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Title: American Hit Radio: A History of Popular Singles from 1955 to the Present by Thomas Ryan ISBN: 0-7615-0230-0 Publisher: Random House Inc Pub. Date: 01 October, 1995 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $19.95

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Average Customer Rating: 4.12 (8 reviews)

Rating: 4
Summary: funny, acerbic, biased,
Comment: You will quibble with his choices - lots of my 'favorite' songs and bands of old are not included - but this book really isn't about 'favorites' as much as representative samples. Ryan writes about 5 paragraphs per song, typically four of which set the historical context, and then the fifth describes the song itself. Each essay could stand on it own - they are funny, acerbic, and thoughtful at the same time. He obviously knows and loves his subject. He has his biases - most notably, that the hits of the 1960s were more meaningful and better musicallly than those of the 1970s. But he also is a sharp judge, and deflates the musical and lyrical excesses of the 1960s throughout his discussion of that decade. AM Radio used broadcast more than right-wing gabfests - it played music, and good music! Pick-up this book and browse through the decades, and learn the story behind each one of those old tunes you listened to after school.

Rating: 4
Summary: Pop cultural history in plain language, please!
Comment: AMERICAN HIT RADIO is a compusively good read. Written in a refreshingly conversational tone, I had that feel-good sence...This is a deeply personal book but Ryan also gives readers an exhausted historical background to each of his opinioned entries. The one sore point is Ryan's rather perculiar "disco [is bad]" stance in light of the fact that we live in an era when [everyone] happily sing the Village People's "YMCA." 25 years after this moment in pop history, to discuss the late 70's without any ink on the Bee Gees "Stayin' Alive" seems somewhat intellectually dishonest...and yet I can't but it down.

Rating: 3
Summary: An interesting If biased book, - a fun read!
Comment: Tom ryans'collection of essays captivated me from the moment I picked it up. the wit and style of the essays kept me captivated and while I usually skip around these types of books, reading about my favorites first and going back to read the rest later I stuck with this one pretty much page to page . But, as I got into the middle to late 80s'and early 90s' sections I began to get the feeling that Mr Ryan was busy doing other things in those years and stopped listening to the radio. he claims that this is because singles were going out of fashion at this point but I owned a record store at this time and I sold a lot of 45rpms. (not enough as things turned out, but a lot) Acts like Vanhalen, Tom Petty, and to a lesser extent ZZ Top and J Geils had huge singles that still get airplay today,but Tom treats them as if they didn't exist. the same can be said of Bachman turner overdrive, the Guess who,and Chicago from an earlier time, big hits,still getting air play but not apparently at Mr Ryans house. I can't stomach Chicago but I cant deny they sold a lot of vinyl. All in all I can recommend this book because what Tom does cover he covers with style. and what he didn't cover maybe someone else will.