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Toby Goldstein

Toby Goldstein

After obtaining an undergraduate degree and pursuing graduate work in communications studies at Queens College, Toby Goldstein (pictured with Marc Bolan in 1974) specialized in reporting about rock and roll.

She has worked as a radio correspondent for both the BBC and CBC, and has written for Rolling Stone, Billboard, Creem (as a contributing editor), Hit Parader, the London Daily Mail, and the Toronto Globe & Mail. She has also written biographies of the Cars, Duran Duran and Twisted Sister and the book Waking from the Dream, a history of the '60s for young readers, which has been used in several school curricula.

Goldstein also ran her own public relations business, Anglomedia, whose clients included the Cure, Siouxsie and the Banshees and Manic Panic, one of the first punk shops in New York.

For more than 20 years, Toby has written about the onscreen and behind-the-scenes world of television soap operas for Tribune Content Agency.

73 articles

List of articles in the library

By date | By artist | Most recently added

Jo Jo Gunne, KISS: Kiss, Jo Jo Gunne: Beacon Theater, New York NY

Live Review by Toby Goldstein, Billboard, 12 April 1975

AS KISS thundered onstage March 21, for the first of two shows, it was clearly a case of "hail the conquering heroes." The sold-out crowd ...

Alice Cooper, Suzi Quatro: Madison Square Garden, New York NY

Live Review by Toby Goldstein, Billboard, 24 May 1975

WHEN ALICE Cooper's track record is summoned up, the one question that springs to mind is, what can he possibly do to surpass himself this ...

The Eagles, Dan Fogelberg: Academy of Music, New York NY

Live Review by Toby Goldstein, Billboard, 31 May 1975

PERFORMING AT the first of two sold-out shows May 16, the Eagles demonstrated that a band of considerable musical expertise resides behind its string of ...

Brian Auger, ZZ Top: ZZ Top, Brian Auger's Oblivion Express: Felt Forum, New York NY

Live Review by Toby Goldstein, Billboard, 7 June 1975

THERE IS A certain sector of the rock audience — very young and overstimulated — that cares little about what the group onstage is accomplishing ...

Patti Smith: Bottom Line, New York NY

Live Review by Toby Goldstein, Sounds, 10 January 1976

This poet won't blow it ...

Bachman-Turner Overdrive: The business of being Bachman-Turner Overdrive

Interview by Toby Goldstein, Sounds, 10 April 1976

Toby Goldstein finds there's nothing original with Randy Bachman ...

Love Unlimited, Barry White: Barry White, Love Unlimited: Radio City Music Hall, New York NY

Live Review by Toby Goldstein, Sounds, 17 April 1976

FROM THE first moment of the show, when Radio City Music Hall's gigantic Wurlitzer vibrated to the '2001 Theme', one could guess that Barry White's ...

Maria Muldaur: Bottom Line, New York

Live Review by Toby Goldstein, Sounds, 17 April 1976

DRESSED IN a tight-fitting black lacy sweater, blue jeans and wall-to-wall confidence, Maria Muldaur sauntered on to the Bottom Line stage and made everyone feel ...

The Cate Brothers, Nils Lofgren: Nils Lofgren, the Cate Brothers: Bottom Line, New York NY

Live Review by Toby Goldstein, Sounds, 17 April 1976

Would you buy a used trampoline from this man? ...

Jimmy Buffett, Pure Prairie League: Pure Prairie League, Jimmy Buffett: Bottom Line, New York NY

Live Review by Toby Goldstein, Sounds, 17 April 1976

THERE ARE a staggering number of groups who turn out record after record, play the stateside circuit for years, and yet never get escalated into ...

Aerosmith

Report and Interview by Geoff Barton, Toby Goldstein, Sounds, 16 October 1976

Toby Goldstein talked to Mr Tyler and Geoff Barton went to Canada to check out the band. Who's thoughtful then? ...

