The Pitchfork 500: Our Guide to the Greatest Songs from Punk to the Present

Great reading whether you're trying to get into lesser-known pop music or are already a connoisseur. Would buy it again in a heartbeat.

Great book I bought it as a gift and then received it as well. Great compilation of 500 songs over the last thirty years with a nice summary of every one. A must have for any music fan, especially young ones that need to download greatness for that new ipod they got.

Preface: I am a 40 year old music fan who prefers the "indie" stuff, so I've long been a reader of Pitchfork. Like any review site, however, all ratings are subjective opinion and shouldn't be interpreted as gospel. That said: This is a great book. I have learned a lot about the back-stories, relevancy, and/or even hidden meanings about some of my favorite songs. Mostly, however, it's turned me on to songs I had never heard. This book doesn't only cover "alternative" or "indie" music, it runs the gamut. (Although, as the years progress, there is more of a slant towards their niche.) For anyone who likes music, this is worth picking up. You'll find yourself re-listening to, no - re-hearing songs for the first time. (How's that for pretentious.) Of course you won't agree with every selection, but it is a worthwhile collection of substantial tunes. Well done. Finally: It's funny to me that people don't see the irony of giving poor reviews to a book of compiled reviews. It's not the opinion that matters, it's that there are opinions.

I found this book to be very insightful and it is a good conversation piece for when friends come over and see it on the table. It has helped a great deal when it comes to making mix CDs for people. I don't agree with all the songs listed in the book but for the most part I do and I have found some interesting tracks from this book.

I did learn of some new songs from this, and I'm ecstatic about that. Sometimes I was forced to think about an artist/song in a way I hadn't before. These are fantastic accomplishments. I enjoyed reading it, but was there an editor? The very first entry gets one of its facts wrong; later there's misspellings, at least two instances of subject-verb disagreement, and one sentence that went nowhere and didn't even make poetic sense. Fragments. I appreciate the subjective nature of their reviews (Bellbottoms as the important JSBX song?), but often they are show off-ish, pandering, and cutesy. I like Pitchfork (except for their belief that Springsteen actually matters) but this feels like an undergrad project that an ex-prom committee chairperson put together ("Great job, guys!" even though everything is crooked and amateurish.) I think you should buy this, I'm sure you'll love arguing with it as much as you agree with it. I did. I just expected some professionalism & care.