Customer Reviews

Joel Whitburn's Rock Tracks: Mainstream Rock 1981-2002 * Modern Rock 1988-2002 (Hardcover)

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I stumbled onto the original version of this book and almost didn't buy it. I didn't buy it at first, but after finding myself spending 30 minutes or more paging through it on two subsequent occasions, I decided that it might be a worthy addition to my library after all. Boy, was I right. My original copy, now a tattered paperback, is in dire need of replacement. This is an invaluable reference if you grew up listening to the album rock stations in the 80's. I've found several obscure songs that I couldn't track down through the traditional Top 40 or Hot 100 books, which made the book pay for itself in my estimation.

I had bought Whitburn's Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits 1955-2000 and while it's a fantastic book charting all the pop hits of the last 1/2 century, it was lacking in the representation of the album rock I grew up listening to. For example, AC/DC has only 3 tracks listed in the Top 40 Hits book, but there's 28 tracks listed in the Mainstream/Modern Rock book. In the more modern era, Pearl Jam has 7 tracks in the pop book but 33 tracks in the rock book. I highly recommend this book to all the head-bangers, grungers, and new wavers looking for a little history of the music they love.

This is a great reference book to use when trying to determine where particular songs on the mainstream rock and modern rock charts topped out at. It's also a great browse to see what songs you haven't heard in a long, long time.

There is not too much to say other than this is a comprehensive book that covers those two Billboard charts in their entirety for the time period listed.