The Heart of Rock & Soul: The 1001 Greatest Singles Ever Made

by Dave Marsh

In The Heart of Rock & Soul, veteran rock critic Dave Marsh offers a polemical guide to the 1,001 greatest rock and soul singles ever made, encompassing rock, metal, R&B, disco, folk, funk, punk, reggae, rap, soul, country, and any other music that has made a difference over the past fifty years. The illuminating essays-complete with music history, social commentary, and personal appraisals-double as a mini-history of popular music. Here you will find singles by artists as wide-ranging as Aretha Franklin, George Jones, Roy Orbison, the Sex Pistols, Madonna, Run-D.M.C., and Van Halen. Featuring a new preface that covers the hits-and misses-of the '90s, The Heart of Rock & Soul remains as provocative, passionate, and timeless as the music it praises.

Genres: Music, Nonfiction, Reference, Criticism, History, Rock N Roll, 20th Century

749 pages, Paperback

First published May 7, 1989

Reviews

[Paul Bryant · Rating 5 out of 5]

NO BOXING DAY FOR JOHNNY ACE

Johnny Ace died aged 25 from a self inflicted gunshot to the head between sets at the City Auditorium in Houston, Texas on CHRISTMAS DAY 1954. Some said he was playing Russian Roulette. Big Mama Thornton was there, she says he was just fucking around with a gun, maybe the one Santa had brought him. Either way, tough luck Johnny Ace. But you made a beautiful record called "Pledging My Love" and you're in this book.

Which, by the way, John Lennon totally ripped off for the melody of "Happy Xmas (War is Over)". George Harrison gets sued but not John Lennon, hey. Ain't no justice.

This is a great book about my kind of stuff, detailed, mad, frothing, barking, lewd, cool, Olympian, cruel, puerile and forensic details and judgements bedeck every page. Dave Marsh is a bit of an Isley Brothers obsessive and he really jumps on very early rap but overall, not many clunkers in these 1001 records.

I think that the book should be retitled The 1001 Greatest Singles Ever Made In My Opinion Up to 1989, just to be clear. There's no modern music in here but really, you're not missing much there.

SINGLES

There was a time when singles were the way people experienced music. Then albums drew up alongside and kind of sneered down at them - singles are for the kids, albums are for us grown-ups with our concepts and our extended solos. So singles dwindled down and got an inferiority complex and had to go and get analysed.

Now everyone's back to making singles either for real or by default, because those crazy kids never buy cds any more, they download one or two tracks by a whole bunch of people and play them all on shuffle.

Anyway, although writing about music as everyone knows is like trying to poke a mouse up your nose, why would anyone do that, unpleasant for both parties, yes it's true, people who write about music in general should be hunted down like dogs, and yet sometimes you want to explain not only exactly which records people should listen to but exactly what they should hear when they do, and exactly why they should like them in exactly which way. The psychology is not pretty but it's so infantile and obvious that great music critics leaping up and licking your face and biting your ankles is occasionally endearing.

[Mike · Rating 4 out of 5]

1) This is just a book of lists. No, wait, it's more than that.

2) This book is a list of some good records that made a profound impression on the author, Dave Marsh. Almost there, maybe.

3) Okay, I think this might be the beginning of this review. Marsh is, I would guess, half a generation older than I am. So, for me, reading his list was one small part records I'd listened to previously (mostly from the late '70's and early '80's). A much larger part consists of records that preceded the time that I first began noticing the radio and the record store.

4) Because Marsh writes so passionately about the records that he loves, this became the foundation of my own music collection, first on vinyl (!), then CD's, and now MP3's. And now my music collection has vastly expanded beyond the scope of Marsh's book. I wore out my first copy of this book, and was ecstatic to find a copy of the second edition that has an additional list of songs released after the first edition(!).

5) So, I would say to any reader of this review: if you love music more than money, find this book. If you love money more than music, stay away. And if you are the second kind of person, I'd rather not know that bit of information about you.

