1001 Songs You Must Hear Before You Die: And 10,001 You Must Download

I think I understand the spirit where that book have been written. Not for the BEST HIT EVER, but the songs where those who wrote it made a difference. For example, WHOLE LOTTA LOVE from ZEPPELIN, this is the song who made ZEPPELIN so different in 1969, ont he other hand STAIRWAY TO HEAVEN was an excellent ballad, but not different of a quantity of others very well written ballads.I'd love the pre-50s chapter, so many songs in the 20s 30s 40s has to be mentioned, and was shaping a road for a million of others through the times, thanks for that.Also the 80s 90s and the 00s are very interesting, for those like me who wouldn't have necessary the time for listening everything in all sections of music ever, that's quite more than informal, the scrutiny of the details and the related inspiration created or where it came from, his a must for a music fan.

great read. well researched. It's really the old section that is most interesting because it really gives you a glimpse of the early influences on music.

Great conversation starter book. A must for a music lover.

I have mixed feelings about this compendium. As others have mentioned, a lot of great music listed, (Tori Amos' "Cornflake Girl", Beach Boys' "Surf's Up" and the Beatles "Tomorrow Never Knows" stand out as highlights), but in my opinion, it's overtly hit-heavy for a title that I inferred as meaning it would list a lot more obscure songs that the author wanted to make sure that I didn't miss.Some of the bands seem under-researched - listing the Bangles' " Eternal Flame" in the download list while ignoring the infinitely better and gorgeous "More Than Meets the Eye" and "Dover Beach" shows lazy thinking as far as I am concerned; while " Flame" is beautiful, it is over-produced and is not representative of what they do best. (BTW, if you like this song, there's a lovely unplugged version of Susanna Hoffs doing it a solo acoustic version of it at Lilith Fair that showcases it far better.)"Valley Girl" and "Je'taime"? Really? Why novelty songs in a collection of this kind?The 80's section thankfully pays respect to REM, but much of the rock included is mostly synthesizer-based pop. While this was indeed a huge component of 80's music that got played on the radio, it was not remotely the only thing going on - there was a counter-movement of guitar-based post-punk that was worthy of more consideration here. Leaving X for the download-only section seemed an error of this sort.LOVE that the author includes Elastica, however derivative many say they were. Their first album blew me away and I miss them.I heartily agree that Bonnie Raitt's "I Can't Make You Love Me" is possibly the best thing she ever did. Which is saying a lot for such an amazing musician.I was happy to see a lot of world music here that I had not previously been exposed to - will definitely check these out! Pretty solid job on the jazz standards, although I do agree with previous reviewers that some worthy of note had been skipped over.As for country and the choices included for hip hop and R&B, I honestly don't know enough to comment and will leave that to others. But I will say that giving Freda Payne her due was great and I loved the choices listed for Stevie Wonder.I would say read the reviews, adjust your expectations and keep in mind that the author couldn't possibly please everyone, including me. "So you have to please yourself."- Rick Nelson

Upon first skimming through, I noticed immediately a skew toward certain genres of music and barely mentioned artists not in top 40 or artists not commercially successful. I won't even mention some of the obvious artists or bands not given their due attention in the book. the book is put together well and has a nice layout but wasn't researched as well as it should or else the choices for inclusion was all of a subjective nature leaving out many obvious songs that were musical gems of a groundbreaking nature. Disappointing for the price of the book. I will mention one song included in the book, "Keep on Lovin You" by REO Speedwagon and you get part of what I'm talkin about here.