I’ll never stop blogging: it’s an itch I have to scratch – and I don’t care if it’s an outdated format | Simon Reynolds

Even if nobody reads them, I'll always be drawn to the freedom blogs offer. I can ramble about any subject I choose

I started blogging in 2002. Prior to that, I'd operated a website for about six years, but what grabbed me about blogging was the speed and the responsiveness - the way blogs picked up on what other blogs posted, and responded almost in real time. I wanted to jump right into the midst of this crackling synergy between blogs. So I did.

The blogging circuit I joined was only one corner of an ever-growing blogosphere. Even within music, my blog's primary focus, there was a whole other - and larger - network of MP3 blogs. Still, my particular neighbourhood was bustling all through the 2000s. Out of its fractious ferment emerged cult figures such as K-punk, aka Mark Fisher, one of the most widely read and revered leftwing thinkers of our time, and the prolific cultural critic and author Owen Hatherley. Then there were those like me, who fit a different archetype: already a professional writer but someone who relished the freedom of style and tone offered by blogging.

Simon Reynolds is a music journalist and author