I'd not heard of this guy before so didn't know about his podcast, but I'm going to listen to it now to see what other songs he covers. I loved this and was glad that he actually seemed to have a fairly decent representation of women artists as well which was nice; I enjoyed the background on some of the songs as well as how he grouped them together in interesting ways.

I think the only way to write a book like this was how he did it in that these songs were important somehow to his life, so this is a bit of a memoir too; it definitely got me thinking about specific moments and where I first heard things in my life as well which was fun (the oddly fascinating girl at an outdoor leadership camp outside of Jackson Hole in the summer of 1992 who introduced me to Pearl Jam...). ( )

60 Songs That Explain the '90s by Rob Harvilla is a fun look back at the music of the 90s from one person's perspective, so the latter part of the title should probably read: Explains Rob Harvilla's '90s.

Part of the fun of any book like this is nodding along at the parts you agree with then shaking your head vigorously at the parts you don't. While I did enjoy that aspect of the book, I really found his authorial voice annoying, so my nods were weaker than they should have been while my shaking was accompanied by unnecessary profanity. That, however, was part of the fun for me, so it worked out fine. Yes, I know this is a companion to his podcast, but it is still a book and often what works in spoken form doesn't in written. Those who like his podcast will have less difficulty because they will probably hear his voice while reading. I tried one of his podcasts and even though I love the song he was discussing, I couldn't even take him in spoken form, so this is more a dynamic between this particular reader and this particular "writer."

I grew up before the 90s so this wasn't my teens or even twenties, so his adolescent take on a lot of this is different from how I remember both the songs and the time period. I spent pretty much all of the 90s on college campuses, both studying and teaching, and with a lot of musicians, so my decade was completely different from his. If you grew up then you may well relate better to his sophomoric humor and pointless comments interspersed with some interesting observations. I simply found them to be filler.

I would recommend this to those who simply enjoy reading about someone's perspective on music, especially those readers who grew up in the 90s.

Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via NetGalley. ( )