Rating: 
Summary: Great Arguement Starter
Review: Former Rolling Stone writer, Bruce Springsteen biographer and Book of Rock Lists author Dave Marsh has come up with another book that make for good arguments. He lists what he considers the 1001 greatest singles of all-time with Marvin Gaye's "I Heard It Through The Grapevine" topping the list. The songs tend to skew towards music of the 50 & 60's (the book was originally published in the late 80's, so that's why nothing from the 90's appears), but that's Mr. Marsh's era. I don't agree with alot of his rankings (Van Halen's "Jump" ranks ahead of anything by The Beatles who probably are the greatest singles band of all-time is a major blunder), but that's the exact point of the book. We all have our opinions on what is great and Mr. Marsh is simply expressing his.
Rating:
Summary: Great Arguement Starter
Review: Former Rolling Stone writer, Bruce Springsteen biographer and Book of Rock Lists author Dave Marsh has come up with another book that make for good arguments. He lists what he considers the 1001 greatest singles of all-time with Marvin Gaye's "I Heard It Through The Grapevine" topping the list. The songs tend to skew towards music of the 50 & 60's (the book was originally published in the late 80's, so that's why nothing from the 90's appears), but that's Mr. Marsh's era. I don't agree with alot of his rankings (Van Halen's "Jump" ranks ahead of anything by The Beatles who probably are the greatest singles band of all-time is a major blunder), but that's the exact point of the book. We all have our opinions on what is great and Mr. Marsh is simply expressing his.
Rating: 
Summary: Don't deprive yourself of this book!
Review: How wonderful to finally see this book back in print. I have cherished my woefully worn copy for four years (thanks to Amazon for finding a used copy for me!). For rock and soul (pop) lovers, this book is indespensible, inspiring and mysterious. Thanks to Dave, I discovered that my collection wasn't nearly as comprehensive as I thought it was. We've all had the pleasure of finding a fellow music fanatic who has turned us on to a previously unknown jem - Dave has turned me on to many. In fact, I'm actually glad that many of my favorite singles are not listed here...that leaves room for more wonderful discoveries.What must be stated, whether one agrees with his choices or not, is that he feels deeply about every one of the 1001. After all, what is taste if you cannot articulate it? It's 1001 stories, a 1001 views, a 1001 feelings. That's the great thing about being a writer or an artist - people pay you to put your narcissism on display. But don't get me wrong. Not all of the content in this book comes off the top of Dave's head. I'm sure he spent many hours doing additional research, but I'm also sure it was a labor of love. Kudos to Da Capo for bringing this back. Don't miss it.
Rating: 
Summary: typical rock critic nonsense
Review: I bought this used, glad i did not pay full price. I especiallyliked the listing for RunDMC's version of "Walk this way" hegoes into this nonsense diatribe about how aerosmith and the monkees have no credibility because they are cheap copies of the Stones and the Beatles(even though the Monkees really do not sound like the Beatles, and Aerosmith does not sound like the Stones!)He says that the RunDMC version of "WTW" is better than aynything Aerosmith ever did. The only thing he cant explain is why Run DMC's 2 most famous songs were written by Aerosmith and the Monkees!...
Rating:
Summary: i love it
Review: i love this book! i have read it over and over. i find it be refreshing, funny and informative. i don't, of course, agree with all of mr marsh's choices, but i found his insight into each song to be very entertaining. i did find myself going to the dictionary a lot, though, to look up some of the phrases and terminology. but basically, i found the book to be very enjoyable. i did find one error: he says that david ruffin was the lead singer on the temptations "don't look back", when actually it was paul williams
Rating:
Summary: i loved it
Review: i read this book until it finally fell apart and i had to buy another. i love it. even though i don't agree with all of dave's choices, i find the book to be fun and funny. i would read one of dave's interpretations of a certain song and go "funny. i've heard that song a thousand times and i never heard all of that." sometimes i would wonder if dave was reading a little more into the songs than was actually there. but still the book is very entertaining. i recommend it to all music lovers. i did find one inaccuracy, though. on "don't look back" by the temptations, it's paul williams singing lead,not david ruffin
Rating:
Summary: Goodnight Gramps
Review: I should start by saying that I am a little prejudiced against Dave Marsh's criticism. It seems to represent everything that is boring, pompous, sentimental and tame about rock writing. He's the kind of critic that Byron Coley, Jimmy Johnson, Steve Albini and Gerard Cosloy were born to dethrone. When I first read this book, though, I was impartial toward him. That changed quickly. Sorry Dave, I may be a little young but I do respect tuneful and emotional music as well as stuff with a little (or a lot) of threat to it. Your tastes are a little bland, mellow without being necessarily melodious. You ranked Van Halen's "Jump" above anything by the Beatles, and "Heard it Through the Grape Vine" above any other song in all of rock and soul. These tunes are your favorites because they are associated with tender moments in your life, I understand that. But they will never have the same emotional resonance with the rest of us, especially the youths who make up most of the rock audience. I think that Marsh's sensibility is a little too sensitive and nostalgic to be touting records to other people. Because we'll just be let down, as I was so many times.
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Summary: IT'S STILL BEATING....
Review: It may seem strange for me to love this book, since about 80% of the tunes Dave Marsh touts herein are ones I have never heard of, nor do I have any intent to rush out to Tower Records to search for 'em, most likely due to the big difference in what might be called our "rock eras"----Marsh's is 1954-83, mine's 1966-98. What I mean by that is the time frame whose music holds the most meaning in our lives. But D.M.'s musical taste takes a back seat to what is the real thesis of this book: that the history of rock & roll (and other forms of post-WW2 African-American derived pop music) can best be told by singles, not albums. All of which makes the intro to the 10th anniversery edition, in which he insists that, to borrow a phrase from R.E.M., it's the end of the single as we know it, even more strange. Seems to me that Marsh's forgotten what he said in his commentary about Ray Charles' "America The Beautiful" (page 628, if you're interested), which says it all about how singles ARE the heart of rock & soul.
Rating: 
Summary: Mr.Marsh's music bias is showing
Review: It's summertime and I grabbed this book to read on the patio while soaking up some rays. Dave Marsh has such an East Coast, Motown and obscure [I'm Hip] bias that at times I want to scream. It amazes me that a guy who claims to love the songs and singing of Aretha Franklin, Marvin Gaye and Little Willie John could possibly defend and trumpet the likes of singers[?], Bob Dylan ,Bruce Springsteen, Elvis Costello and Patti Smith. I've always gotten the impression that Mr. Marsh only writes with the intent of hitting us over the head with the importance of Bruce Springsteen's place in the history of Rock 'n Roll. In this book, he has Born to Run at #24 [ahead of ANY Beatles song]!!! GIVE ME A BREAK!!!
Rating:
Summary: The ultimate "hit" list, with opinions galore
Review: Just what is a great record? Dave Marsh supplies the reader with no less that 1,001 examples, placed in order of preference. Written in response to badly botched similar lists by Rolling Stone and Spin, Marsh fearlessly defends his choices and opinions for each with inciteful, often provoking comments. Although he tends to let too much of his liberal, blame-everything-on-Nixon-or-Reagan rhetoric muddle more than a few reviews, that just spices up a souffle of a read, and inspires the reader to form reponsive attitudes (and as a result "hook" you to turn the page and eagerly read on). Painstakingly researched and analyzed, this is the document any and all music fans must possess. INEXCUSEABLY OUT-OF-PRINT! HUNT FOR IT
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