If you've ever wondered how and why anyone becomes a critic, some of the answers are here in Music in a Word Volume 1, an anthology and memoir by veteran American music journalist Ira Robbins. Features, essays, previously unpublished interviews, album and concert reviews plus colorful recollections of 50 years spent on a rock and roll soapbox. Subjects include Trouser Press magazine, Nirvana, Bruce Springsteen, Ice Cube, the Rolling Stones, the Beatles, the Cure, Liz Phair, Pavement, Michael Jackson, T. Rex, the B-52's, Isaac Hayes, Elvis Presley, Jethro Tull, J. Geils, Public Enemy, David Bowie, Sparks, R.E.M., Phil Collins, Linda Ronstadt, John Lydon, Kirsty MacColl, Be-Bop Deluxe, Holly Beth Vincent, Billy Joel, Tears for Fears, Julian Cope, Ian McCulloch and much more. Profusely illustrated with images from the author's archive.