John Bergstrom has been writing various reviews and features for PopMatters since 2004. He has been a music fanatic at least since he and a couple friends put together The Rock Group Dictionary in third grade (although he now admits that giving Pat Benatar the title of "first good female rocker" was probably a mistake). His first high school job was as a holiday clerk at pre-Internet, now-vanished National Record , and hung around for eleven years, eventually managing a Vibes Music offshoot in Milwaukee. He was the station manager for Rockford (IL) College radio, WRCR, where he checked the in-box of promos with obsessive regularity. He has done freelance writing for Trouser Pressonline, Milwaukee’s Shepherd Express, and the late Milk magazine and website.
John received a MA degree from the writing program at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. He currently resides in Madison, Wisconsin with his wife and two kids, both of whom are very good dancers. He teaches English at Madison Area Technical College and Upper Iowa University’s Madison center, neither of which, unfortunately, offers a course in late 20th century British indie rock.
