Turning Points in Rock and Roll: The Key Events That Affected Popular Music in the Latter Half of the 20th Century

Rating:
Summary: 20-step program
Review: This book serves nicely as a skeletal history of rock and roll, one that is built around 20 significant moments. One can certainly quibble with the 20 highlights he has chosen, but that would be true of any book of this nature. I'm impressed by the way he's woven so much relevant material into those 20 chapters.

The book's strengths are its portraits of important individuals, from Les Paul to Elvis to Kurt Cobain, and the way Bordowitz chronicles the important role that technology has played in musical change. Its weaknesses: A reliance on too many generalizations - I don't know how many times he refers to some year as a bad year in music - and sloppiness. (Eddie Cochran, for instance, is spelled Cochrane twice.) Those flaws don't wreck an otherwise fine book, but I'd say he could have used a better editor.