The Billboard Book of One-Hit Wonders

I really like this book. I keep it handy, along with my Rolling Stone Encyclopedia of Rock 'n' Roll and Ephraim Katz's Encyclopedia of Film. But this is not an impersonal listing of trivia--it's a collection of stories. Personally, I consult it for content--clues to who did what in past years of pop music. I note that some online reviews of this book pick on inaccuracies and poor copy-editing. True, that might be disappointing if you're preoccupied with music trivia. And as for typos: Welcome to the world of low-cost publishing, with no review time or copy editing. Annoying? Maybe. But does it detract from the value of this entertaining work? Not at all, in my opinion. My favorite way to peruse Jancik's devoted book is to pick a year from my past, and read the sequence of hits by artists who never again made it to the top. Sometimes, just seeing the titles from, say, 1966 and 1967 will take me back to a time in my (distant!) youth and my love of music you'll never hear broadcast on oldies stations. Jancik's enthusiasm is obvious and pleasing, and his hard-won interviews are fascinating. For those buffs who merely seek more facts to memorize, well, this book was not written for you. But if you like to remember the music because of your personal associations and pleasure, you'll enjoy and value this work. If I have any criticism, it's that sometimes the title and artist are not enough to prod my memory into producing the melody and lyrics. I wish for just a few quotes or something that would help me hum along... But perhaps there are copyrights and permissions laws that prevent such details. In any event, I like this book, and eagerly recommend it to others like myself who want to remember, to play the music in our heads, and to find out what led to the songs and whatever became of the artists who produced them. My thanks to Jancik for his devotion and creativity.