''The Encyclopedia of Popular Music'' is an
encyclopedia created in 1989 by
Colin Larkin
Colin Larkin (born 1949) is a British writer and entrepreneur. He founded, and was the editor-in-chief of, the '' Encyclopedia of Popular Music'', described by '' The Times'' as "the standard against which all others must be judged".
Along w ...
. It is the "modern man's" equivalent of the ''
Grove Dictionary of Music'', which Larkin describes in less than flattering terms.
[''The Times'', ''The Knowledge'', Christmas edition, 22 December 2007- 4 January 2008.] It was described by ''
The Times
''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' ( ...
'' as "the standard against which all others must be judged".
History of the encyclopedia
Larkin believed that
rock music
Rock music is a broad genre of popular music that originated as " rock and roll" in the United States in the late 1940s and early 1950s, developing into a range of different styles in the mid-1960s and later, particularly in the United States a ...
and
popular music
Popular music is music with wide appeal that is typically distributed to large audiences through the music industry. These forms and styles can be enjoyed and performed by people with little or no musical training.Popular Music. (2015). ''Fu ...
were at least as significant historically as
classical music
Classical music generally refers to the art music of the Western world, considered to be distinct from Western folk music or popular music traditions. It is sometimes distinguished as Western classical music, as the term "classical music" al ...
, and as such, should be given definitive treatment and properly documented. ''The Encyclopedia of Popular Music'' is the result.
In 1989, Larkin sold his half of the
publishing company Scorpion Books to finance his ambition to publish an encyclopedia of popular music. Aided by a team of initially 70 contributors, he set about compiling the data in a pre-
internet
The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a '' network of networks'' that consists of private, p ...
age, "relying instead on information gleaned from music magazines, individual expertise and a hideous amount of legwork".
He financed and founded a new company, Square One Books, to publish the encyclopedia. The first edition of the encyclopedia "pushed Larkin to the brink of
bankruptcy". It was a four-volume set and went into print in 1992.
There have been three further
edition
Edition may refer to:
* Edition (book), a bibliographical term for a substantially similar set of copies
* Edition (printmaking), a publishing term for a set print run
* Edition (textual criticism), a particular version of a text
* Edition Recor ...
s of the multi-volume encyclopedia and dozens of single-volume spin-offs of five concise versions of the main encyclopedia, including four editions of jazz.
In 1995,
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational technology corporation producing computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and related services headquartered at the Microsoft Redmond campus located in Redmond, Washi ...
licensed the text for their CD-ROM,
Microsoft Music Central, which sold 497,000 copies.
[''The Collector, No. 20 COLIN LARKIN'', ]Record Collector
''Record Collector'' is a British monthly music magazine. It was founded in 1980 and distributes worldwide.
History The early years
The first standalone issue of ''Record Collector'' was published in March 1980, though its history stretches ba ...
, Issue 314, September 2005.
In 1997, Larkin's company, along with the Encyclopedia, was sold to the data company
Muze Inc. (the UK name was changed to Muze UK), because Larkin wanted "to guarantee its future" in the fast changing world of information and communications technology. He became full-time editor-in-chief on the project, running a "surprisingly small scale cottage industry", stating "There are now fewer than 10 contributors on the team...People don't believe it's done on such a small scale, but in terms of words we are producing an
Agatha Christie novel a month..."
Status
''The Encyclopedia of Popular Music'' covers popular music from the early 1900s to the present day, including
folk,
blues
Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the ...
,
country
A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. It may be a sovereign state or make up one part of a larger state. For example, the country of Japan is an independent, sovereign state, whi ...
,
R&B,
jazz
Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a m ...
,
rock,
heavy metal,
reggae
Reggae () is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1960s. The term also denotes the modern popular music of Jamaica and its diaspora. A 1968 single by Toots and the Maytals, " Do the Reggay" was the first popular song to use ...
,
electronic music
Electronic music is a genre of music that employs electronic musical instruments, digital instruments, or circuitry-based music technology in its creation. It includes both music made using electronic and electromechanical means ( electro ...
and
hip hop.
"Each biography contains a thorough synopsis of the performer and their body of work, following their career from beginning to end. The 4th Edition is 10,000 pages long in 10 separate volumes with over 8 million words and 27,000 entries. The nature of popular music and jazz is such that it is ever changing, evolving and growing and therefore needs a new edition much more frequently than more static subjects."
