My Internet: Steven Hyden
Steven Hyden, music critic and author of a book about The Strokes, discusses his media consumption habits, skepticism toward AI and gambling apps, and his theory that public shit-talking has migrated from social media to private group chats. He emphasizes the importance of struggle in creative work and expresses concerns about the decline of traditional institutional media.
Summary
Steven Hyden, who writes the music newsletter Evil Speakers and recently published a book on The Strokes, shares his perspective on internet culture and media consumption. He credits Beavis & Butthead's music video commentary as influential early music criticism and maintains a complicated relationship with social media—viewing it as professionally necessary for promotion despite its ineffectiveness on platforms like Instagram. Hyden's preferred platform is YouTube, where he watches sports, political podcasts, and archival BBC documentaries, particularly praising The South Bank Show.
On contemporary cultural issues, Hyden expresses strong opinions against AI-generated content, arguing that writing should be challenging and that taking shortcuts diminishes genuine accomplishment. He draws a parallel to easy-mode video games, calling it "loser behavior." He also strongly opposes the normalization of gambling apps, particularly their sponsorship of sports podcasts, viewing them as pernicious and devastating—especially concerning given their marketing to young people. This stance stems from personal experience with his stepfather's gambling addiction.
Regarding social media evolution, Hyden proposes a theory that public shit-talking has declined on social platforms because it has relocated to private group chats, where such discourse appropriately belongs. He uses group chats specifically for keeping conversations secret and away from public scrutiny. On institutional media, he articulates a nuanced position: while the growth of independent media is positive, the concurrent death of traditional institutional media is deeply problematic, with no expectation either trend will reverse.
Hyden discusses his professional practice of writing newsletters on Substack, consciously avoiding the self-help business rhetoric and AI-written one-sentence-paragraph style he sees from "grifter types." His newsletter work has been tremendously rewarding and career-changing. He also credits co-hosting podcasts with two Ians (Cohen and Grant) as transformative professionally. He acknowledges being a grown man who resents receiving voice notes and listens primarily to sports podcasts on daily walks, avoiding music podcasts because he wants to actively engage rather than passively listen.
About this episode
The music writer and author is single-handedly keeping rock alive.
Key Insights
- Hyden argues that public shit-talking has significantly decreased on social media over the past decade because users have migrated that discourse to private group chats, where it belongs.
- Hyden contends that AI-generated writing eliminates the struggle and difficulty that makes creative accomplishment genuinely rewarding, likening it to playing video games on easy mode.
- Hyden views gambling app sponsorships of sports podcasts as analogous to hard drug or alcohol companies sponsoring music content—a dangerous normalization of an addictive vice targeting young audiences.
- Hyden claims that while independent media growth is beneficial, the simultaneous decline of traditional institutional media represents a significant loss that will not be reversed.
- Hyden's early music criticism was profoundly influenced by Beavis & Butthead's dismissive commentary on music videos, which he considers among the most influential critical voices of his formative years.
Topics
Transcript
Every other week (or so) we quiz a “very online” person for their essential guide to what’s good on the internet. Today we welcome Steven Hyden , who writes the influential music newsletter Evil Speakers and just released a new book, Is This It: The Never-Ending Rise and Fall of The Strokes (and Rock ‘n’ Roll) , that was warmly reviewed in The New York Times. Steven was deeply influenced the commentary of Beavis & Butthead and has a theory that there is less shit-talking now on social media because it moved to group chats. —Nick “Asking people on Instagram to read something is like trying to sell Morrissey a cheeseburger.” There was a recent conversation online about Beavis &…
Full transcript available for MurmurCast members
Sign Up to Access