Steven Hyden

Steven Hyden (born September 7, 1977) is an American music critic, author, and podcast host. He is the author of the books Your Favorite Band Is Killing Me (2016, on rivalries in pop music history), Twilight of the Gods (2018, on the history of classic rock), Hard to Handle (2019, co-authored with Steve Gorman about The Black Crowes), This Isn't Happening (2020, about Radiohead's Kid A), Long Road (2022, about Pearl Jam's influence on a generation), and There Was Nothing You Could Do (2024, about Bruce Springsteen's mega-selling 1984 album Born In The U.S.A.). In 2025, he announced two forthcoming books that will be critical overviews of The Strokes and U2.

He co-hosts the podcasts, Indiecast (with Ian Cohen) and Never Ending Stories (with Ian Grant and Evan Laffer), and previously hosted the podcasts, 36 From the Vault, Rivals, Break Stuff: The Story of Woodstock '99, and Celebration Rock. He is a critic for Uproxx and previously served as staff writer at Grantland and an editor at The A.V. Club. He also has appeared as a pundit in various music documentaries, and was the story producer of HBO's popular 2024 film "Yacht Rock: A Dockumentary."