Dave Marsh, the writer whose encyclopedic knowledge of rock music made him one of the country’s most influential music critics, has died at 76, the Associated Press reports.

Marsh, a Michigan native, began his career in journalism as a teenage writer for Creem magazine, where he worked with the legendary critic Lester Bangs. In 1979, he published Born To Run: The Bruce Springsteen Story, a biography of the New Jersey singer-songwriter who Marsh had championed; eight years later, he would revisit Springsteen in Glory Days: Bruce Springsteen in the 1980s.

Marsh’s other subjects included the Who, Michael Jackson, Sly and the Family Stone, and the Beatles. He wrote a book about Richard Berry’s song “Louie Louie,” which was famously covered by the Kingsmen in 1963; he called the cover “the most profound and sublime expression of rock 'n' roll's ability to create something from nothing.” In 2023, he published Kick Out the Jams: Jibes, Barbs, Tributes, and Rallying Cries From 35 Years of Music Writing, which a critic for Kirkus called “heartfelt and often amusing.”

Marsh’s admirers paid tribute to him on social media. On Instagram, Springsteen wrote, “Here on E Street, the irreplaceable loss of Dave Marsh has us heartbroken. My great friend Dave, with his straight out of Detroit attitude, was a true Rock ‘n’ Roll lifer. He was soulful, intelligent, heartfelt, opinionated, bruising and often fantastically argumentative….Wherever he is, I hope he’s receiving some of the grace, happiness and reward he’s brought into my life.”

And on the platform X, music critic Steven Hyden posted, “RIP Dave Marsh. One of the great first-generation rock critics. His biography of The Who was hugely influential to me, in terms of how to write about a band you love in a critical, clear-eyed way. And his Springsteen book GLORY DAYS was formative for my own Springsteen book.”

Michael Schaub is a contributing writer.