6) I'm writing this review at 3 in the morning, and having to resist the urge to crank up the stereo, thus risking waking my neighbors, so that I can listen to Bobby Bland. Marsh says that Bland made the perfect 3 AM records, and dammit he's right. Wait, where are my headphones... Ah, yes.

[Jack Wolfe · Rating 5 out of 5]

Calling "The Heart of Rock and Soul" a "list book" would be a little like calling the Beatles a "good little band." What Marsh is doing here goes far beyond the standard "rank some songs, start some pointless arguments" tack. Indeed, the book practically re-writes the entire mythos of rock and roll: it deems singles more significant than albums (which STILL goes against orthodoxy, even in the "ITunes age," and some two decades after my copy was first published), it sees little to celebrate in the "art," "punk," and "Brit-invasion" movements of the 60s and 70s (the book is charmingly patriotic in its celebration of mostly American music), and it makes a great deal of space for the achievements of blacks and women (both so long left out of traditional rock-- OOH ROBERT FRIPP-- histories). Quibbles about what is "in" Marsh's list and what is "out" seem kind of trivial next to the hugeness of his achievement. (Though, briefly: Billy Ocean? Really? Billy Ocean? And three Peter Gabriel songs, but no "Come On Eileen"? A handful of Sex Pistols tracks that sound exactly the same, but absolutely no Ramones? Don Henley being involved in more than zero songs here? COME ON, DAVE.) The fact that the book still surprises in 2014 makes me wonder: just how incendiary was this thing back in 198-shitty-9? There are more disco songs here than punk songs, for Christ's sake! But Marsh is not just picking fights: he sincerely loves the rock and soul he pays tribute to here, and his prose is second to none when it comes to capturing the real THRILL of hearing (most of) these tracks.

[Ian "Marvin" Graye]

I haven't read this yet.
Given how long it has been around, I can't explain why I haven't even bought it.
Perhaps I looked at it once and decided that I didn't need it. I don't know.
On Loving Lists
I love lists.
I just can't say that I'm an unequivocal fan of list books.
The Right Vehicle for Lists
Now that we have the interweb thingie, I think lists belong online.
I don't mean that they are ephemeral, I just think (or I think I think) that we shouldn't kill trees for this sort of writing.
Especially if the same author comes up with a new list three years later (so I have to buy it like I keep buying the Who Live at Leeds and Who's Next).
Against Copyrighting All the Good Titles
I also don't think that any one book or author should effectively get a copyright in a title as generic as "1001 greatest singles" or "501 best albums" or "911 most urgent refrains" (except perhaps that last one).
Why should being the first to get a publishing deal stymie anyone else's list?
The Weakness of the Flesh
Regardless, I have weakened and bought a good many list books in my time, and I loved them too.
I keep them with my encyclopaedias of rock and album guides, which are probably alphabetical lists anyway.
Across the Great Divides
One thing I am interested in is the divide of opinion between the USA and the UK (and even Australia) on these lists and list books.
Dave Marsh is a quintessential US writer in the vein of Creem and Rolling Stone.
I grew up on Rolling Stone pre-punk, but when punk hit, only NME would do.
Know Thine NME
Where are all of the NME writers' list books?
What is Paul Morley going to do about it?
Ian Penman?
Are they too embarrassed to add another thread to rock's rich tapestry?
Why do the non-Brits seem to dominate the coffee table list book market? (Am I even right to suggest this?)
Am I missing something here?
Is the ship of music writing and journalism listing to starboard?

[Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

Captures the fun of music radio better than any other book I've encountered. Moving along from one essay to the next is akin to flipping through stations, sometimes landing on a favorite song, sometimes making a new discovery. Marsh's assessments range from autobiographical remembrances to critical takes that more than a few times nail his subjects perfectly.

[Tom · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great book for dipping into, written by an enthusiast who loves (and re-creates on the page) the excitement of hearing great music. From The Coasters through Elvis via Sam & Dave to Springsteen, he articulates the excitement of the snapshot that is a single. 12 pages in and he's detailing his radio when he was ten.

I guarantee that if you like music, and care about how music got here, you won't be able to put this book down.

