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Will Hodgkinson is a journalist and author from London (born in Newcastle-upon-Tyne),[1] England. He is the chief rock and pop critic for The Times newspaper and contributes to Mojo magazine.[2] He has written for The Guardian,[2] The Independent and Vogue.[2] Hodgkinson presents the Sky Arts TV show Songbook, in which he interviews contemporary songwriters.

His 2014 memoir The House Is Full Of Yogis tells the story of Hodgkinson's father joining an Indian spiritual group called the Brahma Kumaris and embracing celibacy, meditation and a radical, non-evolutionary world view, while his mother became a radical feminist and published Sex Is Not Compulsory, her case for the sexless marriage, just as Hodgkinson was trying to meet girls for the first time. His book, The Ballad Of Britain (2009) (Portico), is a travelogue for which he travelled through Britain making field recordings in an attempt to capture the spirit of the place and its people. Guitar Man (2006) and Song Man (2007) (Bloomsbury) are narrative non-fiction in a comic style. In Guitar Man, Hodgkinson picked up the guitar for the first time aged 34 with the aim of playing a concert six months later. He received lessons and advice from the Scottish folk guitarist Bert Jansch; Johnny Marr, former guitarist of The Smiths; Roger McGuinn of The Byrds; PJ Harvey and the pioneering guitarist Davey Graham. For Song Man he learned the basics of songwriting with the goal of recording a single at Toe-Rag Studios in London, this time picking up tips from Keith Richards, Andy Partridge of XTC, folk queen Shirley Collins and the hippy era songwriter Bridget St John. Guitar Man and Song Man are published in the US by Da Capo.

In 2007, Hodgkinson launched a project in conjunction with The Guardian newspaper to create and run a record label, Big Bertha, which he wrote about in a monthly column.[3] Acts signed to the label were the Cornish folk band Thistletown and Pete Molinari.[4] In September 2024 his book on the singer Lawrence came out.[5]

Hodgkinson is the brother of Tom Hodgkinson, the editor of The Idler. Their father is the science writer Neville Hodgkinson and their mother is the non-fiction writer and journalist Liz Hodgkinson.[6]

Hodgkinson is married and has two children.[2]

According to an article in The Times (12 November 2015) took his first and so far only trip with LSD when he was 17 years old. On a sunny day in 1988 he and a friend went to a hilltop in Richmond Park to try the drug. His initial effect of the drugs were "magical".[7]

Bibliography

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References

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Sources

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  • Guitar Man (Bloomsbury, 2006)
  • Song Man (Bloomsbury, 2007)
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Revisions and contributorsEdit on WikipediaRead on Wikipedia

Will Hodgkinson

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Will Hodgkinson is a British journalist and author specializing in music criticism and cultural history.[1] Based in London and originally from Newcastle-upon-Tyne, he serves as the chief rock and pop critic for The Times, where he reviews albums, concerts, and industry developments with a focus on rock, pop, indie, and niche genres like 1960s mellow rock and pastoral folk.[2][3] Hodgkinson's career spans contributions to major publications including The Guardian, Mojo, and Vogue, where he has written extensively on music's cultural intersections, from singalong pop's social role in 1970s Britain to biographical accounts of cult figures.[1] His books exemplify a distinctive style merging memoir, experimentation, and analysis: Guitar Man (2006) chronicles his six-month quest to master the instrument, highlighting the instrument's emotional pull; Song Man (2007) extends this to songwriting under mentorship; In Perfect Harmony (2018) examines the overlooked appeal of harmony-driven pop acts like the Carpenters; and Street-Level Superstar (2024) embeds with indie musician Lawrence of Felt and Denim, capturing persistent artistic ambition amid commercial obscurity.[4][1] Other works, such as The House Is Full of Yogis (2014), delve into family dynamics influenced by his father's pivot from science writing to spiritual pursuits, underscoring Hodgkinson's interest in personal transformation through unconventional paths.[4] These publications, often praised for their accessible yet insightful takes on underappreciated musical phenomena, distinguish Hodgkinson in an industry prone to trend-chasing, prioritizing empirical immersion—such as hands-on skill acquisition or year-long subject shadowing—over abstracted critique.[5] No major public controversies mark his profile, with his output reflecting a consistent advocacy for music's intrinsic value against fleeting hype.[1]

