“This is a book that’s designed to start arguments.”

Right off the bat, this book acknowledges that music lists are just someone’s opinion, and this ranking aims to showcase the diversity of the music that defined the 90s, while also giving attention to each year (I particularly liked how it covered many genres, including film soundtracks). It’s no small feat and this is an insightful read that hopefully inspires people to try out some music they have not listened to before.

Although this was a digital copy, I can imagine that this will be a wonderful conversation starter on someone’s coffee table. The artwork is both nostalgic and eye catching, without being tacky.

Thank you to Quarto Publishing and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Great coffee table book for any pop culture fan imo. I enjoyed flipping through all the pages of these iconic albums. Some I’ve forgot and will listen to now. Love the visuals.

Quick easy way to get high level exposure to a variety of albums from the 90s. The details/information on the albums was a little lack luster. It didn't really provide anything new or interesting.

I am a huge fan of music in general and of the music of the 90s in particular. Thanks to this very informative book, I could not only reminisce, but also learned new facts about my favorite decade in music.
All in all, a very interesting read that would make an excellent coffee table book.

Very interesting. This would make a great coffee table book for music lovers. Some interesting facts .

Overall, the book was well written, captured my attention and I did really enjoy it. Thank you for this advance copy!

This was a neat book to flip through and didn't take me very long to read. The pictures are great and I liked learning more about albums that I liked. The book starts out by stating that it's meant to cause arguments. I wouldn't argue over much in this book except for the fact that it relegated Freak on a Leash by Korn to a small blurb and didn't mention AFI at all.
A lot of different genres and artists are covered in the book. I hadn't even heard of some of them and I grew up in the 90's. I loved seeing Green Day's Dookie, The Offspring's Smash, The Spice Girls' Spice and Hanson's Middle of Nowhere in the book. It's also entertaining that Blink-182's Enema of the State and Backstreet Boys' Millennium are next to each other. If you know, you know.
I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.

501 Essential Albums of the 90s includes a wide range of artists and albums, and information about them. There were many that I have never heard of, so I am curious about the pool of sources used to put these all together. I also wonder how layout decisions were made (who would get a full spread, page, or half page). For example, NSYNC is mentioned in the description, but then was a half page mention, so that felt like a bit of a disconnect. It's an interesting concept and great for those feeling 90s nostalgia.

Thanks to Quarto Publishing Group - Motorbooks and NetGalley for an eARC of this book for an honest review.