It is an expensive investment though - all those Atlantic singles I had to buy once he had raved about them, all that Motown ... but worth it, nonetheless.

[Shenanitims · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is it, the one Dave Marsh book, no, the one music book, your library needs. That said, if you like music, avoid this book like the plague. As you will suddenly have to look up the Coasters, O'Jays, etc., just to see how correct Mr. Marsh actually was.

[Nick Schneider · Rating 4 out of 5]

Too many doo-wop songs, too many Phil Spector productions, too many Foreigner songs (just one is too many), but overall an entertaining glimpse into a critic's greatest pop music obsessions.

[Tom · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rarely has a book dominated almost three months of my life like this one just did. One of the only other times was when I spent much of my sophomore year of college downloading as many of these 1001 tracks as I could find. Now, a decade later, I'm eight songs shy of the full list. I compiled the other 993 back in September, started listening from #1, and decided this was finally the time to read The Heart of Rock & Soul cover to cover.

For a number of reasons, it's taken me this long to finish it, and it feels more like an accomplishment that it probably deserves. But what a book! It's a list, yes, but more importantly it's also a tribute to producers and songwriters and old-school record-industry types, a lively history lesson, a collection of stories, and a manifesto for the single as the cornerstone of rock and soul.

What I think prompted me to read the book was hearing what struck me as the first really great one-two punch in the playlist: "The Message" (Grandmaster Flash, #87) and "Yakety Yak" (the Coasters, #88). I'm not sure why that pairing seemed as brilliant and appropriate as it did, but I loved it. And so, in listening and reading all fall, just as I fell in love with "It Hurts to Be In Love" (Gene Pitney, #360), "Back on the Chain Gang" (the Pretenders, #234), and "Don't Dream It's Over" (Crowded House, #706) all those years ago, I'm now head over heels for "He Will Break Your Heart (Jerry Butler, #365), "Village of Love" (Nathaniel Mayer and the Fabulous Twilights, #265), and "Just Like Real People" (the Kendalls, #573).

Think what you will of Marsh as a critic: as a listener, advocate, and fan of this music, I think he's impossible to beat.

[Andrew · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was “around” throughout my childhood and I read most of the reviews in chunks of two or three. I recently reread most of it more or less in sequence and was surprised about how much it had to say about race - “white” vs. “black” music and how they sometimes come together in interesting ways.

I was also struck by how so many of the songs - particularly pre-Beatles non-Blues American pop music (e.g. doo-wop) feels incredibly old and distant in 2019. Will anybody even remember those songs in 25 more years? I’m glad to know at least a little.

On the other hand, he has nothing good to say about David Bowie...the bum!

[John M · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've had this book for years and it's so good for dipping in and out off. You don't have to agree with the choice of records or even agree with the reasons behind them being chosen but you can have a lot of fun remembering stuff you haven't heard for years. Since its first publication in 1989 the world of YouTube has opened up to us so readers no longer have to wonder what these songs sound like as they are most likely to be found there. Favourite obscure record so far? Number 1000 by Reparata and the Delrons...see what I mean? I wonder what an updated version of this book would be like and how many of the 1001 songs here would survive. Then again, who really cares? Read and enjoy.

[Jeremy · Rating 4 out of 5]

The format is the critic's albatross: a list. Here, a list of 1,001 great singles. What makes this book stand out is the passion Dave Marsh exhibits for his pets.

Marsh is a good enough writer that I was even able to identify from one of his descriptions a weird doo-wop tune I had only ever heard once ("The Wind" by Nolan Strong and The Diablos.) So that paragraph scratched an itch of long standing!

Of course, a thousand short reviews may not be everyone's cup of tea - I realize I am more susceptible than most to reading something like this. But I enjoyed it quite a lot.

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dave Marsh is funny and insightful and snarky and whiny, often within the same mini-review. He certainly knows his music, although I wish he'd spent a little less time on pre-Beatles girl groups and a little more on music from 1970 to 1985. I agree that the music of the 70s and 80s is inferior to the music of the 50s and 60s, but there must be some nuggets amidst the detritus, and I wanted Mr. Marsh to do some of the digging for me.