Heart: Nice Girls Succeed In Rock Biz shock

Profile and Interview by Toby Goldstein, Sounds, 20 November 1976

THE BRUNETTE-blonde partnership of sisters Ann and Nancy Wilson seems a strange arrangement for leaders of an all-male rock'n'roll band. ...

The Ramones, Talking Heads: Ramones & Heads: Punk Art?

Report and Interview by Toby Goldstein, Crawdaddy!, February 1977

NEW YORK — The glittered frenzy of recent years has receded into a brooding severity of black and grays. The punk-rockers, newest manifestations of media ...

AC/DC, Little River Band, Sherbet: Little River Band, Sherbet, AC/DC: Up Starts

Profile and Interview by Toby Goldstein, Jim Green, Circus, 14 February 1977

Three Australian Bands Hit The U.S. ...

The Babys, Blondie: The Babys (Chrysalis CHR 1129); Blondie (Private Stock PS 2023)

Review by Toby Goldstein, Crawdaddy!, March 1977

PUNK HARLOW WITH THE BABYS ...

Bruce Springsteen: Bruce Turns On the Juice, Plays It Loose, Tells Fans Be Cool In School

Report by Toby Goldstein, Creem, April 1977

NEW YORK — Rock 'n' roll professor Bob Spitz surveyed his half-empty lecture hall and snickered to the brave souls who'd trudged in despite N.Y.'s ...

Blondie: High School Never Ends

Interview by Toby Goldstein, Creem, May 1977

ABOUT A year ago my husband returned from CBGB's, where he'd had one of those "nights out with the boys" of song and legend. The ...

Foreigner: Rock & Roll Prowess Heralds Foreigner

Profile by Toby Goldstein, Circus, 9 June 1977

THE STAGGERING success of Foreigner's debut Atlantic LP and single, 'Feels Like the First Time', proves that the world has been waiting for yet another ...

Boston: A Million Dollars & A Holiday Inn

Report and Interview by Toby Goldstein, Creem, July 1977

BOSTON LEARN TO BE STARS ...

Pezband, Sweet: Sweet: Off The Record (Capitol STAO-11636); Pezband: Pezband (Passport PP98021)

Review by Toby Goldstein, Crawdaddy!, July 1977

SUGAR POPS ...

Heart: A Heart's Delight

Interview by Toby Goldstein, Circus, 21 July 1977

The Wilson Sisters Paint a Portrait of Their Little Queen ...

The Bay City Rollers, KISS: Bay City Rollers: It's A Game (Arista AL 7004); Kiss: Love Gun (Casablanca NBLP 7057)

Review by Toby Goldstein, Crawdaddy!, October 1977

KISSING OFF BAY CITY'S ROLES ...

Eleganza: It's Manic Panic In The Apple

Interview by Toby Goldstein, Creem, January 1978

GINA, SNOOKY and Tish didn't know what to expect when they opened Manic Panic, but they sure found out fast. First, there was the phone terrorist. ...

Andy Gibb: The Bee Gee's Smarter Brother?

Interview by Toby Goldstein, Creem, February 1978

NINETEEN-YEAR-old Andy Gibb has the sort of complexion that would make the Breck girl feel ravaged sitting in the same room with him. Contrasted with ...

The Sex Pistols: Never Mind The Bollocks, Here's The Sex Pistols (Warner Bros. BSK 3147)

Review by Toby Goldstein, Crawdaddy!, February 1978

BOLLOCKS OR BULLETS? ...

Aerosmith: Draw The Line (Columbia JC 34856)

Review by Toby Goldstein, Crawdaddy!, March 1978

SCREAM ON ...

Bob Dylan: Renaldo and Clara — A Film by Bob Dylan (Lombard St. Films, Inc.)

Film/DVD/TV Review by Toby Goldstein, Creem, April 1978

Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About Bob Dylan... Even If You Didn't ...

