Greg Kot

{{Short description|American music journalist and author}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=November 2022}}

{{Infobox writer

| name = Greg Kot

| image = Greg Kot (3745233040) (cropped).jpg

| alt =

| caption = Kot in 2009

| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1957|03|03}}

| birth_place =

| death_date =

| death_place =

| occupation = Journalist, author

| language = English

| genre = music journalism

}}

Greg Kot (born March 3, 1957) is an American music journalist and author. From 1990 until 2020, Kot was the rock music critic at the Chicago Tribune,{{cite web|title=Greg Kot Biography|url=http://bio.tribune.com/GregKot|work=Chicago Tribune|access-date=August 29, 2011|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110827101907/http://bio.tribune.com/gregkot|archive-date=August 27, 2011}} where he covered popular music and reported on music-related social, political and business issues. Kot co-hosts the radio program Sound Opinions, which introduces itself as "the world's only rock 'n' roll talk show", nationally syndicated through Chicago Public Radio, WBEZ.{{cite web|title=The Sound Opinions Station List|url=http://www.soundopinions.org/stationlist.html|publisher=WBEZ|access-date=August 30, 2011|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110825072956/http://www.soundopinions.org/stationlist.html|archive-date=August 25, 2011}}

A native of Syracuse, New York, Kot graduated from Marquette University.{{cite web |last1=Feder |first1=Robert |author-link1=Robert Feder |title=Music critic Greg Kot leaving Chicago Tribune |url=https://www.robertfeder.com/2020/02/05/music-critic-greg-kot-leaving-chicago-tribune/ |website=www.robertfeder.com |date=February 5, 2020}} Kot started his career at the Quad City Times in Davenport, Iowa in June 1978{{Cite web|url=https://ac360.blogs.cnn.com/2009/09/23/the-boss-is-60/|title="The Boss" is 60|date=September 23, 2009|first=Dave|last=Schechter|website=ac360.blogs.cnn.com|access-date=July 2, 2020|archive-date=March 23, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210323165744/https://ac360.blogs.cnn.com/2009/09/23/the-boss-is-60/|url-status=dead}} and then joined the Chicago Tribune in 1980. He was named the paper's rock music critic in 1990, and held that job until taking a buyout from the Tribune in early 2020.

Kot has co-hosted the radio show Sound Opinions since its 1993 launch.{{cite web |last1=Feder |first1=Robert |author-link1=Robert Feder |title=WBEZ cuts 12 jobs, ends production deal with 'Sound Opinions' (but the show will go on) |url=https://www.robertfeder.com/2020/06/16/wbez-cuts-12-jobs-ends-production-deal-sound-opinions/ |website=www.robertfeder.com |date=June 16, 2020}} The show is syndicated to about 150 radio stations nationwide and also exists as a weekly podcast. In 2020, Chicago's WBEZ terminated its production agreement with Sound Opinions, although the show will continue to be produced independently.

Kot's books include Wilco: Learning How to Die, Ripped: How the Wired Generation Revolutionized Music, and I'll Take You There: Mavis Staples, the Staple Singers and the March up Freedom's Highway.{{cite web|title=Greg Kot – Host of Sound Opinions|url=http://www.soundopinions.org/bio_greg.html|work=Biography|publisher=WBEZ|access-date=August 29, 2011|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070807230147/http://www.soundopinions.org/bio_greg.html|archive-date=August 7, 2007}} He co-authored The Beatles vs. The Rolling Stones: Sound Opinions on the Great Rock 'n' Roll Rivalry (Voyageur Press) with his Sound Opinions co-host Jim DeRogatis.{{cite web|last=Reid|first=Graham|title=The Beatles vs. The Rolling Stones by Jim DeRogatis and Greg Kot|url=http://www.elsewhere.co.nz/writingelsewhere/4168/the-beatles-vs-the-rolling-stones-by-jim-derogatis-and-greg-kot/|work=Review|date=August 8, 2011 |publisher=Elsewhere|access-date=August 29, 2011}} His music criticism and journalism has appeared in Encyclopædia Britannica, Cash: By the Editors of Rolling Stone, Harrison: A Rolling Stone tribute to George Harrison, The Trouser Press Guide to '90s Rock, The Rolling Stone Album Guide and MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide.Gary Graff & Daniel Durchholz (eds), MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide, Visible Ink Press (Farmington Hills, MI, 1999; {{ISBN|1-57859-061-2}}), p. xix. A longtime contributor to Rolling Stone, Kot has written for a dozen national publications,{{cite web|title=Greg Kot|url=http://chicagopublicmedia.org/staff/greg-kot|work=Host, Sound Opinions|publisher=Chicago Public Media|access-date=August 29, 2011|archive-date=March 29, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120329111349/http://chicagopublicmedia.org/staff/greg-kot|url-status=dead}} including Details, Blender, Entertainment Weekly, Men's Journal, Guitar World, Vibe and Request.

Kot lives on Chicago's Northwest Side and is a longtime youth basketball coach.{{Cite web|url=https://www.wbez.org/staff/1588/greg-kot|title=Greg Kot|website=WBEZ Chicago}}