Encyclopedia of Great Popular Song Recordings
By (author) Steve Sullivan
Publication date:
04 October 2013Length of book:
1030 pagesPublisher
Scarecrow PressISBN-13: 9780810882959
From John Philip Sousa to Green Day, from Scott Joplin to Kanye West, from Stephen Foster to Coldplay, The Encyclopedia of Great Popular Song Recordings, Volumes 1 and 2 covers the vast scope of its subject with virtually unprecedented breadth and depth. Approximately 1,000 key song recordings from 1889 to the present are explored in full, unveiling the stories behind the songs, the recordings, the performers, and the songwriters.
Beginning the journey in the era of Victorian parlor balladry, brass bands, and ragtime with the advent of the record industry, readers witness the birth of the blues and the dawn of jazz in the 1910s and the emergence of country music on record and the shift from acoustic to electrical recording in the 1920s. The odyssey continues through the Swing Era of the 1930s; rhythm & blues, bluegrass, and bebop in the 1940s; the rock & roll revolution of the 1950s; modern soul, the British invasion, and the folk-rock movement of the 1960s; and finally into the modern era through the musical streams of disco, punk, grunge, hip-hop, and contemporary dance-pop. Sullivan, however, also takes critical detours by extending the coverage to genres neglected in pop music histories, from ethnic and world music, the gospel recording of both black and white artists, and lesser-known traditional folk tunes that reach back hundreds of years.
This book is ideal for anyone who truly loves popular music in all of its glorious variety, and anyone wishing to learn more about the roots of virtually all the music we hear today. Popular music fans, as well as scholars of recording history and technology and students of the intersections between music and cultural history will all find this book to be informative and interesting.
Beginning the journey in the era of Victorian parlor balladry, brass bands, and ragtime with the advent of the record industry, readers witness the birth of the blues and the dawn of jazz in the 1910s and the emergence of country music on record and the shift from acoustic to electrical recording in the 1920s. The odyssey continues through the Swing Era of the 1930s; rhythm & blues, bluegrass, and bebop in the 1940s; the rock & roll revolution of the 1950s; modern soul, the British invasion, and the folk-rock movement of the 1960s; and finally into the modern era through the musical streams of disco, punk, grunge, hip-hop, and contemporary dance-pop. Sullivan, however, also takes critical detours by extending the coverage to genres neglected in pop music histories, from ethnic and world music, the gospel recording of both black and white artists, and lesser-known traditional folk tunes that reach back hundreds of years.
This book is ideal for anyone who truly loves popular music in all of its glorious variety, and anyone wishing to learn more about the roots of virtually all the music we hear today. Popular music fans, as well as scholars of recording history and technology and students of the intersections between music and cultural history will all find this book to be informative and interesting.
Each year, radio stations of all types bring together their 'best-of-the-year' songs, albums, artists, and so on, and present them in marathon programs. Far beyond the focus of a single year, author Sullivan puts forward, essentially, a 'best-of-the-best' list of great songs in this new two-volume set. Sullivan consulted multiple sources, including published greatest-hits lists for specific styles and genres, song inductees from various musical halls of fame, and articles and books offering top song choices of music-industry writers and performers. Sullivan’s compilation is not simply a list of popular songs, as he states in the introduction: 'Instead, my intent is to provide a journey through all eras and genres of popular music over the past 120-plus years.' Few readers would have qualms about the inclusion of the majority, if not all, of these songs. Some might decry the inclusion or exclusion of specific titles in a work that, because of the author’s editorial eye, cannot possibly contain every recorded hit song. Sullivan breaks up the selections into 10 'playlists' of 100 songs each, loosely connected by a theme, although the songs in each playlist cover many genres and span roughly a century. Each entry is exceptionally detailed with historical backstories, quotes from artists and authors, and Sullivan’s own fresh take on the song’s importance. Most entries are at least several paragraphs long, and many are quite lengthy. For example, Scott Joplin’s 'Maple Leaf Rag' and the Beatles’ 'A Day in the Life' each receive a full four columns (two pages), providing much more detail than the average album-liner notes. A smattering of black-and-white photographs and a 20-page bibliography add value to the text. Sullivan admirably accomplishes his goal of bringing together important pieces of our musical past into a form that lets readers learn historical details about these songs and reminisce about their meaning in their own lives. Highly recommended for most academic and public libraries.