This Is Uncool: The 500 Greatest Singles Since Punk and Disco

Rating:
Summary: Best kind of music book: idiosyncratic, opinionated, and ...
Review: Sometimes just plain wrong. I found a lot to disagree with. Joe Jackson is not pablum, for example, although Mulholland clearly believes he is. Also, Simply Red is not the scourge of humanity that Mulholland paints it as. But trifles like this aside, the reason this book is so fun to read is that you can debate and question what his picks are, but you can't question his assertiveness and his willingness to buck received notions of what "classic" music is. Some of his top 500 include Joy Division, Buzzcocks, Boston ("More than a Feeling"!), Sylvester, Gang of Four, Clash, Undertones, Chaka Khan, Magazine, ABBA, and the Stranglers (and that's just 1977 and 1978).

Think Nick Hornby, with a much more pronounced bias toward dance, club, soul, hip-hop, and techno. The only small quibble I have is that the book is very definitely Brit-biased; the quibble is really more that a lot of the music he lauds won't be easily obtainable here in the States. But that's a small gripe. This is a great book for browsing, a great book for starting arguments, and a great book for bathroom reading (that's a compliment).

Rating:
Summary: The Heart Of Punk & Disco
Review: Think of this as an answer record, so to speak, to American rock critic Dave Marsh's 1989 book, THE HEART OF ROCK AND SOUL, in which Marsh listed his 1,001 favorite rock/soul singles. Like Marsh, British rock writer Muholland seeks to, in Marsh's words "stand the album-rock paradigm upon its head"----but here Mulholland does it in a distinct British/Gen X accent. Moreover, unlike Marsh's book THIS IS UNCOOL has visual aids: pics of some the singles discussed (for example, it's a real trip to see a naked pressing of the Pistols' "Anarchy In The U.K," if for no other reason than to thrust up the middle finger to those sanctimonious musically correct indie-types; the 70's label for EMI Records---the unimpeachable proof that Johnny Rotten & Co. recorded their classic rebel song for one of Earth's most powerful record companies for that era (its USA branch, Capitol, has, after all, been the distributior of the Beatles---both together and apart---for the North Americian continent)---ought to provide a body blow to the "friends don't let friends listen to corporate rock" gang! All in all, it is must-read for anyone interested in pop music from the final 3 decades of the last century.