Century of Song
101 Songs that Shaped American Music

If you believe that disco died because of pure bigotry rather than that it was a musical fad that reached its shelf life; if you use terms like a 'complicated legacy' as a substitute for 'pedophilia'; if you disdain capitalism (despite it being the driver for most of content in your book - not to me......more

Book 48 of 2024; 5 out of 5 stars. Century of Song is about one hundred and one songs that have shaped American music. The author begins in the early 1920s up until 2023; covering different genres like jazz, rock n roll, hip-hop, and R&B. The song that represents that year is detailed on how the song......more

The book follows American music year by year featuring one representative song per each year (with on occasion a few runners ups). The author then explains the song’s significance both musically and historically. I thought the entries wonderful and I learned new things reading them. The only problem......more

A book that part of me wishes I wrote, covering one popular song per year from American history, from the last 101 years. While the writing style comes off, at times, a bit preachy, and there are one or two damning errors (i.e. Brad Wilk as Rage Against the Machine's guitarist, not drummer), it is a......more

Really fun read. I like that it focuses on impact rather than the tiresome rankings of what is the "best," and I appreciate the focus on how race, queerness, class, body size, etc have shaped and been shaped by popular music. The writing can get a bit repetitive, but that's hard to avoid when talkin......more