David Wild

David Wild is an American music journalist, television writer, and producer whose work often combines criticism with openly personal enthusiasm. He is…I Say is his book-length tribute to Neil Diamond, drawing on Wild’s interviews with the singer, his Rolling Stone work, and his experience writing liner notes for Diamond anthologies. Da Capo Press published the book in 2009 with the subtitle How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Neil Diamond. Rather than offering a detached chronological biography, Wild examines Diamond’s songs, public image, and unusual position between enormous popular success and critical skepticism. The result is both music history and an account of fandom, shaped by the author’s willingness to explain why the work matters to him. Wild’s broader career as an Emmy-nominated television writer and popular-music commentator gives the book an insider’s awareness of entertainment culture. The finished portrait is warm and witty, treating affection as a route into criticism rather than something a serious critic must conceal.