The Essential Rock Discography: Complete Discographies Listing Every Track Recorded by More Than 1,200 Artists [Paperback]

Martin C. Strong (Author), John Peel (Foreword)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 10, 2006 | Series: Essential Rock Discography

For the serious rock and pop music aficionado or the inquisitive teenager whose taste runs from the Doors to Beyoncé, here is the definitive, you’ll-need-no-other music book. Completely revised and updated with brand new photographs throughout, this formidable tome is the perfect tool to lead a rollicking, at-home Rock & Roll Jeopardy night. Set it bedside and learn one fact on the greatest rockers—or your underrated favorites—every night. For example, did you know that P. Diddy started as a “dogsbody”—a gofer—for Heavy D’s Uptown Records? Or that Neil Diamond was originally part of a duo, Neil & Jack? Whether punks, divas, alt-rockers, rappers, rock-a-billies, or gods of the pop pantheon, all you need to know about everyone is here. Gaze at Living Color and Rainbow, as well as Pink, Deep Purple, Blue Nile, and Green Day. From one-hit wonders to mega stars it doesn’t matter the size, this is an inexhaustible book overflowing with biographical tidbits, evolving band line-ups, session descriptions, anecdotes, and definitive track and label listings. With a reputation as the best, most exhaustive, up-to-date discography around, it’s perfect for every music lover you know.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

It took Strong 10 years to compile this discography, and the rock music world is in his debt. More accurate and comprehensive than other books attempting to accomplish the same ends, more readable and better organized, The Great Rock Discography title may toot its own horn, while Strong calls his opus "the ultimate rock book of all time," but it's entirely merited.

It starts at A with ABBA and spends over a page on them (and these are rather large pages, with very small print), describing the history of the band and their albums, then compulsively listing their every recorded musical output from October '73 until October '96, including a jungle of code notations (you can refer back to the formats-and-abbreviations page whenever needed) with catalog number and recording label, whether the A- or B-sides differ in their U.K. and U.S. versions, which are essential to your collection, and whether the vinyl was a long player, a double-long player, a colored long player, or a mini-long player. Covering Adam & the Ants, Bootsy's Rubber Band, Tom Petty, Linda Rondstadt, and Muddy Waters on up through the Zombies and ZZ Top, Strong lists every track by more than 1,000 groups. --Stephanie Gold --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Library Journal

Amply covering both the British and American rock scenes, Strong's fifth updating of his very successful reference work will find a warm reception. Although its wealth of data is presented in eyestrain-inducing small print, this book is still fun and worthwhile to read. Record collectors will especially delight in the myriad facts that Strong, an English rock writer, has unearthed. You may think, for instance, that you know everything about Aerosmith until you read the entry. The work's major feature and the main reason to buy it lies in its extensive chronological discographical listings in each entry. These can get complicated, what with the international coverage and various formats and other permutations that Strong does not shy away from covering. It's essential to read the short "How To Read the Book" section that follows the introduction. As in the past, a straight A-Z format serves as the massive tome's layout, with Strong having tucked in 250 new entries since the 1998 edition. Any library fielding rock music questions, particularly of the discographical bent, will find this a useful title to have on the shelf. David M. Turkalo, Suffolk Univ. Law Sch. Lib., Boston
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 1200 pages
• Publisher: Canongate U.S. (October 10, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1841958603
• ISBN-13: 978-1841958606
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.9 x 1.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (27 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,263,052 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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25 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An Alternative to the new RS Guide, December 28, 2004

By 

T-Ro (St. Louis, MO) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Great Rock Discography: Complete Discographies Listing Every Track Recorded by More Than 1,200 Artists (Paperback)

Martin C. Strong gives us an excellent discography covering most of the artists important to us. Equally as important, though, is the fact that he rates most of the albums covered. His 1-10 point system is straightforward, and frequently quite accurate. He is judicious in his assignment of 10 points; there are only a handful of them among thousands of albums rated. His perspective is also very British, with certain prejudices following. While compilations by Chuck Berry, John Lee Hooker, Muddy Waters, Little Richard, etc., receive at best 9 point ratings, Oasis seems to have produced two 10 point albums. (It might make sense if he felt 'best of' collections did not warrant perfect scores, but such collections are nearly the only means of collecting those early artists mentioned above, and anyway, he gave 10 points to both The Byrd's and Simon and Garfunkel's 'Greatest Hits' - so there.) In fact, among the few 'perfect' (10 point) albums found herein are 'Close to the Edge' by Yes, and - of all things - 'Bat Out of Hell' by Meat Loaf. If the latter deserves 10 points, then Bruce Springsteen's 'Born to Run' deserves 1,000 points (it only got 9). He takes a realistic view of Eminem (no 10 point albums) while feeding into the overestimation of Nirvana (two 10 point albums). As for Dylan, some adjustment is called for, like swapping the 10 points bestowed upon 'Desire' with the mere 6 point given to 'John Wesley Harding'. Anyway, this could go on, but the point is, buy it for the excellent discographic information (including UK and US chart positions) and background essays, not so much the reviews. That said, at least this book DOES include Metallica, George Harrison and Joan Armatrading, unlike another new review guide we could mention....

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Somebody Had To Do It - Somebody Had To Buy It, July 3, 2002

By 

Mark D Burgh "Music, Writing, Art, Film, Hist... (Fort Smith, AR United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Great Rock Discography: Complete Discographies Listing Every Track Recorded by More Than 1,000 Groups (Paperback)

This is an amazing work - a telephone book of people you might actually want to call, a lost gnostic text to a doomed civilization's pizza delivery places, a total compendium of where all the effort spent in conquering the world went after the fall of the British Empire. God love them, these British folks are serious about that Rock and Roll music!

As for the work itself, it's thorough, fair, and fun to browse through in any time or place. I can become lost for hours, and find myself jonesing for some of the groups Strong knows but about which I've never heard. Some things are a trifle annoying, like which bands are labelled Psychedelic and which are not, but to hell with it; stand back and let the man do his work. I slaver for the second edition of the Pschedelic Discography. When Stong says Great, he means it. The Great Pyramids, the Great War, Great Coats, and Alexander the Great come to mind.

Everyone should have one of these in his or her homes. Or a bottle of Xanax. I'll take the great maroon book with a glass of water before meals and bedtimes.

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great Resouce, Fun to Read, September 19, 2005

By 

Ham On Wry (Decatur, GA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Great Rock Discography: Complete Discographies Listing Every Track Recorded by More Than 1,200 Artists (Paperback)

I love this book. I go back to it time after time to compare notes on my favorite bands, discover new bands, or just pick up some quirky trivia tidbits. Compare it to the latest reissue of the Rolling Stone guide - or try to, because there's no comparison. While some of these guides try to please everybody by delicately balancing rock, blues, pop, rap, etc., Strong mostly sticks with the mainstream of rock and its various alternative and indie offshoots. My only objection is that it is a British creation, and as such I tend to rely less on the evaluations of British bands, which he tends to overrate. The Brits, after all, don't even know who Dave Matthews is! But it's fun to read, the ratings are valuable and realistic (it's not necessary that you agree with them), and the discographies are all-inclusive. I look forward to every new edition of this book, and it's already started to date itself, so I hope the new one comes out soon.