...an exceptionally astute and stimulating account of music in the United States from the late 19th century until the early 21st. Hajdu’s propensity for stepping away from the hit parade in order to mingle with its architects as well as members of its audience not only militates against the monotony that a straightforward chronicle of the charts would generate, but it also fleshes out the social context of the songs under discussion ... Hajdu goes on to provide an indispensable guide to developments both sudden and long-gestating in pop during the 20th century.
...a very personal and utterly wonderful book ... as idiosyncratic and vehemently personal a book as it is reliable, readable and enduringly important. One of the year’s best music books.
In addition to one man’s nuanced romance with pop, Love for Sale is an engaging history of our century-old infatuation with mass-produced music ... enlivened with snippets of interviews that Mr. Hajdu has conducted with musicians over his long career ... It is disappointing that, in a book documenting technology, there is no mention of the eight-track tape...Even so, Mr. Hajdu brings verve to his journey from his Silvertone transistor to SoundCloud.
