This book seeks to trace the rise of popular music, identify its key figures and track the origins and development of its multiple genres and styles, all the while seeking to establish historical context. It is, fundamentally, a ready reference guide to the broad field of popular music over the past two centuries. It has become a truism that popular music, so pervasive in the modern world, constitutes a soundtrack to our lives – a constant though changing presence as we cross thresholds and grow from children to teenagers to adults. But it has become more than a soundtrack; it has become a narrative. Not just an accompaniment to our daily lives but incorporating our lives, our sense of identity, our lived experiences, into it. We have become part of the music just as the music has become part of us.   The Historical Dictionary of Popular Music contains a chronology, an introduction, an appendix, and an extensive bibliography. The dictionary section has over 1000 cross-referenced entries on major figures across genres, definitions of genres, technical innovations and surveys of countries and regions. This book is an excellent resource for students, researchers, and anyone wanting to know more about popular music.

"Abjorensen—historian, broadcaster/journalist, coauthor of Historical Dictionary of Australia—offers some 1,300 entries defining musical acts/creators, genres, countries/continents, terminology, and publications covering nearly 200 years of popular music around the world and emphasizing Great Britain and the US.... Entries on many major artists (Chet Atkins, Dick Dale, Bob Dylan, and David Bowie, for instance) helpfully reveal historical significance. A chronology, notable songs, and an extensive bibliography are included. A variety of comparable biographical tools are already available, including AllMusic.... [T]he work provides some helpful historical analysis... Summing Up: Recommended. All readership levels." - CHOICE