Guinness Publishing,
Virgin Publishing and
Omnibus Press have produced the spin-offs on each subject and Larkin's
All Time Top 1000 Albums
''All Time Top 1000 Albums'' is a book by Colin Larkin, creator and editor of the '' Encyclopedia of Popular Music''. The book was first published by Guinness Publishing in 1994. The list presented is the result of over 200,000 votes cast by t ...
is produced as a companion volume. The large single volume of the Concise edition of ''The Encyclopedia of Popular Music'' is now in its 5th edition.
The total sales of the EPM series since 1992 is over 650,000 copies.
In May 2011 Omnibus Press released the
Amazon Kindle edition of ''The Encyclopedia of Popular Music''.
The text for this edition has not been updated and the Kindle edition has the same content as the 2007 edition.
Editions
*Guinness Encyclopedia of Popular Music (1st Edition, 4 Vols),
Guinness Publishing 1992, ed. Larkin Colin.
*Guinness Encyclopedia of Popular Music (2nd Edition, 6 Vols), Guinness Publishing 1995 (UK), ed. Larkin, Colin.
*The Encyclopedia of Popular Music (3rd Edition, 8 Vols), Macmillan (UK/USA) 1999, ed. Larkin, Colin.
*The Encyclopedia of Popular Music (4th Edition, 10 Vols),
Oxford University Press
Oxford University Press (OUP) is the university press of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world, and its printing history dates back to the 1480s. Having been officially granted the legal right to print book ...
(UK/USA) 2006, ed. Larkin, Colin.
Concise Editions
*Guinness Encyclopedia of Popular Music Concise Edition, Guinness Publishing 1993, ed. Larkin, Colin.
*The Virgin Encyclopedia of Popular Music, Concise Edition,
Virgin Books
Virgin Books is a British book publisher 90% owned by the publishing group Random House, and 10% owned by Virgin Group, the company originally set up by Richard Branson as a record company.
History
Virgin established its book publishing ...
(UK), 1997, ed. Larkin, Colin.
*The Virgin Encyclopedia of Popular Music, Concise (3rd Edition), Virgin Books (UK), 1999, ed. Larkin, Colin.
*The Virgin Encyclopedia of Popular Music, Concise (4th Edition), Virgin Books (UK), 2002, ed. Larkin, Colin.
*The Encyclopedia of Popular Music: Concise (5th Edition),
Omnibus Press 2007, ed. Larkin, Colin
Spin offs
Guinness Who's Who
* Larkin, Colin (ed.), ''Guinness Who's Who of Jazz'', Guinness Publishing (UK), 1992.
* Larkin, Colin (ed.), ''Guinness Who's Who of Sixties Music'', Guinness Publishing (UK), 1992.
* Larkin, Colin (ed.), ''Guinness Who's Who of Indie And New Wave Music'', Guinness Publishing (UK), 1992.
* Larkin, Colin (ed.), ''Guinness Who's Who of Heavy Metal'', Guinness Publishing (UK), 1992.
* Larkin, Colin (ed.), ''Guinness Who's Who of Seventies Music'', Guinness Publishing (UK), 1993.
* Larkin, Colin (ed.),'' Guinness Who's Who of Folk Music'', Guinness Publishing (UK), 1993.
* Larkin, Colin (ed.), ''Guinness Who's Who of Soul Music'', Guinness Publishing (UK), 1993.
* Larkin, Colin (ed.), ''Guinness Who's Who of Blues'', Guinness Publishing (UK), 1993.
* Larkin, Colin (ed.), ''Guinness Who's Who of Fifties Music'', Guinness Publishing (UK), 1993.
* Larkin, Colin (ed.), ''Guinness Who's Who of Country Music'', Guinness Publishing (UK), 1993.
* Larkin, Colin (ed.), ''Guinness Who's Who of Stage Musicals'', Guinness Publishing (UK), 1994.
* Larkin, Colin (ed.), ''Guinness Who's Who of Rap, Dance & Techno'', Guinness Publishing (UK), 1994.
* Larkin, Colin (ed.), ''Guinness Who's Who of Film Musicals & Musical Films'', Guinness Publishing 1994
* Larkin, Colin (ed.), ''Guinness Who's Who of Reggae'', Guinness Publishing (UK), 1994.
* Larkin, Colin (ed.), ''Guinness Who's Who of Jazz'' (2nd Edition), Guinness Publishing (UK), 1995.
* Larkin, Colin (ed.), ''Guinness Who's Who of Indie And New Wave'' (2nd Edition), Guinness Publishing 1995.
