Today we’d like to introduce you to Lyndsey Parker.
Hi Lyndsey, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
When I was a little girl, I asked my mom to call up our cable operator and demand, “I WANT MY MTV!” Well, I got it, and nothing was ever the same. My passion started right then. Growing up in the Moon Zappa-popularized San Fernando Valley, in the shadow of the famous Sherman Oaks Galleria, I became immersed in all things music and pop culture — taking the RTD (as it was known then) to go meet my all-time favorite band the Cure at the Sunset Marquis hotel, buy my back-to-school shoes at Flashfeet on Melrose, and head “over the hill” to collect band fliers in the Rainbow Bar & Grill parking lot on the Sunset Strip.
Eventually, I was publishing my own Brady Bunch-inspired fanzine, Porkchops & Applesauce, and interviewing my heroes like KISS, the Cramps, and Buzzcocks, as well as then-rising bands like Weezer, Redd Kross, and Urge Overkill. This led to my first editorial job, working for my mentor, the great former Creem editor Dave DiMartino, who taught me everything I know. (And I may have taught him a few things along the way!)
A LAUNCH acquisition led to me working for Yahoo for many years, and eventually my writing expanded into me tapping into my hammy child-actress and UCLA college radio backgrounds — doing on-camera interviews, podcasting, various guestpert news and documentary appearances (I’m a regular on AXS TV), and hosting work. A career highlight was my four-year “side hustle” helming the L.A.-centric show “Volume West” on SiriusXM alongside a rotating cast of co-hosts, which I affectionately dubbed my “Harem,” that included famous locals like Chad Smith of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Davey Havok of AFI, Michael Des Barres, Matt Pinfield, and the Stray Cats’ Slim Jim Phantom. I learned so much from that experience.
Currently, I host the podcast and TV show “Totally ’80s,” which is a ton of fun, and I’m the Editor-at-Large for the Music Times. I also have a Substack, “Reality Rocks,” where I continue to indulge my decades-long obsession for TV talent shows. It’s been a wild ride.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall, and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Oh, working in journalism, the music business AND the digital space has never been smooth! That’s a trifecta of volatile industries. I have actually never really felt 100 percent stable in my career, as odd as that may sound after all this time. I literally always expected to be laid off! I suppose that’s why I always worked so hard, because I never felt I could get too comfortable. That’s not always great for one’s stress levels, but it’s great for developing a strong work ethic! And after surviving more layoffs and industry shifts (remember “pivot to video” and listicles?) than I can literally count, that did eventually happen to me — as it has sadly happened to so many of my talented peers at publications like Pitchfork, Vice, the L.A. Times, and L.A. Weekly. But I am very lucky to still be able to do what I love, and I will keep grinding and hustling and figuring out new ways to channel my passions and talents. Because that is the Los Angeles way!
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I pride myself as a one-on-one interviewer. All journalists have one thing they’re good at, be it investigative reporting, long-form essays and critical think pieces, humor writing, etc. — and interviewing is my thing. I truly love getting people to open up and tell me their stories, funny or tragic, or even figuring out exactly what their story is, because great journalism is just storytelling at the end of the day. And some of the most fascinating stories come from musicians who aren’t even household names. I actually think the autobiography ‘Permanent Damage: Memoirs of An Outrageous Girl,’ which I wrote with/for the Frank Zappa-discovered GTOs muse and L.A. groupie Mercy “Miss Mercy” Fontenot shortly before she died, was the result of an episodic, two-year sit-down interview with Mercy.
If you had to, what characteristic of yours would you give the most credit to?
I also pride myself on not being a rock snob. Unlike a lot of tribal music fans who classify themselves as a Goth, a punk, a metalhead, etc., my tastes are all across the board. I always joke that I am probably the only person in L.A. who left Siouxsie Sioux’s Cruel World Festival headlining show and immediately headed home to recap the Season 21 ‘American Idol’ finale. That’s pretty much me in a nutshell! And I think that is because I grew up in L.A., a city with such a diverse music scene and so many radio stations. (I was SO spoiled to grow up with KROQ, KLOS, KXLU, KCRW, KMET, K-WEST, KNAC, KIQQ, KIIS, Power 106, and along the way, the sadly-now-defunct Mighty 690, Pirate Radio, and especially Indie 103.1.)
Anyway, life is too short to like only one thing or worry if what you like is “cool” or not. I love it all, the cool and the uncool, and I love to write about all of it. And I think that has helped me maintain a career against the odds.
Contact Info:
- Website: lyndsanity.com
- Instagram: @lyndseyparker
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lyndsanity
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lyndseyparker/
- Twitter: @lyndseyparker
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@LyndseyParker
- SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/lyndsey-parker
- Other: https://realityrocks.substack.com, musictimes.com
Image Credits
AXS TV
Davey Havok
Chad Smith
SiriusXM
John Oates
Grammy Museum
Getty Images
Lyndsey
Mercy
Brantley Guttierez
RuPaul –
Viacom LA Press Club
Betsy Annas
