He says that artists such as Chuck Berry, Bill Haley and Hank Williams, and many pioneers in the blues genre are necessarily excluded, since their most influential work was either confined to 78rpm singles or achieved through live performance.

He said the inclusion of early albums such as Elvis Presley (1956), Muddy Waters at Newport (1960) and The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan (1963) was logical, but "sometimes the wrong record is picked by the right artist" in the case of the Beatles' Rubber Soul (1965) and Davis' Bitches Brew (1970), which were chosen over Revolver and In a Silent Way (1969), respectively.

Hirst also found the inclusion of Boston (1976) and Van Halen (1978) "inexplicable" and bemoaned the absence of Neil Young's After the Gold Rush (1970) and the Allman Brothers Band's At Fillmore East (1971).

Lord also approved of the recognition afforded Television's Marquee Moon (1977), Metallica's Kill 'Em All (1983) and Public Enemy's It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back (1988), alongside the expected "classics" from the 1960s and 1970s.

[12] The website for the JW Pepper sheet music company describes the book as "A lively and provocative account" that "tells the fascinating stories behind the most groundbreaking, influential, and often controversial albums ever recorded".