* Larkin, Colin (ed.), ''Guinness Who's Who of Blues'' (2nd Edition), Guinness Publishing (UK), 1995.
* Larkin, Colin (ed.), ''Guinness Who's Who of Heavy Metal'' (2nd Edition), Guinness Publishing (UK), 1995.
The Virgin Encyclopedia
* Larkin, Colin (ed.), ''The Virgin Encyclopedia of Popular Music'', Concise Edition, Virgin Books (UK), 1997.
* Larkin, Colin (ed.), ''The Virgin Encyclopedia of Seventies Music'', Virgin Books (UK), 1997.
* Larkin, Colin (ed.), ''The Virgin Encyclopedia of Sixties Music,'' Virgin Books (UK), 1997.
* Larkin, Colin (ed.), ''The Virgin Encyclopedia of Eighties Music'', Virgin Books (UK), 1997.
* Larkin, Colin (ed.), ''The Virgin Encyclopedia of Fifties Music'', Virgin Books (UK), 1998.
* Larkin, Colin (ed.), ''The Virgin Encyclopedia of Indie & New Wave'', Virgin Books (UK), 1998.
* Larkin, Colin (ed.), ''The Virgin Encyclopedia of R&B And Soul'', Virgin Books (UK), 1998.
* Larkin, Colin (ed.), ''The Virgin Encyclopedia of Country Music'', Virgin Books (UK), 1998.
* Larkin, Colin (ed.), ''The Virgin Encyclopedia of Reggae'', Virgin Books (UK), 1998.
* Larkin, Colin (ed.), ''The Virgin Encyclopedia of Stage & Film Musicals'', Virgin Books (UK), 1999.
* Larkin, Colin (ed.), ''The Virgin Encyclopedia of Heavy Rock'', Virgin Books (UK), 1999.
* Larkin, Colin (ed.), ''The Virgin Encyclopedia of Jazz'' (3rd Edition), Virgin Books (UK), 1999.
* Larkin, Colin (ed.), ''The Virgin Encyclopedia of Dance Music'', Virgin Books (UK), 1999.
* Larkin, Colin (ed.), ''The Virgin Encyclopedia of Stage & Film Musicals'', Virgin Books (UK), 1999.
* Larkin, Colin (ed.), ''The Virgin Encyclopedia of Nineties Music'', Virgin Books (UK), 2000.
* Larkin, Colin (ed.), ''The Virgin Encyclopedia of 60s Music'',(3rd Edition), Virgin Books (UK), 2002.
* Larkin, Colin (ed.), ''The Virgin Encyclopedia of 50s Music'', (3rd Edition), Virgin Books (UK), 2002.
* Larkin, Colin (ed.), ''The Virgin Encyclopedia of 70s Music'', (3rd Edition), Virgin Books (UK), 2002.
* Larkin, Colin (ed.), ''The Virgin Encyclopedia of Popular Music'', Concise (4th Edition), Virgin Books (UK), 2002.
* Larkin, Colin (ed.), ''The Virgin Encyclopedia of 80s Music'', (3rd Edition), Virgin Books (UK), 2003.
* Larkin, Colin (ed.), ''Virgin Encyclopedia of Jazz'' (4th Edition), Virgin Books (UK), 2004.
The Virgin Illustrated Encyclopedia
* Larkin, Colin, (ed) ''The Virgin Illustrated Encyclopedia of Rock'', Virgin Books (UK), 1998. (also published in the US as ''The Billboard Illustrated Encyclopedia of Rock''. (US 1998)
* Larkin, Colin, (ed) ''The Virgin Illustrated Encyclopedia of Pop & Rock'', Virgin Books (UK), 2002, (also published in the US as ''The Billboard Illustrated Encyclopedia of Pop & Rock'' (US 2002).
All-Time Top 1000 Albums
* Larkin, Colin, ''All Time Top 1000 Albums'', Guinness Publishing (UK), 1994.
* Larkin, Colin, ''The Virgin All-Time Top 1000 Albums'' (2nd Edition), Virgin Books (UK), 1998.
* Larkin, Colin, ''The Virgin All-Time Top 1000 Albums'' (Pocket Edition), Virgin Books (UK), 1999.
* Larkin, Colin, ''All-Time Top 1000 Albums'' (3rd Edition), Virgin Books (UK), 2000.
References
{{Reflist
Encyclopedias of music
20th-century encyclopedias