My Internet: Steven Hyden
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
What’s a recent meme or post that made you laugh?There was a recent conversation online about Beavis & Butthead and their commentary on various old music videos. Seriously some of the most influential music critics for me early on. Their take on Beck’s “Pay No Mind” is burned in my brain: “He’s like one of those dudes from the gifted class.” 
Do you tweet? Why?I do, though less than I used to. It used to be a professional obligation but now it’s like the final stages of an addiction. Still, I find that it’s still somewhat useful in getting people to look at my stuff. What do you use Instagram for?Promoting my work, which it definitely is not good at doing. Asking people on Instagram to read something is like trying to sell Morrissey a cheeseburger. What types of videos do you watch on YouTube?YouTube is easily my favorite streaming platform. I watch it constantly, especially when I don’t know what to watch. Most of the time, it’s either sports or political podcasts or old music documentaries that aired on the BBC in the eighties and nineties. The South Bank Show is the best program on TV! What do you like about TikTok? What do you dislike?Never watched it. Talking too much about the effects of TikTok on popular music is probably the lamest cliche in modern music criticism, though like most lame things I’m guilty of it. Where do you tend to get your news?Social media, unfortunately. How do you keep up with the online discourse? How important is it to you to do this?It’s important to keep up for my job though you can definitely keep up too much. Keeping up the exact right amount with online discourse is always a challenge. What’s the last strong opinion you had about a story, topic, or controversy online?These days I have to watch my mouth when it comes to spouting off about rivals of the Green Bay Packers in the NFC North. Lots of potential newsletter subscribers in Chicago, Minneapolis, and Detroit! What’s a popular misconception that you see repeated online?Rock is dead. It’s not. I’m keeping it alive single-handedly. What words, phrases, and/or people do you have muted?I’ve come to hate how “iconic” is used to describe things that are absolutely not iconic. What are your favorite newsletters?Ray Padgett’s Flagging Down The Double E’s is absolutely essential if you care about Bob Dylan to the stupid degree that I do. I also must shout out the Ian’s I co-host podcasts with, Ian Cohen and Ian Grant. How do you think Substack has changed media, if at all?It’s changed my career, that’s for sure. I’m one of the countless media people who would probably be dead in the water professionally without it. Writing my newsletter this year has been one of the most rewarding parts of my career, in all senses of the word, no question. How would you describe the culture of Substack, in terms of the types of writing and thinking that it has encouraged?I try to keep out of the culture, honestly. There’s a lot of writing in the music end of Substack where it’s these grifter types espousing self-help business-speak for “how to make it,” and it’s all one-sentence paragraphs that reek of AI. I just do my own thing. What’s one positive media trend? What’s one negative trend?The growth of independent media is good. The death of traditional institutional media is very bad. And I don’t think either trend will change any time soon. What, if anything, is there to learn from the popularity of the looksmaxxing trend and influencers like Clavicular?I could not give less of a shit about any of this. Do you have any advice for people who use sports betting apps or prediction markets?My step dad (RIP) was a gambling addict, so I have a real dislike for the normalization of this stuff. Generally, I’m a “live and let live”/decriminalize most things-type guy, but gambling is incredibly pernicious and devastating and putting kids on these apps right out of high school seems like a horrible trend to me. These gambling apps sponsoring every sports podcast would be like Jack Daniels or black tar heroin being a presenting partner for every music podcast. Have you found Claude, ChatGPT, or any other AI tools useful? How so?I despise AI so much. And people who use it to write … sorry to be judgemental, but I think it sucks and I have no respect for you! Writing is supposed to be hard sometimes. That’s why it’s rewarding. You think about stuff, you struggle with it, and then you have a breakthrough and it feels amazing. Why voluntarily take that feeling of real and genuine accomplishment away from yourself? It’s like playing a video game on the easy mode. Sure, you might win. But not in any meaningful way. It’s just loser behavior! Do you believe that advances in AI will spawn a new “underclass,” as Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei has suggested might happen? Or do you believe that the AI bubble about to burst?I suspect the reality will be somewhere in the middle and be far more boring but no less oppressive. Do you try to limit your phone use? If so, what methods have been helpful for this?Sort of but not really. I actually write a lot on my phone, to the annoyance of my wife. What’s something that you have observed about the online behavior of Gen Z, Millennials, Gen X, and/or Boomers?The generations seem mostly the same in this regard. It’s just that the older people turn their ringtones up louder and make the fonts bigger. How do you find recommendations for what to watch, read, and listen to?Social media, unfortunately. Have you had posts go viral? What is that experience like?Sure. It’s great for about an hour and awful for the next 24. Who’s the coolest person who follows you?I feel like it would be uncool of me to say. But I will mention one person: Lily Gladstone. I love her work and I have no idea why should follow me. Maybe she also loves “A Long December.” Who’s someone more people should follow?Ryley Walker. The funniest man in indie rock for many years running. Which big celebrity has your favorite internet presence, and why?I resent the premise of this question. Are you into any podcasts right now? How and when do you usually listen?I work from home, so I listen to podcasts on my daily walks, and it’s mostly sports podcasts, all the usual suspects. I can’t listen to music podcasts because I always want to talk back at the hosts. Do any of your group chats have a name that you’re willing to share? What’s something that recently inspired debate in the chat?The whole point of group chats is to keep them top secret. I have a theory that there is much less public shit-talking now on social media than there was 10 years ago because most of us keep it to group chats, where that talk belongs. What’s your go-to emoji, and what does it mean to you?I am a grown man, for Christ’s sakes. Do you text people voice notes? If not, how do you feel about getting them?No. And I don’t like getting them. Who has time to listen to your voice note? Get real! Do you pay for a music streaming service, and if so, which one? What’s a playlist, song, album, or style of music you’ve listened to a lot lately?I pay for several. Professional obligation. I won’t mention them because they don’t need my plug. Is there any content you want but can’t seem to find anywhere online?Remember Google search? I liked when that worked. Do you regularly use eBay, Depop, or other shopping platforms?I spend all my money buying CDs and t-shirts and other rock things nobody else wants on eBay. What’s the last thing that brought you joy online?A shirt from The Who’s first farewell tour in 1982, which I don’t think even the band thought was good but I have a lot of affection for. Story of my life! Thanks Steven! Buy his book and subscribe to his newsletter. More My Internet Taylor Tomlinson ∙ Sari Botton ∙ Grimes ∙ Shaad D’Souza ∙ Noelle Perdue ∙ Sean Fennessey ∙ Sam Kriss ∙ All
Edited by Nick Catucci. Logo by Kelsey Davenport.Forwarded this email? Subscribe.Reply to this email for a media kit.Visit Embedded’s older brother publication, RiffPost.
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