Education
After a few years in Dallas, Texas, he moved with his family to Southern California, where he graduated from Reseda High School in 1957 and California State University, Northridge (journalism degree) in 1961.
After a few years in Dallas, Texas, he moved with his family to Southern California, where he graduated from Reseda High School in 1957 and California State University, Northridge (journalism degree) in 1961.
As critic and music editor at the Los Angeles Times from 1970 to 2005, his reviews, essays and profiles have appeared in publications around the world. Hilburn"s memoir, Corn Flakes with John Lennon (And Other Tales from a Rock ānā Roll Life) was published on October 13, 2009 by Rodale. He worked as a news reporter on a suburban Los Angeles newspaper (the Valley Times TODAY) for two years, but tired of journalism and became a public information officer for the Los Angeles Unified School District in the mid-1960s.
While there he began missing writing around the same time he fell in love with the work of Bob Dylan and the Beatles.
Hilburn began working at the Los Angeles Times in 1969,, replacing Pete Johnson as rock critic in 1970. He spent a week on the road with the Sex Pistols during their first United States. tour.
At the Times, Hilburn wrote about the new popular culture movements of punk, techno and rap. In 1985, Hilburn published a Bruce Springsteen biography as one in a series of Rolling Stone Press books
Hilburn hosts a weekly Sunday-evening music program, Rock "n" Roll Times, on Cal State Northridge station KCSN. Hilburn left the Los Angeles Times in 2005.
He is a member of the nominating committee of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and lives in Los Los Angeles