Rock: The Rough Guide, First Edition - Softcover

Compact discs make great gifts--they're easy to wrap, they won't break the bank (depending on how many you buy), and everyone loves music. Rough Guide's rock encyclopedia contains a thousand plus entries covering every phase of rock, from R&B through punk and soul to hip-hop. It's also great to browse, with more interesting details about Little Richard and the Everly Brothers than you ever would have thought to ask. Included are career biographies of more than 1,000 bands and artists, with more than 5,000 CD recommendations.

Mark Ellingham founded Rough Guides in 1982 and has created many of the series new ventures over the years, including The Rough Guide to the Internet, The Rough Guide to World Music, and, only a little ashamedly, The Rough Guide to the Da Vinci Code. 

Jonathan Buckley was editorial director at Rough Guides, where he wrote several guidebooks, including for Tuscany and Umbria, Florence, and Venice. He has also contributed to The Rough Guide to Classical Music and The Rough Guide to Opera. Buckley published his first novel, The Biography of Thomas Lang, in 1997, and has written several more, including the critically acclaimed Xerxes and The River Is the River.