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Our favorite records don't live in isolation. Each one has a story.
Insisting that an infinite number of tracks can each be THE greatest record ever made (as long as they take turns), writer and DJ Carl Cafarelli's book THE GREATEST RECORD EVER MADE! (VOLUME 1) ties together threads connecting classic rock, soul, pop, punk, hip hop, and bubblegum across decades of hits, misses, critics' darlings, one-hit wonders, Rock and Roll Hall of Famers, and complete unknowns. The result reads like an irresistible mix tape in book form, compelling the reader to follow its flow from song to song and chapter to chapter as if it were a novel.
As an experienced pop historian and journalist, Cafarelli knows the importance of recording facts and figures accurately. But passion is of equal importance. We don't crank the volume for fave rave sounds as academics; we listen as fans, as people living this complicated life with music as not merely its soundtrack, but as its heartbeat. Records reflect our hopes, our disappointments, our successes, our mourning, our love, our bitterness, our fear, and our will to dance in spite of it all.
Why did the Monkees go from the top of the pops in 1967 to seeming has-been status in 1968? How did James Brown respond to the British Invasion? What minefields of racism, sexism, homophobia, ambition, frustration, depression, or loss were navigated by Little Richard, Dusty Springfield, the Go-Go's, Elvis, Sly and the Family Stone, the Kinks, the Beach Boys, the Supremes, and Material Issue's Jim Ellison? Were the Ramones as much a bubblegum band as they were a punk band? When does a group succeed or fail in its quixotic quest to be the next Beatles?
And why does listening to pop music sometimes make us want to cry?
Carl Cafarelli is the author of Gabba Gabba Gabba Hey! A Conversation With The Ramones (Rare Bird Books 2023). He has written for Goldmine, DISCoveries, The Syracuse New Times, Feral House, Routledge, Visible Ink Press, AHOY Comics, and Rhino Records. Since 1998, he has been the co-host (with Dana Bonn) of the internationally-renowned weekly broadcast and internet radio show This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio with Dana & Carl, and he is the author of the daily blog Boppin' (Like The Hip Folks Do). THE GREATEST RECORD EVER MADE! (VOLUME 1) mixes history lessons, artist appreciation, and the ways in which the records we love can deeply affect our personal lives.
THE GREATEST RECORD EVER MADE! (VOLUME 1) is unlike any other rock or pop book you've ever seen. The infinite awaits. It's our turn now.
