Music in a Word Volume 1 is an anthology and memoir by veteran American music journalist Ira Robbins. If you've ever wondered how and why anyone becomes a critic, some of the answers are here. Music in a Word is a collection of articles, essays, album and concert reviews, previously unpublished interviews and other writing mingled with colorful recollections of 50 years spent on a musical soapbox.

Subjects include Trouser Press magazine, John Lydon, Nirvana, Bruce Springsteen, Ice Cube, the Rolling Stones, the Beatles, the Cure, Liz Phair, Michael Jackson, T. Rex, Depeche Mode, the B-52's, Isaac Hayes, Elvis Presley, Pogues, Jethro Tull, J. Geils, Public Enemy, the Grateful Dead, David Bowie, R.E.M., Linda Ronstadt, Pavement, Kirsty MacColl, Holly Beth Vincent, the Queers, Billy Joel, Phil Collins, Tears for Fears, Julian Cope and Ian McCulloch, Woodstock '94, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Entertainment Weekly and Rolling Stone, as well as movie reviews and much more. Profusely illustrated with images from the author's personal archive.