Steven Hyden Books In Order

Publication Order of Non-Fiction Books

Steven Hyden is an American author, podcast host, and music critic.

Born September 7, 1977, in Wisconsin, Steven attended Appleton East High School, where he graduated. In 2000, he would go on to attend the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire.

Steven Hyden is known for writing the books Your Favorite Band Is Killing Me, all about different rivalries that have gone on in the history of pop music, as well as Twilight of the Gods, all about the history going back of classic rock. Hard to Handle was written about the band The Black Crowes and was co-authored along with Steve Gorman.

Hyden is also the author of This Isn’t Happening, a 2020 release that was all about Kid A by Radiohead. He also wrote Long Road, which detailed the influence that Pearl Jam had on an entire generation.

Steven Hyden is the co-host of the podcast Indiecast, hosted along with Ian Cohen, and 36 From the Vault, which is co-hosted along with Rob Mitchum. He has also hosted such podcasts as Break Stuff: The Story of Woodstock ‘00, Celebration Rock, and Rivals.

Celebration Rock was hosted by the author from a period of January 2016 to December of 2018. A different episode would debut on a weekly basis, coming out in the afternoon on Monday. Most podcasts would be about fifty to sixty minutes. Hyden would host guests and together they would chat about various things such as the best rock albums of certain time periods or interviews with other artists and critics, going into the rock scene past and present.

On Break Stuff, Hyden hosted in 2019 for about two months. The podcast ran for eight episodes and was all about the Woodstock ‘99 festival. It was available on Luminary, a subscription podcast network. He would appear in the HBO documentary Woodstock 99: Peace, Love, and Rage.

Hyden also co-hosted Rivals from February 2020 to January 2021. This was a podcast that was all about rivalries between different people in Rock and was co-hosted along with Jordan Runtaugh.

He is also the co-host of Indiecast, a podcast all about trends and news in indie music, and has co-hosted on the podcast From the Vault and began co-hosting a podcast in 2023 called Never Ending Stories, which was all about the Never Ending Tour from Bob Dylan and other different live recordings.

Hyden is a critic for Uproxx. He has been a staff writer for Grantland and an editor at The A.V. Club.

Hyden first started his career in 1993 working at fifteen years old for The Post-Crescent. There he helped out with a weekly section for teens. The first submission that he turned in was written by hand and was a review of Zooropa by U2, an album that was released in 1993. He continued to work for the paper while in college as an intern. He would then join the staff full time as a reporter in 2000 when he graduated.

In 2016, Hyden became part of UPROXX as a cultural critic, having worked at Grantland and The A.V. Club before. He had also had his music critiques released in different outlets that include Rolling Stone, Pitchfork, Slate, Salon.com, and American Songwriter.

He is married and resides in Minneapolis. Hyden has also been part of crew for RWBY and for Red vs. Blue: Restoration and Red vs. Blue: Family Shatters.

Your Favorite Band Is Killing Me: What Pop Rivalries Reveal About the Meaning of Life is a 2016 book from Steven Hyden. In this book, he goes into a total of nineteen different rivalries and what they end up saying about life.

From Kanye West versus Taylor Swift to Biggie versus Tupac to the Rolling Stones versus the Beatles. Whose side would you be on in each of these? Who do you choose to support? What does choosing to support one side over the other end up saying about you, and what do these rivalries end up saying about us?

When it comes to musical opinions, many people end up getting really into it and passionately debating the way that they see things. Music lover and critic Steven Hyden is someone that is very familiar with this dynamic and in a way this book may feel like a recreation of some of those classic arguments that you’ve had with people where you lay out your line of thinking and argue why one party is superior in the debate to the other.

Each chapter takes on a different rivalry that has happened in pop music. This ranges from the recent to the classic, and makes even deeper connections to the greater forces that have to do with the pairing in question.

Hyden looks through different artistic rivalries, from Miley up against Sinead to Hendrix taking on Clapton. You’ve got something for everyone here, rivalries from different time periods and different musicians that everyone can appreciate. If you love music history or anything having to do with pop culture and love rivalries, give Your Favorite Band Is Killing Me a try!

Twilight of the Gods: A Journey to the End of Classic Rock is a 2018 book from Steven Hyden. This is a book that is all about classic rock, from the past to the future, what impact it’s had on things, and what losing it would end up doing to an entire way of life, a culture, an industry.

Ever since the sixties, there have been plenty of artist who have been able to have a huge influence on pop culture and the way that our lives sound. From Bob Dylan to the Eagles to The Who, Neil Young, the Rolling Stones, Bruce Springsteen, Fleetwood Mac, Black Sabbath and more, these musical acts have been a huge part of the artistic landscape, some songs continuing to find time on the air and some bands and acts becoming mentioned less often as time goes on.

Will classic rock be able to be as relevant as the great legends of this musical genre begin to die off, or will it fade as so many have previously? Part journalism, essays, critique, and memoir, this is a book written by someone who loves classic rock and it shows. Pick up Twilight of the Gods and refresh your own understanding of music history while learning something new!