Wayne Robins
Journalist | 2020For more than fifty years, Wayne Robins has been recognized as one of America’s top music and pop culture journalists.
Beginning with his first professional job in 1972 at CBS Records, Wayne’s mid-70’s writings for Rolling Stone, New Musical Express, Melody Maker, The Village Voice and Creem Magazine (where he also served as Editor) eventually brought him home to Long Island to serve as Newsday’s pop music writer in 1975. For the next 20 years, Wayne’s reviews, interviews and reporting were ‘must-reading’ for music fans locally and beyond. In 1986, Goldmine Magazine named Wayne as America’s Best Rock Writer.
Wayne’s writing can be found on numerous album liner notes and booklets, including his 3,000 word essay for the 2014 Sony Music DVD package release of “Billy Joel : The Bridge to Russia.”
Wayne’s post Newsday work included stints at Billboard and Radio and Records magazines. He currently writes the widely popular ‘Critical Conditions’ column on substack.com.
The author of several books – including the influential “A Brief History of Rock; Off The Record’ – coupled with his many publications and book chapter contributions are highlights of Wayne’s resume as Adjunct Professor of Journalism at St. John’s University where, as an award-winning faculty member, he trains a new generation of journalists and critics. He serves as a member of the editorial board, Rock Music Studies (Routledge).
Wayne Robins’ journalistic work has influenced the musical tastes and interests of a generation of Long Islanders. He covered the birth of the punk scene and new wave. He wrote about reggae entering the American music mainstream. Whether he was covering concerts at Nassau Coliseum and Westbury Music Fair or at one of Long Island’s many legendary clubs, he credits Newsday as giving him the space to write, think, examine, and interpret. His goal as a journalist has always been to educate, entertain, inform and illuminate. His readers trust him to be honest and fair while his interviews are ‘master classes’ in the art of songwriting and performing.