Good source for R and B songs from the 50s and early 60s, music that never quite got its due.

[Jack Collins · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great book to keep by the chair for those times when you need a few minutes of fun.

While obviously just the author's opinion, this review of the 1001 greatest singles brings back lots of memories while providing interesting information to those of us who are music lovers.

Naturally I may disagree with many of his suggestions but find the information interesting anyway.
Highly recommend this book.

[Rob · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great series of mini essays about classic songs.

[RONG · Rating 4 out of 5]

A couple of years ago, I once chose a course, Literature of America Popular Music, taught by Danny Alexander, at JCCC when I was in Kansas.

This book was assigned by Danny as textbook in his class. So, also, Dave Marsh is Danny's favorite friend.

I had done an interview of Danny for Chinese readers before I left the states in 2020. Among many topics in our conversation, we talked about music, Dave Marsh, and his books, including this one.

Now I am copying some here. An alternative review.


1. About Dave Marsh

"We do have public intellectuals but far less so than in the past. The most prominent pundits are very often entertainers, and then there are a number of professors who are repeatedly called in by the news talk shows to offer their expertise on various issues. My long-time editor Dave Marsh could be called a public intellectual of the sort we don't see much anymore because, not an academic, he became famous as an author challenging conventional wisdom and promoting the political significance of issues revolving around popular music." (Danny)

2. Q&A About The Heart of Rock & Soul

Q: You have opened a course, Literature of American Pop Music, talk about that? You use The Heart of Rock & Soul written by Dave Marsh as the supplement material.

Is it ideally suited for knowing American music development history now? Is there anything new we need to know? Besides, what do you think about Bob Dylan's Nobel Prize? And, I know you learn a little about Cui, Jian, and what difference do you feel between his songs and American rock songs?

( By the way, You know I love Phil Ochs so much. I bought an old vinyl record, which is his concert 1965, and I found one whole side of the cover printing Mao’s poems. You know what jumped to my mind at that moment. Okay, Phil, if you were alive, we must sit down and talk about this issue…_)

A (Danny): " Lol, about Phil Ochs. Yes, Ochs was a proud leftist artist, and his "Love Me I'm a Liberal" is a harsh condemnation of the liberal bourgeoisie who most Americans think of as "left."

"What you should keep in mind is that his career could have been destroyed for any of these statements. When he was just a little younger, in the 1950s, many artists were blacklisted and their careers were ruined because they either joined communist organizations or they were sympathetic to communists in the arts. The folk music movement was one of the most openly assertive groups about such ideas.

"I don’t know enough Cui Jian music to comment in-depth. He seemed to me like he had a big vision of the possibilities of popular music like so many artists did during the 1980s. We've seen a loss of that kind of hopeful vision over the past three decades, but I think part of that is that rock no longer feels like a movement, and it certainly doesn't feel like it has the revolutionary impulses it once did. Our digital technologies have created much more accessibility to the technology to make and distribute music, so the sense of weight behind individual artists is diminished. I have no idea how that may transform in the future.

"I'm using The Heart of Rock & Soul again this summer, and it's working beautifully. I take some time to explain to my students why it's the focus.

"First, it offers nearly a thousand different kinds of essays on rock and roll singles, so it exhibits a wide variety of different ways to hear and respond to music. More importantly, at least at this point, that seems to be the story of the rock and roll era.

"The end of the 1980s, when Marsh first wrote that book, was the end of the mainstream in musical popular culture. By 1992, every radio station had a much more narrowly targeted audience. But the era he covers, from 1952 until 1989, is an era when every kind of popular music had its moment on mainstream radio. This allows us to talk about the origins and developments of folk, country, doo-wop, rhythm & blues, rock & roll, soul, funk, disco, metal, punk, and hip hop, which are the basic strains of American popular music to this day.

"As in your class, I encourage students to write mostly about whatever their favorite music is, but we use the book because it goes in virtually every direction and offers us a great sense of the historical tale as it originally unfolded as well as background on the aesthetic possibilities still playing out today.