Early life

Family background and upbringing

Will Hodgkinson was born in Newcastle upon Tyne, England, to Neville Hodgkinson, an award-winning medical science writer, and Liz Hodgkinson, a non-fiction writer and journalist.[6][7] He has one older brother, Tom, born two years earlier.[6] The family later relocated to a semi-detached house in the suburbs of southwest London, where Will spent much of his formative years amid a conventional journalistic household that emphasized intellectual pursuits.[7] Neville Hodgkinson's career initially focused on empirical reporting for outlets like The Sun, but in 1982—when Will was 12—he experienced a profound spiritual awakening following a health crisis, shifting toward involvement with the Brahma Kumaris World Spiritual University and adopting practices that introduced yogis and alternative spiritual figures into the family home.[8] This transformation disrupted the prior strait-laced dynamic, creating an environment marked by meditation sessions, vegetarianism, and esoteric discussions that contrasted with the parents' earlier rationalist leanings.[9] Liz Hodgkinson, meanwhile, continued her work as a commentator on social issues, including critiques of modern feminism and family structures, which contributed to the household's outspoken and unconventional atmosphere without fully aligning with her husband's spiritual pivot.[10] The brothers' relationship reflected the family's larger-than-life eccentricities, with Tom developing early interests in idleness and countercultural ideas that later informed his own publications, while Will navigated the blend of suburban normalcy and parental ideological shifts.[11] This upbringing in a privileged yet ideologically volatile setting exposed the children to diverse cultural influences, including music and literature circulating through their parents' professional networks, fostering a worldview attuned to both mainstream and fringe elements.[12]

Initial interests in music and writing

Hodgkinson was born in October 1969 in Newcastle-upon-Tyne and raised in Richmond, Surrey, during the 1970s and 1980s.[6][13] His parents, both prominent journalists—father Neville as a medical science writer and mother Liz as a columnist and novelist—fostered an environment rich in storytelling and written expression, shaping his nascent interest in writing through familial discussions and exposure to professional output.[6][14] As a teenager immersed in the suburban cultural milieu of Surrey amid the post-punk and emerging indie scenes, Hodgkinson gravitated toward rock and pop music, recognizing its role in personal and social identity.[3] At age 16, around 1985, he first engaged hands-on with the guitar by spending an afternoon experimenting on a friend's instrument, an initial foray driven by admiration for the era's guitar-driven acts rather than formal training.[15] This brief encounter highlighted his budding enthusiasm for the instrument's expressive potential, though it remained a hobby amid family upheavals like his parents' spiritual pursuits.[16] These early pursuits in music and writing intertwined as avocational outlets, with Hodgkinson's self-reported reflections later underscoring how 1970s-1980s pop culture— from radio hits to local record shops—spurred his appreciation for music's narrative depth, paralleling the observational skills honed through family-influenced prose experiments.[17] No formal lessons or publications marked this phase, distinguishing it from later professional endeavors, but it laid groundwork for viewing music as a cultural lens akin to literary storytelling.[18]

Career

Beginnings in journalism

Hodgkinson commenced his professional career in music journalism during the early 2000s as a freelancer, submitting pieces on rock and pop subjects to specialist publications. His initial contributions appeared in Mojo magazine around 2000, where he covered niche areas such as 1960s and 1970s mellow rock, pastoral folk, and Brazilian music, reflecting a preference for underappreciated genres over mainstream trends.[19] By 2002, Hodgkinson had secured assignments with The Guardian, including an interview with Elvis Costello published on April 5, which examined the singer's shift from the acerbic punk influences of his early albums to more reflective compositions in later works.[20] This piece exemplified his approach to artist profiles, grounding commentary in biographical details and musical evolution rather than ephemeral publicity. Additional early freelance work extended to Vogue, where he addressed music and culture intersections, broadening his scope beyond pure rock criticism. These formative contributions honed Hodgkinson's expertise through on-the-ground reporting of emerging and obscure acts, establishing a foundation for critique centered on verifiable musical merits and historical context, distinct from contemporaneous hype-driven coverage in broader media.[21]

