[2] Rockwell began his journalistic career at the Oakland Tribune and the Los Angeles Times.

[2] In 1972 he began writing at The New York Times, first as a classical music critic and reporter, then also as the paper's chief pop music critic, and, from 1992 to 1994, as the European cultural correspondent.

Rockwell returned to The New York Times to become the editor of the paper's Sunday Arts and Leisure section.

Rockwell got his start in radio journalism at WHRB at Harvard and at KPFA in Berkeley.

[5] In January 2008, Rockwell was a Distinguished Visitor at the American Academy in Berlin.