'...everybody's a critic and most people are DJs...' Honestly, did music journalism *ever* really matter? Even in the 1970-80s? Wasn't it only ever about helping 'shift units'? I'd like to think was meaningful at some point in my life, but I suspect every generation has the same fantasy.

It did matter. It set the ambitions and goals of a million half-sucky kid-bands in their parents' basements; some of whom went on to not suck and make some great music (or great writing) years and decades later.