It's been five years since Pitchfork founder Ryan Schreiber announced his memoir Weird Era. Back in 2021, it was tipped for release in 2023 on MCD Books, but plans evidently changed. The good news is that the book is finally coming out this year, now with a different publisher. On Dec. 1, Farrar, Straus, And Giroux will release Weird Era: How Pitchfork Changed Music Forever.
Schreiber details the book in a new Instagram post today:
Friends, it’s finally time. After several years in the works, my memoir is complete! Today, I’m excited to share the cover for WEIRD ERA: How Pitchfork Changed Music Forever, dropping December 1, 2026 via Farrar, Straus and Giroux. (@fsgbooks)
WEIRD ERA documents the rise of online music journalism, recounting how the medium led a generation of listeners to the music they loved (and hated!). It’s also the story of my own personal journey: from Pitchfork’s scrappy origins in my suburban Minneapolis bedroom, through its transformative years in Chicago, to its arrival as a global force in New York. Along the way, WEIRD ERA revisits indie rock’s ascent from underground subculture to mainstream phenomenon, the scenes and sounds we covered, and the inside story of our pivotal acquisition by Condé Nast.
Writing this book was one of the greatest creative challenges of my life. For 20+ years, my work was about analyzing the art and ambitions of others, so it was rewarding (if surreal!) to bring that same critical lens to my own story. I did a lot of digital archaeology to get it right, mining old hard drives to cross-reference decades of emails, AIM chats, internal message board threads, and audio tapes from the Pitchfork archives. The result is as much a nostalgia trip as a look behind the curtain at how Pitchfork became the force it did. I’m excited to share it with the world.
WEIRD ERA is available for pre-order now at the link in my bio, where you’ll also find my new website and a link to join me on Substack at ethernet.fm for what’s next. To everyone who helped make Pitchfork everything it became, thank you for the passion you poured into its pages and events. And to everyone who followed along, thanks for reading— then and now.
PS — I’m retiring my former screenname, Ryanpitchfork. My handle across all sites and socials is now ryanschreiberfm. (Instagram and Threads will update soon.)
It's hard to understate Pitchfork's importance to internet-era music journalism. I imagine that rise involved both intoxicating power and paralyzing pressure, as well as lots of memorable encounters along the way. This one should have some extremely good anecdotes. Pre-order it here.