Television: Breaking Out of the Inner Circle

Interview by Toby Goldstein, High Fidelity, June 1978

DESPITE HEALTHY critical acclaim for its 1977 debut LP Marquee Moon, Television has yet to become a household word. Leader Tom Verlaine seems to further ...

Boston's Return: More than a Followup?

Interview by Toby Goldstein, High Fidelity, October 1978

IN THE cramped basement of a small neat house in one of Boston's outermost suburbs, the leader of a six-million-dollar band is trying to finish ...

The Cars: M'Cadillac's Goin' 'Bout 104

Interview by Toby Goldstein, New Musical Express, 18 November 1978

THE CARS have picked up speed in America. Will they pick up here? TOBY GOLDSTEIN sends a few hand signals from New York. ...

XTC: The Agonies of XTC

Interview by Toby Goldstein, Creem, April 1979

NEW YORK — "I wish I hadn't come up with this name," sighed mastermind Andy Partridge. "Thinking about it now, it's perfect. But it's a ...

The Babys' Playground Politics

Interview by Toby Goldstein, Creem, September 1979

SO WHY should I believe one word coming from John Waite's pertly posed lips? Here's this image of deceptive age, leader of a group who've ...

Todd Rundgren, Utopia: Todd Rundgren: Video-Tripping With The Perfect Master

Interview by Toby Goldstein, Creem, October 1979

THE TRAILWAYS bus to Woodstock takes about 2½ hours from New York City, gradually trading the clatter of urban motorways for the static peace of ...

Marianne Faithfull: Broken English (Island ILPS 9570)

Review by Toby Goldstein, High Fidelity, March 1980

MARIANNE FAITHFULL cut her first record, 'As Tears Go By', fifteen years ago. She was seventeen and fresh out of pre-convent boarding school — a ...

Marianne Faithfull: Rave Girl To Brave Girl: True Confessions Of Marianne Faithful

Report and Interview by Toby Goldstein, Creem, May 1980

"GOOD LORD, why?" rasps Marianne Faithfull, as she sinks into the hotel's rumpled bedding. "It's so strange, why would you be a fan of somebody ...

Warren Zevon: Life In The Mental Combat Zone

Interview by Toby Goldstein, Creem, August 1980

"THIS IS A .44 magnum revolver...do I have five or six bullets left...Are you feelin' lucky tonight, PUNK?" And then the hapless caller to Warren ...

The Clash: Rude Boy Produced and directed by Jack Hazan and David Mingay (Atlantic Releasing Corp.)

Film/DVD/TV Review by Toby Goldstein, Creem, November 1980

Booed, Rude And Tattooed ...

Talking Heads: Fear Of Normalcy: Talking Heads Get Funked (And Like It)

Interview by Toby Goldstein, Creem, March 1981

I FIRST MET David Byrne and his very serious band of Talking Heads in 1976. That was before their first album had been released, and ...

Suicide: Hot Footing Through Edge City

Interview by Toby Goldstein, Creem, April 1981

THE ATMOSPHERE at most performances of Suicide is not unlike that which I imagine permeates a power plant in the midst of a nuclear accident. ...

The Ramones Pump Iron: So This Is What They Call HARD ROCK

Interview by Toby Goldstein, Creem, September 1981

JOEY RAMONE is not my brother. For six years, people have been approaching me at Ramones gigs, giving my uncontrollable wavy hair, pale skin and ...

Visage: One Hump or Two: Steve Strange Walks a Mile For a Camel

Interview by Toby Goldstein, Creem, October 1981

STEVE STRANGE — fashion plate, leader of alternative dance band Visage and all-around creative British person — debarked from his rented camel in front of ...

The Go-Go's: Beauty and the Beat (IRS)

Review by Toby Goldstein, Musician, November 1981

IT HASN'T been easy to be a fan of groups like the Raspberries during the past few years. What those minions of white-suited quartets and ...

The Go-Go's: They Think They're Go-Go

Report and Interview by Toby Goldstein, Creem, November 1981

Makeup Secrets Of Five Wild & Crazy Girls ...

