Website / Pitchfork

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Pitchfork (also called Pitchfork Media) is an online music publication founded in 1996 by Ryan Schreiber. Started in Minneapolis, the company moved to Chicago in 1999, then to Brooklyn, New York City. The site originally only focused on independent and alternative music, before expanding to cover a wider range of genres such as Pop, Heavy Metal, Jazz, and Hip-Hop.

Pitchfork garnered attention in the 90s and early 2000s and distinguished itself from other music publications via its unusual reviews. Though the site received praise for passionate and authentic reviews and frequent coverage of up-and-coming independent artists, it was often criticized for being pretentious and mean-spirited.

The site expanded more in the The New '10s, launching the Pitchfork Music Festival in Chicago, as well as a print publication, The Pitchfork Review. The company was purchased by media giant Conde Nast in 2015, and its headquarters were moved to the One World Trade Center. In 2024, Conde Nast controversially announced that it would be merging Pitchfork with the magazine GQ, which drew a lot of criticism and concern (even from people who hate Pitchfork) about the future of music journalism.

While the site's attitude has noticeably mellowed out over the years, Pitchfork remains a divisive entity in the online music world for its use of a 0-10 rating scale (zero being the worst, ten being the best) and some opinions that haven't aged all that well, but Pitchfork remains one of the most influential music publications of the internet era and helped launch the careers of many independent musicians.

Columns:

• News: Pertinent music news. Topics can range from a new album announcement to an artist going to prison.
• Reviews: Their bread and butter, reviews of albums and EPs that have recently come out. Includes Best New Music, which highlights the best music to come out recently. Music given this title is featured on the front page of the site.
  • Best New Album: An album usually must score an 8.2 or higher (sometimes, it isn't all that consistent) to land in the Best New Album column. A Best New Album rating for an emerging artist can often mark their breakthrough.
  • Best New Track: Highlights the best recent standalone tracks; no score given.
  • Best New Reissue: Highlights the best recent album re-issues, remasters, and box sets. Since many re-issues are of old albums that Pitchfork didn't get a chance to formally review, sometimes these reviews will double as reviews of the original material along with any additional material included in the re-issue.
  • Sunday Reviews: Per Pitchfork's own words - "Each Sunday, Pitchfork takes an in-depth look at a significant album from the past, and any record not in our archives is eligible."
• Features: Interviews with musical artists.
• The Pitch: Opinion pieces.
• Video: Their YouTube channel, recordings of Pitchfork Festival live performances.
• Podcast: Interviews and discussions.

Tropes:

• April Fools' Day: For one April Fool's Day in the 2000s, they reviewed Kylie Minogue's album Fever and gave it a decently positive review. What was the joke? Pitchfork reviewing Kylie Minogue. That's the joke. Needless to say things have changed since then as artists like Beyoncé and Taylor Swift have received Best New Music.
• Broke the Rating Scale: A few albums have broken the scale before.
  • Garth Brooks' Chris Gaines album, which received a ?? out of 10.
  • Relaxation of the Asshole, a bizarre comedy album by Guided by Voices singer Robert Pollard, gave it both a 0.0 and a 10.0 (the current version of the site just displays the 0.0 though).
  • They gave Do You Like Rock Music?, the second album by English rockers Sea Power, the rating of U2.
  • They gave Meow The Jewels, the joke remix album of Run The Jewels 2 where all the beats were remade with cat sounds, a cat emoji with heart-shaped Wingding Eyes, likely meant as a positive rating.
• Hipster: Their reputation for most of the 2000s. They still have this reputation somewhat, but review mainstream pop acts with the same level of respect as any other genre (though weirder, more experimental pop artists like Charli XCX, FKA twigs, and Grimes tend to be held in higher esteem.)
• Kick the Dog: A main criticism of their reviews is that they're sometimes a bit too mean-spirited and feel as though they're punching down. The most famous example is the review of Jet's album Shine On in which the review was just a link to a video of an ape peeing in its own mouth.
• Old Shame: Pitchfork has admitted that they've gotten it wrong many times, such as giving now universally beloved albums lukewarm to negative scores upon release. One article goes back through their catalogue and gives some albums a revised rating, such as Charli XCX's Vroom Vroom (4.6 to a 7.7) and Daft Punk's Discovery (6.4 to a 10). Matt LeMay has outright said he regrets his blisteringly negative review (a 0.0) of Liz Phair's self-titled album, which is partially credited for 👁 This example contains a TRIVIA entry. It should be moved to the TRIVIA tab.
  cratering Phair's career. Though he says he doesn't love the album, he doesn't think it's as bad as its reputation and it certainly isn't a zero.
• On a Scale from One to Ten: The rating system.
• Took a Level in Kindness: Generally not as mean or pretentious as it was during the 2000s... but it has its moments.
  No adrenaline, dopamine, or blood courses through this carrion of an album. Despite the frequent overtures to grandeur, spectacle, and machismo, these songs are limp and flabby. No one seems to have wondered why someone would want to play these songs beyond the names attached to them, or attempted to make them more than sonic merch. ^note  Stephen Kearse's review of Kanye West and Ty Dolla $ign's VULTURES 2. Even more scathing considering Kanye was once one of Pitchfork's 👁 This example contains a YMMV entry. It should be moved to the YMMV tab.
  sacred cows.