All Music Guide to Rock: The Definitive Guide to Rock, Pop, and Soul

by Vladimir Bogdanov (Editor), Stephen Thomas Erlewine, Chris Woodstra

Easy to use and fun to explore, this 1,400-page tome is the most complete guide ever published on the artists and recordings that really rock. Compiled by dozens of music critics, it reviews and rates more than 14,000 great albums by over 2,200 artists and groups in more than 400 styles - both mainstream and alternative - including bootlegs, import-only releases, important out-of-print recordings, and lesser-known cult artists. A brief profile details each performer's career, while insightful reviews of top recordings help define the musician's artistic development and impact on rock. Expanded biographies spotlight major figures, along with complete album discographies. Also features educational essays and music maps that chart the evolution of rock's diverse subgenres at a glance.

Genres: Music, Reference

1399 pages, Paperback

First published April 16, 2002

Reviews

[Neal]

five stars for the All Music Guide. Did you know that AMG was founded by Michael Erlewine, some dude from Anne Arbor who was a folk singer, and apparently a member of The Stooges briefly. His nephew Steven Thomas Erlewine is one of AMG's super star rock critics.

[Tim]

Typically fine All Music Guide book, with a huge amount of reviews and massive page count. Well-written, incisive stuff, pretty complete and a wonderful reference. Occasionally "star" (not really stars; diamonds) rankings seem a little at odds with written reviews, and there's some inconsistency as to whether the 1-5 ratings are based among all works or relative to that artist's. Occasionally, you'll wonder why a certain artist wasn't included, but mostly this is a wonderful book. Unfortunately, it looks like it will never be updated in physical form. I get that it might seem viable to keep this online only and not printed, but I sure wish for a new edition I could actually touch; this is from 20 years ago.

[Lissbeth Martinez]

College class book.

[Joanne Welch]

My Bible

[Kelvin Hayes]

I contributed to this book.

[Pascal]

Very complete reference book, edited in 2002, with almost every known artist and their albums, with some good music genre maps.

[Paulrx04]

Most trustworthy of all books in this genre!!

[Jim]

Terrific reference book. But why does it not include Simply Red or Tanita Tikaram, et al?