Chief rock and pop critic at The Times

Hodgkinson has held the position of chief rock and pop critic at The Times since 2010, delivering weekly columns that dissect contemporary music releases, live performances, and sector-wide shifts.[22] His tenure coincides with the dominance of digital platforms, prompting analyses grounded in observable economic and structural changes rather than promotional hype.[2] In a January 2024 column on the Brit Awards nominations, Hodgkinson critiqued the near-absence of guitar-based rock bands in the best group category, which instead featured electronic duos like Chase & Status and hip-hop collectives, linking this to streaming algorithms that reward solo artists' viral singles and playlist-friendly snippets over collaborative band dynamics requiring deeper album engagement.[23] He argued that such systems erode the viability of groups, as playlists prioritize individual tracks from disparate sources, sidelining the cohesive structures traditional rock ensembles rely on for fan loyalty and revenue.[24] Hodgkinson's broader industry commentary emphasizes streaming's causal drawbacks, including paltry per-stream royalties—often fractions of a penny—that leave musicians unable to cover basic expenses like rent, as illustrated in his 2020 interview with Elbow's Guy Garvey amid pandemic lockdowns exacerbating live revenue losses.[25] By 2025, he extended this to question the services' "illusion of choice," advocating a return to physical formats like CDs and vinyl to bypass algorithmic gatekeeping that homogenizes discovery toward short, solo-driven content.[26] These pieces counter narratives of streaming as an unalloyed boon, prioritizing evidence of diminished artistic incentives for ensemble work.

Contributions to other outlets

Hodgkinson has contributed articles to Mojo magazine for over two decades, specializing in 1960s and 1970s mellow rock, pastoral folk, and Brazilian psychedelia.[3] His features in the publication include an exclusive 2014 interview with Prince, where the artist discussed his influences and creative process during a private audience, and a profile of Shane MacGowan conducted in the early hours at the musician's home after extensive efforts to locate him across London, Liverpool, and Dublin.[27][28] In The Guardian, Hodgkinson has written on music and cultural topics, covering artist profiles and indie scenes.[21] A notable 2007 feature detailed his experiment in establishing a record label within one year to discover and promote the "next Bob Dylan," highlighting practical challenges in the music industry such as talent scouting and production hurdles.[29] His essays there have also addressed underappreciated figures and historical niches, such as explorations of overlooked indie pop trajectories akin to those of Lawrence, emphasizing persistence amid commercial obscurity without romanticizing failure.[30] Hodgkinson has provided cultural reporting and music essays for outlets including The Independent and Vogue, extending his coverage to broader historical contexts like novelty pop from the 1970s and evolving indie landscapes. These pieces often profile niche revivals and artist underdogs, contributing factual accounts of musical persistence that inform discussions on genre sustainability, though without claiming direct causal influence on public discourse.[21]

Literary works

Key non-fiction books

Hodgkinson's non-fiction oeuvre centers on personal explorations of music and family, blending memoir with cultural observation to highlight individual perseverance amid broader societal trends. His works eschew romanticized narratives, instead grounding insights in direct experience, such as the practical challenges of musical self-education or the disruptions caused by ideological shifts within a household.[31] Guitar Man: A Six-String Odyssey (2006) documents Hodgkinson's late-in-life effort to master the guitar without formal instruction, underscoring the instrument's democratic appeal through trial-and-error practice rather than innate talent or elite training. The book traces his progression from basic strumming to attempting blues techniques, including a trip to Mississippi to evoke Robert Johnson's legacy, revealing music's realism as an accessible pursuit demanding sustained, unglamorous repetition over prodigious myth-making.[32][33] The House Is Full of Yogis: The Story of a Childhood Turned Upside Down (2014) examines the author's upbringing after his father's abrupt embrace of Sahaja Yoga in the 1970s, transforming a conventional middle-class home into a hub for spiritual seekers and exposing the tangible costs of fad-driven conversions. Through anecdotes of disrupted routines—like replaced dinner parties with meditation sessions and familial bewilderment at the influx of white-clad practitioners—Hodgkinson critiques the intrusion of unproven esoteric practices on everyday stability, noting his relatives' varied, often skeptical responses that persisted despite the ideology's claims of enlightenment.[9][34] Street-Level Superstar: A Year With Lawrence (2024), winner of the 2025 Penderyn Music Book Prize, profiles the indie musician Lawrence (of the band Felt and Denim), chronicling a year of grassroots touring and personal setbacks that epitomize sustained creative output absent commercial breakthroughs. Hodgkinson embeds with Lawrence during gigs marked by low attendance and logistical hurdles, illustrating the causal grit required for longevity in niche music scenes, where fan loyalty and self-reliance outweigh industry validation.[35][36]

