501 Essential Albums of ’90s is the ultimate curated list detailing dozens of the decade’s most influential releases across all genres, featuring descriptions of the releases, album art, and artist imagery.

This book is a love letter to the artists, scenes, and sounds defining North Carolina's extraordinary contributions to American popular music. David Menconi spent three decades immersed in the state's music, where traditions run deep but the energy expands in countless directions. Menconi shows how working-class roots and rebellion tie North Carolina's Piedmont blues, jazz, and bluegrass to beach music, rock, hip-hop, and more. From mill towns and mountain coves to college-town clubs and the stage of American Idol, Blind Boy Fuller and Doc Watson to Nina Simone and Superchunk, Step It Up and Go celebrates homegrown music just as essential to the state as barbecue and basketball. Spanning a century of history from the dawn of recorded music to the present, and with sidebars and photos that help reveal the many-splendored glory of North Carolina's sonic landscape, this is a must-read for every music lover.

Break out the flannel, scrunchies, and high-rise jeans and indulge in this nostalgic illustrated trip through the 1990s’ most influential albums across all genres. In 501 Essential Albums of the ’90s, Gary Graff leads a cast of fellow music journalists in presenting the music of everyone’s favorite decade…the last decade before the proliferation of social media and digital downloads. With lively descriptions of the releases and over 600 images, this hefty 448-page volume curates 501 albums spanning genres and subgenres—pop, hip-hop, R&B, grunge, metal, country, world music—and features: Year-by-year organization Knowledgeable rundowns of every album featured Album art for each selection Artist imagery Record label, release date, and producer(s) for each Soundtracks and compilation releases also included The journalists detail the circumstances of the releases, notable singles from each, their influence on contemporary and later artists…in short, why each is considered one of the best of the decade. Britney or Body Count, Nirvana or NSync, Metallica or Morisette, Garth or Green Day, Weezer or Wu Tang—whatever your tastes, you will relish this ultimate retrospective of the decade’s music.

At the end of winter, a girl named Spring awakes from her slumber in the snow. She travels through the forest and finds a little bird that has fallen from a tree. The bird is so cold and weak that Spring can hardly hear its heartbeat, so she turns it into a rabbit with thick, soft fur so it will be warm. To show their gratitude, birds gather eggs which Rabbit collects in a beautiful basket. Spring tells Rabbit to give them to the children so that they will know Spring is here. This beautiful tale shows young children how the Easter Bunny came to be.

America's premiere alternative music magazine presents a book of outrageously opinionated reviews of the essential albums of punk, new wave, indie rock, grunge, and rap. Its abundantly illustrated, full-color pages provide in-depth and informative record reviews on the widest possible scale of alternative music. National ads/media.

The true story of the fourth-grade teacher in Dayton, Ohio, who created one of the most influential bands of our times. Devoted fans have followed Guided by Voices for decades—and critics around the world have lauded the band’s brain trust, Robert Pollard, as a once-in-a-generation artist. Pollard has been compared by the New York Times to Mozart, Rossini, and Paul McCartney (in the same sentence) and everyone from P. J. Harvey, Radiohead, R.E.M., the Strokes, and U2 has sung his praises and cited his music as an influence. But it all started rather prosaically when Pollard, a fourth-grade teacher in his early thirties, began recording songs with drinking buddies in his basement. In this book, James Greer, an acclaimed music writer and former Spin editor—who also played in the band for two years—provides unparalleled insight and complete access to the workings of Pollard’s muse.