Robert Thomas Christgau (; born April 18, 1942) is an American essayist and music journalist. One of the earliest professional rock critics, he spent 37 years as the chief music critic and senior editor for "The Village Voice", during which time he created and oversaw the annual Pazz & Jop poll. He has also covered popular music for "Esquire", "Creem", "Newsday", "Playboy", "Rolling Stone", "Billboard", NPR, "Blender", and "MSN Music", and was a visiting arts teacher at New York University. Among the most revered and influential of music critics, he has been described by CNN senior writer Jamie Allen as "the E.F. Hutton of the music world – when he talks, people listen."