" I don't think he could have known it at the time, but I think Marsh wrote that book at the only time when it could have captured the whole of the story arch. Since the 90s, there have been many different stories in popular music, but no overarching sense of a unified story."

[Patrick Neylan · Rating 2 out of 5]

There's a generation of Americans that walked out of Woodstock, donned a suit and spent the next 50 years wallowing in nostalgia and ignoring anything new in music. These are the people who run the sclerotic Rock'n'Roll Hall of Fame and Rolling Stone magazine. Marsh is on the committee of the former and used to write for the latter, which lost interest in music decades ago and whose most notable article in recent years was an exposé of rape culture on US campuses that proved to be completely made up.

So it's no surprise that this book goes into fine and excellent detail on the 50s and 60s and especially the under-exposed black artists who underpinned its development, but fails to provide anything insightful for the 70s and 80s. The book was written in 1989, when Marsh was nearly 40, which meant he'd had plenty of time to catch up, but he'd clearly lost any enthusiasm for new music by then.

Given that pedigree, it's hardly a surprise that Marsh only knows and cares about music from the 50s and 60s, and American music at that. The Beatles, The Rolling Stones and The Who all get a look-in, but as a teenager in the 60s he could hardly ignore them. But his dismissive treatment of the two Kinks songs that make the list (You Really Got Me and All Day And All Of The Night) show his prejudices: they're only notable because they're copies of Louie Louie, and the band's later, more English songs (such as Waterloo Sunset or Days) say nothing to this blinkered, parochial man who was old before his time.

Bear in mind that this is a list of singles, not songs. Marsh makes a persuasive argument for the distinction between the two and the validity of such a specific list ("nobody goes round humming an album"), but his post-1970 ignorance lets him down badly even in so limited an ambition. So while Grand Funk Railroad make the list (with We're An American Band, naturally), there's no room for Slade or T-Rex (British bands who never broke the States, so he'd probably never heard of them) Abba (presumably too foreign) or most of the punk and New Wave movements. The Sex Pistols, The Clash and Elvis Costello are in, but the only other such entry is Magazine's excellent Shot By Both Sides.

Oh, and Queen. Honestly, I'm no lover of Queen, but to ignore even Bohemian Rhapsody? Queen's only acknowledgement in the book is for nicking the riff for Another One Bites The Dust from Chic's Good Times. And the reference to the synthesizers in Planet Rock by Afrika Bambaataa strongly suggests that Marsh didn't even know the melody was lifted from Kraftwerk's Trans-Europe Express. Germans making innovative pop music? Who knew? Not Marsh, that's for sure.

And people wonder why the Rock'n'Roll Hall of Fame is such a narrow-minded, conservative, inward-looking institution. The answer is simple: it's run by people like Dave Marsh.

[Garrett Cash · Rating 3 out of 5]

In the case of someone simply presenting a list of their personal favorite singles ever made, I can be no critic in terms of rebuking their subjective enjoyment of that music. Marsh's favorite single is apparently "I Heard It Through the Grapevine" by Marvin Gaye, a song that would probably just be enjoyable for most people when it comes on a muzak or even perhaps an oldies station, but would probably not even be in the top twenty on most personal lists. So as for Marsh's own enjoyment of the kind of music he presents here, I have no issue with and enjoyed discovering many of his favorites I had not been exposed to yet. There was also dozens of songs I felt were completely inconsequential and didn't feel the need to ever hear again. So goes musical taste. His reviews can be a bit obtuse, but he's clearer than Christgau at least. The style is more similar to Greil Marcus in an intellectual side of passion (not just the pure insanity of a Lester Bangs). Reading 1,001 reviews of songs quickly in this style can become a little wearisome, but was still informative and entertaining.

