The Virgin Encyclopedia of 80's Music [Paperback]

Colin Larkin (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1, 2003

Remember the 80’s? The Virgin Encyclopedia of 80's Music is a complete handbook of information and opinion about the history of the most fragmented and frequently maligned decade in the history of popular music. Here are 1000 entries on the bands, musicians, songwriters, producers and record labels – everyone who had a significant impact on the development of rock and pop music in those ten years, from the New Romantics who brought colour and image to fill the gap left by punk and the new wave, to the stadium acts who provided a launch pad for Live Aid, to the myriad variations of house and techno spawned in the latter half of the Eighties. As well as all the giants of the period the encyclopedia has the range and depth to include artists who flourished briefly and yet were quintessential to the decade. A perfect mix of fact and informed opinion contained in one single volume, distilled from the Encyclopedia of Popular Music, universally acclaimed as the world’s leading source of reference on rock and pop history.

Informed, infatuating and invaluable.

Editorial Reviews

Review

'Very possibly the best rock reference ever' Q

About the Author

Colin Larkin has the best credentials for the compiler of a music reference book - he loves the music. In 1989 with twenty years' experience in music and publishing, and unhappy that popular music has not been deemed worthy of serious reference, he set about creating an equivalent to the Grove Dictionary Of Music. The Encyclopedia Of Popular Music from which this Encyclopedia is derived was first published in 1992, following three years of intensive research. The original database has trebled in size and now includes over 8 million works, the biggest of its kind in the world. Everyday of every year the database in updated and expanded.

Product Details

• Paperback: 544 pages
• Publisher: Virgin Books; 3 edition (April 1, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1852279699
• ISBN-13: 978-1852279691
• Product Dimensions: 9.6 x 6.3 x 1.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,917,324 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Totally awesome!, May 17, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: The Virgin Encyclopedia of 80's Music (Paperback)

If you love the 80s, this book will leave you breathless. There are over 1000 entries in here from big name bands down to ones you've never heard of - but all of them from the tubular decade. This book is now in the 3rd edition, so you can trust that any misinformation or typos have been corrected.

Each entry has dates, facts about the artist(s), ratings on their albums, and a discography.

Other books on the subject of 80s music are going out of print fast, so be sure to pick it up while you can. Great value for the money. Great bathroom reading. Learn something new every day!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A comprehensive review of pop and rock 80's music, March 25, 2006

By 

Rafael Izquierdo "musicman" (Spain) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Virgin Encyclopedia of 80's Music (Paperback)

The book is a detailed guide of most significant artist of pop and rock music of the 80's. For each entry, it gives you a brief history of the artist or group, their discography with comments on the different albums(including albums that fall out of the 80's decade), and further reading to obtain more information. Perhaps, it is slightly too British music-orientated