The Billboard Illustrated Encyclopedia of Rock

In an age where anyone can (and everyone seems to) produce music, I can’t help but wonder about the future of a book like this. Billboard Illustrated Encyclopedia of Rock is good for what it is, a reference source covering a vast topic.

As you would expect, there’s a lot of material here. They do a good job of presenting many more genres of rock, pop, country, metal, rap, blues and folk than I would have thought possible. To give you an idea, I just opened to a page where Phish, Bobby “Boris” Pickett, Wilson Pickett, Pink Floyd, Gene Pitney, the Pixies, PJ Harvey, Placebo, Robert Plant, Planxty and the Platters each have an entry. That’s quite a cross-section.

It’s certainly not complete and some of the omissions are as interesting as the entries themselves. Aimee Mann gets a nod but her band ‘Til Tuesday does not. Leo Kottke is here but not David Bromberg. I have to admit I was surprised (and pleased) to see Eddie and the Hot Rods.

As a general reference, this is a great book and I would certainly recommend it as such.

David Hodge recent photoDavid Hodge is a music teacher with over twenty-five years experience who writes lessons for both Acoustic Guitar and Play Guitar! He is the author of three Idiot's Guide to Guitar books: The Complete Idiot's Guide Guitar, The Complete Idiot's Guide to Playing Rock Guitar, The Complete Idiot's Guide to Playing Bass Guitar. David is also the and co-author of the new The Complete Idiot's Guide to the Art of Songwriting.
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