Devo: The Soul You Save May Be Your Own: Devo's New Traditionalism In Action

Interview by Toby Goldstein, Creem, January 1982

"SHE HAS GOT the rap down right!" says Devo's Jerry Casale with a mixture of admiration and awe. The waitress in the Garden coffee shop ...

Tom Verlaine

Interview by Toby Goldstein, Trouser Press, January 1982

TOM VERLAINE is looking for clues in an interior landscape, signposts that just might point the way to some inescapable Truth. "You don't respond to ...

Bow Wow Wow Take Trip, Yeah!

Interview by Toby Goldstein, Creem, March 1982

NEW YORK — The first time Bow Wow Wow were ready to tour America their 15-year-old singer Annabella Lu Win had either a) stage fright, ...

Joan Jett's Bad Reputation

Interview by Toby Goldstein, Musician, March 1982

Joan Jett, explosive rock 'n' roll contact hitter, leads her hordes of Joan clones into a fight to be themselves. ...

The Cars: A View From The Edge: The Cars Don't Get Easily Amused

Report and Interview by Toby Goldstein, Creem, May 1982

ELLIOT EASTON tells a dinnertime story to entertain his tablemates in Madison, Wisconsin — most of Nick Lowe's band and a reporter. Seems that one ...

Sound Effects: Youth, Leisure, And The Politics Of Rock'n'roll by Simon Frith (Pantheon)

Book Review by Toby Goldstein, Creem, June 1982

Pithy Frith Froth Follows Forth ...

Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark: OMD: Pilgrims' Unplanned Progress

Interview by Toby Goldstein, Creem, June 1982

NEW YORK — Think a minute, and recall the members of the Electronics Club at your school. If stereotypes haven't been swept under the carpet ...

The B-52s: Do You Dig The B-52s?

Interview by Toby Goldstein, Creem, July 1982

MESOPOTAMIAN ARTIFACTS FOUND ON PARTY BEACH ...

Blondie: Hunters In An Urban Jungle

Interview by Toby Goldstein, Creem, August 1982

CHRIS STEIN, Deborah Harry and I are sitting in an office of Blank Tapes Studio, catching up on the recent past and future prospects of ...

Dwight Twilley: Salvation Through Water Sports

Interview by Toby Goldstein, Creem, August 1982

DWIGHT TWILLEY, his tall, rangy frame barely contained by the walls of EMI Records' conference room, is thinking about one of the only good things ...

A Flock of Seagulls

Profile and Interview by Toby Goldstein, Trouser Press, October 1982

MIKE SCORE, 24-year-old founder and lead vocalist of A Flock of Seagulls, strongly resembles a large winged being: His carroty-blond hair has been coaxed into ...

Richard Hell: Bottom Line, New York NY

Live Review by Toby Goldstein, Musician, November 1982

DURING NEW York City's early punk era. Richard Hell & the Voidoids were extremists bobbing on a sea of originals. Hell's agonized vocals whined his ...

Thomas Dolby: Life in the Age of Wireless: Thomas Dolby's State-of-the-Artwork

Interview by Toby Goldstein, Creem, December 1982

PERHAPS IN another century, Thomas Morgan Dolby Robertson would have been an explorer of science. I imagine him in an antique laboratory like another Thomas ...

Bananarama: Meet Bananarama — Three Fun Girls With A-Peel

Report and Interview by Toby Goldstein, Creem, December 1982

NEW YORK — Bad puns by silly reporters should have been the worst problem the tempting British trio called Bananarama faced during their first trip ...

Duran Duran: OH! You Pretty Things From Planet Earth

Interview by Toby Goldstein, Creem, January 1983

WE JOURNALISTS like to believe our opinions are graven in stone. Let's face it, in the global scheme of things, the relative power of a ...

