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.
74 articles
List of articles in the library
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 ...
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 Babys, Blondie: The Babys (Chrysalis CHR 1129); Blondie (Private Stock PS 2023)
Review by Toby Goldstein, Crawdaddy!, March 1977
PUNK HARLOW WITH THE BABYS ...
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 ...
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 ...
Review by Toby Goldstein, Crawdaddy!, October 1977
KISSING OFF BAY CITY'S ROLES ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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? ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
The B-52s: Do You Dig The B-52s?
Interview by Toby Goldstein, Creem, July 1982
MESOPOTAMIAN ARTIFACTS FOUND ON PARTY BEACH ...
Interview by Toby Goldstein, Circus, 21 July 1977
The Wilson Sisters Paint a Portrait of Their Little Queen ...
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 ...
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 ...
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? ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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, ...
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. ...
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. ...
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. ...
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 ...
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, ...
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 ...
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. ...
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 ...
Boston: A Million Dollars & A Holiday Inn
Report and Interview by Toby Goldstein, Creem, July 1977
BOSTON LEARN TO BE STARS ...
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 ...
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, ...
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 ...
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? ...
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 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. ...
Patti Smith: Bottom Line, New York NY
Live Review by Toby Goldstein, Sounds, 10 January 1976
This poet won't blow it ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
Pezband, Sweet: Sweet: Off The Record (Capitol STAO-11636); Pezband: Pezband (Passport PP98021)
Review by Toby Goldstein, Crawdaddy!, July 1977
SUGAR POPS ...
Live Review by Toby Goldstein, Creem, July 1986
DRIVE ME WILD ...
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 ...
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 ...
Interview by Toby Goldstein, Creem, July 1984
THE GUNPOINT CONFESSIONS ...
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 ...
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? ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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. ...
Aerosmith: Draw The Line (Columbia JC 34856)
Review by Toby Goldstein, Crawdaddy!, March 1978
SCREAM ON ...
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. ...
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 ...
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 Dead Boys: Are You Ready for The Dead Boys?
Interview by Toby Goldstein, Circus, 13 October 1977
"THIS IS an anniversary present I got from a fan," Stiv Bators is saying, his face a mask of resigned weariness. He pulls up his ...
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