Alexis Petridis

Alexis Petridis is the Guardian’s principal rock and pop critic, writing about contemporary music and its surrounding culture for the entertainment desk. His coverage is defined by close, opinionated listening paired with a long view of pop history, so new records, artists and trends are constantly measured against the wider canon rather than treated as isolated moments. He has held this critic role since the early 2000s, giving his work a continuity and depth that runs across generations of acts and shifts in how people listen to music.

Rock and pop criticism over the long haul

Petridis’s core output is reviews of rock and pop releases, ranging from major chart stars to heritage artists and cult favourites.

His pieces typically balance clear verdicts on the music with detailed description of songwriting, production and performance, using reference points from several decades of pop to explain why a record matters or why it falls short. He covers headline names such as Taylor Swift alongside artists from folk, indie and other genres, often folding in the cultural narratives and legal or commercial disputes that surround them.

The tone is direct and unsentimental: he writes as a critic rather than a fan, and his reviews are structured around argument and evidence rather than hype.

Ranked lists and reappraisal of the canon

Alongside straight reviews, Petridis regularly writes ranked features that reassess an artist’s catalogue and place in music history. A typical example is his piece on Joan Baez, “Raw, romantic and radical: Joan Baez’s 20 greatest songs – ranked!”, where individual songs are used to trace Baez’s artistic development, political commitments and influence. In these lists he treats familiar material as open to re-examination, highlighting deep cuts and overlooked phases rather than simply repeating received wisdom.

The format lets him connect long careers to the present day, showing how older work resonates with current debates around activism, image and authenticity in pop.

Music industry and culture features

Petridis also writes longer features on the structures and personalities behind popular music, such as his article on Clive Davis and the way Davis anticipated and shaped the careers of major stars. These pieces focus on how decisions by executives, labels and platforms determine which artists break through and how their images are built, rather than treating success as purely organic. In coverage of streaming, he has examined how services like Spotify affect everyday listening, co-authoring a piece that tested the limits of living both with and without the platform over a week.

He returns to questions of power, money and representation in the arts, including stories where lawsuits, image management and Latino representation are central to understanding how music is produced and consumed.

Pop culture writing beyond reviews

Beyond record reviews and music-industry stories, Petridis has worked across broader pop culture, including fashion writing and showbusiness columns for the Guardian’s weekend and entertainment sections.

He has contributed to general-interest magazines as a pop culture journalist, bringing his music critic’s eye to celebrity narratives, style and the mechanics of fame. His commentary is frequently syndicated or picked up by other outlets, and profile summaries note his work appearing under banners such as Yahoo News UK and the Irish Times in addition to the Guardian.

He also appears as a guest on music-focused podcasts, where he discusses acid house, classic rock acts and compilation series, underlining his command of both underground scenes and mainstream pop history. Taken together, his body of work positions him as a critic who can move easily between reviewing records, unpacking industry dynamics and analysing the broader spectacle of entertainment.