Weird Era (2026)

By Ryan Schreiber

Named a Most Anticipated Book by NPR and Lit Hub "Pitchfork really did change music forever, which makes Ryan Schreiber one of the major innovators of this era. This book is a fascinating exploration into Pitchfork, and as a tribute, I put it at number one in my list of top books of the year." — Fred Armisen "More than a gripping memoir, Weird Era doubles as a history of indie rock in the 21st Century and its equally unlikely journey from snarky outsider to Zeitgeist sound." —Simon Reynolds, author of Still In A Dream An Almost Famous–like memoir for the twenty-first century: Pitchfork’s founder opens up about running the most influential, and infamous, music publication of the internet age. In 1996, as legacy media slowly went digital, a nineteen-year-old Minneapolitan named Ryan Schreiber fired up his family’s desktop computer and brought his dream to life: a daily online music zine published for, and by, nerds like him. He wasn’t yet a writer, but he was passionate about discovering and sharing new music; he figured if he didn’t do it, someone else would. He named his site Pitchfork, an homage to the assassin tattoo Tony Montana sports in Scarface. Schreiber also decided to…

Published

2026