Tim Riley

Associate Professor and Graduate Program Director
Pronouns: (He/Him/His)
Tim Riley
Email Email tim_riley@emerson.edu Link Website

NPR critic Tim Riley has written widely about the Beatles and rock history, most recently with What Goes On: The Beatles, Their Music In Their Time (with Walter Everett, Oxford University Press, 2019). His other books include Lennon: Man, Myth, Music (Hyperion, 2011), which the New York Times praised as “a critical tour-de-force,” Tell Me Why: A Beatles Commentary (Knopf/Vintage 1988), Hard Rain: A Dylan Commentary (Knopf/Vintage 1992, Da Capo 1999), Madonna: Illustrated (Hyperion 1992), and Fever: How Rock'N'Roll Transformed Gender In America (St. Martin's/Picador 2005).

He has lectured on campuses nationwide discussing Censorship in the Arts and Rock History, and was Brown University's Critic-In-Residence in 2008. The Los Angeles Review of Books carries his essays on subjects like Richard Wagner and Randy Newman, and his byline has appeared in the New York Times, the Washington Post, Salon, Slate, and Radio Silence. His multimedia anthology appeared in 2022.

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About

  • Department Journalism
  • Since 2009
  • Office Hours
    • Monday: 4:00-5:00 p.m., Walker 615

Education

B.M., Oberlin Conservatory
M.M., Eastman School of Music

Areas of Expertise

  • Audio
  • Digital Media
  • Humanities & Cultural Studies
  • Interactive Media
  • Journalism
  • Music
  • Performing Arts
  • Pop Culture
  • Publishing
  • Radio
  • Rock & Roll
  • Television & Radio
  • The Beatles

Publications

Hard Rain: A Dylan Commentary

1992

Fever: How Rock 'n' Roll Transformed Gender In America

2005

Award-winning book reviewer for truthdig.com, the New York Times, and the Los Angeles Book Review.

2009

Lennon: Man, Myth, Music

2011

Awards & Honors

First Place for 2015–2016, National Arts and Entertainment Journalism Awards

2016

Los Angeles Press Club

2016

Book/Cultural Critic, Online

2016