’s journey from local New Jersey rocker to budding global phenomenon and shared a name with Springsteen’s 1975 breakout album.

Marsh, who penned several works about Springsteen, also published texts on the Who, Sly & the Family Stone, the Beatles, Creedence Clearwater Revival and Black Sabbath. He was also one of the earliest editors of Creem magazine and was a frequent contributor to Rolling Stone.

I’ve read Marsh’s 1982 book on The Who, Hope I Die Before I Get Old numerous times over the years. His obit at Rolling Stone mentions his rather more caustic side when he found an artist he couldn’t hero worship:

Marsh was a fearless critic, rarely holding back even with his most caustic and controversial views. “Whatever its claims, Queen isn’t here just to entertain,” he wrote in a notorious Rolling Stone review of Queens’ 1979 LP Jazz. “This group has come to make it clear exactly who is superior and who is inferior. Its anthem, ‘We Will Rock You,’ is a marching order: you will not rock us, we will rock you. Indeed, Queen may be the first truly fascist rock band. The whole thing makes me wonder why anyone would indulge these creeps and their polluting ideas.”

He had similar disdain for Journey, Air Supply, and Kiss, once bragging that he did his “share to keep [Kiss] off the ballot” during his 26-year tenure on the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame nominating committee.

Similarly, Marsh’s Wikipedia profile adds:

Marsh has been referred to as a “grumpy rock and roll journalist” due to his acerbic comments on popular musicians whom he dislikes. In 1976, he wrote that Led Zeppelin had an “insurmountable flaw” in drummer John Bonham, whom he saw as “something like clinically incompetent” and responsible for marring every Zeppelin album to date.

Somehow I think most of those artists managed to survive his withering reviews.