Eddie Money: Rediscovering Paradise: EDDIE MONEY Plays It Straight And Takes Control

Interview by Toby Goldstein, Creem, February 1983

SEVERAL CHARACTERS blend to form the towering individual who has just appeared in the faded-grace lobby of the Gramercy Park Hotel. First, there's Eddie Money, ...

ABC: Tearstained Memories: Learning the Lessons of Love from ABC

Interview by Toby Goldstein, Creem, March 1983

"Dear Bobby: I never thought even you would be so cruel. All those times you said you loved me, you said you'd be there for me, ...

Ozzy Osbourne: Clarabelle Talks Back: Ozzy Osbourne's No Bozo On This Bus

Interview by Toby Goldstein, Creem, April 1983

THEY WARN you about the madman. That he wraps himself in scales and chains, fangs and dripping saliva as he prowls arenas of the night. ...

Dexys Midnight Runners: I Ain't Gonna Work On Dexy's Farm No More

Interview by Toby Goldstein, Creem, June 1983

THE FIRST impressions begin here. Dexy's Midnight Runners, with a great first album and little popular awareness of it within the U.S., came to New ...

Joan Jett: Treading Her Turf — JOAN JETT Gets Some Respect (FINALLY!)

Interview by Toby Goldstein, Creem, July 1983

SUBURBAN RECORDING studios always look the same. They're tucked into inconspicuous blocky gray industrial parks or office buildings or shopping centers — identified by barely ...

Twisted Sister: Local Heroes in Warpaint Make Good

Interview by Toby Goldstein, Creem, March 1984

OUT IN THE endless flatlands of Long Island's Suffolk County, where the traffic-clogged main streets are lined with every necessity for fast-food living and drive-in ...

Billy Idol: Revolution, American Style: Billy Idol Battles the Band

Interview by Toby Goldstein, Creem, April 1984

NEVER MIND the decline and fall of the Roman Empire...Billy Idol is about to introduce fear and trembling into one of the Bronx's few remaining ...

Judas Priest Eaten Alive!

Interview by Toby Goldstein, Creem, July 1984

THE GUNPOINT CONFESSIONS ...

The Cars' Night Connections: Rhythms Of Life In Hearbreak City

Interview by Toby Goldstein, Creem, November 1984

WHAT DOES being in the Cars mean to you? ...

Aerosmith Still Walk It Their Own Way

Interview by Toby Goldstein, Creem, June 1986

STEVE AND JOE are sitting around just like two of the boys, sprawled across the cushioned seats of a Warner Bros, conference room and distractedly ...

Michael Des Barres, Joan Jett, Kool and the Gang, Nils Lofgren, Darlene Love, The Textones: Kool & The Gang, Joan Jett & the Black Hearts et al: Drive Aid, Radio City Music Hall, New York

Live Review by Toby Goldstein, Creem, July 1986

DRIVE ME WILD ...

Public Image Ltd: A Private Hour with John Lydon's Public Image

Interview by Toby Goldstein, Creem, August 1986

A SHAME YOU can't hear the belches with which John — but you can also call him Johnny Rotten — Lydon punctuates his conversation. Great ...

Siouxsie & The Banshees: A Match, a Flame, a Banshee Howls

Interview by Toby Goldstein, Creem, October 1986

THIS MUST BE the sort of effect Cleopatra had on a room full of admirers; whatever one says is probably not enough. Siouxsie Sioux, the ...

Full Force, Lisa Lisa & Cult Jam: Lisa and The Cult: So Nice, You Wanna Rap It Twice

Interview by Toby Goldstein, Creem, October 1986

THE MARRIAGE proposals in the mail and the army of blushing guys lining up for autographs still shocks Lisa-Lisa, because, after all, she's only 18. ...

Run-DMC: Tear Down The Walls, Pack Out The Halls: On The (Hard) Beat With Run-DMC

Report and Interview by Toby Goldstein, Creem, December 1986

RUN, DMC and Jam Master Jay are mad as hell, not about to take it anymore, and quite ready to let you know about the ...

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