While there will always be a place for dry, fact-choked reference books like The Rolling Stone Encyclopedia of Rock & Roll, they fail to capture the pop-music listening experience as it undeniably is—subjective. How the tunes weave through our lives is every bit as important as the names, dates, labels and producers; as important, even, as the way artists string together all those pretty chords and hummable melodies. Music compendiums that reflect this always feel most worthwhile.
British author and pop critic Dylan Jones’ new Biographical Dictionary of Popular Music sells itself as this kind of book, one that “treats subjectivity with respect … that springs from personal prejudice, contrary predilections and non-cognitive taste.” Though Jones covers many of the usual suspects, he never promises to be comprehensive or to adhere to any stock rock-journo or musicologist-sanctioned history of pop music. Even the introduction’s title proclaims—arrogantly, and hilariously—that “Everything You Know is Wrong.”
At its best, Dictionary clings to this contrarian, bias-embracing mission statement, Jones prattling on endearingly for 18-plus pages about childhood favorite Dean Martin while allotting a mere page-and-a-quarter to rock & roll King Elvis Presley (along with just three condescending sentences to underground heroes Sonic Youth). This is, after all, a biographical dictionary. It’s about the Dylan Jones Experience—how these musical trends and artists shaped and soundtracked the author’s own story.