ARE ROCK CRITICS RELEVANT?

In the past few years, conventional wisdom says that rock critics, and movie critics are irrelevant thanks to bloggers. Despite being a blogger for a while now, I have to disagree. When Roger Ebert writes a film review, I take his opinion into account when deciding if I want to drop $30 on a night out with my wife (unless Mr. Ebert is talking about sci-fi/superhero stuff, in which case he tends to be a stick in the mud). Ditto for critics. There aren't really any music critics quite as recognized as Ebert, but there are some who I respect a lot. Anthony DeCurtis is one, Bill Flanagan is another. When Mojo gives someone a great review, I take heed.

Here's an article from the blog Drowned In Sound about why music critics are more important than ever.