Rating: 
Summary: A Great Reference to Rock & Roll History
Review: ...When I first discovered a Rolling Stone Encyclopedia of Rock & Roll in our old bookshelf,I got interested & started to read it.From Abba to ZZ Top,the book was cool. But I could not find any of my favorite bands,like a-ha.I mean, it was from the 80's! Anyway,the book started to deform.So I got the third edition,and I can finally find a-ha and other bands that I like, for example,N*Sync.A great book,especially if you need to find info about your favorite group or singer,or all their hits,albums,and other info about their life. A rare chance to include this amazing book to your library.
Rating:
Summary: Must Purchase Reference Book
Review: First of all, you must understand that I am not much of a Rock & Roll fan. I greatly prefer Bach, Beethoven and Brahms to the Beatles, Beach Boys and Bee Gees. Nonetheless, I must admit that this book is as it claims: "The most comprehensive, accurate, up-to-date information ever compiled on the people who make the music: everyone who has had an impact, from the one-hit wonders to the mege-stars. This is the definitive encyclopedia from the experts on rock & roll." Even if you are not a Rock & Roll fan, this book makes for great general reading and is excellent source of resource and reference materials. The reference section of your personal library is not complete without it.
Rating: 
Summary: Very good overview of Rock History
Review: Having used this in a rock appreciation course in high school in the early 80's, it's refreshing to see this new and updated volume. It's a very good start to sampling the myriad of artists out there. This book in concert with Pete Frame's Rock Family Tree's series gives you a good history of this uniquely 20th century art form. (Updating of the Rolling Stone album review softcover is in order as well, Rolling Stone Eds, are you listening....?)
Rating:
Summary: A Must For R&R Fans
Review: I bought the first addition of "The Rolling Stone Encyclopedia of Rock & Roll" and have been hooked since.This encyclopedia is filled with the, "Who, What, Where, When and How's" of the rock and roll world. It's a must for any hard core rock & roll fan. You'll pick it up to look for one piece of information and next thing you know an hour has past. I can't imagine anyone being disappointed.
Rating: 
Summary: FAR from complete.
Review: I got this book for Christmas last year. Good resource for a lot of bands and musicians. So what's wrong? Where's Pantera? Where's Dream Theater? Those are the only two I can think of offhand. There is way, WAY too much vital stuff missing.
Rating:
Summary: FAR from complete.
Review: I got this book for Christmas last year. Good resource for a lot of bands and musicians. So what's wrong? Where's Pantera? Where's Dream Theater? Those are the only two I can think of offhand. There is way, WAY too much vital stuff missing.
Rating:
Summary: Huge, huge book with every band you can think of listed!
Review: I learned a lot about music history by browsing through this monster book. It helps to read the bios which include the top songs/albums of bands from the 60s which were before my time but still get a lot of coverage in the baby boomer press. Also, it's really fun to reminisce about one-hit wonders from the 80s that were played on MTV constantly. Good for anyone who is really into rock music. Few country artists are included, but some jazz/soul/R+B greats do make it in.
Rating:
Summary: Not encyclopedic enough. But once...
Review: I remember a book from 1993 or so that RS put out called THE ROLLING STONE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF R & R, or something similar. That book was the most valuable resource to anyone buying music period. Unfortunately, this (revised?=simplified=cheap-o) edition misses a lot of minor artists. This can be expected by any book bearing the Rolling Stone moniker; the magazine has pretty much irrelevant since grunge died, hasn't it. The most glaring omission, however, is the lack of individual album reviews. The previous book included every album by almost every artist you could think of and gave each CD a 1/2-to-5-star review. The ensuing banter not only covered each artist's overall history and stylistic meanderings, but went from album to album, giving criticism. All I want is another book like that, but updated to cover the last decade. That book would be worth $100. Can you do that, RS, or are you totally useless to me now? I guess you should keep putting Britney Spears naked on your magazine covers and stop trying to find new interesting music. Then you make my decision easy.
Rating:
Summary: Not encyclopedic enough. But once...
Review: I remember a book from 1993 or so that RS put out called THE ROLLING STONE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF R & R, or something similar. That book was the most valuable resource to anyone buying music period. Unfortunately, this (revised?=simplified=cheap-o) edition misses a lot of minor artists. This can be expected by any book bearing the Rolling Stone moniker; the magazine has pretty much irrelevant since grunge died, hasn't it. The most glaring omission, however, is the lack of individual album reviews. The previous book included every album by almost every artist you could think of and gave each CD a 1/2-to-5-star review. The ensuing banter not only covered each artist's overall history and stylistic meanderings, but went from album to album, giving criticism. All I want is another book like that, but updated to cover the last decade. That book would be worth $100. Can you do that, RS, or are you totally useless to me now? I guess you should keep putting Britney Spears naked on your magazine covers and stop trying to find new interesting music. Then you make my decision easy.
Rating:
Summary: Don't be fooled by the words "ROCK & ROLL Encyclopedia"
Review: If any of the following interest you: -April Wine
-Yngwie Malmsteen
-Tesla
-Ugly Kid Joe
-UFO
-Great White DON'T plan on liking this book! I was absolutely furious when I bought this book and they took out bands/artists such as the above. And you know what? They left in bands like Destiny's Child, Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, Backstreet Boys, N*Sync, and tons of other pointless people who had NO impact on ROCK & ROLL! Sorry, but in my opinion, an encyclopedia should be a place of fact and reference when you would like to find more information on a subject fitting inside a SET topic, not a collection of bedtime stories. I bought this to read about STRICTLY Rock and Roll (hence the TITLE), but sadly got a collection of pop, country, punk, and fake punk. A BIG Disappointment as far as material. Almost an insult to Rock and Roll itself with its cuts/leave-ins.
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