About the Book

Building the Perfect Music Collection is unlike any music book you’ve ever seen. Part memoir, part art book, and part playlist, it documents one devoted collector’s quest to develop, refine, and rate a colossal list of his favorite music—more than 12,400 recordings of the most significant, acclaimed popular music of the twentieth century.

Have you ever wondered why you love the music you do? What makes a song good? Does it seem like songs are getting shorter? More repetitive? Do you listen to more male or female artists? Can covers be better than the originals? Do you prefer the music of your home city? And how do you build your own perfect music collection?

In a warm, conversational style, author John Kirk explores all these questions and much more. He discusses what contemporary research reveals about personality, age, and musical preference, how popular music trends have evolved, and who the greatest popular music artists and genres of all time might be and why.

Having rated all the songs in his collection, he reflects candidly on how we rate and review all sorts of things in modern life. There are also delightful romps into topics as diverse as misheard lyrics, noteworthy guitar solos, the roles of songwriters and house bands, and how handclaps enhance songs, plus poignant personal reflections on how music shaped his life.

The book’s centerpiece are the extensive reference tables that list Kirk’s collection by artist, album, song name, composer, date of recording, song length, and rating. Beautifully illustrated with more than 100 breathtaking photos of musical artists, Building the Perfect Music Collection offers an ambitious, fascinating glimpse into popular music.

Whether you’re a hardcore musicophile or someone who wants to discover new songs, this book will forever make you think differently about music.