Chronicles of Rock..

"Music in the eighties was saved by only two bands, U2 and REM..." = ARGH!

Ned- do expand- I mean, send me your All music reviews.. Im too lazy to print them out;)

Seriously though- no good books out there? At all?

All of them? You're a crazy person. ;-)

crazy like a fox! anyway, I do enjoy your All Music reviews.. i appreciate them-thanks

Please Kill Me: The Uncensored Oral History of Punk, and

Our Band Could Be Your Life: Scenes from the American Indie Underground 1981-1991

Thanks everyone for the splendid suggestions- I will be sure to check them out.

The thing is, many bands whose sound I do not exactly enjoy have been cited as influences for bands I do enjoy, this makes me interested in them by one degree of separation. coming late to the genre (sidetracked by blues and classical) - I wanted to fill in the musical gaps, for bands who even though they might sound dated now, were (and still are) influential..that was my point..

well thanks again, eh.

there is a song called OWNER OF A LONELY HEART on a record by YES that was called 90125 or something like that, the other songs on the lp arent as good but still ok

this band YES were very good in the seventies too with the song STARSHIP TROOPER but i dont have that record it was on

oh also in the eighties there was a band called THE HUMAN LEAGUE that had a record called DARE you should get

and a band called BRONSKI BEAT with the record THE AGE OF CONSENT

also in the seventies and eighties there was a band called FOREIGNER with great great hit singles COLD AS ICE, I WANT TO KNOW WHAT LOVE IS, and HOT BLOODED

oh also STYX, their GRAND ILLUSION record has their single COME SAIL AWAY and another record has DOMO ARIGATO MR ROBOTO

BOSTON were a pretty good band but all their songs sound like inferior versions of their hit MORE THAN A FEELING

in there nineties there werent as many good rock bands but one of them was NO DOUBT, their hits DONT SPEAK, JUST A GIRL, and SPIDERWEBS are all classic

also recently THE DANDY WARHOLS did BOHEMIAN LIKE YOU and LINKIN PARK are saving metal and hiphop at the same time so check them out

sticker I saw on a james brown CD:

"most influential black artist in the history of rock"

what about 1996?

also, there's coming next year Heartaches by the Numbers: Country Music's 500 Best Singles, which as a certifiable List Freak I will be certain to thumb to death....

Trouser Press New Record Guide, Revised Edition (1989, American Version) - edited by Ira A. Robins

Trouser Press Record Guide, Third Edition (1991) - edited by Ira A. Robins

     Required reading.

The Collectors Guide to Heavy Metal (1997) - by Martin Popoff

     Funny, fierce and jam-packed.

Route 666: On the Road to Nirvana - by Gina Arnold

     Pop Thugs will roll their eyes, and Indie Thugs will weep copious tears of joy from theirs. Not so much a book as an Indie Thug Manifesto.

Virgin's Top 1000 Albums of All Time (1998) - Colin Larkin

     One mans loving tribute to his vast collection of vinyl and cds.

Rock Around the Bloc: A History of Rock Music in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union - by Timothy W Ryback

     Onscure but fascinating.

Stairway to Hell: The 500 Greatest Heavy Metal Albums in the Universe (1998) - by Chuck Eddy

     Hysterical, albiet not as informative as the Martin Popoff book.

Third Ear: Alternative Rock (2000) - by Dave Thompson

     5x better than the Spin Guide to Alt...and could've been 10x better if didn't have so many gaps.

Rock: An Unruly History by Robert Palmer (the musicologist, not the singer)

England's Dreaming - by Jon Savage (2001 Edition)

Generation Exstacy - by Simon Reynolds

     Preferably read in that order, these three are some of the most exhaustively researched and digestable condesations of pop|rock|indie|techno|electronica.

She's a Rebel: The History of Women in Rock and Roll - by Gillian G Gaar

We Gotta Get Out of this Place - by Gerri Hirshey

     Sisters are Doin' it For themselves. Hirsheys book is slightly better.

Illustrated History of Country Music - edited by Patrick Carr

     Very, very informative.

This is Reggae Music - by Lloyd Bradley

     so is this one.

Secret History of Rock: The Most Influential Bands You've Never Heard by Roni Sarig

Twentieth Century Rock and Roll: Alternative Rock - by Alan Cross

     Sarigs book is broader, Cross's is more detailed. Both make for a short, amusing read

Sex Revolts, The - by Simon Reynolds

     Art is not a mirror, art is a hammer.

Ranters and Crowd Pleasers - Punk in Pop 1977-92 - by Griel Marcus

     The only Griel Marcus book that sounds like it wasn't written under the influence of mind altering chemicals. He writes coherent paragraphs for a change!

You mean, Glen Miller, Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Nelson Riddle...? :-)

(Then again, of course the truth is that, while U2 and R.E.M. didn't need to save music in the 80s, Oasis and Blur certainly did so in 1995. :-) )

Sample quotes:
"All important British guitarists belonged to the Yardbirds"
"Very little thought went into the punk movement"
"Facile" (caption to a photo of Iron Maiden)

It is translated from French.