Preface, Kit Rachlis
Foreward, Jeff Salamon
Xgau, Tom Carson

Part I. Any Old Way We Choose It
Thursday, Joe Levy
Bob Is God, or, Two or Three Things You Don't Know About Him, Barbara O'Dair
A Concept of Two, Steve Erickson
A Less Treacherous Place, Mim Udovich
Coming Through, Greg Tate
The Media Center, Michaelangelo Matos

Part II. (If He's Acting Like a King, That's Because) He's a Human Being
Pink, Julian Dibbell
Bob's My Uncle, Perry Brandston
Vacation Bob, Robert Sietsema
Scenes From a Life (or Lives), Ariel Swartley
The Talk, RJ Smith
Robert Christgau: Behind the Music, Joe Gross

Part III. The Academy in Peril
In Exile, Perry Meisel
An Essay on Criticism, Simon Frith
Democratizing the Intellect, Frank Kogan
Why Classical Music Needs Rock & Roll, Greg Sandow
Beauty and the Bob, John Rockwell
To Hell With the Great Divide, or How I Became an Academic, Debra Rae Cohen

Interlude I: A Couple of Young Rock Critics Sitting Around Writing
Letters From Bob Christgau, 1969-71, Greil Marcus

Part IV. Edit This
Blading the Honey Pot, Dave Hickey
Unedited by Robert Christgau, Gary Giddins
Detail Work, Ed Ward
A Few Thoughts on Father Bob, Holly George-Warren
"The Rules of Bob Xgau," Carol Cooper

Part V. The Hardest Working Man in Show Business
Consumer Guide to Consumer Guides, Milo Miles
School Days, Arion Berger
Too Much, Too Many Promos, Eric Weisbard
Bob's Your Uncle, Glenn Kenny
Happy Birthday, Bob, Peter Stampfel

Interlude II: Christgau Remembers
A Conversation With Robert Christgau, Barbara O'Dair

Part VI. In Theory
Wanna Buy a Discourse? Jon Dolan & Laura Singara
Notes Toward a Phenomenology of Critical Listening, John Piccarella
Come Softly, Darling, Hear What I Say: Listening in a State of Distraction, Lindsay Waters
Charles Keil Follows His Muse, Jason Gross
My Favorite Song in German, Tom Smucker

Part VII. In Practice
Los Lobos, John Morthland
The Jazz Singer: Love and Theft, Marshall Berman
The Crying of Lot MTV, Nick Catucci
Notes on the Occasion of the Banning of 2 Live Crew's As Nasty as They Wanna Be, John F. Szwed
The Trouble With Trance, Andrew Ross
Turn Out the Lights, Georgia Christgau
Hymns, Tom Johnson

Part VIII. A Rock & Roll Critic Is Something to Be
A Rock & Roll Critic Is Something to Be, Tom Hull
Rock and Roll in the Dustbin of History, Jim Miller
As I Get Old, Ann Powers
The Garden of Forking Pith, James Hunter
The Erotics of the Ampersand, Rob Sheffield

Envoi
Real Piece of Work (excerpt), Carola Dibbell

Contributors