The Gist of RockMusicList.com
Abbreviations and Codes

RockMusicList.com (aka RUBIN'S ROCK N ROLL DISCCOGRAPHY REFERENCE) is a list of ROCK N ROLL bands and their most important songs with detailed info for each song. Details include album, label, year, lead singer, and, in some cases, a quote from the song. It is intended to help you determine who sings your song and on what album you can find it. In addition are links to other comprehensive discography web sites. It represents over twenty years of research by Dan Rubin. Stroll through the list and find what you need. People are always looking for the name of the artist who sings their favorite song or the name of the song sung by their favorite artist. They also want to know what album the song was on and what year the song was in print and who the lead singer was and who did the original version. ALL THAT INFORMATION is right here in ONE web site.

This project is intense. In addition, my hard drive has the most updated information and it takes me a long time to post it to the internet. Any information you send over will always be appreciated, because I just don't have enough hours in the day to research everything.

The gist of each entry is this:

artist - "song" time (album) label year lead singer and other information such as a quote from the song or information as to who recorded it first.
One line represents one song. If the song has too much information, I might include a second entry for that song on the very next line.

NOTE the punctuation. A dash after the artist. Quotes around the song. Album in parentheses.
As you can see, I also have parenthetical quotes from some songs when the title does not give enough of a clue as to which song it is.

Here are some of the other codes for the entries:

p-personnel (that means there are people in that band that were in another band:
ex: Rolling Stones, The - p-John Mayall's Bluesbreakers

r-remade or remake (The band at the end remade the song):
ex: Pogues, The - "Sally Maclennane" r-Dillinger 4

o-original (the band at the end performed the original version)
ex: Idol, Billy - "Mony Mony" o-Tommy James & The Shondells

wr-written by (the person at the end wrote the song)
ex: Aerosmith - "I Don't Want To Miss A Thing" wr-Diane Warren

or-"originally recorded" during this year, possibly it was released at a different time

ora-"originally recorded as" the band released the song at another time under another name
ex: Blood Drained Cows - "I Lost My Mind" ora-Samoans

rra-"re-recorded as" again under a new moniker or as a solo artist
ex: Buffalo Springfield - "My Angel" rra-Stephen Stills

w/ the song was performed with that person (possibly singing on it)
ex: Blood Of Abraham - "Eyedollartree" w/Kool Keith

Many of the record labels are abbreviated such as:
ars = arista
ars nash = arista nashville
atc = atco
atl = atlantic
bnq = beggars banquet
cap = capital
col = columbia (note: leg = legacy)
cry = chrysalis
elk = elektra
epc = epic
imm = immortal
isc = interscope
label of insignificance
lnd = london
mrc = mercury
r&t = razor & tie
rdr = roadrunner
rhn = rhino
t&n = tooth and nail
univ = universal
unr = unreleased (as far as I know, it was never formally released)
uns = unsigned or I don't know the record label or it is a local
vrg = virgin
wbr = warner brothers

there are many more and some are not abbreviated while others are. The ultimate goal was to use only three letters for each label.

If you see a slash in parentheses, it usually indicates more than one album on which the song appeared
ex: Beatles, The - "All You Need Is Love" (Magical Mystery Tour/Yellow Submarine)

Following that might be more than one record label that produced those albums. Two slashes are used.
ex: atc//epc which means atco or epic released the song

Feel free to contact me any time.
Dan Rubin (rubin@teacher.com)
www.rockmusiclist.com