Regarding the premise of the book itself; that it is listing the "1,001 Greatest Singles Ever Made." In my opinion, Marsh doesn't even make an actual attempt here to do so at all. He is listing is own personal favorites songs while pushing a very obvious agenda. He believes that all great rock either is R&B music, or is directly influenced by it. So that means that there absolutely huge gaps here that make no sense if you're listing the "greatest singles," but make total sense if you're trying to rewrite pop music history as being only good when it was black.

Examples of this can be seen in the way he approaches bands like The Beatles and The Beach Boys, both of which he favors earlier singles influenced by girl group/doo-wop/rock n roll instead of their more artistically ambitious later works.

He also gives far more attention to the works of artists like Aretha Franklin, Smokey Robinson, and Marvin Gaye than just about anybody. He flagrantly favors doo-wop groups popular and obscure, and Motown acts of all levels of popularity to other acclaimed artists and genres. He barely gives any space whatsoever to rockabilly, but spends an inordinate amount of time on doo-wop. There's not a single song by artists like David Bowie, The Ramones, Kraftwerk, Dolly Parton, Willie Nelson, U2, Neil Young, and even Elton John only got one song.

I enjoyed this as an exercise in discovering new music to me, but as a layman critic of popular music myself I see too many deficiencies in the way Marsh approaches the attempt to actually compile the 1,001 greatest singles.

[Jill H. · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have been reading this book for several months because it is that kind of history.......pick it up in a spare moment, read a few pages, put it aside, and then return to it periodically.

I am an avid fan of the music of the 50s (doo wop), and the 60-80s which comprise the "greatest singles ever made". Since the songs listed are the opinions of the author, I can't quite agree with some of his choices but that is to be expected. He provides some interesting history and information on each song, as well as how it charted (if it did).

His #1 entry is Marvin Gaye's chart topper I Heard It Through The Grapevine (1960) and his 1001'st is Joyce Harris's No Way Out (1960) which is a forgotten gem. In between, there are some good, bad, and ugly songs which will bring back memories for rock/soul music lovers. A fun read!

[Charles James · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyable run through a considered list of 1001 favourite singles . Don't agree with all the selections , but it will get you searching your streaming service for the tracks listed . Makes you want to listen to music you have not heard of before .The key limitation on this book is it was published in 1989 and thus nothing from the 1990's onwards .

[Brian · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bit dull, but interesting if you like this sort of thing. A significant number of songs that I have never heard and need to investigate. Spotify playlist in the works. I'll share when done.

[Lindseyfish · Rating 3 out of 5]

I always enjoy Dave Marsh's books. His enthusiasm/obsession with rock 'n roll music is sometimes inspiring, sometimes provoking and always amusing. Of course Marsh's collection of "1001 Greatest Singles" is purely based on his own staunchly held opinions - which makes it impossible to read the book and not find what you feel are glaring omissions or, conversely, near blasphemous songs that somehow have made the cut. And that is at least half the fun. This volume will also inspire you to revisit songs you might not have given their due, as well as exposing you to songs you've never heard of. Enjoy!

[Curt Demuth · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dave Marsh has a good ear and writing style and I'd recommend this for any pop music fan. Marsh strains at times to infuse his political views into the music but for the most part ignores convention and writes as an articulate fan.

[Dave Maxwell · Rating 5 out of 5]

A must-read for music fans. Intriguing song choices with fascinating essays and insights. You may not always agree with the choices, but it will expose you to a bevy of amazing artists. I need a new copy - mine is falling apart.

[Jonny Brick · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rock (white music) and soul (black music) live together in perfect harmony. Probably the best book I have ever found in a second-hand store, compiled by a fine journalist who introduces several erstwhile forgotten gems. I'll lend you my copy if you want!!

[Carol Storm · Rating 2 out of 5]

So many great classic songs are kept alive in this amazing book -- but Marsh ruins the experience with a lot of strident political preaching.

[Chloe Love · Rating 3 out of 5]

Learning in depth some unknown facts about my favorite songs and broadening my musical horizons by listening to songs I have never heard of before.

[Mike Devich · Rating 4 out of 5]

Too bad there are so many factual errors in it.

[unevendesk · Rating 2 out of 5]

I struggle to see the point of this book