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Rocket 88: Classic Singles by [Rob Dimery, Mick Middles]

Rocket 88: Classic Singles Kindle Edition

by Rob Dimery (Author), Mick Middles (Author) Format: Kindle Edition

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What you are about to read is the personal opinion of a team of music fans, journalists and editors on a wide variety of music tracks. Although, while that’s what they’re called in the post-iTunes world, back when they were first recorded and released, the songs discussed and celebrated in this book had been collectively known as ‘singles’, and came engraved on slabs of shellac (between 1949 and 1958 or so) and vinyl (from 1955 to 1995 or so). The singles of the latter half of the 20th century were two-sided, with the designated ‘A’ side being the version that record companies wanted radio stations and jukeboxes to play, and considered to be commercially stronger than the ‘B’ side (which often appeared only on a single’s ‘B’ side and wasn’t usually included on any subsequent LP release). Please bear with me if this is all a little ‘duhhh’ for those of you old enough to have grown up owning singles, and caring desperately whether your single was going to make the charts each week; there are now at least two generations of music fans for whom the idea of having to leave the house, travel to a specialist store, and ask someone if they could listen to a single before buying it—and receiving a physical object, wrapped in a specially designed sleeve when they hand over hard cash—is plain weird. You try telling kids today that you had to physically hunt out music and travel vast distances just to hear anything other than mainstream pop music, and they will probably laugh at you. They’d probably ask ‘Why should you care so much?’

Hopefully, this book will help explain some of why music fans of the rock ‘n‘ roll era and beyond care so much about music. The singles included are not listed in any kind of charts format, nor is it a list of singles you must hear before you die. Many of the singles included here were not the biggest-selling records of the year of their release. However, all of them are considered important milestones in the history of popular music, and all meant something to the writers who’ve chosen to highlight them. The singles included in this book add up to a short history of popular music as viewed from the hip side. There are major, mainstream hits in here, but equally there are the marginal but inspirational singles which never sold in any significant number outside of the home state of the record label who released it. There are no wilfully obscure singles to be found in this book, although there are some arguably perverse choices for ‘Single of the year’. Who’d agree that ‘My Boy Lollipop’ deserves the accolade for 1964 ahead of ‘A Hard Day’s Night?’

Prepare to be intrigued, amazed, possibly irritated — but always inspired to search out copies of each single in order to hear the magical sounds of each year between 1949 and 1999.

Print length

114 pages
Language

English
Publication date

15 Dec. 2011
File size

321 KB
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Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B006N04RUK
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Rocket 88 (15 Dec. 2011)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
File size ‏ : ‎ 321 KB
Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Print length ‏ : ‎ 114 pages

Best Sellers Rank: 2,122,346 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
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Customer reviews:
25 ratings

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Customer reviews

5 star		33%
4 star		26%
3 star		23%
2 star		10%
1 star		8%

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Classic Singles

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 9 November 2012

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This is a short whistle stop tour of the 'best' singles of each year from 1949 to 1999. Of course, quite often they are not really the best songs of that year, but perhaps a new style of music or released by a new and innovative record label. Either way, this is a really interesting little book to dip into and the section for each year discusses both the chosen single and other important releases for that year. Personally, I found the sections relating to the fifties, sixties and seventies the most enjoyable (can Blur or the Verve compete with the giants of the Sixties?), but overall this is a fun read with loads of information packed into it. If you enjoy this, you might also like 100 Lost Rock Albums From The 1970s . Both books will bring you lots of musical nostalgia and remind you to go and hunt out those songs you haven't heard in ages.

2 people found this helpful

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Theo GB

An interesting, if slightly-patronising read.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 18 September 2013

Verified Purchase

This brought back a lot of memories for me, reminding me of songs I'd completely forgotten and also prompting me to dig out stuff from before I was born. It's nice and quick and for 0p I can't really see why you shouldn't pick it up if you like music.

The only downside is the slightly patronising tone at times. I guess the book is written for teenagers but even then I'd think it might be a bit heavy handed.

One person found this helpful

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Amazon Customer

Classic Singles

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 19 December 2013

Verified Purchase

A brilliant little book that will bring back a lot of memories to pop enthusiasts. Some of the songs mentioned within might have been long forgotten, and in this respect they brought back some great memories for me.

One person found this helpful

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sarah j fenn

Great entertaining short read

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 5 February 2013

Verified Purchase

If you like music you will love this. Nice little nuggets of information about classic singles from an array of eras. It passed away avery pleasent afternoon for me, and I have filed away some more pop quiz facts for the next pub quiz.

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Tony Hopkins

Very Cool Book

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 12 April 2013

Verified Purchase

As someone who has written a couple of music appreciation/list books 'Hail Hail Rock 'n' Roll: 100 obscure, neglected or forgotten songs of quality....' and 'Just What I Needed: 100 Power Pop Classics', I fully appreciate the idea of this book, which provides background to a single a year from 1949 to 1999. Will be enjoyed by any fan of music who likes to know a little of the background to the music they listen to.

Helpful

Great book for music lovers.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 11 May 2013

Verified Purchase

This is a very good read for music lovers like me. It was great to recall those singles that pass you by over the years. If you like music then you will like this.

One person found this helpful

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Lesley Bergman

Don't read this!

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 20 March 2013

Verified Purchase

Well, if you must, then just be prepared to come back to Amazon to buy "1001 Songs You Must hear before You Die". Damn, this is addictive stuff! And it has me scrabbling through my dusty vinyls (yes, I still have those) in maudlin nostalgia about the time music and life were inextricably intertwined. Sniff sniff.

Helpful

Nice collection of thoughts.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 22 April 2013

Verified Purchase

I enjoyed this all to brief collection of essays on famous songs and the times they were released. Nothing bad to say about it other than I wish it was longer.

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