Essays, articles, and reporting

Hodgkinson's essays and articles frequently dissect contemporary music trends through a lens of historical context and personal observation, appearing in outlets like The Times, The Guardian, and Mojo. In Mojo, he has contributed pieces over two decades focusing on niche genres such as 1960s and 1970s mellow rock, pastoral folk, and Brazilian psychedelia, emphasizing overlooked stylistic evolutions rather than mainstream narratives.[3] A notable example of his broader cultural commentary is his February 29, 2024, article in The Times, "Is there a future for bands? Why I fear for rock'n'roll," where he critiques the erosion of rock bands' visibility at events like the Brit Awards, attributing it to streaming platforms' algorithmic preferences for solo pop acts over group dynamics. He contends that individualized listening habits undermine the live performance's communal energy, predicting a potential decline in rock's cultural footprint unless industry practices adapt.[37] In reporting on specific artists, Hodgkinson employs immersive, first-hand approaches, as seen in his August 24, 2024, Times feature interviewing Lawrence—leader of bands Felt and Denim—detailing the musician's persistent pursuit of stardom amid repeated setbacks. This piece highlights Hodgkinson's method of shadowing subjects to capture unvarnished insights into indie persistence, contrasting it with commercial success metrics.[38] His concert and festival coverage often challenges inflated hype, exemplified by a one-star review of the 2022 Elton John and Britney Spears mashup, which he described as "a massive opportunity wasted," prioritizing artistic integrity over celebrity novelty. Similarly, previews of Glastonbury performances draw on on-site evaluations to recommend acts, underscoring authentic execution amid spectacle.[39]

Personal life

Family dynamics and memoir

Hodgkinson has been married since January 2000 to Nichola Jayne Stevenson, a fashion lecturer and exhibition curator, with whom he has two children, Otto and Pearl.[6][40] The family has resided in Peckham, South London, following Hodgkinson's departure from his Newcastle birthplace.[41] In his 2014 memoir The House Is Full of Yogis, Hodgkinson details the causal disruptions to family cohesion stemming from his father Neville's abrupt pivot from empirical science journalism to fervent adherence to the Brahma Kumaris movement's ascetic practices. After a 1980s illness episode involving food poisoning and recovery via unorthodox treatments during an extended stay in Florida, Neville adopted celibacy, meditation rituals, and white-robed yogic discipline, enforcing these in the home and briefly separating from his wife, which engendered adolescent resentment, maternal exasperation, and sibling withdrawal into private pursuits like music.[42][43] The narrative eschews romanticization, emphasizing verifiable strains such as the domestic invasion by chanting practitioners and the erosion of conventional parental roles, which Hodgkinson attributes directly to his father's ideological conversion without intermediary psychological gloss.[9] Reactions to the memoir's candid exposures defied Hodgkinson's expectations of familial discord; neither his parents nor brother Tom contested its depictions legally or with overt hostility, crediting the work instead with prompting overdue reconciliation, including a 2015 family trip to a remote island after 33 years apart.[11] His mother Liz initially recoiled at the unsparing tone but later acknowledged its role in mending rifts, underscoring how the book's empirical recounting of tensions facilitated resolution over suppression.[44]

