This interview of the unstoppable Matt Pinfield by the wonderful Rick Beato is simply amazing, touching on everything from Matt's recent stroke and recovery (his doctors thought he'd never walk or talk again) to the early days in NJ at WRSU, the Melody, and WHTG to his big breakthrough at MTV to his later days at Columbia, Farm Club, WXRK and then on to all the cool things he's doing now, with very entertaining stories along the way about Depeche Mode (his demo effort for 120 Minutes), Radiohead, Bowie, McCartney, his 911 experiences and more. Thought I'd watch 5-10 minutes before going to bed and couldn't stop watching it until the end 90 minutes later. Top notch interview, as you can just tell that these guys both just love music and are good friends, and great to see my friend doing so well.
OT: Cool new article on Matt Pinfield (Apr-26)...Fantastic Interview of Matt Pinfield by Rick Beato (Aug-25)
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Thanks for posting this. Matt's story is very inspirational. I was not aware that his family did not have much money when he was growing up. I did know WHTG paid next to nothing, but it was all about the love of music for all of the DJs.
A bit off topic, IIRC, you and/or your son are a fan of Titus Andronicus. They do indeed play the Stone Pony tonight. Are you going?
A bit off topic, IIRC, you and/or your son are a fan of Titus Andronicus. They do indeed play the Stone Pony tonight. Are you going?
It really is inspirational - I call him the R&R Terminator, affectionately (nothing can kill him), which he thinks is funny. Two very good friends of ours grew up in EB and were friends with Matt in HS and also had his dad for physics and they always said what a great teacher he was.
We love Titus, but have seen them about ten times, so not going to make it tonight. Highly recommend them, though, as they put on a very high energy show.
Figured I'd add this here instead of starting a new thread. Great new article in the Times on the irrepressible Matt Pinfield, with some more interesting history and some interesting nuggets on his recovery from last year's stroke and coma. Amazingly he's doing quite well now. My favorite part was the retelling of a story he told a bunch of us a few months ago when he was back in town.
But Pinfield’s most memorable live-show experience may be the one that took place last July in Los Angeles. Wearing his trademark top-to-bottom all-black attire, Pinfield stood in front of thousands of fans at the Hollywood Bowl, where he introduced a performance by John Fogerty, one of his childhood heroes. A few minutes later, as Fogerty tore into “Bad Moon Rising,” Pinfield began applauding in appreciation, something he hadn’t been able to do just a few weeks earlier.
“Oh my God,” Pinfield exclaimed. “I can clap again!”
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/09/arts/music/matt-pinfield-mtv.html
But Pinfield’s most memorable live-show experience may be the one that took place last July in Los Angeles. Wearing his trademark top-to-bottom all-black attire, Pinfield stood in front of thousands of fans at the Hollywood Bowl, where he introduced a performance by John Fogerty, one of his childhood heroes. A few minutes later, as Fogerty tore into “Bad Moon Rising,” Pinfield began applauding in appreciation, something he hadn’t been able to do just a few weeks earlier.
“Oh my God,” Pinfield exclaimed. “I can clap again!”
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/09/arts/music/matt-pinfield-mtv.html
Article is paywalled. Matt dis a recent podcast too. Matt epitomizes Jimmy V's words- "Don't give up, don't ever give up." His social media feeds are inspirational. He works out and hikes nearly every day, which has been a big factor in his recovery.
Music definitely has the power to heal. Remember that segment on Lady GaGa and Tony Bennett that appeared on CBS Sunday Morning a few years back? Tony was suffering from Alzheimer's and had difficulty conveying his thoughts in regular conversation but could sing every word of many of his songs.
That podcast I posted covered much of the same ground and more. I had known about his getting hit by a car in 2018, but I had not known about the issue he had as a teenager. He literally has used 3 lives and come out strong each time.
Yeah, there's not too much new ground to cover and they didn't go into much detail on the shenanigans that went on while he was in a coma (I doubt the podcast did either, but haven't gone all the way through it) and there is some serious dirt there, but my guess is Matt may never tell that story fully - or he's waiting for his next book.
The aneurysm thing used to be something he'd joke about regularly way back in the day, saying that's what caused him to go prematurely bald, lol.
Matt epitomizes taking life as it comes, the good, the bad and the ugly. Get knocked down, get up and keep going.