The 100 Greatest Bands of All Times: A Guide to the Legends Who Rocked the World. Edited by David V. Moskowitz. Santa Barbara, CA: Greenwood, 2015. 2 vols. acid free $189 (ISBN 978-1-4408-0339-0). Ebook available (978-1-4408-0340-6), call for pricing.

Pop music is pervasive. We listen ubiquitously, while driving, socializing, and performing countless tasks. The music is a source to which we turn when feeling sad and alone or happy and celebratory. Pop music is an important topic of inquiry because of the roles it plays in people’s lives and also because it provides continuous mass cultural exploration of identity, society, and contemporary experience.

David V. Moskowitz, a professor of Music History, amassed 39 contributors from a variety of fields to compile The 100 Greatest Bands of All Times: A Guide to the Legends Who Rocked the World. The title of this ambitious guide is problematic. The introduction does not specify the scope of the bands, although the subtitle implies that it is about rock bands. Nevertheless, the types of bands covered span a wide spectrum of pop music categories, including Reggae, Rap, Punk, and Disco. The criteria used to select the greatest bands is unclear, and there will be strong dispute over the 100 bands chosen. Moskowitz wrote that the bands were chosen based on, “more than one member, record sales, influence, impact, and innovation” (viii). The “more than one member” (viii) criterion may explain why iconic artist David Bowie is excluded, but it seems incomprehensible considering his significant influence throughout decades of pop music making. With few exceptions, the bands are American or British, and male.

Moskowitz wrote ten short opening essays, to provide insight into the world in which pop music is made. The essays that describe the roles played by technologies, record labels, MTV, and YouTube are informative and provide historical perspective; but the essays that treat cultural issues, such as “Rap Crosses Over: Hip-Hop Takes Over the White America,” are underdeveloped. In “Girls that Rock,” Moskowitz attempts a history of women in rock, but the brevity of this essay does not allow for thoughtful discussion, and several seminal women singers go unmentioned, such as Aretha Franklin, Ronnie Spector, and Patti Smith. Greenwood published an earlier encyclopedia devoted to women pop musicians, Women Icons of Popular Music: The Rebels, Rockers, and Renegades (Greenwood, 2009). However, for spirited feminist writing on the women in rock, readers should seek out issues of Rockrgrl (1995–2005), (ISSN 1086-5985).

Band entries are alphabetically arranged by band name, a simple arrangement that avoids the controversy that would arise if the bands were arranged in ranked order. Entries are thoroughly researched and in-depth. Biographical and historical information is interwoven with discussion about the bands’ musical style, achievements in recording and performance, and lasting influence. Each entry features a black and white photograph, a selective discography, and a brief reference list. The set is indexed by names of musicians and bands, song titles, recording studios, and selective topics, such as “Punk music.” Sadly, there are no index entries for Big Star, Alex Chilton, Elvis Costello, or Sinead O’Connor.

The depth of coverage provided for each band makes this set suitable for all libraries that maintain a popular music collection. Readers seeking more adrenaline fueled writing about their rock idols could find the academic prose uninspiring; however, they are likely to learn something new and important about their favorite bands’ unique place in the history of pop music.—Valerie Mittenberg, Collection Development Librarian, Sojourner Truth Library, State University of New York, New Paltz, New York