Residence and current activities

Hodgkinson resides in Peckham, South East London, a location that has supported his professional commitments while accommodating family life.[3][21] This urban base enables proximity to London's music venues and media hubs, facilitating his role as chief rock and pop critic for The Times, where he produces ongoing columns analyzing current trends, artist challenges, and the music industry's shifts amid economic pressures like venue closures and streaming economics.[2] In March 2025, Hodgkinson's book Street-Level Superstar: A Year With Lawrence received the Penderyn Music Book Prize, affirming his active engagement in music literature amid evolving cultural landscapes.[45][46] He maintains visibility through the X platform (@Willjhodgkinson), posting insights on music releases, live events, and performer legacies, which complement his print work without disrupting domestic stability.[47] This setup underscores a sustained balance, with Hodgkinson's London residence anchoring both familial routines and a prolific output of criticism that tracks music's adaptation to digital and post-pandemic realities.[21]

References

  1. Will Hodgkinson - Journalist and Author
  2. Will Hodgkinson | The Times & The Sunday Times
  3. Will Hodgkinson - Mojo Magazine
  4. Books by Will Hodgkinson (Author of Street-Level Superstar)
  5. In Conversation with Will Hodgkinson, author of Street-Level Superstar
  6. Will Hodgkinson - Biography - IMDb
  7. The House Is Full Of Yogis - Will Hodgkinson
  8. The Island of Decades Before - The New York Times
  9. The House is Full of Yogis: The Story of a Childhood Turned Upside ...
  10. Will Hodgkinson, Author Of 'The House Is Full Of Yogis' - NPR
  11. Unexpected reactions to my family memoir - Idler
  12. https://www.theomnivore.com/the-house-is-full-of-yogis-by-will-hodgkinson/
  13. Will Hodgkinson - The Borough Press
  14. The House Is Full of Yogis by Will Hodgkinson - The Times
  15. Guitar Man: A Six-String Odyssey, or, You Love that ... - Goodreads
  16. This one has strings attached | Biography books | The Guardian
  17. Will Hodgkinson - Journalist and Author of Guitar Man
  18. Guitar Man: A Six-String Odyssey, or, You Love ... - Barnes & Noble
  19. MOJO Magazine: The Writers
  20. The Elvis Costello Home Page
  21. Will Hodgkinson | The Guardian
  22. Will Hodgkinson | Idler
  23. Brits nominations 2024: is this the end for rock bands? - The Times
  24. WATCH : Is there a future for bands? “You look at bands ... - Facebook
  25. Music streaming: 'Musicians can't eat or pay the rent' - The Times
  26. Streaming has ruined music and films — this year I'm going retro
  27. “We Aint No Punks…” An Audience With Prince - Mojo Magazine
  28. Shane MacGowan: “I'm interested in having a great time and living ...
  29. The next Bob Dylan, please stand up | Pop and rock | The Guardian
  30. Street-Level Superstar: A Year With Lawrence by Will Hodgkinson ...
  31. Books | Will Hodgkinson
  32. Guitar Man: A Six-String Odyssey, or, You Love that ... - Amazon.com
  33. Twangs for the memory | Books | The Guardian
  34. The House is Full of Yogis - HarperCollins Publishers
  35. Street-Level Superstar: A Year With Lawrence - Google Books
  36. Penderyn Music Book Prize Announced on 29th March 2025
  37. Is there a future for bands? Why I fear for rock'n'roll, by our music critic
  38. Lawrence who…? My year with the pop star who never made it
  39. Elton and Britney's mashup: a 'star reborn' or a 'ruined song'?
  40. Biography | Liz Hodgkinson
  41. Living in a mad house by Will Hodgkinson - Tumblr
  42. How Bad Risotto Led To A House 'Full Of Yogis' - NPR
  43. The House is Full of Yogis by Will Hodgkinson - Brahma Kumaris Info
  44. MY FAMILY & OTHER DRAMAS | lady.co.uk
  45. 2025 - Penderyn Music Book Prize
  46. https://www.thehamiltonagency.co.uk/street-level-superstar-a-year-with-lawrence-by-will-hodgkinson-wins-the-2025-penderyn-music-book-prize/
  47. Will Hodgkinson (@Willjhodgkinson) / Posts / X
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