L.A. Observed reports that:

Sacramento columnist George Skelton opted out of the L.A. Times buyout at the last minute. But a more prominent name put himself on the list: longtime Pop Music Editor/Critic Robert Hilburn. Arguably the Times’ best-known critic, Hilburn will continue to contribute pieces to Calendar.

We will be sorry to see Hilburn go. We may not always agree with his musical assessments but we always read his reviews and have done so for 2+ decades. It has been enjoyable watching him discover and then embrace punk, new wave, heavy metal, 80’s pop, hip hop, grunge, electronica, etc., etc. over the years. Anyone who reads the paper has their own opinion about how their favorite bands/albums were short-sheeted by Hilburn and the Times, but that comes with the territory. It is amazing that he never burned out dealing with arrogant artists, derivative albums, and clueless record companies.

We had some fun with Hilburn on a story many months ago when Bill O’Reilly called Hilburn out for an editorial error at the paper. Hilburn sent us a nice email after the spat while O’Reilly sent us nothing even though it was our crack reporting that lead to this correction by the paper.

Additional Independent Sources Hiburn-related reading: Irresponsible Commenting Leads to ‘Baker Street’ Revival and Live 8: The Single Greatest Thing Ever in the World!

While on the subject of changes at the Times, we’re even more sorry that George Skelton has decided to stay with the paper. Come on George, take the payout and go write a book or something. It will be good for you.

technorati: los angeles times robert hilburn

This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 30th, 2005 at 11:08 am by Insider and is filed under Los Angeles Times. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.