Customer Reviews

The Trouser Press Guide to 90's Rock: The All-New Fifth Edition of the Trouser Press Record Guide

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2 star:		(1)
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The Trouser Press Guide's Fifth Edition calls it a "Guide to 90s Rock." Unfortunately, it is now nearly six years out of date and only covers from 1990 until mid 1996. That said, it features some of the best rock and roll criticism (and writing) anywhere. It purports to cover so-called "alternative rock," which even editor and major contributor Ira Robbins freely admits is a fuzzy definition at best. The artists included range from rap to heavy metal to college rock to punk to "alternative" country and everything in between. The main requirement is that they have to have released albums in the 1990s. Hence many rock icons of the new wave 1980s are missing from this latest volume. The artists also range from the megastar level (R.E.M., U2, Metallica) to the truly obscure (Uncle Joe's Big Ol' Driver?). The one constant is the writing, which is uniformly excellent. As music guides go, this one is top of the line.

I've been buying Trouser Press's record guides since the early 80's, when the original magazine unfortunately went under. This book, like previous editions, is totally unrivaled. It's uncanny how many facts it provides about a band along with a lucid and intelligent review of their music, all in a few paragraphs. In this way it makes a total fool out of its rivals, particularly the spotty, psuedo-"hip" and self-conscious Spin Record Guide.

It has the same flaws you would expect of any passionate reviewer--some neglected talents, like Foetus, are hyped like they're the Second Coming, while okay acts like Janes Addiction are unjustly reamed. Its trashing of the Offspring, though, is merely an indication of good taste and integrity. And these are qualities that this guide has in abundance.

Fabulous. The best book of its kind. No rock reference book is better. Period. It's also worth tracking down older editions, since with each revision the series undergoes interesting transitions, shedding some reviews, changing or adding others.

While TP90s is an excellent record guide, it is deeply opinionated in its style, which leads to some bands being shunned or stiffed in the reviews. Many fast rising bands (like Cake or 311) were missed entirely, and Robbins' dislike of others, such as Offspring, leads to some very biased reviews. I still prefer the "Rolling Stone Encyclopedia of Rock n Roll", but for a true 90s Music enthusiast this is considerably more complete than RSEoRnR.

Ira A. Robbins is an authority on non-mainstream music. He covered just about every "out there" band on the planet in the pages of The Trouser Press, and this collection of reviews and biographical sketches of some of the most important "alternative" artists of the 90's is an indespensible tool for fans and music journalists, alike. I am a music journalist and consult this book so frequently that it should be the most well-worn book in my library, yet it has held up very well over the past few years. Fans of particular bands might see Robbins' criticism as a bit too, well, critical (see "Alice In Chains" entry) but his reviews are so well-written that a fellow music writer cannot help but envy his style. Also included are reviews from such writers as Alan Moore, David Greenberger and Greg Kot.

If you want a complete overview of the scene circa late-1970s to mid-90s. Many of the cross-references and entries reduce or eliminate the pre-1991 coverage in the 5th ed. This made room for what can be seen here, perhaps unwittingly, as the death of the alternative scene, as Option magazine folded since nobody knew what the adjective meant anymore. Stone Temple Pilots, Metallica, Madonna, Prince, Run-DMC are all here, which isn't a recommendation in my opinion. Still, faced with the lack of other works (Dave Thompson's Alt Rock guide and Christgau's decade-length digests are far more, well, individually weighted, for better or worse), this is the best in-print source. All-Music Guide, now having migrated like TP to the web, serves as an excellent counterpart to TPRG's 4th and 5th eds.

I often compare reviews from AMG and TPRG, or check data for references. Between the two, they fill a gap left by Rolling Stone since the 1980s and Spin since, well, then, for the American rock aficionado who can't always find Q or Mojo. TPRG started as an Anglophonic rock 'zine in the middle of the 70s, so its tendencies tilt that direction in much of its coverage. The styles remind me of the heyday of Option or Alternative Press in its array of critics, who often wrote in these magazines. The critics show their smarts and are fun to browse.

Reviewers do often go easier on the music than Thompson or Christgau, but their emphasis on what the more mainstream or over-eclectic critics miss fills the gaps for serious fans. If you use this in conjunction with AMG and your own gut reactions, you'll gain a better sense of what's worthwhile to keep hearing.

Whiile this is undoubtedly an excellent book, compared to any other reference on this subject, there are a few problems. While previsou editions had a tendency to verlap since there were mainly simply additions to the previouy one, this edition has chosen to start completely over where the previous editions left off. This means that while the book treats excellently with 90's rock it does lose the sense of historical continuum that you actually have musically when considering all post-punk music (ie.e post about 1976). I know that for those who have the previous editions this is not important but it does in this sense not function as well as a stand-alone work as its predecessors did. Indeed a lot of the music happening in the 90's started in the 80's actually. However these are minor complaints since the writing is excellent and the book is indispensable to anybody interested in alternative rock.

Should you buy this book? If you have an interest in it's subject matter (early/mid '90's alternative music), then the answer is an emphatic yes. Just be aware that it is limited to this area of rock. If you're still interested, then you should be very happy with this guide.

After several editions of Record Guide and one previous Trouser Press which saw print just before the national explosion of alternative rock, Robbins is back with an encyclopedic look at rock's growth after Nirvana. Using Nevermind as ground zero, the book impressively chronicles a prolific outpouring of major label, indie, and DIY releases over the past decade. Organized alphabetically according to artist names, Robbins attempts to connect musicians though numerous side projects and solo efforts with his capsule format. Overall excellent reference to understanding modern rock's current direction and influences.

The Trouser Press record guide is the best rock music guide available in terms of its writing and the thoroughness of its reviews. Of course, it only reviews so-called "alternative" rock (whatever that means these days), but it is very comprehensive in covering non-mainstream artists. The only drawback to this edition is that it only covers the 1990s, and hence drops many great reviews of 80s artists and albums found in previous editions.